Trimble Park July 2013

I had a particularly bad day on Monday, July 1.  A recent hard drive crash of my desk top computer had caused the loss of over two years worth of bookkeeping data.  Even though I back up every time I use Quicken, for some reason the last two years just could not be restored.

I decided to "bite the bullet" and start entering the data from bank statements again.  I had one year restored and we had company so I went downstairs to visit for a few minutes.  While I was away Windows decided to update and shut down my computer and restarted it.  I lost everything.

It was time to get away from the house and the computer.  As I was searching for a place to spend a few days camping I ran across Trimble Park, part of the Orange county Florida, park system.  I discovered it quite by accident but it proved to be a very happy accident.  It is literally right under our noses but yet out of the way.

Trimble Park is located just outside of Mount Dora, Florida but in Orange County.  I had noticed the sign many times on my way to Zellwood, FL, to buy corn.  I had never taken the time to investigate the park and therefore had been missing a shining star right in my own back yard.  It is literally about 2.5 miles (as the crow flies) away from our home.  Driving distance is 6.7 miles.  Close enough for Wayne to work and come to the campsite at night, far enough away and quiet enough to enjoy some time away from the rat race.

Trimble Park is a small, compact campground but all campsite are directly on or very near the water.  The park is sandwiched between Lake Carlton and Lake Beauclair on a peninsula.  There are showers and toilets nearby and a dock for boaters.  There is also a group camping area but it is quite a distance from the facilities with no electric.  Running water is only located near the group campfire where there is a fish cleaning sink and work bench.

I went out early and rented a space (#13) as it gave us the most space and was directly on the lake.  We erected our tent by the water and placed our screened room/kitchen close to the driveway and the gear trailer.  There were a few other campers but none adjacent to us on either side.

We spent several days at Trimble Park and with the exception of a brief encounter with a very nasty park employee we really enjoyed our stay.  It was July in Florida with all the accompaniments:  mosquitoes, gnats, heat, rain, thunderstorms and wildlife.  I am hoping to return this year during cooler weather.

The park closed for several months last year for campsite renovations so I'm anxious to see what improvements have been made.

Enjoy the pictures:

Fire ring beside the lake:

Nature path leading away from the group camp area:

Tent erected beside Lake Beauclair:

Hey!  Smells good.  What's cookin'?

A rain storm moving across the lake:

Wooded area near the playground:

Camper woman hair in stifling humidity:

Boat dock:

Rodman Campground March 2013

Rodman Campground

March 2013

I made a trip to Rodman a month or so before we made our camping trip.  The POMP group wanted to try and group camp trip so I agreed to do the scouting and booking.  Rodman is a nice facility on the Ocklawaha.  The full facility sites right on the water are very small so we opted for the primitive area.  Primitive equals no water or electric.  It was our first time without electric or running water and I was a little nervous about it. 

I selected sites 36 and 37 for our group.  Wayne and I were going up for the entire week and the others in the group were coming up for the weekend.  Unfortunately, Wendy and Tim’s son had a ballgame and they won (Yeah!) so they had to go back for the finals on Saturday.  I hated they didn’t get to spend more time relaxing and enjoying our camping but ballgames are important too.

Brittany and I went up on Wednesday.  Wayne came along and helped us set up our tent, screen room, canopy and kitchen.  We have a smaller tent Brittany used and we erected her tent too.  Wayne had brought our rain barrel in the trailer and he went to the water spigot at the entrance to the primitive area and filled it.  He placed it at the side door of the trailer and hooked a hose to it for our water needs. 

The weather was very cool and it was the first time Wayne and I had a need for our sleeping bags.  We were grateful to have them.  It went down in the low 30s at night and I slept in all my clothes, socks, sleeping bags with a comforter over it.  We were toasty in the bed but it was hard to get out of it in the icy air.  Being cold on a camping trip was a new experience for us.  We are usually hot.  We kept a campfire going the entire week.

I had ordered a lot of strawberries for making jam and Brittany and I started cleaning, culling and chopping berries.  We had a large restaurant bowl full.  Making jam is relatively easy but time consuming.  We had to use the large water bath tub for cooking the strawberries.  Since it is only used for water usually, it is not a good quality pan and the berries burned a little on the bottom of the pan.  The berries were not harmed but the pan has never recovered.  Anyway, we made many, many pints of strawberry jam.

Lee and Marcia arrived a little later than planned as did Orin, Sherri and Heather and Wendy, Tim and their children.  We were struggling with trying to get all the tents set up in the waning light.  We managed to get everyone settled and enjoy dinner together.

I had made a “possible” menu for our group and a camping checklist.  I sent the spreadsheets  to everyone weeks earlier.  We decided each family would be responsible for one evening meal.  Wendy and Tim had Friday evening meal.  Wendy made slow cooker taco soup.  She made a vegetarian version for me and the others had one with chicken.  It was delicious!  I don't know if I was just extremely hungry or it was the outdoors or what but I ate until I was stuffed.

My menu selection was to make a chicken, herb and wine dish in my cast iron Dutch oven.  I also wanted to try a new recipe for yeast rolls in the Dutch ovens.  The chicken was outstanding if I do say so my self.  The kids loved, loved the yeast rolls.  I made a double recipe and we ate every last roll.  Most of us topped off our rolls with the new strawberry jam too.

Wayne and I had our new camp sign we hung on our post.  See the picture:

We purchased it when we visited the Strawberry Festival in February in Plant City.  I also bought a new kind of knife and board:

Supposedly, if you cut cabbage with it the cabbage will still look fresh hours later and will not turn dark.  I haven't put it to the test yet but I can attest to it's sharpness.  The thing will cut anything paper thin.

On Saturday evening our "primitive" campsite turned into a movie theater   Tim and Orin hung a sheet between two trees, hooked a projector to a power inverter and showed a movie.  I think most of the neighboring campsites were watching it too. 

Since there was no running water at our camp we had to fill a 55 gallon rain barrel at the entrance to the primitive camping area.  We must have filled that barrel 4 times during that week.  All that cooking and washing dishes requires a lot of water. 

Sunday morning after breakfast we had "church" around the campfire.  Orin was prepared to lead and did an excellent job of "preaching" for us.  It was great fun and good fellowship along with worship and praise. 

Marcia made a delicious oatmeal with fruit for breakfast but Orin needed pork fat.  He fried bacon and I helped him make some eggs.  We had a feast!

Unfortunately, all the other families were required to return break camp and return home on Sunday as most were due back at work on Monday morning.  We did manage to enjoy most of the day together though.   

As I recall, we all had dinner before everyone left for home.  Wayne, Brittany and I stayed for a couple of days.  Rodman was probably the quietest campground we had visited in two years of camping.

I would definitely like to return for a longer stay.