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.
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.
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.
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.
How cool is this? I never knew you wrote all of these posts!!
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