Journal

Lake Giffin State Park - Fruitland Park Florida - July 15 - 18, 2011

Hotter than Hades!

We arrived much later than planned on Friday evening during a thunderstorm.  We were forced to sit in the truck for 30 to 40 minutes waiting for the rain to end.  Once the rain stopped we discovered the campsite I had chosen from the campground map online was much too small.  Additionally, all the water from the entire campground was running right through our campsite.  We walked around with an umbrella looking at alternate sites.  Wayne and I agreed on #10.  The biggest issue with with Lake Griffin SP is the campsites are too close to the highway (US 441) and the traffic noise was very distracting. 

Our brand new, never out of the box, Coleman Canyon Ranch tent (19X12) was fairly easy to assemble.  We made a few mistakes from which we learned what not to do next time.  The poles for the roof and sides should be inserted into the sleaves prior to standing up the tent.  We ripped a hole into the rainfly trying to get a flexible pole through the sleave after errecting the tent. 

Since it was late and wet and we were both tired we decided to go out to eat.  We enjoyed dinner at Lucy Ho's in Leesburg.  The proprietor, Paul Lao and his wife were wonderful and accommodating and dinner was delicious. 

While at dinner we made a list of the items we already knew we had forgotten.  We made a quick trip back to the house to collect all the "stuff" we left.  This was the reason for choosing Lake Griffin SP in the beginning.  Since it was our first camping trip we knew we would forget things and wanted to be able to go home for them without too much trouble. 

Our brand new, never out of the box Coleman Canyon Ranch tent (19X12) was fairly easy to assemble.

We made a few mistakes from which we learned what not to do next time. (Large rip in the sleeve of the rain fly.)

Since it was late and wet and we were both tired we decided to go out to eat. We enjoyed dinner at Lucy Ho's.

Paul was his usual wonderful self as was his wife. Dinner was delicious.

While at dinner Wayne remembered he had not brought a weapon and wanted to go home and get it.