As a girl growing up in Orlando, in a home with six children and no air conditioning, I was well acquainted with black flies. The constant refrain of "shut the door" rang throughout our home as doors were opened and closed with great frequency, as you can well imagine. Flies clung to the screens, looking for a way out, largely without success because having, AND using, a fly swatter was commonplace. With the constant construction in our area along with the attending urban sprawl, flies are generally not much of a problem these days as they have been pushed out with each concrete pour. Thus, a fly swatter or other means of keeping flies at bay was not part of our camping gear. We are rethinking that after our time at Kolomoki Mounds State Park. OH MY GOODNESS, were they ever a nuisance, crawling all over our table as well as lighting on our bodies. At least they did not bite.
The campsite was perfect but those flies were anything but. With that out of the way, let's look at the set up as it happened.
Leaving the house just after daylight on Monday we made good time, arriving at the park about half past one. Immediately we noticed it was both hot and humid, not ideal but as you will soon see, better than some of the other weather we encountered. Our spot was lakeside, #3.
The first order of business is deciding where is the best place to set up the tent in relation to the other features such as the fire ring. Unfortunately, the weather forecast called for rain most days so that was the deciding factor. How best to stay dry? Normally we prefer a little separation between the tent and picnic table, but as we found out the next day, this arrangement was a Godsend.
That air mattress....talk about a win! My quilt is now a bit small however with such warm temperatures, wew certainly did not need much cover.
Observant readers will note that there are three chairs at our site, two for day use and the folding chair for stargazing. And while there was, much to my delight, stargazing done in that chair, it's real value was for day use as it is far more comfortable than the other ones. That will be our next purchase, some better camp chairs, that is as long as they will fit in the car.
Following lunch Bruce spent some time splitting wood for kindling, using pieces of a crate from a church project.
While the weather was still pleasant I took my bike out for a spin, first around the campground loop,
followed by the big climb up the hill to the second part of the park. About half way up, I had to get off and walk my bike, even though Bruce keeps telling me to gear down, walking works for me.
While it may not look daunting to you, it was for me. Perhaps looking back down shows the grade better?
While it was mostly still green, there were some very bright spots of color to be seen.
Riding down that hill was a blast, albeit having the brakes on most of the way to be safe! Our site looks so pretty amongst the trees. At this point of our stay, there were but about five other occupied sites out of 24.
One of the sites was occupied by a Dad and his two children who stopped to chat. By that time the clouds were building and my dream of seeing loads of stars was looking as if it would not come true. This gentleman told me the same thing happened the night before and not to lose heart because after dark the stars not only appeared, but he saw the Milky Way! With that hope in mind, I tried setting up my camera closer to the lake away from all obstructions.
Although I'd done plenty of pre-trip research, my efforts were in vain as I just could not figure out how to set the camera properly. Still, I had hope.
Night fell and the lights came on. The table was set, the fire was ablaze, while the oven was heating up our dinner.
The Shepards Pie turned out even better than I'd hoped. (one of the few times the flies stayed away!)
This trip we decided to use the large sink at the restroom building for dishwashing which worked just fine if one doesn't mind walking aways to use it. We didn't mind at all as long as we had our headlamps!
And then the magic began as the clouds indeed moved out and stars, like diamonds in the sky, began appearing. Unplugging our tent lights to diminish distraction, I tried setting up the camera again, to no avail. Pretty soon that young man, along with his daughter, came along as they were taking their trash to the dumpster. He asked if he could help and of course I said YES! Sadly he was clueless as to how to operate my camera, but he sure tried. Nonetheless, I did see the MILKY WAY over our heads which was absolutely more than I could have hoped for. Sorry, Camera Crazy readers, I have no photographic evidence. You'll have to trust me on this one.
Early to bed, early to rise is our modus operandi and it holds true while camping, so it was time to try out that new fat air mattress with all of the "windows" open in the tent. Every now and again if we woke up we would look up in absolute wonder. It's a beautiful world out there!
your friend,
Gail
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