May 1. Florida, Day THREE

Wednesday: The key word for the next 3-4 days was PIONEER ... you know, roughing it, exploring, etc. I USED to think I would make an okay Pioneer; but I've come to a different conclusion after my very first camping experience EVER. Can you believe I have lived almost 71 years and have never camped out? A week at summer camp a few times does not count--afterall, we were in cabins and had bathrooms, etc. Although I will say that my first week at summer camp (Lake Ann) was when I was 11 and the bathrooms were kind of glorified outhouses, called Latrines. Disgusting. I came home completely sick because I avoided the latrines at all cost. Between the smell and the spiders ... I just wasn't having ANY of it.

But I have NEVER been camping at an actual CAMP SITE in my life; so this was a first for me! One of many firsts during my trip to Florida this year. It's a LOT of work to go camping!! David, dear brother, is an expert at all things relating to boating, camping, fixing, etc. He gets this from my father, who delighted in the little details of preparation for a week on the boat, etc., way back in my youth. I do have a few good memories from those times with my family--mostly with my siblings, actually.

I'm going to show you some pictures of our first day at Fort DeSoto, an extremely nice place to set up a trailer or a tent, and just chill out for a few days.

We left David's house shortly after 1pm. David had pre-packed lots of equipment in his truck the night before, so we were ready to roll soon after he got off work. Fort DeSoto is about a 45-minute drive from Safety Harbor--it's a little bit south of St. Petersburg. David had booked our camp site several weeks ago and was able to secure a site right on the water! How perfect.

This is David and Carol's camper--which they bought for pretty cheap and then put a LOT of work into making it a pleasant looking camper, with all of the necessary comforts of home (almost). It has a tiny bathroom, two pop-out "bedrooms" that can hold a double air mattress, and a couch that sleeps one. I am pretty sure the kitchenette can transform into a bed as well.

Here is David setting the whole thing up. We borrowed a tent from Andrew so that we could put the picnic table inside of it and enjoy a bug-free eating zone.

This beautiful egret wandered through our campsite while we were there ...

The inside of the camper. Carol PAINTED the fabric on the couch and kitchenette a beautiful navy blue. I had no idea painting fabric was possible! We had a toaster, a microwave, a television (complete with all the channels they have at home), a tiny bathroom with all the necessities, air conditioning (unneeded), nice windows all around, good lighting, fans, a well stocked kitchen ... we were a couple of nitty-gritty PIONEERS for sure! Ha!

If you walked out in front of the camper, you could duck underneath a few low trees and then this was the view--very nice!

Looking back at the campsite ...

A typically nice picture of David. He is about as wonderful as people get on this earth anyway.

About an hour or two (!!) into the set-up, we ran into a tiny obstacle ... something about the connectors (cables, female ones) that were necessary to give us power inside the camper--without it there was no using the refrigerator, fans, television, etc. David thought sure he had all of the necessary plugs and wires, but there was ONE that just wasn't there!

We decided to take a ride over to the nearest Walmart (about 20 minutes away) and see if they carried the needed cable. Negative. Then we drove a different 20 minutes to an Ace Hardware store. They stocked every single wire, cable, extension ... except the one David needed. They recommended we try the OTHER Ace Hardware (another 12 minutes away). Negative.

We finally just drove back to Safety Harbor, David ran into his shed, pulled out the needed cable, and then we drove back to Fort DeSoto, eating at Pizza Hut on the way back. Needless to say, all of this unplanned driving was rather annoying to David--it did rather crimp our style that first little bit of our Pioneering adventure. But ... all was well! We finally had the needed cable, David hooked it up, and everything ran smoothly from thereon out. Our campsite was really cozy, well lit, refrigerated, and powered. Perfect.

We settled in for the night and decided to watch the second Equalizer movie--yikes--talk about a nail biter! We relaxed and enjoyed a good night's sleep (except my air mattress kept losing its air throughout the night and I would wake up sleeping on BOARD--but being the tough Pioneer woman that I am (!!), I did not complain. I will admit, though, that I was rather glad there was a well-lit and very clean full bathroom with showers right across the little gravel road from our campsite. It was there that we did any SERIOUS business that needed doing. Look at the pretty lights we borrowed from Andrew too!