Big Cypress National Preserve

Ochopee, FL

I thought i am suppose to be retired which means sleeping late?  Not that case today.  Hubby was panicking about not having reservations and the campsites at Big Cypress National Preserve being on a first come first serve basis.  So the alarm was set for 5.30 AM … YES, you read that correctly.  When the alarm went off hubby was already up and had his coffee going.

I was a bit slow to get moving.  All we had to do was put the slides in, pull up the front jacks and hook the electric to the truck.  Of course hubby got wet doing the later 2 as it was raining when we got up.  We broke 2 of our traveling rules today.  1st one is driving in the rain and the 2nd one is driving in the dark.  With the combination it made for a bit of a nervous morning for me.

Traffic wasn’t too bad considering it’s a Friday.  We were on the road by 6.15 AM.  We had 168 miles to travel to our destination.  We made one stop and that was at a Pilot truck stop to fuel up and take a potty break.

About an hour before we arrived i called to see if they had any vacancy's in the Campgrounds.  Plan A was to stay at Midway Campground as they have electric hookups.  Plan B would of been to drive back to Monument and dry camp until we could get a site in Midway.  The gal told me that she thought they had sites available as she hadn’t been told they were full.  Great now if we can just one with electric.
 
We arrived at Midway a little before 10 AM and i was relieved to see the vacancy sign.  I think hubby was more relieved as the sun was coming out and it was so hot and humid from the rain.  It would of been a miserable few hours without the AC.  One of the camp host met us as we came in and told us what sites were available.  Lucky for us 5 sites opened up this morning. 

We quickly surveyed the sites and we both agreed  #12 was the one we wanted.  In no time my hubby had us backed in and was setting us up.  We have a fairly nice size site.  Satellite is working and we had to put up the antenna and amplifier for me to get cell phone and internet but all is good.
 
After we were setup we decided to take a walk and on the other side of pond this bird was attacking this poor tire.  He was making a lot of noise and from observing this bird it was not happy.  They have warning signs up and we were told to walk our dogs closely and be careful of the pond as it has gators and they have been known to snatch a few dogs. 
 
After a few hours the wind picked up and it seemed to cool down and spent my afternoon sitting outside talking to my neighbors who from Nova Scotia.  Several others stopped by to visit with us and it was a great afternoon to just relax and chill after such an early start.

A couple pulled in from Germany.  They are touring the USA, this is the 2nd couple we’ve met this winter doing this.  I was impressed with their rig.  A couple sites down there is a couple from Denmark who is renting a camper and touring the USA for 6 weeks.  We noticed licenses from Maine, Mass, Del, Michigan, NY, WI, Tennessee, AR and several Canada.  By the afternoon the park was filled up with no vacancy’s.  Sure made us glad we arrived early.  That is the norm for us.  The park can have several openings and after we arrived it fills up.  Anyone interested in paying us to visit so we can fill up your place .. snicker
  
I wasn’t sure how the day was going to turn out when we started out violating 2 of our rules.  But i have to admit it’s been a good travel day and i enjoyed the rest of the day with just resting and relaxing.
Dinner tonight was some stewed pork chops i had put in the crock pot when we arrived.  Hubby added some gravy mix and mushrooms.  He threw some baked tators in the microwave and we had a tasty dinner.  I’m exhausted and going to call it an early night.  Not sure what adventures tomorrow holds but I'm sure it will be good ones.