Comlara Park - Getting ready for Florida

Well it's less than a week before we leave for our Spring Break vacation in Navarre, FL. We haven't been able to get the new trailer out due to the weather here in Illinois but this weekend it was in the upper 70's to low 80's and we needed to make sure we remembered how to set up and use the different features of the trailer. So I hitched up the trailer while Glenda was still at work(I get off early on Friday afternoons) and off I went to Lake Evergreen(Comlara County Park) north of Hudson, IL. I had called a few days ago to see what the arrangements were for camping since it was still early here in Illinois and they said that only a small part of the campground would be open and the water was still turned off. So I stopped by the house on the way out of town and filled the fresh water tank after de-winterizing the water system. My first time to do that. I started filling and went inside to turn on the pump and the faucets but nothing happened. I couldn't figure out why the water wouldn't flow. I could hear the pump running so I looked under the sink area at the punp and I forgot to turn the valve that lets the water into the system. As soon as I did that...well you know what happened. I opened the hot and cold, flushed the toilet, ran the shower(both inside and out) and  everything began to flow. But I digress. When I got to the campground I was told that they had just opened up more of the campground and I could go look to see what site I wanted. So off I went. Well my luck was good. I came across a great site right on the lake.

Site #80

It had a great view of the lake and no one else next door. So I unhitched and set up , then drove back to the office to let them know what site I chose and pay. Two nights $36.00...not too bad.

The view from the camp site of the lake

I went and picked up Glenda in town and on the way out of town we stopped to pick up Subway since it was getting late and we didn't feel like cooking. Had a nice dinner in the camper and sat out in our bag chairs as the sun set. We decided to go for a walk around the campground and see who else was there. We saw two tent campers on the back loop and only three other travel trailers. Two of them were fifth wheels. We hooked up the TV and were able to find about 14 local channels on the antenna. I tried to get a fire going but I wasn't doing something right and I couldn't get a good fire for marshmellows so we packed it in for the night. Well our last trailer had a bed that folded out the back of the trailer(some canvas) but this BIGGER trailer has the bed inside. It felt great and much quieter.

Saturday

We decided to go to our home after eating some breakfast and do some housecleaning(Glenda's idea, not mine) and do our grocery shopping for the week. We got those things accomplished and around 2 pm we headed back the the campground. We took our bikes with us and had a nice bike ride after dinner. Just some snacks.  We rode for about 30 minutes or so in the campground and around on the county road outside the camp area. We built another fire and this time I used some Fire Starter gel. That did the trick. We had a great fire and I got to eat some marshmellows. There was a threat of some storms but they passed to the south of us so no harm.

Sunday

Got up and had some breakfast and built another fire with the last of the wood I bought at the camp office on Friday. I went out to drink my coffee by the fire.

After we cleaned up the breakfast dishes(oatmeal, OJ and coffee) we decided to take a little hike on some of the trails around the park.

Great scenery and some shade in spots

Once we got back it was getting time to think about lunch before getting ready to hitch up and go back to town. So I grilled some hamburgers and we had chips and soft drinks. Something about eating food with nature all around that makes it taste better. We sat out by the lake and saw some turtles sunning themselves. 

Five turtles sharing a log. Just after taking this picture they all slipped into the water. Guess they were a little camera shy. Well about 2:30pm we get everything together and off we went to the dump station before heading home. It was a great trial run for the trip beginning next weekend. Florida, ready or not, here we come.