We left early Friday afternoon & made it to the Oleno State Park at 4:45. The ranger said it hadn't rained at all; according to weather.com the rain was supposed to begin at 5. Right after we pulled up to the camp site it began to rain.
So, instead of setting up the tent we headed off for dinner. The plan had been to meet with the group of people we were camping with over the weekend at a pizza place. Unfortunately, no one had directions to the pizza place & it took a long time before we all made it there.
We were back to the camp site at 7:30 & since it was only drizzling Ray pulled out the tent. Except, he realized one problem: he forgot the tent poles! So, we drove to a Walmart in Gainesville & bought a new tent. We were back to the campsite around 9:30. Because it was no dark Ray turned on the high beams on the van so that we could see as we set up the tent.
The van battery wore down & it went dead.
Thankfully, someone was able to jump start the van for us & we began unloading our belongings. And, then the torrential downpour began. We had to stand underneath the back of the van to stay dry. Once the rain settled into a drizzle we finished unloading & Ray went to blow up the air mattress. The only problem is that our air pump only works through the cigarette lighter in the van & we didn't want the mattress to get wet outside.
Someone else in our group had a pump we were able to plug into our extension cord & blow the mattress up in the tent.
When all was said & done everything was finally ready at 11:30! It was damp, hot & muggy & Ray asked if I wanted to set up the box fan he'd brought from home. He went to the van to get it only to come back & say that he forgot the fan at home!
I really felt bad for him. Ray was trying so hard to make this a good camping experience for me & had an awesome two page checklist he was following so he wouldn't forget anything. Sometimes you just can't help that the tent poles aren't inside the bag with the tent!
Because of the storms (you now, the tropical storm that's been settling around Florida this week) most everyone else in our group decided to go home Saturday. When we woke up in the morning Ray suggested that Clay & I get a ride home with the rest of our group. I was quite relieved!
Before going home we went tubing down the Springs. The kids just love it & the girls don't seem to mind the freezing water at all!
Proof that I was there
After the springs we ate some lunch - I taught the kids the whole duck bill our of pringles trick!
Ray & the girls had a fabulous time staying another night while I was so happy to go home. They made it our of the campsite on Sunday right before the worst of the storm began to hit!
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