June 10, 2001
We made it all the way to the Peach State already. In one day we went from Clermont, FL, to Quitman, GA. Little over 300 miles. I wasn't feeling too well, so we decided to find a campground rather than just "dry camp" at the Elks Lodge. We ended up about 20 miles west of Hwy 75 in the Pride Resorts Country Lakes park. As we were going down this two-lane local road lined with neat homes, I began to wonder why anybody would put a decent RV park way out here in the middle of almost nothing. Barb assured me that the man on the phone sounded nice and friendly, and that we should at least check it out.
Well, Norm, the manager, was more than just friendly. He was really interested in making us feel at home. Told us about our neighbors, gave us any spot we wanted, and even gave us a tour in his van of the entire place.
There we are in front of the office on the left. What? Why is the hood of the truck open? Uh, well, you see it was like this. After admiring the truck, Norm and I were talking and I started to start the truck. Only nothing happened when I turned the key. Nada, blotto, silence. No dome lights inside, no radio, no nothing. I thought it would have to be something simple. Something easy to fix that somebody like me with years of mechanic experience and a toolbox full of all kinds of tools could fix. Matter of fact, I told everybody (we'd drawn a small crowd of local folks by then--Slim and his wife RaeJean, and another fellow) that it had to be something like a loose ground wire and easy to fix. And after making an utter fool of myself for probably 20 minutes peering at the engine, wiggling wires, taking off and cleaning one of the battery leads that looked bad, I called the insurance company for help. They assured me that within the hour somebody would be there to at least take a look. And while we waited, Norm took us on the tour. This little park is one of the gems that fulltimers talk about. Frogs, birds, and once in a while a neighbor's air-conditioner are all there is to be heard. That, and, of course, the rain on the roof, accompanied by the crack of lightning and rumble of thunder. Mike the tow-truck driver showed up, wad of snuff tucked under his lower lip. He poked and prodded and peered at things just like I'd done. He went one step further and crawled under the truck, bless his heart. He had the same result as I did. I didn't get concerned until he pulled out his 2 pound hammer. I relaxed after I noticed he was only using it to short across the fusible links. These are heavy lead strips that are supposed to melt in the event of a short someplace so a fire won't start. It was one of these that caused the fire nearly a year ago you may recall. In the process, he grabbed and shook the wires on these links, and voila! A loose connection. Since he didn't have any tools with him, I got to be a hero at last and gave him the 1/2 inch wrench needed to tighten up the wires. Everything working again, Barb and the crowd wandered off to our site and waited for me to back the trailer in. You can just see them in the picture on the right, against the motorhome we're going to park next to. And since it was a nice wide spot, backing in on the driver's side making it easy for me to judge distances, several people standing around to offer help, we botched the entire process, and had to make several attempts at it before we got it right. Much to the glee of those watching. We all have good days and bad days when it comes to backing into a space. Fortunately, Barb and I have done this enough by now that when it's not going well, we both know it will eventually get done so neither of us gets upset with anything, we just keep working at it.
In front of our rig is the swimming pool with plenty of lawn between it and the corn field. Behind our Road Abode is one of three ponds this park has (our kitchen view). The white building you can see in the picture on the right is the recreation building, and next to it is Norm's home. There's even a small fountain in the pond, which also has fish for catch-and-release, and we've never seen a pond with so many turtles--Barb thinks there's at least 50, I think 20; in any event, they're mostly snappers and sliders. The pond is also headquarters for birds feeding along it shores--Egrets, Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Little Blue Herons, Osprey, and, today, a Wood Stork that spent about 4-5 hours. I can hardly wait to test the waters!
Down the road just a little (I'm standing in front of Moby Dick) is the part of the park currently vacant (this area is like Florida right now and RV business is slow). And then there's the yellow-bellied slider (turtle) under our trailer laying her eggs! Yes she did--graced us with her offspring which, at the moment, is well protected from heavy, driving rainfall..
Barb caught me catching a catfish using a spinner. That was a first for me. Norm wasn't sure he'd ever heard of anybody catching a catfish with a lure before either. The "thrill a day" continues. And there goes Mrs. Turtle after making her deposit under the trailer.
It had started to rain so I packed up and was heading home (the turtle is on my left on the hill) and besides, every time I'd cast, I'd attract the attention of one of the four small 'gators living in the pond. Since small 'gators grow up into big 'gators, and can make a nuisance of themselves eating the little foo-foo dogs so many RV'ers have, they have to be moved. This young fellow is the official 'gator man for the area. He uses a fishing pole with heavy line and a big treble hook. He casts the line over the 'gator and drags it in to snag these little guys, brings it ashore, carefully grabs it behind the neck, then moves it to the largest pond on the property which covers several acres and is isolated from the actual campsites. It was his second 'gator (two more to go), and that was our "thrill a day" for today; never saw a 'gator get caught before. Little 'gator wasn't too happy, and wasn't shy about letting us all know about it. Making a barking/grunting/hissing kind of noise while trying to bite anything in reach. He was held like this just for the picture. During the walk back to the truck, he was held by the back of the neck and didn't thrash about much at all. We really like this little park, and will stay here for at least another day (Monday) before continuing on our way to Lynchburg, TN--Jack Daniel's home :-).