A New Plan In Florida

February 2024                                                       Most Recent Posts:
Cedar Key RV Resort                    Winding Up Two Weeks at Silver Springs
Sumner, Florida                          My Favorite Hike and The Steps Resolution

Last winter when I was trying to make a reservation to back up against the end of my time at Myakka, I was not able to for two days.  I did finally get a site at Silver Springs but then had to find somewhere to stay for two night that would be on the way between them hopefully.  I discussed this in my post on Ross Prairie.

The same thing happened to me when I was scheduled to leave Silver Springs on January 31.  But this time it was on the 4th day when I could not get a site that I threw in the towel.  I was so frustrated and irritated that I talked to my friend Laurel about where she had stayed in  private parks that she might be able to recommend for two months.  She wasn’t sure about that long but did give me some suggestions.

The most convenient one to Silver Springs, and in a place I’d been to for a day visit from Manatee Springs State Park years ago, was Cedar Key.  So I called and booked all of February and all of March.  I just didn’t want to have to deal with the Florida Park Reservation System any more until Fall.    When I arrived, this is the vehicle I followed down the road to the park.  David and I had two burros at the farm, Fred and Ginger.  This seemed like a very good omen

David and I only stayed in a private park once in all the 8 years we came to Florida together and that was for two months while he recuperated from a stem cell transplant in 2012.  I have never stayed in one since I’ve been on my own. 

But here I am in site 77 at Cedar Key RV Resort in Sumner Florida 7 miles east of the little island town of Cedar Key.  This site is leased (owned) by someone who put it in the rental pool and it was assigned to me. 

Private parks are different in many ways from state parks.   One is the view out my front window which shows a sort of small town.  Luckily this park has only 99 sites which for private parks in Florida is small. 

Another difference is the closeness of the sites although again, this park’s sites are much roomier than other private parks I have seen.   I did some scouting the year after David died to see if there was somewhere I could spend the cold months without moving every two weeks.  My scouting was all in southern Florida and even monthly prices were prohibitive.  Staying here is also about $200 more a month than I pay in the state parks.  But it’s not twice or 3 times as much as I found in my scouting.  Further north is the reason.

Still, private parks have numerous advantages in addition to be able to stay pretty much as long as I like.  They also have Full Hook Ups so no dump station runs.  They also have many folks who are here for the entire season and some who have been coming for years.  Thus they can give great advice about the area and you get to know them since they aren’t leaving in a few days.

Private parks also often have swimming pools and planned activities as this one does.  I didn’t avail myself of the pool since it was heavily chlorinated.  I was surprised they had not changed it to salt water.

But I did take advantage of the activities.  I joined a group that orders pizza every Monday night and they take turns going to pick it up and eat together in the clubhouse.  Since nearly everyone here is in couples, they split the large pizza.  I get to have 6 toppings of my choice and eat it multiple times over the week.  Needless to say I only go every 3rd week.

Another fun food event happens every other Thursday.  $3.00 for an ice cream sundae.  They have had 2 or 3 flavors of ice cream,  3 or 4 different toppings like fudge and butterscotch.  Nuts, sprinkles, candy bar crumbles.   Absolutely fun and terrible for me.

This particular picture was taken on Carol’s birthday when a friend in the park baked her a cake and she brought it to share.  Usually it’s just ice cream.

Other food events since I’ve been here are  pancake breakfasts twice a month, a super bowl party, and a St Patrick’s day potluck

After all the food luckily there is an exercise group and a yoga group three times a week.  Pickleball twice a week and cornhole once a week.

Friday night is game night.  Folks bring whatever games they like up to the clubhouse and whoever shows up plays.  The ones I’ve seen most frequently are Sequence and

Mexican Train Dominos.  And of course various types of card games.

But my hands down favorite is Tuesday night Bingo. 

They play bingo with gift bags.  Each person brings a bag with a gift/s costing $5 or less.  Then you can buy 2 or 3 bingo cards at $1.00 each and the fun begins.   They play until all the bags are gone.  If you win, you pick a bag off of the table and open it showing everyone the prize.  Next winner can either take a bag or steal your prize and you get to choose another.  One prize can only be stolen twice.  It’s great fun.

partially full gift bag table

I won these 5 alcoholic beverage bottles.  They looked very interesting.  I think you can see what they are if you click the photograph.   But I really don’t like the taste of any alcohol except Bailey’s Irish Cream so when they didn’t get stolen – granted I was next to last to win – I brought them in their bag back the next week as my give away.

I have also been thrilled to be able to watch ACC basketball and Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Women’s team on the TV setup in the clubhouse where they have cable.  The park unfortunately for me does not have cable available for everyone.  I think that’s pretty unusual for most private parks but maybe everyone now has their own dish or satellite set up. 

On some week nights and Saturday and Sunday afternoons I’ll be sitting on the sofa with one game after another on the screen.   Thank goodness the serious part of March Madness only lasts for two months.  It’s hard to fit everything else I want to do around basketball.  Though thankfully it’s mostly on the week-ends when I stick close to Winnona to avoid the week-end warriors.

I was the beneficiary of some wonderful kindness that could probably only happen at a private RV park.  A couple at the park had moved into a new RV and somehow (I never did quite understand how) ended up with three brand new RV mattresses still in the plastic that they did not want and wanted to GIVE AWAY.   They had a king, a queen and a short queen.

My mattress is now 20 years old and I had planned to get a new one this summer.  I was at a women’s wine and chat when Dottie told the story and asked if anyone knew anyone who wanted a new mattress.  I volunteered.   The next day when I came home from kayaking I was shocked to find a memory foam mattress wrapped in plastic on my picnic table.

  Bill, my benefactor and my neighbor took my old mattress out and over to the trash bins and put the new one in for me.

One less thing I have to take care of this summer  And one less expense as they absolutely refused to take any money for it  Doris said I was doing her a favor.  She just wanted to get them out of her shed.   You can not ask for nicer folks than these.

My new memory foam.                                    All made up and ready for sleeping.

I’ll close by reminding myself that it was not warm here in February.  Notice the indoor and outdoor highs and lows.  It had gotten up to 34 outside when I woke up. 

Before I turned the space heater on it was 49 inside.  I do not run heat at night.  I love it cool at night under the covers but that makes it hard to want to get up out of bed. 

Next post will be about the darling island town of Cedar Key which has done an amazing job of recovery from the damage it suffered from Hurricane Idalia on August 30th last year.