Oscar Sherer State Park, Osprey FL

5/11/09


I know when I get online and research campgrounds it is nice when I can find a few comments and pictures about a place I might like to stay. It sure helps to get an idea about what things might be like there. As we add to this blog we’ll comment about the campgrounds we stay in, as well as adding some pictures.

Several weeks ago, we decided, along with some of our friends here in Sarasota, to spend the weekend camping. We tried Paynes Prairie State Park near Gainesville FL and Hillsborough River State Park, near Tampa. Both were booked so we decided to see if we could get places at Oscar Scherer State Park, which is in Osprey, just south of Sarasota. During the winter tourist season that is an impossible task unless you reserve about a year in advance. But, the season ends shortly after Easter and we were all able to get in. We had three spaces. Two couples were in a twenty foot trailer and one was in an A-liner. We had our TD of course and were anxious for another shake down cruise.

The park is beautiful, as is the campground. A lot of the spaces are very shady and most of them have a good deal of privacy. They all have fire rings, a picnic table, water, and electricity. The bathrooms are very clean and have hot water showers. The park has a nature center and wi-fi. Half of the sites are on a creek that flows through the park. We chose sites not on the creek because they were a little more private.

The park has 15 -20 miles of hiking trails and is also adjacent to the Legacy rails-to-trails bike trail. On Saturday we all biked south on the Legacy trail. Some of us continued beyond the trail to the south end of Casey Key to an area called the north Jettys park. We sat by the beautiful blue green water and enjoyed a Budweiser before returning to the campground. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture there.

Jolley and I stayed in site # 50, which was a very large back- in site. In addition to using our vestibule tent that attaches to the TD, we also used our 10x10 canopy, mainly because we wanted to see how hard it would be to put up. I had purchased it at Walmart a couple of months ago but Jolley and I had not yet put it up. It worked really well and was easy. It will definitely go with us when we camp because of the additional shade it provides as well as the protection from rain.

All-in-all it was a very nice weekend with good friends and beautiful weather. Our TD provided us with everything we needed to really enjoy ourselves.

Here are some pictures

In the beginning.....

In 2007 I was watching the Travel channel and a show came on about camping in Teardrop campers. I had never heard of Teardrops and came to find out that they were a big thing (no pun intended) in the late 30’s and 40’s. At that time, they were all homemade, beginning with a 4x8 piece of plywood. They were designed to sleep on the inside and cook in a galley that opened from the outside. Very small and compact. At some point after the 40s they apparently died off only to have a resurgence in about 2000 or so.

I thought they were really neat and the idea of only having to pull a very small camper was appealing. I have always wanted to explore the west and thought that a Teardrop might be my ticket. I began exploring all smaller camper options including pop-ups and A-liners. I decided a Teardrop would be the best for my wife (Jolley) and me. She seconded the motion.

After looking at all of the manufacturers (5-6 of them), I kept being drawn back to Camp Inn, a small company in Necedah Wisconsin. They really seemed to design and build a quality camper. Camp Inn is owned and operated by Cary Winch and Craig Edevold. The guys are engineers and started this company in about 2000. After communicating with Cary over a 9 month period, we decided what model and options we wanted and placed our order in about September of 08. The plan was to drive from Sarasota, where we live, to Necedah (northwest of Madison) in the first week of April 09, when Jolley had her spring break from teaching.

We headed to Necedah for the planned pickup on April 6th. We met Cary at the factory and were given 4-hour indoctrination by him and Craig. They weren’t about to let us leave before explaining in detail how everything worked and making sure we were comfortable and that everything functioned properly. After that, we headed south.

Since the weather was really cold, we decided to keep going south until we reached good temperatures before spending the first night in our new TD. As it turned out, that was in an RV park, just south of Birmingham. The park suited our purposes that night, because it had a pull through site, which made it easy for a guy with no experience pulling trailers. The next morning I was sitting there enjoying my coffee when another camper, who owned a big RV, came by walking his dog. After telling me how much he liked the TD he commented that I was obviously the only one in the park with any sense.

From Birmingham we headed to north Florida where we got the last spot in the campground at Falling Water State Park. What a beautiful place to camp. We didn’t know it, but the park has the highest waterfall in the state. The TD was great and that night we used one of the options we had ordered, which was s tent that attaches to one of the sides, kind of like a vestibule. It provides a good place to stand and change clothes as well as a good place to keep the portapotty.

The next night we were back at home, planning our next mini adventure, which will be another prelude to heading west this summer to explore Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. We’ll keep you posted on the progress.