Woodsmoke - Our First Campground Fiasco - Part 1

January 2005

In Winter of 2004, after much deliberation and several conversations with the folks at Woodsmoke, we made a reservation there.  We told them how large our RV and truck were--no problem--we told them we needed a site that had no large trees on it in the direction of the mid afternoon sun so that our satellite station could beam up to the big satellite in the sky--no problem.  We called them again in late summer to be absolutely sure this site would meet our needs--no problem with any of our requests.  I think you know where this is going.

We arrived in mid January 2005 and after we registered, and started towards our site, we noticed the roads in the campground were really REALLY narrow, with plantings of Royal Palms on the corner of the roads--now that was a good idea.  To get around one corner, we had to go back and forward about a dozen times to position the RV so that is would not have a tree indentation on its side.

We get to our site.  The first thing we notice is that the site is very narrow and very short.  Now we are looking at narrow and short site leading to a narrow road on a curve with two small pick up trucks parked on a spit of land across from our site.   A magician would not have been able to get this RV in that spot--the RV would have needed to made of rubber.  Oh, did I mention that the folks who own the two trucks on that spit of land across from this narrow road had gone a-fishin!

After the nice neighbor on our right tells us about the gone fishin thing.  We take a look at the lot.  At the back is a ditch with green water.  Not the emerald green water I have mentioned from other places we have been, but slimmy green.  The kind you see in horror films.  Then our neighbor on our left has a yard filled with spare parts for anything that has ever been built in this country.  They make the Beverly Hillbillies look like neatniks!!  These two lots on either side of us are called permanent sites, meaning that the two structures are on foundations and are rented by the same folks year in and year out.  Most of these folks have made these places really attractive--but not all.

Oh, one last thing.  No large trees in the direction of the mid afternoon sun?  Apparently, they did not realize the sun sets in the West.  Oh yes, there were a row of large trees directly blocking the mid afternoon sun.

There is a bad thing and a good thing about this story.  The good thing is that they were gracious enough to return our payment for 2 1/2 months rent on this site.  There is usually a no refund policy, but they let that go.

The bad thing:  we are now in Ft. Myers at the height of the snowbird season with no place to stay.  That is in an upcoming blog.

tg