I can't find my original post about this so here it is again. Planning a weekend at Hillsborough River State Park the weekend of Dec. 7. I plan on staying in site 33. If you've never stayed at a State park in Fla, it's really easy to navigate their sites.
http://www.floridastateparks.org/hillsboroughriver/default.cfm
Go to the Reserve America link and it will show you the layout of the campground, and what each site will handle. Most of the ones in this area will handle pretty much anything, and the plumbing and electric are all new.
The park has a huge swimming pool, canoe rentals to enjoy the beautiful river, and miles of trails for hiking and biking. Bikes are also available for rent. There is a nice screen enclosed building right in this area in case we need it, and the campfire ring is walking distance.
This is a very informal invite to join us at "The River" for a weekend, and as more folks sign up, we can make more plans as to dinners etc. Sunday morning will definately consist of our [almost] world famous biskits an' gravy.
If this sounds good to you, make your reservations through Reserve America, let me know you're going, and by December we just might have a real party together!
BTW, adult beverages are allowed in campsites, in case you're not familiar with Fl Parks, they all say no alcoholic beverages, and outside the campsites they may give you a hassle, but it is mostly an excuse to kick out troublemakers, and we've never had a problem.

quote:

Originally posted by Danny Z:
I can't find my original post about this so here it is again. Planning a weekend at Hillsborough River State Park the weekend of Dec. 7.

Is this it Danny?

Hillsborough River State Park

Yup, I forgot where I posted it at that time. Maybe this will get a response or two. Sure would like to see a group like the NE party.

I plan on coming. I may bring one of my scopes if the RV site isn't too overrun with trees - the closeness of Tampa will mess the sky up, but there will be some celestial sights to see.

Hey Danny, a couple of questions from someone who has never been camping in a "State Park"

Does the State Parks in Florida get filled up in the winter time with all the "North Eastern Snowbirds"? How much time do you need to get something like this going before the spots are all gone? Are you still going (pre-planned) no matter who shows up?

Hey Bill, let me try and answer your questions. December 7 isn't really hard into snowbird season yet, but the temps are usually coming down to bearable. To jump ahead, yes, we're going to be in site 33 whether anyone else shows up or not. Everything around it except 37 appears to be able to handle anything.
http://www.reserveamerica.com/fl/Hillsborough_River_Sp/...gency=FL&parkId=1037 As I said before, this area has all new electric and water lines, so there should be no problems there. As far as reservations, I would get them in as soon as possible, but I think the end of September will get you in. NO PROMISES! Don't be afraid of Reserve America if you haven't used them. We have used them since buying the Euro, and it's really easy. The sites are 20 bucks a night, including water and electric, no sewer but a dump station is available, and really nice restrooms with showers are within a couple hundred feet. This is a great park, 9 easy miles from 75 near Tampa, and we'd like to see as many Barth enthusiasts as possible. [Yeah Don, you and Linda better be there with that new SOB!!] Don't know what else to say for now so if anyone has questions or input I'm all ears.

It needs to be made clear: The Reserve America is one totally screwed up site. I registered there under my name, but it doesn't allow a different name (unannounced) for the credit card. Further, it shows that your site (#33) is still available for those dates (12/7-9/07). I THINK I'm signed up for #34, but these folks are so effed up, who knows?

Thanks for waking me up Rusty. I had forgotten to finalize my reservation but it's in now. My fault! Not sure about your problem with Reserve America. If I have friends meeting me at the park I just tell the Rangers at the entrance and they send them right in. Also, you should get a confirmation in your e-mail that I always print out and bring with me.
Glad you're going to make it and look forward to seeing you and the "family", and we hope conditions are right to have a look at the skys.

Danny,
Linda has taken off with my SOB and put in her name(illegally) and I don't know if i'll get it back by then. If I do get it back I'll need a new driver as Linda did all the driving.

Darn Don, that ain't good! Drop a dime if you want to talk about it.

That indeed sux!

Danny, I have site 34 reserved for 9/7-9/9.

I may have to cancel, as my astronomy club has had two large antique scopes donated and I'll be in Philadelphia, PA those days...however, there's a snag that has yet to be fixed, and if it's not, I'll be at the GTG...

Durn the luck! Of course I hope all goes well with the new old scopes, but we were looking forward to meeting you. It's still a ways off so we'll see what happens.

Reserve America is still on my list for the 2007 Enron Award. Their site for Hillsborough stated that "pets are welcome at all campsites", but the email confirm said "Pets are not allowed at North River's Edge Campground". It took me 25 minutes to drill up through two at the moron level to the dumbass level, where one finally agreed to send me an email saying the info in the confirm was wrong...

Anyway, the trip to Philly is still up in the air...

I hadn't thought about that since we don't camp with any pets. Down here at Oscar Scherer State Park they don't allow pets at the riverside capmsites either. Too much temptation for the gators.
We were camping there a while back and decided to stay for another night. I went to the ranger station and found out the site was reserved for that night but we could move to the one next door, but we had to do it through reserve america. When I called there they said that I had to do it at the ranger station because I was already at the park. I explained that they couldn't do it at the station because all reservations have to go through RA. Nope, can't do it. Back to the ranger station and the ranger says to call RA again and don't tell them you're already at the park, just tell them what site you want. No problem! Makes sense, doesn't it?