So last September or so I got a real itch to get another camper- I had one when I lived in NY many moons ago, but I primarily kept it popped up in the backyard for parties and as a personal fort; we really didn’t take it traveling around much- I honestly don’t remember bringing it anywhere because I don’t think we had a vehicle with a hitch. Anyway, that’s when I fell in love with campers- they are one of those things- you’re either the kind of kid who loves to build blanket forts and spend hours in them or you aren’t, and I’m that kind of kid. Campers are forts for big people that you can take wherever you want and have adventures.
So I’m a single (dating but no longer married) girl and I wondered if it was too big a task to take on by myself. Not much intimidates me but I have some physical limitations that make things that are easy for most people a bit harder for me so I wondered. Still I kept browsing around Craigslist and then I saw this camper and fell in love. I already had a hitch on my truck because I tow a kayak trailer and by god it was ready to roll. I went an looked at it and the owners had taken really good care of it. They used it when their kids were doing some motocross racing in FL and they assured me that the AC blew cold, the heat worked (if needed!) and the tires were good. All turned out to be true, which is great! Despite my health issues, I really had little trouble popping it up myself or doing any of the routine tasks on it.
So November rolled around and I decided it was time to put on my big girl pants and take it on a journey. Now since I live in the amazing and gorgeous FL Keys, it’s not hard to find a great destination very close by- all the better to test things out! My roommate and I headed to Long Key State Park for a 3 night trip to get away and see how everything worked.
Hooking up the camper was an adventure and lucky for us the mailman was delivering just as I was struggling to get the coupler onto the trailer ball- he jumped out and helped and got us on our way, and while I was frustrated at not having done it “myself”, I was glad my camper didn’t end up careening down US 1 on its own. We headed to Winn-Dixie where we loaded up on camp necessities; Baileys liquor, champagne for mimosas, beer…oh, and some food too.
Checked in to Long Key and discovered the first challenge of the day; backing in the camper. I’d like to say that I’d spent an hour before leaving for this trip practicing backing my camper in but I sure didn’t. In fact, I’d never backed a trailer at all, come to think of it. So of course I immediately jackknifed it in the road, attracting the gawking eyes of absolutely everyone nearby and prompting me to yell ‘WHADDYA LOOKIN AT?? MOVE ALONG!!” to the curious onlookers. Thankfully the canadians next to us took mercy and the guy talked me through backing in- didn’t do it FOR me, but talked me through doing it so I’d get a feel for it. What an nice guy! Later my friend Marsha, a veteran pop upper asked “Why didn’t you just unhook it and walk it in?” and I realized that duh, you really can do that. They aren’t particularly heavy and they are balanced pretty well. Lesson learned.
We got pulled in and I popped her up- no small feat since I’d only done it once and didn’t make any notes. It wasn’t perfectly level, which meant the door didn’t shut great but it was pretty darned good. The dog and the roomie were happy so we went about camping, which means drinking beer outside at the picnic table and admiring the view. And OH what a view….
Long Key Campground
Long Key Campground is located at MM 67, so only about 30 miles south of where I live. I had scoped it out a few weeks prior with another friend and fell in love with it- every single site is on the ocean, as in directly on the ocean. This is the view you get from your bunk end:
Not too shabby, I have to say. When I got to my site (39 I think) I was disappointed though- the tide had gone out and there was no water to play in, just jagged rocks! But lo and behold, how amazing. LOADS of gorgeous wading birds every time the tide went out! And I had my camera so I was thrilled! I could just sit right there at my campsite and snap away and enjoy the nature show, it was truly amazing. Then when the tide came back in it was deep enough to frolic around on floaties and drift the time away, no problem at all. I got some great nature shots on this trip. Here are a few from low tide:
As if that wasn’t enough, how about the sunrises? If you stay at this campground and don’t set the alarm to get up for sunrise, you are out of your mind. You can go back to bed after, but get up in the dark and make your coffee then get the camera out for sunrise; you might end up with a few shots like these:
and the shoreline was just gorgeous to walk up and down; here’s what it looks like when you walk a few steps from your site down to the ocean front:
OK one more photo set because this was awesome. Right after an afternoon rain, we spotted this Osprey, which we had seen flying above hunting for its chicks and he had quite a catch. This fish was simply too big to fly with (he was soaking wet and couldn’t get off the ground) but by god he was NOT letting it go. He ended up having his lunch on the beach and I was lucky enough to photograph it.
OK one last set of photos because I think Foster loved this trip best of all. My Foster, BTW is the love of my life, my faithful dog of 10 years that I found on the street and rescued. He adored camping, he loved the camper and he gave Long Key 2 thumbs up (if he had thumbs). He didn’t love that there were a lot of little pickers on the ground, though, so next time he told me to bring a broom and really give the site a good sweep so we weren’t picking them out of his feet every few hours. Here’s Foster thinking that life is pretty good with his mama.
So as to the actual campground: I don’t have kids and I saw some reviews of this place complaining that there’s “nothing for kids to do”, which I disagree with. You could easily bring a kayak or paddle board, snorkel gear, fishing equipment; there was a lot to do, in my opinion. No actual playground though or swimming pool, but really- you’re in the middle of one of the most beautiful, pristine areas of the earth. Enjoy it and don’t worry about the lack of plastic playground equipment!
There are fire pits there but when I went (early Nov) there was NO FIREWOOD to be found and I mean anywhere. The FL Keys do not have spare trees to just chop down for wood so the state park relies on local places that do tree removal to donate wood that they can sell. I could not beg, borrow or steal firewood and had to make s’mores over wood charcoal. I had duraflame logs for my regular fire but you cannot cook over them. I ordered some Duraflame Roasting Logs for next time so I won’t run into that situation.
Of course a week later there was wood in every single store so it was just bad timing on my part.
There is a small store just outside the park that sells everything from nuts/bolts to hair weaves (yes really) to ice and bathing suits. If you forgot it, don’t worry- they have it (or at least one of whatever it is). We went there each morning to get ice for the cooler.
There is also a Publix grocery not far (south) as well as Walgreens, a liquor store and everything else- this camping is hardly “roughing it”; while the sites feel pretty far removed, it is super easy to get what you want/need so don’t over pack. There’s even a Kmart about 15 minutes south if you need some emergency fix it stuff.
The campground itself was only $40 a night which is a steal (we had a water/electric site). I had good cell service so I used that to make a wi-fi hotspot and had internet access when I wanted it. Oh and I thought the sites had plenty of privacy- VERY high trees between each site and I didn’t have any noise issues at all. Additionally, the restrooms were very conveniently located and SPOTLESS. The showers were clean as can be and it wasn’t scary to go there yourself at night. I left a glow stick in a jar of water at my site so it would be easy to spot walking back.
So this was my first camping outing with this camper but not my first campground and I have to say I give it a 9.5 out of 10- the only deductions are that it’s pretty close to the main road and there aren’t pull through sites. It’s going to be hard to beat it, but I’ve already seen a few down that way that I’m going to try out and see how they compare! By the way, on the way out I popped the camper down and my roomie took notes and now we have a step by step assembly/disassembly which is SO nice. Also I hooked the camper up on my own just fine (no need for the mailman to step in). I think we are going to have a great relationship, me and this camper!
Keys Camper 
Loved it Suzette. As always your pics are fantastic.