Day 9 - West Palm Beach to Indian Town - Free Camping

Cloud formation from cold front coming through South Florida.

After Stealth Camping last night I went into Cousin Joan's apartment to talk some more before taking off to get groceries for my next stop at Free Camping.

I said goodby to Joan so happy she is currently in remission of cancer.  Last night she told me that after I left her last year on my 2014 Travels she followed me online and this gave her inspiration to get through her very difficult chemo.  I didn't know that my traveling posts had such a positive impact.  During the time when she was on chemo her brother Bill died but she was too ill in the hospital to be given the news right away.  I may get to see her in Massachusetts later this year.

It was off to Walmart for weekend groceries. I had bought a few non perishables the other day but today was perishables and time to keep my cooler running to keep them fresh.  I will cover the cooler and the modified Prius electrical system in a separate post.

After securing the food it was off to the northwest towards Lake Okeechobee to a free csmpground called DuPuis near Indian Town.  I learned of this csmpground from another Vandweller "Mr Loo" who was at DuPuis earlier this year.

The picture above is of a cloud formation on the way to the free camping.  A cold front was coming through and it was 77 deg when leaving Walmart and and it was 64 deg passing through the front.  I left with tee shirt and shorts and needed to change to long sleeves & long pants when I got settled.  It will be around 40 deg tonight where last nightvwas in the 60's.

I arrived at DuPuis and stopped at the first open gate to figure out where to camp. I opened up the brochure box to get myself one and found this guy in the box.

I had some off handed remark for him but couldn't get a smile out if him.  I figure he had a rough Friday night and was trying to sleep it off.

After taking one of the brochures and closing the cover for Mr. No smiles to go back to napping, I found the family camping area on the map and proceeded there.

It was still morning and I was hoping I would find an open site as there is no reservations and first come first serve, with an eight day limit per stay.

I arrived to find a pond-side spot that was level enough for my low clearance Prius.

The rules said tent camping only but I am not putting up a tent unless someone has an issue.  I brought a very small one-man tent for just that purpose although I would still sleep in car.

The ranger came by and didn't stop nor did the camp host so I think I'm ok for now.

I organized the newly purchased food and proceeded to organize the Prius for the night/AM as I am learning to do to make life so much easier.  

I then started making dinner at 3:30.  I wanted to be done cleaning up as its getting colder and it gets dark early.

Yes that is chicken cooking on my new stove with butane fuel using my new camp cookware.  Excellent fire for cooking and great cookware. I needed to block the strong wind to keep the flame even on the pan.

Yes that's a lot of chicken and I didn't eat it all tonight.  I got the smallest package and then cook it all and will use the rest of the chicken in another meal.

Have to have a salad each day.  I actually don't mind cooking my meals.  

I did have some Bush beans with the chicken.

I needed a little hot water to wash the dishes, so I used this 12 volt water heater for the first time and it made just enough hot water to do a good job with the dishes.

There was a commodion with a bunch of kids in the campground after dinner.  It was something in the pond.  It was baby Gator.

The day ended by catching up with some of my podcasts.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com