Nine more nights in Primrose

With our first Primrose trip of 2014 behind us, we are starting to see how snowbird RVers live here in Florida. After leaving the Big Cypress Seminole Campground, we moved on to Fisheating Creek and Okeechobee before alighting for five days in Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park.

On our last night at the state park campground, the temperature was beginning to drop. Dressed in warm clothing, we prepared a meal using our Jetboil outside on the picnic table. Using the biggest fuel canister, we saved the smaller ones for backpacking.

We might be mini RVers in Primrose, but we’re backpackers at heart. So it was a one pot pasta dinner for two. Sitting at our picnic table, we noticed our two neighbors were the only ones other than us eating outside. Us in the VW, and the others in a tent and a plain van.

Everyone else in the campground were sitting inside in their RV’s little dining area, watching TV. Here we are enjoying our dinner surrounded by a beautiful oak hammock, looking out across the prairie. And they’re locked inside with the TV on!

Without a TV to distract us, we watched the show that nature provided for us. A red-shouldered hawk squawked just above us. Looking closer at the tree, we realized that it had a nest not very far from our camper.

Eventually, a few of the RVers ventured out and joined us to watch another spectacular sunset.

Living in Primrose is nothing like being in a “real” RV. There’s no hot and cold running water, no no big stove, no microwave and NO bathroom.

What we do have is a comfortable place to sleep, seating for three, two small tables, a tiny fridge and sink, a two burner propane stove and a single 12 volt light. Plus lots of cool little storage cubbyholes.

When power is available we have a fan and a heater, a light, and a two plug outlet. What really makes Primrose special is the pop-top, with a big screened window and standing headroom.

Our floor space, if you count the space in front of the driver and passenger seats is around 35 square feet, or the size of a small walk-in closet. With the bed open, we do lose a few of those feet.

She’s only fifteen feet long, and with the top down, she’s low enough to still fit under things (like oak trees) and into tight places.

When we were in Big Cypress at the beginning of this journey, we spied three other VW campers. Two newer than Primrose, and the other from the late Sixties.

The woman driving the ’86 was driving the perimeter of the USA. I wish that I had taken the opportunity to learn more about her and her adventure.

We’ve already celebrated our first anniversary with Primrose. Thank you for many great nights in so many cool places. And for all the folks who have came up to us and told the stories of how there was a VW camper in their lives — or their parents, or their neighbors, or their friends.

If you’re hiding from someone, or don’t like to talk to people, or in the witness protection program, then a VW camper is NOT the vehicle for you!