Mystic Springs Cove - Part 2

I've been trying to post on here for over a week and have been unable to get it to work. In desperation, I tried shortening the blog and it apparently worked. So here is the rest of my first Mystic Springs report.

About the time it was starting to quiet down a little, a late arrival created a whole new round of "Hellos and Hugs". Beth, husband of Bill and co-owner of "Boop-Sea", a REALLY shiny vintage unit arrived straight from work. And since she's leaving Tuesday for 2 years in Alaska as a visiting Nurse Practitioner it was a going away party, too. Their trailer has a big nautical Betty Boop on the spare tire cover. By Saturday morning I felt I knew them well enough to give them a Betty Boop pin. Yes, doll collector friends, one of THOSE pins. For you who don't know what I'm talking about, I can't explain here. Ask to see one the next time our paths cross. For those of you who do know, Beth wore it in plain sight most of the weekend. Cool people. Their trailer won "Best in Show" and she did remove it for the awards photo.

On Saturday I finally got around to officially registering. I was welcomed again and told, "If you want to come back in May and be Campground Host for a week or two, you get to stay for free!" I told them that to make that a really attractive offer, they needed to raise their rates well above the $9.00/night (with full hookups) that they currently charge. Since I had two free nights, the only charge for the weekend was the $10.00 Rally Fee. Which included that wonderful Jambalaya dinner, breakfast and dinner Sat, and "Toast and Coffee" and lunch on Sun. And an excellent program on how to polish an Airstream. Which made me VERY glad that mine is not Vintage and does have a Clear Coat. Gus Spies really knows what's what in the polishing world. He also gave a short seminar on riveting that will be of major help to me in the future.

That's what was officially included.

Unofficial perks included non-stop food and Margaritas, incredible new friends, and lots of my questions about Airstreams and Airstreaming answered under a bright blue Florida sky.

Before dinner Saturday one of the Vintage folks was bragging about some 'shine he'd made from apple mash. By the time he brought it back from his trailer for us to sample, there were three other samples there as well. We all pretty well agreed that the 18 yr old corn was the best, but the apple had several fans as well. It was compared very favorably to Courvosier V.S.

I didn't even make it to "Toast & Coffee" or lunch on Sunday because Vinnie and crowd had already fixed a breakfast of bacon, Italian sausage, eggs, hash browns, and cheese grits with garlic and spices. It's the first time in my life I ate a complete helping of grits. Anne Mollere from Jackson, MS, made them. I told her, "Chunks of cardboard would be delicious with this much butter, cheese and seasonings." Then I went back for seconds.

I did go by for dessert Sunday and was told that the people who were supposed to Host for two weeks just called to cancel. "Would you be willing to stay and do it? There's really nothing to it. Just be here in case a camper shows up. Turn the flag spotlight on and off. That's about it." I asked what would happen if I said, "No?" This entire place is owned, maintained and run by volunteers. So if I didn't fill in, a member would have to take time off from work and come up here. So here I am, on 10 acres along the Escambia River, three miles from the paved road, in the middle of 100,000 acre of paper company timberland.

ALONE.

I mean REALLY ALONE!

And the first week has been wonderful.

I can't match the pictures on their website, so here it is again.

Mystic Springs

I'll let you know about the second week in a few days.