The New Toy

After we got back “home” here in Rock Crusher Canyon, one of the first things we wanted to get accomplished was to add some sort of storage shed to our site. We also needed to go get our golf cart which was down in Valrico, two hours down the road. I know you have probably heard of the expressions “two for one” and/or “killing two birds with one stone” right? Well, they both can be applied to the picture below.

This is our new toy! How did it come to be you ask? Well, Barbie was talking with one of the work campers here in the park Tuesday and the subject of their utility trailer came up. Don and Joann use their  5’ X 8’ as a small storage shed. When Barbie mentioned their conversation to me it got my brain “a thinkin.” I got online and started researching cargo or utility trailers. They  come in many sizes. They can also be customized to whatever your needs are on the inside. My thinking was to look at the ones that would be large enough to transport/store our golf cart AND could be used to store other items like a small refrigerator, tools, my DJ speakers/gear and whatever else we needed to keep in it. It makes for a useable, portable set-up as opposed to a permanent shed. There are two dealers in the close proximity of Crystal River that sell them. After my online research and talking with Barbie about our needs, we decided a 6’ X 12’ single axle trailer with a fold down ramp/door in the back and a side door would fill the bill. Wednesday we visited both dealers, looked at their trailers and bottomline bought the unit pictured above. Thursday we drove to Valrico to get my Silverado pick-up truck and returned here so we could haul the trailer down to Valrico Friday to get the golf cart and bring it back up to Rock Crusher. We got the trailer, with golf cart in it, back to Rock Crusher just before dark. Then we moved the motorhome off of the site temporarily so we could back the trailer in our site. We wanted it to sit behind the motorhome. After moving the motorhome back on the pad we were pretty well beat.

7:00am came early this morning but there was a breakfast gathering in the clubhouse to attend. You see we have some folks who prepare breakfasts every two weeks for those interested. For $5,  Bruce, Carol and Florrie do a great job and all of us who partake are most appreciative. Today we had scrambled eggs, home fries, hash brown taters, grits, sausage patties, pancakes, fruit salad, oj and coffee. Awesome food and great company! We got back to the coach and the crew we hired to wash and wax the coach were already at it. Ted did the coach last year here at Rock Crusher so Barbie contacted him early in the week. They did a super job again. He used a new oil based wax that he said would look better and hold up longer. He was correct on the first count-it looks great-not like a 9 year old coach. We’ll see if it lasts longer. Ted and his assistant spent about five hours working on it. I’ll have to take a picture and post it.

We’ll head back to Valrico Tuesday and stay ‘til Friday as I have dental and doctor appointments scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. We’ll have Friday breakfast with some of Barbie’s former co-workers from Mann Middle School in Brandon. But, after breakfast they’ll go to work and we’ll head back here to Rock Crusher. I tell ya, retirement is great!

The snowbirds are slowly arriving in the park but this time next week this place will be jumping with campers that will attend the “Country Rocks the Canyon” concert held right next door to the campground in a large outdoor amphitheater. Rock Crusher Canyon is Florida’s largest natural amphitheater. The Amphitheater features a ninety-foot craggy canyon wall as a backdrop to the largest covered outdoor stage in the state and has excellent acoustics. They held outdoor concerts there regularly until the last few years when they only seem to have one big country show with about five or so country acts playing in December. I believe this will be the Sixth Annual “Country Rocks the Canyon” Concert.

You see originally, Rock Crusher Canyon was three venues in one: the Garden Pavilion, a 20,000-square-foot building that hosted weekend music and buffet dinner dances; the Rock Crusher Canyon Amphitheater for concerts; and the Rock Crusher Canyon RV park. Rock Crusher Canyon opened in 1995 and went after big name stars right away. The annual Crystal River Jam country music festivals drew the top names in country music. Because of the amphitheater's limited seating capacity of about 5,500, the festivals failed to make a lot of money. Then management started scaling back. No more three-day festivals filled with A-list entertainers. Instead, Rock Crusher booked classic acts such as Lee Greenwood, Three Dog Night, Roy Clark and The Oak Ridge Boys for the major shows at the amphitheater. The entertainment roster  at Rock Crusher Canyon also included in the past name acts such as Willie Nelson, Mickey Rooney, Travis Tritt, Alabama and Hootie and the Blowfish.

So there you go, a 2 for 1 post---you read about our “new toy” and get a Rock Crusher Canyon history lesson!

“Til next time……………..