Country Rocks the Canyon

Well, let me start by saying WE survived the weekend! From what you ask? This weekend, specifically Saturday, the “Country Rocks the Canyon” music festival was held in the open-air amphitheater sitting in a small canyon formed by digging an old limestone quarry adjacent to the now Rock Crusher Canyon  RV Park here in Crystal River, Florida. Below is a view from the sky that I got from Google Earth of the area. Click on the picture to enlarge it. I’ve labeled key landmarks. You really get no feeling of being in the canyon which you are in the area labeled “lower level”. Plus, behind the covered stage is a rock wall of the quarry. Where the campground area starts (on left edge where lower level meets trees) sits a hundred or so feet above that lower level as well.

The campground, which is our winter home (we own our site), has 398 full hook-up sites. You see only a small, lower left corner of the campground in the picture above. Next is a view of the lower level and covered stage area. This is a view of the seats right in front of the stage only. To get a proper perspective look back at the overhead shot.

Back to the adventure…….  The campground was slightly less than half full last Thursday with snowbirds like us. Nearly all of the remaining sites will be filled with the arrival of the last flock of snowbirds at the end of December or the first few days of January. Last Friday, we were told that a couple over 200 rvs arrived to fill up the park for the weekend. Of course, they came for the festival. They were in all types of rvs (no tents allowed in RCC) and brought their golf carts or all terrain vehicles, bicycles, grills, coolers, boom boxes, fire pits, firewood AND lots of DRINKS. These country music fans know how to party! There were parties everywhere Friday evening. Quiet hours are to be from 11:00pm to 8:00am ---YEAH RIGHT. Not this weekend. Below, I’ve also listed some park rules that I feel were violated this weekend by underlining the violations.

ALCOHOL: Responsible alcohol use is restricted to those people 21 years of age and over. No alcohol will be served at any Park function, although participants may bring their own refreshments.

CAMP FIRES: All fires must be contained in an above ground fire pit with a mesh cover. Such fire pit must be of commercial manufacture or homemade of a design similar to commercial made units. ABSOLUTELY NO GROUND FIRES. Firewood may be purchased at the gatehouse.

SPEED LIMITS: The speed limit is 10 miles per hour for ALL vehicles (golf carts and bikes included).

VEHICLES: Loud vehicles of any type are strictly prohibited. ATV and four wheelers allowed only while on trailers. Golf Carts and Bikes require permanent head and tail lights after dark. All drivers must be licensed, and stay on paved roads.

BICYCLES: It is highly recommended that riders wear helmets and use head lights and tail lights after dark.

NOISE: Please respect your neighbors by keeping all noise at your site at a low level. Noise that can be heard beyond the boundary of your site is often disturbing to your fellow RVer’s.

NUISANCES: No one should become a source of annoyance which interferes with anyone’s peaceful enjoyment of their site or the park.

PARKING: Only one (1) RV and two (2) additional motor vehicles (auto or truck) and one (1) trailer (boat, motorcycle, utility, or enclosed utility) is allowed on any one site. No extra tents other than screen rooms which may not be used as sleeping quarters.

All of us that call this park home understand this one weekend and tolerate it for the most part. Park security was visible all weekend and Citrus County Sheriff’s Dept kept two cars of officers in the park all night Saturday. The partying Friday night lasted way beyond midnight. We took several tours on the golf cart during the weekend to check out “the entertainment”, meaning the guests. Ah yes, I remember those days. :-)

Saturday morning it was quite quiet. Sleeping before the concert I suppose. You see, this was a festival with music beginning at 3:00pm and going to midnight or so. Check out the line-up below.

2:00pm-Gates Open
3:00pm-3:45pm- Cason
4:15-5:00-Neon Truckers
5:30pm-6:30pm-Michael Ray
7:00pm-8:00pm-Colt Ford
8:30pm-9:45pm-Justin Moore
10:15pm-11:30pm-Eric Church

From about 4:00pm on the campground was quiet. You could hear the music from the canyon faintly from most sites. Down near the clubhouse you could understand lyrics etc. I will say the campground staff kept all non-registered camper vehicles out of the park. They had special windshield stickers for we residents and weekenders. No sticker-no entrance. As a matter of fact, good friends, Bill & Linda Forrest, from Auburndale came up to visit us Saturday and after we met for lunch at Dan’s Clam Stand in Homossassa Springs, they had to park outside the campground gates and ride in with us so we could visit a few hours. At about midnight Saturday, you could tell the concert was over as you could hear the folks starting the parties back up. Somehow we fell asleep and didn’t wake up until about 9:00am. From 9 until about 1:00pm today, Sunday, there was a continuous flow of weekenders leaving. At 3:00pm ( I’d seen enough of the Tampa Bay Bucs being destroyed by Jacksonville) we took a golf cart ride around the campground. It was back to normal in “our little piece of heaven”…..at least ‘til the second weekend of December 2012.

‘Til next time……..