We left Labelle Wednesday fairly early with a plan to arrive at Camping World near Tampa just before lunch. We had a 1:00 “appointment” for the new tires (note the italics)… Upon check in we were told it would take about two hours. We said we would check back at 3:00 and drove the car over to check in where we planned to stay at Hillsborough River State Park. We checked out the site we reserved and then found some pretty good take-y-outy at a little Chinese food place near the park. After driving around a bit we headed back to Camping World hoping our rig would be ready to go.
Well when we got there they said they hadn’t even started it yet… What? We had a 1:00 appointment how could that be? Well, apparently at the Tampa Camping World appointments merely place you in a queue... We explained that our campground locked the gate at 5:30 and reminded them that when we called we told them that we live in our motorhome. The service attendant told us we had two choices...to wait or try again tomorrow at 8 (as if we would want to come back and go through this AGAIN!). We elected to wait....and wait....and wait.… You guessed it! Since they close at 6:00 we got our rig back at about 6:15 pm. Sigh… To make matters worse they overcharged us instead of kindly offering us a small credit to compensate for our pain!!! Service at Tampa’s Camping World again for us? Not a chance… While I insisted they have the bill corrected, Sharon began hooking up the car and after we paid the bill we quickly headed over to the state park for our two day stay. It was dark when we got into the park (which broke one of our cardinal rules to never arrive after dark at a park!). And sure enough it was a major challenge to get into our site. We could not see a thing and though neighborly help arrived we
managed to "kiss" a tree which left a little bark on the edge of our awning and some pine sap on the passenger side fender. Thank goodness we didn’t do any real damage…other than to our nerves. Sharon was especially rattled and forgot to check for settling before opening a cabinet to get a wine glass and of course a wine glass jumped out of the cabinet at her and shattered into a 1000 pieces... Sigh… She then had a little "breakdown" and cried on my chest a little. We got things cleaned up and vowed once again to never EVER enter a park after dark. Putting the evening behind us, the next morning we took a hike for a couple of hours along the Hillsborough River in this beautiful CCC Park. We really enjoyed the peacefulness and tranquility this state park offered since during the past couple of months we have been in the more hustle and bustle of commercial parks. We even saw a rare siting in Florida, Rapids! Yes there were some Class II rapids along this river… After lunch we took a long bike ride around the park and ventured across the main major road over to Fort Foster.
Fort Foster turned out to be a pretty neat place especially since there were preparations taking place for a major
battle reenactment scheduled for the weekend. As a result there were a lot of people in era appropriate costumes setting up. We strolled around taking it all in exploring the old fort, looking at the various bivouac tent setups and biking across the rebuilt historical bridge where some other folks were setting up a Seminole Indian encampment. Apparently the Seminoles were preparing to attack the bridge in hopes of burning it down to keep the soldiers from getting to the fort! We even chatted with a few of the”actors” milling about… what fun that was! 
When we got back to the RV we decided we should end the day visiting a small Craft Brewery nearby in Plant City, the Two Henrys Brewing Company. This place was unique in that it was both a Brewery and Winery… But today we came to sample the beers and I must admit they were all very, very good. We both got a pint of our favorites, an IPA for me and a stout for her. They were so tasty we ordered a 5 beer sampler and tasted many of their other brews… all very good we thought. What a gem of a spot in this part of Florida! A must place to visit!!! Yesterday we drove 102 miles north (sigh), I know it will be colder here (and it is raining) but we decided to spend a week at the Williston Crossings RV Resort in Williston, Florida taking advantage of their attractive one week rate special for newcomers…
Talking about excitement and stress, reading your tales made us just that. I guess we will not get our tires at Camping world.
ReplyDeleteThat SP name has a familiar ring to it, but not sure if we were there or just researching about it a while back? Ugh - repairs and service delays. Looks like you rebounded well with a stop at Two Henry's Brewing Co....
ReplyDeleteI'll bet your expanded list of "cardinal rules" includes something about not letting Camping World even touch your "home" again....I think, unfortunately, that item has gotten on many RV'ers cardinal rules list. Perhaps instead of their rapid expansion, they should focus their dollars on customer satisfaction. Even though we bought our current motorhome from them (Bartow CW) we expressed our dissatisfaction with them in a survey and didn't even get a "sorry, we will look into..." out of them. --Dave (GoingRvWay.com)
ReplyDeleteWe got Lucky last year at the Camping World in Destin Florida last year. New fridge installed in only a few hours. But other Camping Worlds, no luck.
ReplyDeleteToo bad they work that way.
We stayed at Williston Crossings last winter. There is an awesome place to go for a hike about 10 - 15 minutes from the campground called the Barr Hammock Preserve. And we went to a restaurant called The Great Outdoors. Yum. Great food.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up regarding your experience at camping world in Tampa. Had good service at camping world in ca. But will avoid the Tampa location. We have stayed in Williston a few times and enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteOn one of our first trips, to a park that was miles from any town, the after set upottle of wine was too heavy for the refrigerator door shelf, and the whole thing crashed and broke on the tile floor. Breaking a bottle wasn't all that bad, but the fact that it was the ONLY bottle we had along was horrible!
ReplyDeleteWe have arrived after dark a few times. No fun!
We also stayed at Williston Crossing a couple years ago. There were little wooly caterpillars dropping from the trees everywhere, but that was about a month later in the year. And Leeanne was on the receiving end of an attack of "no see ums" on her arm by the bedroom window as she slept (they got through the screen). Other than that, it was a good place to explore Gainsville and Cedar Key.
ReplyDeleteSorry we missed you guys- we love Hillsborough River SP. Enjoy your stay at Williston crossings.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry you guys had such a hard time getting your tires and getting set up in your site. I can just imagine how Sharon was feeling. Reading on, I was thinking you probably really relaxed on your hike the next day. Waking up in a new place that is really nice sure helps, too. As much as I drive sometimes - a full day maybe - I don't think I've ever arrived at a campsite in the dark. I guess being a solo traveler that would be especially hard with no one to "spot" me. I'm glad there was no damage done. :)
ReplyDeleteCamping World.....the RVers nightmare. My experience.....http://travelinglongdogs.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-camping-world-experience-to-remember.html.
ReplyDeleteWe, too, have had "issues" with service at a Camping World. I am thinking you should have visited the Brew Pub BEFORE going there for service.
ReplyDeleteWe've only checked in once after dark...never again! What a nightmare to get parked without nay light except a flashlight. So glad you only had a few little blips. I totally understand Sharon's short breakdown. Moving and settling a big unit is very stressful for me even after 3 1/2 years. It doesn't take much to push me over the edge.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your new location:)
What a day. I would have fallen apart as one thing after another went wrong. I just hate days like that. We never go to camping world for any service of any kind anywhere. I don't know how they stay in business. There can't be that many newbees out there. With you all the way on no arrival after dark but what choice did you have? So sorry to hear about the scrapes. Love Hillsborough River SP. Kayaking the river is wonderful and this year with the water up it would be especially grand.
ReplyDeleteIt is regretful you had such a difficult time at CW; we had a similar experience, and try to never have work done there. What are your summer plans? Give Sharon our best; we enjoy keeping up with you guys and hope our paths cross again.
ReplyDeleteSummer Plans include the mountainous area of the USA... Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Montana maybe... still working on a route
DeleteSo sorry to hear about your terrible experience at Camping World. We will put that on our do-not-go list. I would have done exactly what
ReplyDeleteI looked up both your campgrounds, and they both sound great. We are making a list of campgrounds in Florida. Thanks for the heads up on both of these.
Camping World is not our favorite place, either. The state park looks great. It looks like a place we could spend a restful week some time.
ReplyDelete