A Three Hour Tour

So Long, Sweet Civilization!

Our family had a fabulous time camping this weekend, tubing down a 73 degree, spring-fed river. We all love snorkeling so we were out of our tubes more than we were in them. The park is called Ichetucknee Springs State Park and I highly recommend you visit if ever in the area. There are several options as far as the length of your journey. We had all day so we chose the three hour trip and started in at the headwater. With nothing else to do but daydream and enjoy the surroundings, I had time for a little rear-view reflecting.

Do any of you remember the 60's sitcom "Gilligan's Island?" I hurried home from school just to get in my best TV watching position, making sure all my after school chores were done so that my mother didn't even consider calling my name during that half hour of my life.

The show focused around the adventures of seven stranded castaways and their attempt to survive. They were shipwrecked on an uncharted desert island hoping to escape.

I don't know why the shows fans loved it so much as each episode went the same way... visitors unexpectedly came to the island, the castaways did everything imaginable to earn or bribe their way to a rescue, and then Gilligan would always screw something up in the last five minutes of the show so that they were stuck there until we could revisit them again the next week.

Those who watched were dedicated. We talked about it the following day at school. Life would be so good if only they got off that blasted island! But then why would we watch? I finally figured out that it was a ploy to control my life. (At my age, my mom didn't have the nerve to let me in on the advertiser's little secret.) I must have watched all 98 episodes. When the sponsors finally decided to call the show quits, they made three movie sequels which rescued them and brought them back to civilization.

As in the words to the theme song, " No phone, no lights, no motor cars; not a single luxury. Like Robinson Crusoe; as primitive as can be," I use to wonder what that kind of existence would really be like. Presently, it would mean no cell phone, email, blog, TV and certainly no Nintendo for the kids. Wow!

That pretty much describes our weekend and we didn't miss any of it. Days were spent hugged by the shores of a pristine aquifer that never ceased releasing waters from it's source, the Blue Hole Spring. Nights consisted of smoky fires, S'mores and endless rounds of hide-n-seek with kids from surrounding campsites. None of our cellphones had a signal and I also forgot to charge the DVD player before leaving so we played "Spoons" every night with the kids. The weekend ended by exchanging addresses with new found friends.

Although we weren't stranded like the castaways, we truly enjoyed our primitive weekend. The stale ice cream sandwich from the corner store freezer tasted better, washing dishes on my picnic table was much more pleasant than filling the dishwasher, the coffee was tastier in a blue speckled enamelware cup, and the foam mattress felt even more comfortable than my Sealy Posturepedic!

That's Campin'