Hillsborough River State Park

Thonotosassa, Florida

We made the long 25 mile drive to Hillsborough River State Park.  It is located in Thonotosassa, Florida, which is a suburb of Tampa.  We have been here many times and always enjoy it.

We didn’t know if our days of camping here would be over once we bought the “Big Guy.”  Thankfully, they are not.

Here we are at the check-in gate.

Dang…this thing looks so big to us.  Can we navigate it around the curves and trees?  We love having all the interior space, but getting into campgrounds will be much more of a challenge.

The main road is a paved one way 2.2 mile loop.  It’s plenty wide.  No overhanging trees to worry about.

There are some horrendous speed bumps by the pool area, but just a few.

This is the entrance to the campground.  You can see how wooded it is.  Note the all the trees on the road straight ahead?  That’s where we have to go. Yikes!

Our first choice was site number 96, which is a non-reserveable/walk-in site.  It was open, however they had it saved for a work camper that was arriving in a few days.  That didn’t seem fair to us, but that’s the way it is.  We can’t save them, but the work campers can.

Our second choice was site number 106, which has 50 amp and is a pull in site.   We paid for a week, then drove on to the site.  The loop road was fine for the most part, but there was one area where you had to be extra careful of the trees on both sides of the road.

We got over to number 106 and immediately noticed how “un-level”  it was.   It’s a lot larger than it looks and is a very pretty site. 

We put the satellite up for a test run, and it just kept spinning around.  Nope, no satellite here.  After a few minutes, Al thought we should see if we could change sites.  Site 92 was level and he thought we had a chance of getting the satellite signal. Al made a quick call to the office and we changed our site.

Of course that meant we had to navigate around that scary campground road again…and those two trees!

Al used the "Barney" method of backing into the campsite that we learned at Lazy Days.  We got right into the site with no trouble at all.  These classes are available online and I highly recommend them…even if you are a pro at driving a motor home.  I think everyone could learn something from this video series.  We especially liked the one showing an easy way to get into  a campsite.

The site was very level and plenty long enough.  We pushed the button for the satellite..never thinking we’d ever get a signal through all the thick trees.  Guess what?   We got a signal!  Note that pretty little satellite on the roof?  It’s working like a charm!  Our Verizon signal is also working great.  Internet and satellite..what more could you want?

We have shade, trees, satellite and lots of room for the awning. 

We also have wildlife!

Al spread some birdseed on the picnic table and when we came back from a walk we had company.

Isn’t he cute?  He’s just a baby.  I don’t know where his Mom or siblings are.

This loop of the campground is not on the river.  The other loop is on the river, but those sites are smaller and mostly 30 amp.  Not big rig friendly.

We took a walk over to the river.  There is a wide spot in the river where the water doesn’t flow too well, so there is a lot of debris floating on the water, which is why the water looks so nasty.  Here is a picture of the resident gator.  He’s pretty big..probably 8-10 feet long.

Mom came for a short visit after a doctors appointment.  We sat outside for a while and between our new Therma-cell mosquito repellant, and two fans, we weren’t bothered by mosquitos.

Our backyard view.

Our patio.

Some blooming “Beauty Berries”.

Al already saw 5 deer.  This is the kind of campground we prefer!  Life is good.