A Pet Squirrel Named Halo

Have I ever introduced you to my dad? If I have, you will understand this next post, if I haven’t, you will know him by the end.

He is incredibly intelligent and my best friend and he gets a little tense in the passenger seat. He has spent his life as a manager and financial advisor so is naturally a very good teacher. So he has taken on the task of teaching us how to drive a travel trailer.

Yes, neither of us have ever driven a travel trailer before. Take this as a P.S.A. we will be on the road headed towards a neighborhood near you soon.

We do a quick checklist and shockingly we don’t have what we need for our one night stay up the street at Stage Stop in Winter Garden.

RV people are very nice and very chatty. Full of great advice, stories, and which campgrounds to stay in and which ones to avoid.

Somehow we met Justin one day while shopping for parts at Giant Recreation World. I am not sure if he heard us talking about an A.C. unit or really how my dad got into a conversation with him but 15 minutes goes by and they are best friends.

My dad decided we would drive on the highway, around town, and through the hills (Clermont means hill in Florida) and then head back to the Stage Stop for a one night practice round.

We could almost hear him biting his tongue in the back trying to direct us, but we politely said we needed to learn to be just the two of us. He had to be nervous. But we made it out unscathed!

We pull back into town just as some rain was clearing up and walked in the Stage Stop. I got a 10% discount for being a Sam’s Club member.

Sadly they do not have any pull-though spots available so we are in a back-in spot. My dad is thrilled because we get to practice backing up (we are experts now).

As I am backing up and Kaitlin is guiding she goes “Hey! Thats our Giant Recreation World friend!”

It sure was! Justin was standing outside his 25ft pull behind with his make-shift awning and patio getting a good hard laugh at us attempting to back up.

As if he was judging the best time to come over, as soon as we got unhooked there he was to tell us all about our neighbors.

Kaitlin and I abandoned my dad to get everything hooked up.

Uh oh. Our electricity isn’t working. No idea why but it was not working.

Sensing our frustration Justin returned to his camper while we frantically called Bright Future Electric for an answer.

It was a Friday night so all we could do is set up our lawn chairs and grill our burgers and enjoy our glorified tent.

My dad had won a little grill at some event. It could also work as a cooler! Kaitlin and I were pretty excited about it.

My mom is a natural girl scout and I am proud to say she helped us stock Trudy up with everything we needed. From wine openers to easy to lite charcoal we had it all. So we fired up the burgers, opened a bottle of wine and relaxed.

I flipped the burgers and looked up just in time to see Justin walking over with a portable Weber grill.

Apparently, other campers had used our little grill and almost burned down the table and since this grill was given to him, it was time he passed it on.

Overjoyed with the gift we offered him a drink but he was headed to Tony’s to shoot some pool. Justin didn’t run off too quickly, he stayed and chatted with us all about his life and his pet squirrel named Halo who needs a boyfriend. So if you know anyone with a boy squirrel, Halo is looking for some love.

We think the camping life will suit us well. We cannot wait to meet more neighbors. But for now, we will always remember our good friend Justin with the pet squirrel named Halo who gave us the Weber grill.

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