The Savage Traveler: Winter 2014-Ocala National Forest and Penney Farm

Sat. Feb. 4-Thu. Feb. 13: The drive to Juniper Springs in Ocala National Forest took us over 4 hours but the further we got the more it rained so we weren’t in any hurry. Janice and Lou Oien had reserved the site next to theirs for us and were hunkered down in the rain in their van and had told us there was no reason to rush. The GPS took us on some back county roads but the good part was that we found the rustic, quaint Dam Diner, where we had a great lunch. We then went to a Winn-Dixie for a few groceries, and it was only lightly raining when we arrived at Juniper springs and set up. The four of us went for a hike in the drizzle to the main spring. The big water wheel that had been on dry land to be repaired two years ago was now reinstalled and turning beside the old CCC mill that is empty but open to visit. Lou had cooked a pot roast all afternoon so it was fork tender and tasted delicious with the carrots, rutabaga and potatoes he added later. Then we hung out together and caught up on each other’s travels thus far until bedtime. We ate breakfast separately the next morning before we hiked the nature hike and boardwalk along the creek and a number of other springs. The sun was quickly warming the slippery boards so that they steamed as we walked by. After our hike each couple packed a lunch before closing up our camps. We drove a short distance north to Silver Spring and ate our lunch before taking the two mile trail to Lake George through a magical forest of long needle pines and live oaks, both heavily draped with Spanish moss with the sunlight filtering through. It was lovely!

Juniper Spring

Draping Spanish Moss

The Lake George Trail

Lake George

From there it was about a two hour drive to Penney Farm Retirement Community. J.C. Penney built the community, complete with cottages, houses, apartments, health center, rehab, memory unit, a golf course, church, post office, city hall, dining hall, assisted living, and more, to give Methodist pastors and missionaries a place to retire after their service to the church. It is also the home of one of the first P.E.T. Project facilities. On their trip to Florida last year, Oiens had met P.E.T. founders Larry & Laura Hills, who now live at Penney Farms and for whom the P.E.T. warehouse/workshop is named. While serving as missionaries in Africa they saw how paraplegics were ostracized and disenfranchised by their inability to walk or ambulate over the rough terrain. Because of land mines around the world the problem is only getting worse. With two other men, Larry helped develop hand peddled carts called Personal Energy Transportation units (P.E.T.). They are now made in 40 facilities around the US and in a few other countries. We camped in two of the five spots they have set-up next to the workshop to volunteer for the week, as Janice and Lou had done last year.

Marv, Larry & Lou in front of the workshop

We were blown away with our reception at Penney Farms from Armand and Mary (who were the only other campers but had been there since November and will remain there to work in the metal shop until spring) to Sid (who did the orientation and training for Marv and me and is one of the workshop supervisors since Larry “retired” from that job) to Joan (whom Marv took to be about the age of our sisters but is actually 83 and is a regular in the paint shop, gave us a tour of the exercise center, and hosted us for lunch one day) to the incomparable Laura and Larry who fed us two lunches, had us to their apartment twice and took us to Clark’s Fish Camp (more later) for dinner. Everyone was overwhelmingly generous and welcoming and appreciative of our help. Marv and Lou did a variety of jobs all week. Part of the time they were assembling the boxes for the bodies of the P.E.T.s and, working together, they built 14. That was pretty impressive until 90 year old Mary Ellen came in on Thursday morning and did about as many all by herself. Jan worked on upholstering seats Monday morning and then joined me in the paint shop for the rest of that day and all day Tuesday and Wednesday. The first two days weren’t too bad as we painted on the porch with a nice breeze and some sun and talked and listened to the birds. But Wednesday was cold and rainy so we had to move into the close confines of the noisy shop. There the painting became oppressive and too repetitive so that we were sore and cranky. Janice and Lou made sure we had a more enjoyable Thursday by finding us new jobs. We each spent some time packing P.E.T.s and some time working the drill press for the seats. We managed to pack 6 units Thursday morning, which was all that were ready to be shipped so we felt a nice sense of completion. The rest of the time that week we ate huge lunchtime dinners (always hosted by someone else in the community), rode our bikes 2.75 miles around the community, visited Teddy and Carl Staser, who are residents, worked on the internet, and slept hard and well each night.

Lou working a drill press

Marv, Peggy, Janice & Lou on the bridge of the Garden Walk at Penney Farms

Rocky, who played football for MSU on Biggie Munn's

National Championship team, assembling P.E.T.s

Armand, Lou, Janice, Mary & Peggy socializing in our camper

90 year old Mary Ellen making P.E.T. "boxes"

Peggy shows Janice how to work the drill press

Peggy & Marv with one of the P.E.T.s all packaged and ready to ship

Thursday evening Larry and Laura insisted on taking the four of us to Clark’s Fish Camp for dinner. It was a cool but sunny day and, since it is nearly an hour away and almost to Jacksonville, we left about 4:00 with Larry driving their car with Janice and me aboard and Marv driving our truck with Lou and Laura. The Fish Camp has been on the shore of the wide Saint John’s River since the 40s and, although it has had some upgrading, is still pretty rustic and sprawling. Larry assured us they do no advertising but word-of-mouth and there is usually a wait for seating. As you enter there is a large tank with a living alligator and live fish and directly in front of the doors is a bent over stuffed adult giraffe. Inside there are many rooms and porches and all are crammed with full-size stuffed (taxidermy) animals. The Clark family is committed to green living and protection of animals so they are all animals that have died in zoos or in other legitimate settings. One porch is birds, one is fish, and the main dining room is mammals from all over the world but especially Africa. That is the room where we ate, surrounded by bears, lions, tigers, kangaroos, ocelots, antelope, deer, and on, and on, and on. Adding to the surreal atmosphere are display cases of Mrs. Clark’s collection of over 3000 plates and platters, each one with a different fish pattern painted on it. It is impossible to describe this amazing restaurant but we enjoyed it immensely and had a wonderful dinner before driving back to Penney Farms.