Winter 2014--Hillsborough State Park

Fri. Feb. 21-Mon. Feb. 24: It rained hard for part of our two and a half hour drive to Hillsborough River State Park but let up eventually as we got closer to the park after sharing a Subway sub for lunch. Ann and Shelby were partially set-up as we arrived and they had taken the shorter, outside site we reserved and left the inner loop, pull-through site for us. It was a nice site because there was only one other site for quite a way and it was open behind us for about 50 yards over to the bathhouse. Marv had picked the park because it sounded interesting to him and during our travels this time we had heard very good things about it from people who said it was one of their favorite Florida State parks. It was very full and no reservations or extensions were available. Hillsborough River is another CCC built park and, like Highlands Hammock, has a 2 mile one-way circular drive off of which are the campgrounds, several hiking trails, access to the river, and a large swimming pool (closed for the winter) with a café and concessions for snacks and bike, surrey, and canoe rentals. It was obviously going to be easy to fill our time in the park. We got set-up quickly and ate a snack so that we could flag down Ranger Jessica as she drove slowly through the campground to pick-up riders on a small tram car for a tour of the park. We all sat on benches in the open with no covering as she made stops at each of the trails and other points of interest to give an overview of the park. As we rode it began to sprinkle and then to rain a bit harder so she finished up the tour a bit more quickly than usual perhaps but it was still a good introduction. We ate dinner back at the campsite and played more games into the evening.

Our "chariot" was pulled by a pick-up truck

Saturday morning Ann and Shelby beat us in riding bikes to the café and getting tickets for the 2:00 tour of Fort Foster (more about that later). We all got on their weak but free WiFi and downloaded what we could. While we worked the skies opened up and it really poured down for a while, leaving us with very wet bike seats. Marv nicely rode back to the trailer and returned with plastic bags for all of us to cover the seats. We took all our electronic devices to the campers and rode around the other loops of the campgrounds before having lunch and relaxing a little. We left about an hour early to ride counter clockwise (the “right” way) around the loop and walked the 1.1 mile Baynard nature trail through the woods and along the river, reading the interpretive signs and enjoying being outdoors as the skies cleared and the temperature warmed. We timed it so we returned just in time to climb aboard the tram with Jessica as our guide once more and set off to explore the Fort. But just as we reached the gate on the park side of the road the skies opened up once again so she pulled over at the CCC building that is now a small museum and we all crowded under a shelter to wait out the short lived rain shower. When it let up we sat on the now very wet seats and continued across the busy highway and through two more gates to a parking lot a short way from the rebuilt fort. Fort Foster was built as one of a line of forts a days’ distance from one another during the Second Seminole War. This one was to guard the one bridge that crossed the Hillsborough River in that area. Going any other way added three days to ones journey so it was very logistically important. The fort was built by 300 soldiers but then was manned by only about 100. It was used for three years and abandoned every summer when the mosquitoes were too vicious. Using the children and teenagers who were along for the tour Jessica demonstrated items in the Officers’ Quarters, the Quartermaster’s Stores and the Infirmary, and how to fire the cannon. She didn’t really fire it but they do when they have twice yearly re-enactments at the Fort. We also walked to the sturdy bridge and looked over the edge where a sharp-eyed kid spotted a large water moccasin sunning itself on the bank. We got back in time to have a quick dinner and then rode our bikes to a campfire circle where a volunteer from Canada did an entertaining presentation of “Night Noises” demonstrating the calls of many birds, mammals, and amphibians with our old friend, Jessica, showing slides of the animals with a projector. By the time we returned to the campers one last time we had ridden 5.5 miles over the course of the day.

Ann & Peggy on the Suspension Bridge

Do you know what this is? Tea!! 

Sunday Shelby made pancakes for all of us before we rode our bikes around the circle again and took the trail to the Class 2 rapids along the river. The fog lifted late to reveal a beautiful day with not quite as many people as Saturday. Marv spotted the only alligator thus far, a big one swimming slowly along the opposite river bank. We rode back, bringing out in-park biking to 8.2 miles, and made lunch to eat while we watched the MSU/um basketball game. Marv got our TV set-up outside and we all watched as MSU was defeated for the second time this season by their cross state rivals. L By then we were more than ready to drive the vehicles the short way over to a launch site within the campground and put our kayaks into the river. The 1 to 1½ mph river currant makes it an easy paddle either direction. We went downstream for about 40 minutes, turned around and went upstream as far as we could to a small rapids just below the first wooden bridge in the park, then floated back to where we had put in. We saw a lot of water fowl, including an anhinga, egrets, ibis, and a tricolor heron, turtles, a few alligators including about 3 or 4 babies, and many fish in the murky waters below. It was a lovely way to get over the pain of defeat. Marv and I enjoyed red beans and rice with leftover grilled sausages cut-up in it for dinner and the four of us had our final dominoes match while we watched the Closing Ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in our camper.

Marv's alligator

Tricolor Heron

There wasn’t really a plan for Monday but we turned it into a wonderful day. After a long stop at a McDonald’s to catch up on email, newspapers, and blogging, we drove to Jill and Dan Bakers’ house on a creek/canal near Tampa. They are trying to sell the house and with its careful, tasteful staging and huge covered screen porch with a bar, a pool table, eating area, easy chairs, and swimming pool it seems like a resort property. We spent a lot of time enjoying the antics of 3 or 4 manatees in the canal directly in front of the house and they remained there the entire time we were with Jill & Dan. Jill made us a nice lunch of chicken salad and croissants with red velvet cupcakes for dessert and we spent several hours chatting and visiting these “old friends who are more like family” to quote Jill.

Manatees in the creek/canal

Dan, Ann, Jill & Shelby talk on the screened porch

We mentioned we thought we might go to Tarpon Springs before returning to the campground and Jill had good recommendations for our time there. Upon arriving we got tickets for the last available boat ride of the day at 6:00 from Spongeorama. We learned that Tarpon Springs calls itself the “Sponge Capital of the World” and the one main street on the water, Dodecanese Blvd., is reminiscent of a Greek coastal village. The restaurants and shops are all owned by Greeks and the sponge, shrimp, and fishing industries keep them in their Old World culture. On Jill’s recommendation we walked the length of the street to the waterfront and had dinner at Rusty Bellies. This seafood place is the culmination of three generations of a family and they offer fresh seafood they have caught themselves with a small fleet of crab, shrimp and fishing boats.  A mature, male Grouper can weigh up to 60 pounds and has a red colored underside so they are called “Rusty Bellies”; hence the restaurant name. I had a half pound of peel-your-own Gulf Shrimp and a half Greek Salad, Marv had a blackened Mahi-mahi sandwich and Ann & Shelby shared a seafood bucket with steamed shrimp, mussels, clams, oysters, and a crab leg cluster, along with corn on the cob, a salad, and red skin potatoes. It was all delicious. After splitting a piece of Grandma’s key lime pie (them) and peanut butter pie (us) we all hurried back to catch the tour boat. Cap’n Dan was a little overly enthusiastic but we learned a lot about the history of Tarpon Springs and the area along the coast where the Greeks had settled. He took the boat beside a low osprey nest that had two parents apparently tending the eggs of their newest brood, through the passage of the Anclote River into the Gulf of Mexico, and out to Anclote Key. The Key is 3 miles long and a quarter of a mile wide and is a State Wildlife Preserve. There is a lighthouse whose automated, electric light can be seen for 19 miles and one ranger who lives alone on the island. We didn’t stop at the island but we got some wonderful pictures of the sunset behind the lighthouse before we returned to the dock at Tarpon Springs. As we re-entered the river a bottle nose dolphin swam beside the boat for a while. It seemed later than the 8:30 it was when we got back to the campground. We began preparations for leaving tomorrow and read in our camper until bedtime.

Dinner at Rusty Bellies

Osprey pair on their nest

Sunset at Anclote Island

Bottle Nose Dolphin

Winter 2014-Manatee Springs

Mon. Feb. 17-Thu. Feb. 21: Manatee Springs was only about 30 miles from Cedar Key. We bought breakfast at the Sunset Island Café while doing the laundry, broke camp, bought groceries and got to our campsite in time to have lunch there after setting up. We went the short distance to the spring and walked the boardwalk up to the Suwannee River but saw only birds, fish and turtles, no manatees. Ann and Shelby arrived before 6:00 as promised and after we ate dinner they went to the spring. We all finished setting up our camps and then played dominoes. Playing dominoes or card games was to be our every evening activity for our time together.

Way down upon the Suwanee River...

Turtles along the spring run

Our large campsite at Manatee Springs

Tuesday morning we all walked to the spring with our devices to use the WiFi available at the concession stand there, which became our everyday activity after breakfast. While we were there we saw a small manatee in the spring run that slowly made its way to the river. We spent the rest of the day at the park riding our bikes 2.75 miles on some of the trails and Marv, Ann & I went snorkeling in the spring. The air temperature was about 76° and the spring is always at 72° so Floridians wouldn’t even consider going in but it was fine with us.

Snorkeling in Manatee Springs

Sunset over the Suwanee River

After we got our internet fix on Wednesday Shelby drove all of us to Cedar Key. We visited the bald eagles and the ospreys and had lunch at Tony’s again. The whole time we were searching for a good place to put in our kayaks without much luck. We drove to the back of the old cemetery, thinking there might be access there, but only found a short cut to the nature boardwalk that we had walked with Oiens. We ran into a woman at the park there that had lived in Cedar Key for thirty years. She couldn’t think of anyplace we could put in and was very apologetic. But then she said, “Oh I know where you could go! Take state route 347 north about 5 miles to the Shell Mound Park.” It turned out to be there perfect spot! There is a small campground with a public access into a tidal waterway that opens to the Gulf of Mexico and is a National Wildlife Refuge. We paddled all the way up one shore to a large fishing pier, across the channel, and then back along the opposite shore before crossing back over to the access site. We saw lots of water fowl and wading birds and enjoyed the quiet area for nearly two hours with no other boats or watercraft to bother us. On the way back we drove the 7 mile nature loop through the Lower Suwannee and Cedar Key Nature Preserve but we saw only one alligator and one armadillo. By the time we got back to the campsite the spaghetti sauce I left simmering in the CrockPot tasted great to all four of us.

Paddling through the grasses in our inflatable kayaj

Great Blue heron

Our first armadillo of the trip

Each day at Manatee Springs the weather got warmer and sunnier. So on Thursday we drove north to Fanning Springs about 10 miles away. We had packed lunches and our swim gear and spent several hours swimming in the blue spring that is just a short run from the Suwannee River. We saw a couple of manatees in the run but nothing like the pictures on the bulletin board that showed as many as 11 right near the shore of the spring. There was a short nature/boardwalk to the bank of the Suwannee, which we walked and then stayed at the overlook to watch some kayakers come down the river and take out at the park. On our way home we stopped for ice cream before heading back to our campsites. That gave us the energy to ride our bikes 6.3 miles on more of their trails before dinner and games. Along the road and right at our campsites we enjoyed watching the practically tame deer that browse and wander without seeming to care about the human visitors to their home.

Ann & Peggy snorkeling in Fanning Springs

Marv & Ann snorkeling in Fanning Springs

Fanning Springs swimming area

Happy turtles on a log

Looking downstream on the Suwanee River

Ann & Shelby biking

Deer beside our camper

Thursday the weather was threatening as we picked up our camps. Ann was out early to take a picture of the biggest deer eating grass right next to our camper. As she sat and read a few raindrops fell and so we all finished quickly and headed over to the spring for a last visit. To our joy we found a very large manatee hanging out in the middle of the spring, floating and browsing and coming up to breathe as people took pictures from all around. Since Ann and Shelby had finished with the internet they said they were going to be on their way and we’d meet again at Hillsborough River State Park. Thunder was rumbling in the distance as we finished up and packed up our devices, when to our surprise Shelby returned saying that Ann was getting on her suit so she could swim with the manatee. And she proceeded to do just that. With her snorkel gear and flippers she entered the water. The manatee slowly circled around and swam right to her. She gave it a small three fingered pat and it swam away and down the spring run. We got lots of pictures and a short video to record her feat and then hurried back to the vehicles as the skies really opened up and the rain poured down.

(pictures of Ann snorkeling to follow) 

Winter 2014--Cedar Key

Fri. Feb. 14-Sun. Feb. 16: HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! The camper was 32.5° and everything was covered with frost on Friday morning. Luckily, it warmed up pretty quickly with the bright sunshine, eventually topping out at about 60°. I took some video of Marv & Lou driving P.E.T.s in the parking lot and a couple pictures of Larry, who had come to say good-bye again, in front of the workshop with a P.E.T. Then we closed up our campers and hit the road to drive across the state to Cedar Key, on the Gulf shore, with a quick stop at the Gainesville Trader Joe’s.

Marv, Larry & Lou in front of the P.E.T. workshop

Sunset Island RV Park is the kind of place we would never, ever have discovered if we were on our own. But Lou & Janice had heard about it from someone in a campground on their last trip to Florida and definitely wanted to share the experience with us. It turned out to be a unique gathering of colorful souls all attracted to the “live and let live” attitude of everyone here. The park has 50+ campsites crammed together on the shore and a small stagnant inlet of one of the many small islands or “keys/cays” along the Gulf Coast. There are also a few motel rooms and a homey restaurant and convenience store. The tiny clubhouse has four unisex bathrooms with showers, a laundry room along the back, a large deck on the front, and a cavernous fireplace in which every night and each morning there is a fire going. Each evening when we were there people gathered by the fireplace to enjoy a very informal bluegrass jam session of whatever musicians show up. Some are quite accomplished and some are purely amateur but everyone seemed to have a good time. Friday night there was also a Potluck Dinner in which we took part. There are many volunteers who camp free in exchange for keeping up the park and it is hard but necessary to get a reservation to stay there because people tend to spend the entire winter. A traveling artist is in residence right now and she has painted murals and signs inside and out of the whole place with bright colors that add to the psychedelic feel. It was a great place to spend the weekend.

Sunset into the islands at the shore of the Gulf of Mexico

Jam session on Saturday night at the Club House

Saturday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM H. & CHUCK!!) we rode our bikes about a mile across two small bridges into Cedar Key. This tiny resort town was a booming metropolis of 3000 people back in the late 1800s drawing people first for the cedar, which was exported (and eventually depleted) to Germany by the Eberhard family to make pencils, and then for expensive, fine whisk brooms made from the fibers of Sabal Palms. Devastating hurricanes in 1896 and 1950 wiped away the industries and fisheries and now the population is about 500. Clam farming is a growing industry with small claims staked out and fiercely defended in the shallow waters around the keys. A few of the historical buildings still make up the old part of town a block or two off the water and there is a strip of new buildings, mostly restaurants, along the water’s edge. We intended to have lunch at Tony’s (more about that later) on the main corner of the old district but there was a half hour wait so instead we rode to the water’s edge and had lunch at Steamer’s where they are known for their local steamed clams. None of us elected to try them however, instead opting for blackened fish tacos (Janice & me), oyster po’ boy (Lou) & Pork Bar-B-Que sandwich (Marv). We were happy with our choices and Marv enjoyed the Florida IPA and I the Fish Head Midnight Oil (oatmeal coffee stout) to wash then down. Afterwards we walked through the small historical museum on the main street and then peddled north to the cemetery to walk the nature trail and boardwalk along the marsh where we watched skimmers and osprey over the water. By the time we got back we had ridden 5.88 miles. We were so full from lunch we were happy to make do with snack items and Happy Hour before going back to the club house to enjoy more music.

Marv, Peggy, Janice and Lou at Steamer's

Adult Bald Eagle by the nest

One juvenile in the nest and the adult nearby

St. Claire Witman home

Osprey on its nest

A smaller Bald Eagle perched on a tree right next to the road on our bike back to the campground

Sunday morning Marv made French Toast for all of us and then we hopped on our bikes and rode back to Cedar Key. We had better directions this time to find the Bald Eagle nest that is in the back yard of a small house at the edge of town. A woman there had a scope trained on the giant nest and we could plainly see a pair of juveniles with a huge adult standing guard on a branch nearby. From there it was a short peddle to the tiny Cedar Key State Park, which has a small museum mostly about the Natives and early European visitors to the area, the restored St. Clair Whitman cabin with Whitman’s collection of seashells and other natural specimens, and a few short nature trails. We walked to the water’s edge on one, saw a large osprey nest, and returned to watch the Bald Eagles some more before we went back to town to wait 25 minutes for lunch at Tony’s. They are famous for their Clam Chowder, made with local clams, which they have been making since 2005. They won the Newport, Rhode Island International Clam Chowder Competition for three years running before they were forced to retire from the competition and put into the Hall of Fame. Lou and I both had the rich, delicious Clam Chowder and it was well worth the wait. On our peddle back to the campground we saw a smaller Bald Eagle in a tree on the main road. Today’s ride had been 6.3 miles making it just over 12 miles of pleasant, easy Cedar Key biking. Janice and Lou loaded their bikes back on the van to return to Penney Farms for another week of volunteering. Marv and I stayed one more night at Cedar Key and went back for another evening of music at the club house. Each day had been sunnier and warmer with less wind than the day before so it had been an extremely pleasant stay!

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. 

Main dining room at Clark's Fish Camp 

Peggy, Larry, Marv, Janice, Lou & Laura at Clark's Fish Camp 

Looking up in the dining room at Clark's Fish Camp