HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!
Our first night in Florida was Otter Springs Campground, which we discovered after checking out Suwannee River State Park up near Live Oak Florida. Suwannee River was a nice woodsy campground with nice facilities but - - - no heat. Temps were to be in the low 20’s again and H wanted a HOT shower!
On a previous winter in Florida we met and enjoyed the company of Barbee from British Columbia. If you remember, a year ago September when we drove the minivan out to Vancouver, we visited with Barbee and Terry. This year, Barbee and her new gentleman friend, Bruce were on a 3-month venture from BC all the way down to Florida. Yep! You guessed it – we were going to get to meet up with them. They were going to be in the Manatee Springs State Park on the 29th. We had one night to spend somewhere before then. Out in the saw grass swamp before you get to Cedar Key is the peninsula of Shell Mound, named that because the ancient folks ate so many shelled fish then dumped all their shells in huge mounds! There are probably pictures in a past blog when Bud and Carol and H and I walked thru it and “borrowed” a shell or two. We had driven thru the small, quiet county park campground several times and had always wanted to camp there. The price was right - $10. The open field camping area was polka dotted with small piles of animal droppings and according to the fella’s that ran the park, they were pig droppings! Just a week ago, they had captured 2 large mother hogs and had shipped them to another part of the Suwannee forest. Their 16 offspring were given to the neighbors near the park to raise and then eat. Imagine – 18 hogs running thru a campground- no wonder there were “piles” all over! And - - - Cedar Key is the same as always – a miniature Key West.
H picked out 2 camp spots next to each other in Manatee Springs and it was great visiting with Barbee and getting to know Bruce! Barbee was having a great time trying to get pictures of the multitude of deer and armadillos that wandered thru each evening. Most of her pictures of those nine-banded little fat creatures were of their backsides! While H and I were waiting for B&B to arrive, one cute fella wandered right next to H while he was sitting at the picnic table. Of course, H had to give Bruce all the great pointers on where to camp and how to get there in Florida. We all shared a long walk down to the Suwannee River to see the 2 manatee that were trying to keep warm at the mouth of the spring and sat down to a few good meals before sharing hugs and promises of meeting again. They were heading down to Homosassa Springs to see the manatee up close before heading to the Everglades and the Keys and we were heading east to Dunellen to see Jerry and Ruth and then on to Ocala
The Jeep has been on the road for one week. In the last week we’ve gone thru snow and freezing rain, potholed expressways and gravel back roads; bumper to bumper metro roads and long black ribbons of blacktop weaving thru dense pine and oak forests void of all traffic. Down here in Florida we’ve had temps down in the low 20’s and finally, yesterday it was a balmy 50 degrees. Today the Jeep and the “mobile motel” got a good bath and got a good cleaning inside! The windows were opened and a warm sunny breeze blew thru!! 78 degrees!
Now it’s New Year’s Eve. Last year and the year ago at this same time we were parked in this exact spot!
