Places Visited:
Florida: Homosassa Springs, Payne's Prairie SP, Gainesville,
Miconopy, Port St Joe

Try and remember to NOT send us forwarded stuff or graphics
when
we are on the road. Since we have to bum modem connections it is
extremely embarrassing to take up time downloading 50-plus jokes on
the slow connection.

Saturday, February 16, 2002
Rock Crusher RV-Park, Homosassa Springs, FL

We got up early and headed 100-miles northwest to Homosassa
Springs.
We passed by Disney World through orange groves then out of the
rolling hills and back down on the coastal plain. Dropping 200-feet
in elevation is imperceptible, however, the there is a stark change in
vegetation.

We lunched at Margarita Grill on the Homosassa River not far from
Homosassa Springs. It is a favorite with both local crackers and
snowbirds. While dining on the river we watched airboats, pontoon
boats and kayaks pass by while bald eagles, ospreys and pelicans
fished for dinner. This was so relaxing. We would have returned to
Kibbie's but it was sprinkling when we arrived and Kibbie's had closed
down their dockside dining.

It sprinkled rain until around 2:00 when the sun burst through
leaving
a clear blue cloudless sky for the remainder of the day. The
temperature dropped rapidly as soon as the sun went down.
Around 5:30
we walked to the amphitheatre for the Coaster's and Drifter's
concert
dressed in sweatshirts and jackets.

The amphitheatre was situated in a long abandoned limestone
quarry.
Entrance to the amphitheatre is down the road trucks once used to haul
limestone out. A large permanent stage has been constructed against
the largest wall of the old quarry. The quarry floor has been graded
to gently slope up as it gets farther from the stage area. Topsoil,
sod and an irrigation system have transformed the quarry floor into a
beautifully lush setting for outdoor concerts.

We may be in central Florida but no one is running around in shorts
tonight. Jeans, sweatshirts and jackets are the only way anyone was
able to enjoy the outdoor concert. By 5:30 there is a sea of lawn
chairs strategically placed to get a good view of the stage. Several
quality entertainers performed before the main acts appeared.

It is hard for us to believe how long these groups have been around
doing rock & roll. The lead singer of the Coaster's is 73 while Bill
Pickney of the Drifter's is 77. Bill Pickney is the only original
Drifter still alive. The Coaster's were the first group inducted into
the Rock & Roll hall of fame. For those of you that have temporarily
forgotten songs that these groups were famous for how about:
Searching, Poison Ivy, Charlie Brown, Yakety Yak, Little Egypt, Along
came long lanky Joan, Love Potion #9, Help Me Make it through the
Night, Save the Last Dance for Me & Under the Boardwalk. Of course
there were more but those are the ones my pea brain I can recall from
their performance.

Sunday, February 17, 2002
Payne's Prairie Preserve SP: Micanopy/Gainesville, FL

We headed 67-miles northeast to Payne's Prairie Preserve State
Park
just south of Gainesville. While we were registering at the Ranger
Station I checked the local phone book for an old high school buddy
that has a law practice in Gainesville. After a short surprise phone
call Bruce and his beautiful wife Anthe dropped what they were doing
and drove out to our RV-site. Just like old Navy buddies high school
friends are fun to get together with every 30-years or so. They gave
us some tips on places to see and things to do in the area. We also
made arrangements to have dinner together on Tuesday night.

While touring Florida State Parks we have picked up on some
Ranger
Speak or Cracker Speak if you will. A hammock may be a rope bed
stretched between two trees to some of us but to a Ranger it is an
area of forested land, usually higher than its surroundings. Hammocks
are always hardwood hammocks. You never have a pine hammock. Scrub
is not just what you do to dirty pots and pans but a valuable,
endangered, and very old Florida ecosystem. Scrub is a term applied
to habitats that are nutrient-poor and soils that are sandy and do not
hold moisture. Tree growth is stunted. Most of the plants have
waxy-coated, hairy, or curled leaves to reduce moisture loss. So
specialized are the plants and animals that live in the Florida scrub
that more than 30 species are not found anywhere else in the world. To
give you an idea the scrub of central Florida closely resembles the
deserts of the American Southwest. Some of the plant species are
actually related to southwestern desert species.

A strand is not just some unruly lock of hair but in Ranger Speak is a
type of swamp with a limestone base unique to Florida. A stand is not
just a table next to your bed but rather a grove of trees. Rangers
will point out a stand of cypress or slash pine. What I don't get is;
they have a stand of pine yet a grove of oranges. Go figure! Most of
us understand "run" but when a park ranger speaks will nonchalantly of
a run he is talking about the stretch of water that flows from a
spring to where it meets an adjoining river.

Then you have the ranger that says something about herps in the
area.
As it turns out there probably is no word "herps" the rangers are just
using some license with the word herpetology, which is the branch of
zoology dealing with reptiles and amphibians. So if you are around
the cocky young rangers when they start this "herps" stuff just
realize that they have difficulty saying reptiles and amphibians.

Some of you will instinctively know that a SWAMP is where the
University of Florida Gators play football. However, in ranger speak
a swamp is a wet area dominated by trees. It is easy to get swamps
and marshes confused. Marshes, which may have some trees, are wet
areas dominated by grasses and shrubs.

Monday, February 18, 2002
Payne's Prairie Preserve SP: Micanopy/Gainesville, FL

Payne's Prairie in addition to being a Florida State Park is a
National Landmark. Currently, Payne's Prairie is a highlands marsh
but in times of heavy rains, it almost becomes a lake. In 1871 the
Alachua Sink, which drains Payne's Prairie, became plugged. The
thousands of acres of marshland became a shallow lake so large that
commercial steamboats started traveling over it delivering goods from
one end to the other. Twenty years later the plug broke and drained
the lake in three days. Within two years plants appeared and the
present day "prairie" was formed.

In 1774, noted artist and naturalist William Bartram wrote a detailed
description of Payne's Prairie. He called the prairie "the great
Alachua Savannah" describing it as a "level green plain" that had
"scarcely a tree or bush of any kind." Today it is much like that;
full of tall grasses, rushes, and grass-like sedges that wave in the
wind. Bison, scrub cattle and small Spanish horses are said to roam
free in the prairie preserve. I say are said to walk free because we
spent the day walking trails in a vain search for them. To give you
an idea of the size of this prairie it has a 50-mile radius. It is a
very large place and there are plenty of places to hide. Possibly on
another day we will spot them. To make up for not seeing the large
mammals we were looking for we did see literally hundreds of gators.

Tuesday, February 19, 2002
Payne's Prairie Preserve SP: Micanopy/Gainesville, FL

Our luck was better with viewing wildlife today. We visited some of
the same spots, as yesterday but today wildlife was visible. Several
times we saw bands of wild horses. Several more times we saw small
groups of bison. Hundreds if not thousands of yellow rump warblers
were feeding in a thicket of wax myrtle. The thicket was literally
alive with them. Just down the trail we came upon a large tree, with
no leaves but loaded with berries. Cedar waxwings and robins were
devouring the berries and flying to nearby trees to digest them. The
droppings, post digestion, made the surrounding woods sound like it
was raining. Oh my how thankful am I that my motorhome was not parked
underneath that falling poop. A bit farther down the trail a pileated
woodpecker was busy excavating this seasons nest in the top of an old
snag.

After the successful sightings on the nature trails we headed to the
Florida Natural History Museum on the University of Florida Campus
less than 10-miles from the park. Even if the museum is on the UF
campus I have to say it is awesome. Imagine me admitting anything in
Hog town is awesome. Anyone visiting the Gainesville area should put
the Natural History Museum on their list of must see things. The
dioramas were among the best we have seen anywhere.

Following the advice of our son we lunched at "The Swamp
Restaurant."
You "GATORS" will know about "The Swamp Restaurant" but for
the
edification of others the Swamp Restaurant is one of Gainesville's
most popular eating and imbibing establishments. It is named for its
proximity to the famed Ben Hill Griffin Stadium otherwise referred to
as the "swamp." Several gator replicas inside and outside the
establishment remind patrons where they are. The original building
was built in 1915 as a UF professor's home. After it burned in 1993
the restaurant leased it and restored it to its historical standards.
I can only imagine the madhouse it must be on game day! Today was
just a prep course for the real thing. Everyone but us appeared to be
students getting tanked before their next class. Our waitress thought
we were zombies from outer space when we ordered water and diet coke
with our lunch.

We spotted the George Smathers Library. Former Florida Senator
George
Smathers is a relative of mine on my mother's side of the family. Now
that I know the UF library was named after him I suppose there are two
good things on the UF campus. VBG (Very Big Grin)

In addition to the George Smathers Library UF has the Levin Law
Center. Fred Levin is an immensely successful trial attorney from
Pensacola. He was part of the team of Florida lawyers that took on
the tobacco industry for the State of Florida and won a landmark
settlement. Fred donated $11-million of his share of the tobacco
money to the UF law center. I think an $11-million donation should be
enough to get the law center named after him, don't you agree?

After lunch we headed to Devil's Millhopper state Geological Site &
National Monument. Devil's Millhopper is a sinkhole. Geologists
believe that this giant sinkhole was first formed between 10,000 and
14,000 years ago, and that an additional opening was formed within the
last 1,000 years. The sinkhole is around 500 feet across and 120 feet
deep. The Devil's Millhopper got its name from fossilized bones and
teeth found at the bottom. Early-Indians thought it was created by
the devil of their religion. Early Cracker's thought it resembled the
shape of the funnel through which grain was sent to be ground into
grist. Thus the name. Broken limestone boulders border the sides of
the sink from top to bottom. The sink is a giant bowl of life. Water
seeps out all around the sink and runs down the side supporting lush
cinnamon and rattlesnake fern and other tropical plants that would not
normally grow this far north. If the drain in the bottom is ever
plugged it will turn into a large lake.

On the way back to the car we heard a barred owl making its eerie
hoot. It was not far from us but it stopped hooting before we could
spot it. We might have missed the owl but a tom turkey with a beard
reaching the ground crossed right in front of us as if we were not
there. We were surprised seeing the single turkey, usually when we
spot turkeys there are upwards of 6 or 8 together.

We drove to Bruce and Anthe's house around 6:30. They have a
lovely
home in a wonderful neighborhood with a magnificent view out the back
window overlooking a creek and greenway. What a wonderful place to
raise three children. After a brief tour of the house we headed to a
fancy downtown restaurant then visited Bruce's law office around the
corner on Main Street. Then they drove us around the UF campus. The
campus is HUGE! There is no reason that any University that large
should ever lose a football game. No wonder they get so mad when they
lose! When you are THAT big and have that kind of money I suppose you
have a right to get mad when you lose to a school half your size!

What an end to a wonderful day. We will be sure and visit Bruce and
Anthe next winter when we head south again.

Wednesday, February 20, 2002
Presnell's Marina & RV-Park: Port St. Joe, Florida: Site #4

We got up early and headed the motorhome west toward Cape San
Blas in
the Florida Panhandle. A little over 200-miles later we pulled into
Presnell's Marina and RV-Park, a quaint mom & pop operation on St. Joe
Bay. The front of our motorhome is less than 5-feet from the water
overlooking beautiful St. Joe Bay. Years ago our family used to bring
the boat and camp here while gathering scallops during the day. We
have many fond memories of Presnell's and St. Joe Bay. Our plans were
to stay in St. Joe State Park because we have friends that are going
to be spending 4-days there beginning tomorrow. The SP did not have a
site for a motorhome our size so we opted for Presnell's instead. In
reality Presnell's may be an even better place. The sunsets are
incredible over St. Joe Bay.

While this is an unbelievably beautiful place there is a price to pay.
Not in the form of money but in "no-see-ums" or "sand-gnats".
"No-see-ums" are minuscule insects that exact painful bites and
leave
itchy welts. "No-see-ums" are half the size of a normal gnat and most
people do not realize what is exacting the pain on them, thus the
colloquial name. They are worse at dawn and dusk close to saltwater
marshes. The least bit of breeze will provide relief, but in that
brief transition between day & night when things get still
"no-see-ums" suddenly appear to inflict their misery. Two things will
keep the critters at bay, any bug repellent with "deet" the greater
the percentage of deet the better; the other is an Avon product called
skin-so-soft. We usually use deet products to protect us from
mosquitoes and skin-so-soft for "no-see-ums".

Thursday, February 21, 2002
Presnell's Marina & RV-Park: Port St. Joe, Florida: Site #4

We explored downtown Port St. Joe this morning then did lunch at the
Dockside Café located at the Port St. Joe Marina. The food was good
but the view was great. The Dockside Café could be a good place to
eat lunch with a view in Port St. Joe. In the early afternoon we
toured the Constitution Convention State Museum. The first of
Florida's five constitutions was written in Port St. Joe. In 1838
Port St. Joe was one of the largest settlements in Florida. One of
the requirements for Florida to be accepted into the United States was
the establishment of a democratic constitution. Delegates from around
Florida met in Port St. Joe and created the first constitution. It
was used until the Civil War. The original town of Port St. Joe
literally vanished in the 1844 hurricane. I think this is the same
hurricane that destroyed Cedar Key also. At one time Port St. Joe was
the third largest city in Florida behind Pensacola and St. Augustine.

While at the museum we got a call from Pat & Louie Preninger.
They
were calling us from their beach house on Cape San Blas. After
finishing the museum we headed to their place. After a while all of
us drove out to the State Park with Pat & Louie to look for some RV
Internet friends. Our friends RV was there but they were nowhere to
be found. All of us dined at the Beachcomber Restaurant. The crab
bisque was excellent. You can bet Joyce and I will eat here again. We
did not get home until very late. Pat & Louie kept us out late.

Friday, February 22, 2002
Presnell's Marina & RV-Park: Port St. Joe, Florida: Site #4

We had a full day today. Just as we are about to leave for Pat &
Louie's I spotted a work barge moving in the canal outside our front
window and jumped outside to take a picture. Lo and behold I heard a
voice calling MIKE, when I looked around I saw a man & woman getting
out of a blue tracker. I recognized the tracker as the automobile I
had seen yesterday outside Det & Judy Abel's motorhome in St. Joe
State Park. We have finally met after all these months of
communicating via e-mail. What a delightful couple. They are from
Iowa and spending some time on the Gulf coast before returning home.
We spent some time getting to know each other better and making plans
to get together on Sunday. Then they headed into Port St. Joe and we
headed to Pat & Louie's place.

Not long after arriving at Pat & Louie's we head to the Raw Bar on
SR-30A at the Indian Pass cut off. Pat is having an oyster craving
and we are going to the Raw Bar to quince that craving. The Raw Bar
is a once in a lifetime experience with ambience is steeped in the
real Florida of long ago. Time has stood-still here for at least
50-years. These folks do not particularly care if you stop and eat
with them or not. They are just some "good-old-boys" if you know what
I mean. There are no directions on how things are done in the Raw
Bar. You just have to know some things. If you want a drink you walk
over to the drink cooler and get one. If you want another drink you
just keep going over to the cooler and retrieving another drink. Don't
even think any of the employees are going to get you a drink. Mostly
beer goes with oysters especially raw oysters. Joyce and I like raw
oysters but are leery of eating them for fear of the occasional
serious illness sometimes associated with eating raw oysters. Joyce
and I opted for gumbo, soft drinks and key lime pie. Louie, also
cautious about eating raw oysters, ordered his steamed. When you are
"finished" as in no more imbibing and no more oysters you sashay up to
the register and they count the empty cans/containers and oyster
platters remaining on your vacated table. That becomes your tab.
Everything is verbal with no wasted paper bill. The best way to
describe the Raw Bar is to picture an old-time country service station
and country store. In this case they no longer sold gas and very
little if any groceries. Customers were a mix of well-healed
snowbirds and local crackers. When in the area visitors must stop by
for a dozen raw or steamed oysters and an obligatory beverage of
choice.

Next Louie headed to Indian Pass where he took us; in his 4-wheel
drive Yukon, for a ride down the beach. Don't you try driving on the
beach; Louie has a special permit that allows him to drive on the
beach. Very few people have this permit. Ya gotta be a "local
cracker" to obtain one of these special permits. We drove about
10-miles down the beach stopping to pick up shells every so often.
Both families have tons of shells but it is always fun to stroll down
the beach looking for special shells. In this case we were looking
for shells that we could give to Det & Judy. Finally tiring of riding
on the beach and shelling Louie gets back on the highway and heads to
an area of kitchen middens. Kitchen middens are prehistoric refuse
heaps. These middens are largely composed of shells but may contain
fragments of animal and bird bones, pottery, and implements of stone
and wood. A shell midden we visited near Cedar Key is over 30 feet
high. However, generally the larger mounds are 1,000 ft long, by 200
ft wide and 10 ft deep. They are the work of (Middle Stone Age)
peoples who gathered shellfish in addition to fishing and hunting. It
would be difficult to tell these are middens because centuries old
oak, palm and red cedar trees cover them. However, from the bay side
we are able to walk along the beach and see where wave actions from
storms have exposed the shells literally piles over 10' high. Red
Cedar trees tend to grow over shallow limestone. In the case of these
middens the "limestone" is the shells. The red cedars on the Cape are
almost all located atop these prehistoric middens. One gigantic oak
tree situated atop one of the middens has initials carved in it.
Legend has it that pirates buried treasure X-number of paces N/S/E/W
of the marked oak.

Louie had another nature trail he took us to that carried us over an
ancient dune system then to a live oak & palm hammock situated on
another midden. Afterwards, since we were at the entrance to the
State Park we went in to look for Det & Judy. This time their
bicycles were gone. We decided to leave the shells we had collected
for them and explain where they came from when we finally catch up
with them. Next Louie took us to the old lighthouse point on the Cape
where we walked on the beach. At one point we approached a bald
eagle's nest where two young eagles were still hanging around the nest
while a parent was busily supplying fish dinners. It is good to see
bald eagles again. DDT wiped bald eagles, ospreys and pelicans out
around here in the 1960's and they are just now returning.

As if all this was not enough Pat prepared scallop chowder for
dinner.
It was divine! It is highly recommended to mooch off Pat & Louie
every chance you get. (VBG-Very Big Grin) Again we did not get home
until very late.

Mike & Joyce Hendrix