Rocky Bayou (FL) State Park

Sunday, 4 March 2018

Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park, FL

This was my longest drive yet – just over 400 miles.  It’s a good thing we got an early start – 7:30 – because we didn’t get to the park until after 4:00, with a short stop at noon to stretch legs and eat lunch.

The park told me my site is reserved for tomorrow but they have one other site opening up.  The ranger wasn’t allowed to do it for me – they’re constrained by their agreement with ReserveAmerica, which I’m learning to dislike.  So after I got plugged in and dog-walked, the first thing I did was reserve the other spot for tomorrow.  We’re too tired for me to want to drive any farther than a few hundred feet tomorrow.

Although long, the drive was pleasant.  Flocks of Red-winged blackbirds in lots of fields – they’re so pretty when they fly with their deep black feathers and stunning red accents.  I saw longhorns and a calf being raised in northern Louisiana.

In Mississippi I saw a chain of seafood/catfish parlors with signs that said “Closed Sundays in honor of our Lord.”  One of them had an enormous cross in front – I could see it a long way down the road and figured it must be a church.   Nah, just a catfish place.

I saw driving in the opposite direction a largish RV towing what looked like a piece of heavy equipment.  That didn’t make sense to my brain, so I decided what I really saw was either a Bobcat or a fancy off-road vehicle.  But later I passed another one which was, in fact, towing some kind of heavy equipment.  I hadn’t imagined it.  And later, another.  And another.  I saw at least 6 of these combos.  All spaced out, over a period of several hours, on 3 different highways, all going the same direction.  What kind of mileage are these people getting?   And where could they have been going?  And why get their equipment transported using RVs?  Ah, the mysteries of life.

I passed an old white house with a front porch swing and a tire swing at the other end of the porch.  Comfort for the whole family.

In Mississippi, I saw lots of azaleas blooming like crazy.  It seems a little early for them, but I’m sure that’s what they were.

I passed a business named “Helen Back Designs.”  Somebody’s got a sense of humor.

I saw a bunch of what I think were Little Blue Herons apparently feeding in some standing water along the highway.  They’re pretty big and dark and it was a surprise to me to see them there.

I saw several deer wisely deciding not to cross a very busy 4-lane highway in Florida.  I couldn’t see even so much as a field on the other side so have no idea why that would have seemed like a good idea to them.

I knew I was in Florida when I saw a Publix grocery store.