Florida - Day 21 - to Rosewood and Perry

Perry KOA, Perry

Monday, 6 February 2023

today's route

As you can see, I didn't take the most direct route between campgrounds, and Google nearly hemorrhaged trying to force me into the faster route.  But I wanted to get some access to the Gulf of Mexico from this side of it (I'm used to the Texas side), so that's the reason for most of this choice.  And that little jog in the north was intended to take me to Rosewood, which I'll explain in a minute.

When Google and I finally settled on a route, it informed me that today's drive would take 3 hours and 21 minutes, meaning at least 5 hours for me.  So we left the campground at 7:45.  This early-ish hour meant the rush hour traffic didn't get bad for quite a long way - until I was actually in Tampa, in fact.  

Even then, it was doable and an hour later, as I was getting near the coast road, I noticed traffic was much heavier on the other side of the road - the folks all going into town to work.

I passed a fair-sized building emblazoned "Immigration Help Center."  At first I thought it was a government office, but then I decided it looked like an attorney office - and I've now learned online that it was in fact a law office.

I passed a turn for the Tampa Bay Downs on Race Track Road.  I hadn't realized there was a race track in this area.  Online comments suggest it's much more my style than something fancy like Hialeah.

Lockheed Martin has a facility here.

I passed Palm Harbor, and even this unincorporated town had more than 61,000 residents at the last census.  Florida is sure a popular place to call home these days.

Turning north, I swear I saw a Bald Eagle sitting on a street light.  And the bird book says they do actually live in Florida year round.  In fact, it says birds raised in Florida "may wander north as far as southern Canada."  Who knew Bald Eagles were snowbirds too?

Passing through Tarpon Springs, I learned it's "the Sponge Capital of the World."  Seemed weird but it turns out Greek immigrants settled in this area in the early 1900s and created an industry by harvesting and processing the sponges that grew naturally in this area.  But in the 1940s the sponges got hit by a disease that nearly wiped them out.  Since then, stocks have been rebounding, harvesting has been resumed, and Tarpon Springs is now the world's leading producer of natural sponges.  Incredible the number of things I didn't know I should wonder about.

I heard on the radio that Turkey has 5 tectonic plates that meet under it, which takes all the surprise out of the occurrence of such serious earthquakes today: 7.8, followed by a 7.7.  Those are serious quakes.  My heart goes out to the thousands of folks who are trying to find family members buried in the rubble of poorly constructed buildings.

I came to the town of New Port Richey, followed a little ways north by the town of Port Richey.  Port Richey was named for the first postmaster and calls itself the "Little City By the River."  The river is the Pithlachascotee.  About 40 years later, New Port Richey farther inland began to be settled and, for some reason, attracted many famous people - e.g. Irving Berlin, Gloria Swanson, Ed Wynn.  The golfer Gene Sarazen developed the "sand wedge" golf club here.

I passed a billboard that said: "This billboard helps protect America

                                            (if it convinces you to support Navy SEALs)."

I guess I'm not sure why the Navy needs support so badly it has to resort to billboards.  I mean, even most congressional Republicans say the defense budget is off the table for funding cuts.  But I'm just reporting.

Farther north a highway warning sign said "Bear Habitat Next 12 Miles."  First one I've seen that was phrased like that.

I passed a Spanish-speaking church with this sign: "Cristo Viene Pronto."  I'm losing my Spanish by not having anywhere to practice it, but I could translate that much: "Christ is coming soon."

I passed a sign for the turn to Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park.  I keep forgetting sugar has for centuries been a big crop in Florida and was curious about this place.  The history given by the State is an interesting beginning at learning about slavery in Florida.   https://www.floridastateparks.org/history-yulee-sugar-mills

Not much farther on, I passed the Crystal River State Archaeological Site.  When I come back to Florida, I'd like to visit because it sounds interesting.  Under the name Crystal River Indian Mounds it's also a US National Historic Landmark.  This area protects 6 mounds that date back to 250 BC.  Archaeologists think this area was occupied for 1,600 years, making it one of the longest continually occupied sites in Florida.

We crossed the Withlacoochee River.  Some interesting names for rivers in this state.

I saw a sign for Follow That Dream Parkway (honestly) and had to look it up.  And it turns out to be a road going to the town of Yankeetown (honestly), where Elvis Presley filmed part of his movie "Follow That Dream."  Here's a little article about it (if you can ignore all the ads).   https://www.florida-backroads-travel.com/yankeetown-florida

During the first part of today's drive, I passed nonstop shopping centers and businesses.  On this part of the drive I'm seeing lots of RV campgrounds and 55+ communities.

I turned toward the Gulf once again to find the community of Rosewood.  Actually, it sounded like the town didn't exist any longer, but I knew there was a historical marker where it used to be, and I went looking for it.

Oddly, I never found it, though I've got proof that it exists.   https://www.hmdb.org/rosewood-florida  This historic marker describes a massacre that occurred here in 1923; sadly, it's the story of racial violence that occurred with incredible frequency all over our country, and especially in the South.  

I drove up and down the road several times and couldn't figure out where the marker was.  I did find the Rosewood Baptist Church, and we stopped there to take a break.

That road leads to Cedar Key on the Gulf of Mexico.  I hadn't heard of it though it seems to be a fishing village turned tourist attraction with good seafood restaurants.  Yet another destination for my next trip here.  I didn't go today because I still had several hours of driving ahead even on my planned route.

Google had assured me that the best route was a county road that looked pretty rural to me, but I saw other vehicles (including trucks) go down it so took a chance.  We were both right - it was pretty rural and the most direct route.  I saw cows with calves, lots of bee boxes, a couple of tree plantations.

Then I got to Fanning Springs, "Gateway to the Suwannee River," followed by the Suwannee River itself.

I passed through a number of small towns and noticed that in this part of the state there seem to be a lot of churches.  Also a fair number of Trump signs.

I passed the Historic Putnam Lodge, per their sign.  A very pretty 2-story building.  I was curious what made it historic and learned online that it's historic because it was built in 1928 by the local lumber company.  I'm telling you, Florida needs to get its story straight about what constitutes "historic" around here.  That doesn't even make it 100 years old.

I crossed the Steinhatchee River and later the Fenholloway River, finally arriving at tonight's campground (a few miles short of the town of Perry) by 2:30.  Another long day of driving.