Florida - Day 13 - Lake Okeechobee

Moore Haven KOA, Moore Haven

Sunday, 29 January 2023

And more kitty photos:

These are both of Bucky.

Looks comfy, doesn't he?

Before we left the campground, I spent some time online and on the phone trying to find propane.  I'd hoped this campground had some but apparently not.  The only town of real size I'd planned to go through today was Okeechobee, and with today a Sunday and this town having fewer than 6,000 residents, I wasn't surprised when I couldn't find any.  But we were almost down to empty and I didn't want to get stuck wanting it and not having it.

I finally found a Tractor Supply there and called them, but they had it only in portable bottles.  But when I asked if they knew anybody who could help me, they suggested Garrard's Tackle Shop near them.  Propane at a tackle shop?  I called Garrard's and they sure, come on down.

today's route

The campground office was closed when I left, which didn't surprise me on a Sunday.

I passed through the town of Sebring, which seemed very spread out.  I learned online that it doesn't have a Main Street because it entirely encloses Lake Jackson, which is a pretty good sized lake.  A sign told me it was the Home of the 12 Hour Grand Prix.  This is where the Sebring International Raceway is located, a track that was first used in 1950 and, with many modifications, is still in use.  It's considered an important site for preparing for the Le Mans race in France.

I passed a house flying a Confederate flag flanked by 2 flags, both with 3 stripes of pink, black and blue.  I looked online but can't find anything that looks like that.

Crested Caracara

Osprey

I started seeing large nests on top of utility poles - maybe 10 of them along the road.  And in some I actually saw a bird.  The view I got was a very large bird that had a lot of black and white.

According to the bird book, just about the only ones that seem the right size and might be interested in a nest in this area and have a lot of black and white are these two.  Oddly, the Caracara is in Florida only in this area and is here year round.  The Osprey is in the whole state year round.  Whatever they were, it was exciting to see such big birds so near the road.

I crossed the Kissimmee River, which flows from near Orlando, creates Lake Okeechobee, then continues south to become the northern wetlands area of the Everglades.  It's a busy little river.

And then we came to the town of Okeechobee at the northern end of the lake.  I stopped here first because Dext wanted a walk, and we saw a nice park in the middle of the downtown.  The main feature of that park was a series of sculptures of a cattle drive.

And because he's at the rear, it's not easy to see the cowhand, so here's his picture.

Here are the explanatory plaques about these.

Across the street was a different kind of artwork.

We stopped in town for groceries and gasoline ($3.59/gallon), and then I went looking for Garrard's Tackle Shop.  And had to wait in line behind other folks wanting propane.  But I was glad to get it and I didn't ask why a tackle shop would be the only place in town selling it.

Just outside of town I saw a sign for Okeechobee Battlefield State Park.  I didn't go but looked it up - and had a surprisingly hard time finding out what it was about.  Close to 1,000 US troops fought about 400 Seminole warriors.  Both sides claimed victory, though based on casualties, I'd say the Seminole won.  If you're interested, here's the clearest account I could find.   https://en.wikipedia.org/Battle-of-Lake-Okeechobee

Another battle is still apparently being fought in these parts: I saw 2 more Confederate flags along the way.

The main thing I wanted to do today was take a look at Lake Okeechobee.  It's the largest freshwater lake in Florida, the 10th largest natural freshwater lake in the US, and follows only Lake Michigan for being largest natural freshwater lake that's entirely within the Lower 48 states.  It's too large to see across - per Wikipedia, but also per me - I couldn't see to the other side at one of those wide points.  The lake is surrounded by a dike, which meant I couldn't get good views of it for much of my drive.  But the dike is apparently often used as a hike and bike path.

All along the road beside the lake I passed RV parks - people who came for the fishing and people who figured this was a good place to retire.

I saw bougainvillea blooming.

I passed a bar that was thick with bikers, according to the number of them parked outside.  Today was certainly a good day for a ride.

The Intracoastal Waterway flows through Lake Okeechobee beginning at Port Mayaca, where I got a view of the lake that looked so big it was like an ocean bay.

The post office at Pahokee is orchid colored.

I saw what I thought was a sea of sea oats or some such plant.  But now I think what I saw was sugar cane.  I was thrown off by the plants only being 3'-4' tall, but if the cane was harvested and replanted a few months ago, it would likely be about this height now.  Florida produces 52% of US sugar cane by value.  I had no idea, though Gail and Dem mentioned it yesterday, which was my head's-up.

A sign told me to watch out for tractors.

In South Bay, we found John Stretch Park which was a very pleasant and very popular little picnic area by the road.  There were a couple dozen picnic tables and shelters around a little pond, full of families and couples enjoying a sunny Sunday afternoon.  I saw one enterprising young woman who was asleep in a hammock she'd hung from 2 trees.

Speaking of sugar, at Clewiston, I came to a facility for U.S. Sugar.  "Feeding America's Families," they say.

I passed through the town of Moore Haven and went a few more miles down the road to the KOA.  This turned out to be a huge campground, somewhat awkwardly laid out around 2 little ponds.  The dog park was a long way from our campsite, but we went there twice while we were here.

Florida - Day 12 - visiting friends in Lake Wales

Lake Glenada RV Resort, Avon Park

Saturday, 28 January 2023

That's Jimmy in front.  You can see what his eye looks like now.
I live in utter dread that while they're horsing around up here they'll claw the TV screen.

today's route

As I was driving north from Avon Park, I saw a group of floats lining up for a parade and wished I could stay for it.  Local parades are fun.

I stopped for gasoline - $3.53/gallon.  Gas is really expensive here in Florida.  I thought it was supposed to be paradise here, at least that's the reason Gov. DeSantis gives for so many people moving to the state.  In the 12 months beginning June 2020, Florida led the country in number of US residents moving here: almost 221,000.  (But during that same period, more people died here than were born.)  Don't know if the Census Bureau has more current data yet.

I drove back north through Frostproof and continued a few more miles to Lake Wales and the home of an old friend of mine.  I met Dem when we both worked for the Alaska Dept. of Environmental Conservation about a hundred years ago.  I'd managed to find him because he's a lawyer.  I've learned to look for lawyer friends in the membership lists of the various state bars, with the trick being you have to know which states to look at.  I knew Dem once lived in Florida and that his mom also lived here, and I thought with her being about my mom's age maybe he'd done as I did and moved back here to take care of her.  Whether he did or not (I never got around to asking), he was indeed in the Florida Bar list.  So several emails and phone calls later, I was able to meet him and his wife Gail.

Our visit lasted for hours and I'm afraid I may have talked too much - I'm not used to talking to people any more and tend not to know when to stop chattering.  They're both heavily involved in a family literacy program that sounded very rewarding and very successful, though also very challenging because it depends on grant money that's not always easy to find.

When I finally got ready to leave, we saw 3 Sandhill Cranes in the neighbor's front yard.  They walked across to Dem and Gail's yard, where they jumped/flew and turned around in the air many times, sometimes all 3 birds together.  I'd read somewhere that they do this sort of thing in courtship, but I hadn't realized both males and females would do it.  At least, I'm assuming there were both sexes there, though they looked alike to me.  I assume that because why would 3 males do that little dance without a female around?  Whatever it was, it was really neat to see.  Dem and Gail said they often saw cranes around.

We stopped again in Frostproof, "The Friendly City" (if you vote Republican), to walk in that park again, and then went on back to the campground.  This time I ran into a real problem when I tried to park the RV.  The next-door neighbor, Jeff, thought he was mad at me for the way I parked yesterday, which he said was completely contrary to park rules and taking up part of the site allocated to him.  I apologized but said I'd never talked to anybody in the office and it was the neighbors down the street who helped park me like I did.  From what he said, the park rules would make it impossible for me to park the RV in this site - and he agreed that previous folks had had a lot of trouble, because of the awkward location of that big tree.

In lieu of an apology, I asked his advice about the water (don't hook up, he urged me, because the water system is likely not safe - private system, old, pipes break and don't get flushed out after repairs), and where on earth a dumpster was because I hadn't been able to find one.  By the time we were  through with all that he was practically mellow.  ("A soft answer turns away wrath.")

Once all that got straightened out, I thought we were good for the evening - and then Bucky got out.

He was out from about 6:50 until 10:10.  Miles past my bedtime.  Luckily he mostly stayed under the RV, but several times he tried to make a break for the mobile home on the other side, so I had to be constantly vigilant.  After a while Jeff's wife Kathy came out and helped me and brought a wad of turkey meat to try to tempt Bucky to come out.

He spent much of his time on top of one or another of the pieces of the RV's workings underneath, making it hard to see him sometimes and worrying me that he'd get stuck up in some inaccessible cranny.  Meanwhile, mosquitos started buzzing around in my ear and generally making me feel insecure.  How can there be mosquitos in January?  It's so rude.

I spent 3 hours crouching, kneeling, lying on the ground, walking around and around the RV trying to find him and to cut him off from other escape routes.  It was exhausting.  And eventually Kathy pointed out Bucky was looking like he was getting tired too.

But he wouldn't come out and he wouldn't come out - except to make another break for it to the neighbor's.  Then back to the protection of the RV's undercarriage.  And then the miracle happened.

Jimmy woke up and started their standard nighttime play routine, which involves galloping up and down the RV, up and down, jumping on any piece of furniture that happens to be handy and then back down to gallop some more.  This is not exactly the pitter-patter of little feet here.  Despite being only 5 pounds or so, Jimmy sounds like the thundering hordes.  

Well, Bucky could hear all this galloping no problem and knew exactly what it was because he's usually part of the horde.  And he came out from under the RV and stood on his hind legs to look through the screen door.  But when I'd come close, he'd run back underneath again.  I'd've left the door open except I was afraid Jimmy would run outside too.  

Finally I went inside myself, sitting in the seat by the door so I could keep an eye on Jimmy, and leaving the screen door open.  And finally finally Bucky came inside.  And when he was well and truly in, I closed the screen door. 

And he made a beeline for the litter box.  Apparently in all that time he spent on the ground under the RV, eating grass and rolling around, it never occurred to him it could be used as a bathroom.  So weird.  But he was in.

I went next door to thank Kathy and let her know he was inside, and then I tried to clean up all the little kitty treats and other food that we'd thrown around while trying to get him out.  And then it took me almost another hour to finally settle down enough to get some sleep.  I'd been worried the entire time he was out and that's a lot of worrying.

Florida - Day 11 - space center, beaches and Yeehaw Junction

Lake Glenada RV Resort, Avon Park

Friday, 27 January 2023

Today has been designated Holocaust Remembrance Day.  In these recent times of startling revival of anti-semitism, white supremacy and Holocaust denial, I wish there were more emphasis on the purpose of this day.

On the radio I heard someone worried about how kids today aren't questioning Holocaust denial and that a way to deal with that is to teach them how to use media more skillfully and critically.  It's a skill they need on many issues.

today's route

I could see from the map and from Google's directions that today would involve a long drive, so we left the campground shortly after 7:30.

I stopped in Apopka at a grocery store, and then farther along the road at Altamonte Springs at a recycling dropoff.  Actually, I couldn't find one that was supposed to be at City Hall, so I went instead to one at Eastmonte Park.  I found that one but it was weird.  

First, I'd intended to walk Dext at the park but multiple signs told me he wouldn't be welcome, which meant I wasn't welcome.  Second, it took quite a search for me to find the recycling place and it turned out to be because it was just a few little pails in a small structure in an unpaved parking area across the street from the park.  But the structure did label the pails with plastic, glass, and metals, so I knew I could leave the glass.  In fact, I ended up filling up the pails because they were already pretty full and high time someone emptied them.  But if that's one of the 2 recycling dropoffs for the city, I would wonder about the level of their commitment - except these were the only dropoffs I could find in this whole area, short of driving into Orlando, which I wanted to avoid because of traffic.  So at least they were there.  And Dext and I took a short walk along the road outside the sacred gates of the park.  Like I said - weird.

Speaking of Orlando always makes me think of my Uncle Tom and Aunt Marguerite, who lived here pretty much since WWII.  Marguerite died about 10 years ago from Alzheimer's (ugly disease) and Tom died about 5 years ago from complications of being 98 years old (I think that's what he was).  I miss them both very much.

I've been noticing that the radio has stopped fading out like it was doing in Iowa.  Can't imagine why but glad it's stopped.  I've been able to find an NPR station in most areas of Florida.  I heard someone on the radio quote Taylor Swift saying, "Karma is a relaxing thought.  Aren't you worried that for you it's not?"

Another 40 miles or so along the road, past the Econlockhatchee River (I swear that's the name) we went through the town of Christmas (very rural area) and passed a sign for Fort Christmas.  I wondered where the name came from and looked it up and found an interesting discussion of the fort.  The name came from construction of the fort being started on Christmas Day 1837.  The fort now here is a reproduction but still has some interesting lessons to teach about history of this place and other forts built around Florida.  You might want to take a quick look at the article.   https://myfloridahistory.org/ft-christmas   

From there we crossed the Indian River (part of the Intracoastal Waterway system), past the Kennedy Space Center, then across the Banana River, past Cape Canaveral (and several cruise ships docked at Port Canaveral) and on to Cocoa Beach.

Cocoa Beach looked like a long resort area, somewhat dominated by Ron Jon Surf Shop.  The one here is their flagship store and, they claim, the largest surf shop in the world.  They cover a lot of territory and have dramatic Vegas-style statues along the road.  I didn't stop to take photos of any of them and now find there aren't any uncopyrighted ones online.  But I'm including their webpage because it shows a dramatic surfing sculpture, which should give you an idea of what the others are like.   https://www.ronjonsurfshop.com/cocoa-beach

We needed a break, so I stopped at a parking lot for one of the numerous public beaches.  And discovered the city charges $5 to park there and won't let dogs on the beach.  But we needed the rest, so I paid the fee and took Dext almost to the beach.

This is a glimpse of the beach at Cocoa Beach.

This is the boardwalk that leads across the dunes.

I thought this was a great idea -
providing buckets for people to use to pick up trash on the beach.
And apparently also providing toys for people to play with on the beach.
Almost makes up for the no-dogs policy, though not quite.

Lots of oleander in bloom (this is still January).  And I saw a pelican flying.  And later saw a flock of them flying over the beach and the surf.

We continued south on A1A past more beach towns: Indian Harbour Beach, Canova Beach, Melbourne Beach (established 1883).  At a park between the road and the ocean I saw several beach volleyball courts - sand, though not on the beach.

More beach towns, long rows of condos, some single-family homes (most quite large), lots of parks.  I almost had to stop completely before an egret decided to get out of the road.  And a sign warned me of a "land crab crossing next 7 miles," and I kept an eye out but didn't see any.

After a while I started wondering if there are really enough rich people - especially rich old people - in the US to justify all the clearly very expensive housing areas I passed.  Miles and miles of them.

I crossed the Intracoastal Waterway again and headed inland.  I passed a large orange orchard and a huge field with various baby plants.  Some were about 3' tall with yellow flowers.

I came to Yeehaw Junction, which I'd routed myself to, strictly for the name.  A sign alerted me to the Desert Inn Historic Site, and I didn't stop but did look it up and learned that this crossroads was originally called Jackass Crossing.  The Desert Inn, which no longer exists, was once a popular spot here as a bar and brothel, and folks used to ride their burros here (hence the name).  Here's an explanation for it all.   https://en.wikipedia.org/Desert-Inn

A highway sign warned me of a panther crossing for the next 13 miles.  This is a very rural area.  I hadn't realized there was so much rural land in Florida, which has always seemed to me so packed with people it's liable to collapse into the sea.

We passed several large orange groves and came into the town of Frostproof, where we stopped for another break.  Frostproof was originally named Keystone City, but folks kept confusing it with Keystone Heights, also in Florida, and the Post Office wouldn't allow the use of that name.  So in 1892 local business types decided on the name Frostproof to help convince citrus growers they'd be safe buying land for their crops here.  It worked - they got their post office and their citrus orchards.  Except there are occasional freezes here.  And they also seem susceptible to hurricanes.  In 2004 they set a world record for having 3 in this one town in one year.

We found a nice park almost in the center of town, and Dext and I walked around a bit.  Across the street was a lovely building labeled City Hall.  Oddly, I'd already seen another building labeled City Hall.

Both buildings clearly labeled "City Hall."  Both apparently in use, according to cars parked there.  Both appeared in media articles, each time labeled as "City Hall."  Got me.

What I can also tell you about this town is that it's got a conservative bent.  I saw a sign as I drove through town saying, "New Yorkers - Vote Republican or Go Home."  Something like that is almost enough for contrary me to want to move there and vote a straight Democratic ticket in every election.  And then there's also this little bit of tone-deafness - in 2021 the town declared "Donald J. Trump Week" during Black History Month.  Here's an article about local response.   https://www.fox13news.com/frostproofs-donald-j-trump-week

From there we drove a few miles farther south to Avon Park, where I spent quite a bit of time driving up and down the highway trying to find the turn for the campground that Google claimed was there.  I finally located it, and it was after 4:30 by the time we got into the campsite.  This was another odd campground.  It's mostly mobile homes and narrow winding roads on the edge of a lake.  The office was closed, but when I called their number, a woman told me someone would come lead me to my site.  I thought I owed her money but she never said anything about it so I figured I'd already paid.

The people who finally showed up were residents (again with this residents and not staff introducing me to a campground), a nice couple about my age maybe.  The site they showed me to had a large tree growing at the entrance, and the man really had his work cut out for him trying to direct me on backing into a nearly inaccessible site.  But we made it.

Even though we got in late (for us), I still watched Denial because of it being Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Google had been right - today was indeed a long drive.

Florida - Day 10 - in the Orange Blossom KOA campground

Orlando/Orange Blossom KOA, Apopka

Tuesday, 24 through Thursday, 26 January 2023

Most of these three days I spent in planning some of my upcoming travel around Florida.  As time goes on, I have an increasingly harder time making reservations anywhere, and especially on weekends.  I guess it's the folks from Canada and the northern states finally having enough of the winter weather and coming south.  I do see a whole lot of Ontario (especially) license plates, and Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and all the New England states.  That's some serious competition for camping spaces, and I'm somewhat limited because I simply can't afford to pay $70+ for a night of plugging into somebody's electricity.  That's why it took so much time making plans.

Then I also spent a day working on the post for the time I spent in the KOA in Starke, that I just left last Friday.

In making my travel plans, I saw I'd be passing the Kennedy Space Center and wanted to visit there.  But then I learned that the reduced price for seniors for a 1-day pass was $70.  And I decided space travel would have to wait.

I also wanted to visit Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, an Audubon facility near Naples.  I'd gone there back in the '80s with my husband Pete and I was interested in seeing what it's like now.  But the entrance fee for non-members of Audubon is $17, and I just wasn't that interested.  But while I was examining the map, I discovered a dog park not far away and planned to stop there for Dexter.

I was also curious about a tourist sight called Coral Castle, in the town of Homestead near the Everglades.  It's apparently an oddball place of carved slabs of limestone that was supposedly built by this guy using reverse magnetism or supernatural abilities.  I'm just reporting.  Anyway, they charge $18 to visit here and I just wasn't that interested.  But here's the Wikipedia page if you want to know a little more.   https://en.wikipedia.org/Coral-Castle

Stuff like that.  Trying to figure out what was available, and when and whether I could get to it or not.  At least the wifi signal at this KOA was pretty good.

It rained some of the time we were here when a cold front blew through and took the temp down from in the 80s on Wednesday to the 60s on Thursday.  Still, better than having my waste tanks freeze in Iowa.

And here are more kitten photos.

That's Jimmy on the left and Bucky on the right.

Sometimes they seem like they're half grown though they're only 4½ months old here.  And then they show clearly they're still kittens.

That lump in the blanket in front of Jimmy -
that's Bucky.

And this is Jimmy wrestling the lump.
That quilt was made by my friend Deb and is by now a very well-traveled quilt.

Florida - Day 9 - towards Orlando via The Villages

Orlando/Orange Blossom KOA, Apopka

Monday, 23 January 2023

today's route

My main goal today was an odd place called The Villages.  It's a sprawling area of 79,077 residents, all over the age of 55 (though presumably there's an exception if some old guy married a young trophy wife).  It's a planned community that consists of a string of "villages" or, as I'd call them, neighborhoods.  The Villages covers an area larger than Manhattan, NYC, spread across 2 counties.  The neighborhoods have names like The Village of Bonnybrook, The Village of Tall Trees, Village of Bridgeport at Lake Miona, Village of Winifred.  These areas are all connected by Buena Vista Blvd. and there's a traffic circle at the entrance of each area.  (I negotiated 14 traffic circles today.)  There's also a security booth at each entrance, and the security staff checks everyone going in.

The landscaping must cost a fortune and everything looks serene.  There's a separated, protected paved path alongside Buena Vista Blvd. for pedestrians, bicyclists and golf carts (mostly).  In this extremely sunny area, I saw solar panels on only 4 houses.

Everything here is owned or controlled by the descendants of one of the original developers and that has run them into trouble with the IRS.  The Wikipedia page describes the development history of this place and, if you scroll way down, explains the IRS situation.   https://en.wikipedia.org/The-Villages-Fl  But that page doesn't include information about the social situation which made the news awhile back.   https://nypost.com/retire-to-the-bedroom  And one more account.   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/The-Villages-Fl

After driving down Buena Vista Blvd through almost all of the "town," my one thought was that it reminded me of a Stepford Wives community.  On that basis alone I think I'd rather live almost anywhere else in the country than in this place.  But apparently I'm in the minority: in the period between 2010 and 2020, The Villages was the fastest-growing metro area in the US.

I continued to make my way south and came to Fruitland Park, "The Friendly City."  I think it was a vet's office that had this sign:

     Dogs prepare you for babies.

     Cats prepare you for teenagers.

Sounds about right.

At Leesburg I passed a very large plant for Cutrale, a company I hadn't heard of that produces oranges and orange juice.

The town of Tavares calls itself "America's Sea Plane City" and provides a marina for sea planes to prove it.

I stopped in the town of Mount Dora at the CVS to pick up my most recent supply of blood pressure pills which they kindly filled for me after I'd called them from Tomoka State Park the other day.

We got into our new campsite at the KOA by about 2:00 and I did some chores.  Dumped the waste tanks.  Completed step 1 in hanging a new towel rack by the stove.  Refilled the kitty litter disposal gadget with bags.  Took Dext to the dog park.

By the time I'd gotten us all settled in, I was too tired to fix a real supper and made a BLT instead.  Pretty good.

Florida - Day 8 - Silver Springs and manatees

Silver Springs State Park, Silver Springs

Sunday, 22 January 2023

today's route

Last night's strange campground was at that straight-north line that seems to go to Orange Springs - and I think that road I had to take did go there.  The campground was short of that town.  Back on the county road I turned west through Eureka and Ft. McCoy before turning south to Ocala, and then east to Silver Springs.  I know that's where I went because the map said so, but there were no highway signs telling me any of this.

Instead I saw signs warning me about loose cattle.  I saw a couple of Confederate flags, several Trump signs, a dozen or so vultures hanging out by the road and lots of horse-related stuff.  Quite a few obvious horse farms.  And a place called Jumbolaire Aviation and Equestrian Estates.  This is a private community geared entirely for people with their own airplanes.  Each of the 38 home sites has taxi access to the runway.  And this runway is the "longest private paved runway in North America!"  Their webpage doesn't mention horses, though I suppose if a house has room for an airplane, it also has room for some horses?  Strange.

But I've learned that Ocala calls itself the Horse Capital of the World.  I guess they're willing to fight Lexington, KY, for the honor and in fact have actually received a US patent on the phrase.  (People are so strange.)  Here's an odd article explaining the battle.   https://www.bloodhorse.com/ky-and-fl-in-horse-capital-battle

In Ocala I saw horses (statues) in various poses and very decorated all around town.  Attractive place.

Immediately next door is the town of Silver Springs and Silver Springs State Park, famous for its glass bottom boat tours, which I decided I should take, despite its $12/senior price.  I hadn't made a reservation because I didn't know when I'd be able to get there.  I ended up getting to the campground area at 10:40, which was too early to check in but they gave me proof of being a camper, which meant no admission fee to the park (which would have been in addition to the tour price).  I went straight over to the park, but they made me park the RV a long way away, so Dext and I took the walk over to buy a ticket for the tour.  By then the earliest they could fit me on was 2:10.  Dext and I walked around the 2 large parking lots a couple of times, we all had lunch, and then I went over early in case I could squeeze onto an earlier tour.  Well, at least I was on time for mine.

All the tour boats looked like this.

Note the bird sitting on the edge of the boat.

Enlarging it from that other photo lost much of the definition.  Both Anhingas and Cormorants live here and they're much alike in appearance.  One of the main differences is in the bill, which you can't really see in this photo.  The Anhinga gets its food by stabbing it, so it has a straight, narrow, sharply pointed bill.  The Cormorant has a curve at the end of its bill and dives for an extended period chasing fish in the water.

I have no photos from the boat tour because I was too busy looking.  But we got to see 4 manatees, 2 alligators, and many turtles, plus various birds and lots of fish.  The water was mostly very clear, though the level had gone down and in some areas there seemed to be a lot of green color from the algae in it.  

For anyone who remembers the old Lloyd Bridges Sea Hunt TV program, this is where many of the episodes were filmed.  They had a lot of guest actors who went on to become quite famous, including Lloyd's sons Beau and Jeff.  Here's the Wikipedia page, for those who can't quite remember what the show was about.   https://en.wikipedia.org/Sea-Hunt

This location was also used for an episode of I Spy, starring Robert Culp and Bill Cosby.  Our family never missed an episode and, though I don't remember any of them, I do remember how much we enjoyed them.  One episode that was otherwise filmed in Greece had part filmed here and was something to do with a bunch of statues of gods that were underwater.  After filming, most of the statues were taken out of the water, but 3 of them are still there - and the tour guide showed them to us.  Weird-looking.  And if you want a refresher on this program, here's the Wikipedia page.   https://en.wikipedia.org/I-Spy

Visitors have the option of a 30-minute tour, which I took, or a 90-minute tour, which I'd have liked to take but didn't want to leave my critters for that long.  Still, I definitely enjoyed the tour I took and would recommend it to anyone.

The campground was down the road about a mile and was very pleasant.  It was also very full, so I counted us lucky to have been able to get a campsite for the night.

Florida - Day 7 - into the interior via Daytona Beach

Ft. McCoy KOA, Ft. McCoy

Saturday, 21 January 2023

Jimmy enjoying the view at Tomoka State Park.

Google said today's drive would be less than 3 hours, so I took my time about getting back on the road.

today's route

From the state park, we went back over to A1A and drove farther down the beach, past Ormond Beach, and finally cutting over the intracoastal waterway/Halifax River near Daytona Beach.  I could see fancy houses fronting on the waterway and huge condos and towns jammed next to each other: Daytona Beach Shores (pop. 5,179), Port Orange (pop. 63,815), South Daytona (pop. 12,865) - and then Daytona Beach itself (pop. 70,140).  

At Daytona Beach Shores - "Life Is Better Here" - I saw some 2- and 3-story condos that looked like they'd been built 40 or 50 years ago - and others much taller that were obviously fairly new.  One series of them were called Oceans 1, Oceans 2, Oceans 3 . . . up to Oceans 11.  I learned online that some, if not most, of the condos in these building are available for rent, with a 2BR, 2BA unit going for $1995/month (in case you might be interested).

I stopped at a grocery store (where the check-out clerk said this was a great place to live) and unfortunately missed most of the segment of "Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me!" where US Sec. of State Antony Blinken was a guest.  Bad timing.

In Daytona Beach, I had to guess where the famous speedway was.  It was marked on the AAA map and on Google, but the only sign I saw said Sunoco Stadium.  While I assumed this was a company buying naming rights, I still expected to see something proclaiming the world-famous Daytona International Speedway, and I never saw it.  That "stadium" (which sounds like football to me, not race cars) was huge and unusually shaped.

I've since learned that the original 1959 structure was recently modernized and thoroughly upgraded and now offers wi-fi and escalators and other amenities to entice fans to visit in person.  And Sunoco, Toyota, Chevrolet and Florida Hospital have each kicked in substantial funding for various "experiences" that relate to their companies.

Driving west from town, I passed the turn for "L.P.G.A. Avenue" which seemed odd.  But it seems to be a "world-class golf community" that includes 2 fancy 18-hole golf courses, a club, and houses for sale.  Sounds pricey to me.

I passed through the Tiger Bay State Forest, the Lake George State Forest, and the Ocala National Forest.  Lots of trees in this area.

I started seeing lots of bear warning signs along the road, though sadly I never saw any bears.

Lots of evidence of water: towns named Deleon Springs and Salt Springs, the St. Johns River, lots of small lakes and ponds.  (I overworked the word "lots" but this isn't a novel and it fits.)

I was almost entirely on state highways that were just 2-lane, no-shoulder roads, though thankfully in good enough condition.  Florida is pretty good about posting signs saying which highways I'm on and which I'm coming to.  But the directions to tonight's campground involved turning off FL-19 onto County Road 316, and from there onto 160th Ave. Road (yes, both an avenue and a road).  

I found the state road and the county road just fine, but after that . . . either I wrote the directions down wrong or Google's directions were wrong because I couldn't for the life of me find that avenue-road.  I thought it was supposed to be really soon after I'd turned onto the county road, but I drove 6 miles and couldn't find it, so I went back to the turn, which was at the town of Salt Springs.  I stopped for gas ($3.37/gallon) and pulled to the side and read the directions in the KOA book (which assumed I'd be coming from the opposite direction) and consulted the AAA map again, and drove back for another try.  I finally found the avenue-road 10 miles down that county road, obviously not what I was expecting.

Since not long after leaving Daytona, it had been raining more or less, which didn't help.

And when I finally got to the campground, it was another weird one.  The office wasn't labeled, but a sign and some cones blocked the road that led to a building that looked office-y, and the sign said the "parking lot too small for RVs."  I could see that parking lot and it was by no means too small for my RV, but I didn't have any choice.  

I had to get out in the rain and walk quite a long way up to an unlabeled building that actually turned out to be the office.  The person at the desk didn't bother to extend any sort of welcome to me and seemed affronted when I questioned (very mildly) that business of not being allowed to park closer, though it was perfectly clear they had room both to build a larger parking area and to reroute the traffic to allow RVs to drive through.

Then they insisted on leading me to my campsite, but that "escort" turned out to be one of the residents driving up in his pickup and asking me which site I wanted.  As if I knew.  By then I wasn't feeling at all welcomed or as if I was being extended the usual courtesy, let alone amenities, I expect at a KOA - not even a campground map so I had no idea what my choices were or who this guy was, though he was clearly not a KOA employee.  The whole thing was just bizarre.  And it was still raining.

Poor Dext doesn't much like getting wet (bringing his Labrador heritage into question) but the dog park had trees in it so he could shelter under them a bit.  The campground roads weren't paved so they got pretty muddy to walk on, which Dext also doesn't like much.  Very strange.

However, I have one more kitty photo.

Bucky's on the left, Jimmy's on the right.
They're turning out to be pretty, don't you think?