1070 December 6, 2023 Georgia On My Mind

We got up early and got our exercise in before leaving Cedar Key at 9:15 this morning. We traveled north across rural Florida. Most people think of Florida as overdeveloped and commercialized. That is certainly true along much of the coast and of course, in Orlando. There is a lot of undeveloped land, farmland, and small town America in the middle of the state.

We were initially disappointed that we were not able to stay in the Outer Banks. What did happen, is that we saw places we had not seen before. This has been a very good trip and we are glad that we were forced to come up with a new plan.

Our journey today eventually led us to 75N and then we crossed into Georgia. The road was busy and inundated with tractor trailers. There were lots of RVs too but they were all heading south!

We decided to return to the Harvest Host site, Lane Southern Orchards. We liked shopping here last December and we wanted to get a few things for the holidays.

After shopping, we took a walk.

This will be our last blog post until January. We will be back on the road on the 4th or so. In the meantime, we send you warm wishes for happy holidays spent with your family and friends.

1069 December 5, 2023 Mr. Rogers

Tim and I both got up and got our exercise done. We had heard that the part for the RV should be here by 10:30.

At 11am, we had to make a decision. We either had to pay for a late departure or we had to commit to staying another night. We decided to stay.

We waited all day. I kept busy deep cleaning the RV. When we get to Atlanta, later this week, we will store the RV while we visit with David and his family. I wanted to put everything away clean so that when we get ready to ride in January things will be in good order. I scrubbed and polished and vacuumed. Tonight, as I write, I am feeling very satisfied.

Finally at 4pm, just as Mr. Rogers was on the phone with FedEx, the van pulled into the campground with our new motor.

It took less than 5 minutes to install.

I held my breath as Tim went in to try the slideouts…YAHOO!!! Then he tried the leveling jacks. The jacks went down so quietly and smoothly that we weren’t sure that they were working…but they were…YAHOO!!! What a huge relief.

Thank you Mr. Rogers!!! What a knowledgeable, friendly, professional!

Tomorrow, we will drive about halfway to Atlanta.

1068 December 4, 2023 Around Town

Another walk down the peaceful country lane. I saw the wings and tailfeathers of a roseate spoonbill. I tried to get close enough to take a picture but I spooked him.

Today I started to pack and organize for our trip to Atlanta.

We took a break this afternoon and went into town for fresh water. We parked the Jeep and walked the town.

We walked the fishing pier.

We watched this group of pelicans and gulls hunting as they followed a school of fish.

A grackle.

A black mangrove tree.

We sat in a bench on the beach for a long while.

Each time we go into Cedar Key, I notice something I haven’t seen before.

I had hoped to do a little gift shopping but the store I really wanted to visit, closed early today.

Mr. Rogers, our RV repairman is supposed to get our part tomorrow. We are hopeful that it will arrive, be the right thing, and fix the problem. If so, we can be on our way on Wednesday morning!

1067 December 3, 2023 Suwanee

It was foggy and misty and damp when I got outside.

This morning on my walk I passed a pond.  I saw movement and stopped to watch this animal in the water.  It swam and floated on its back and then flipped over and stayed suspended, its limbs hanging down.  He would put its snout out periodically to breathe.  I thought that it was an opossum but now looking at the pictures, I’m not sure.  It doesn’t look exactly like anything.  I don’t think it is a nutria…maybe a super huge rat?!?  It was more than a foot long.  It is kind of hard to tell what it is because it is wet.  It sure is ugly though!  Any ideas???

There were also turtles in the pond.

This afternoon, we drove to Chiefland for groceries.  While we were shopping, the heavens opened and it was pouring when we came out.

We had planned to drive around in the more western portion of the Lower Suwanee Wildlife Refuge.  We went in the rain. 

We drove to Weeks Landing right on the river.

We found a small community park with a picnic pavilion and we ate our lunch there.

We continued on to the town of Suwanee.  There are some ramshackle places intermingled with beautiful properties along a system of canals.

We drove the hour back to the RV and spent the rest of the gloomy day indoors.

1066 December 2, 2023 Downtown Cedar Key

We have been having some trouble with our slideouts. Fortunately, there is a certified RV mechanic that is a resident snowbird here in the campground. He agreed to come and take a look this morning. He spent a lot of time and was able to make a diagnosis of a failed motor on the hydraulic pump. He will order parts on Monday. This means we have some extra time in Cedar Key!

It also means that we got a late start on our morning exercise. As I was walking, Tim met me on the road on his bike.

We went downtown after lunch. We sat on the beach. I took a book but never opened it. I was completely content watching the water.

We walked through town. We stopped at the Community Garden where all kinds of herbs and lettuces appear to be thriving.

We walked through the sculpture garden. I really liked the mosaics.

We walked down along the water.

We walked across the bridge and to the restaurants. We had such outstanding food at Steamers the other night and so we decided to eat there again. We shared a heaping bowl of local clams prepared in a diablo sauce and accompanied by tasty yeast rolls just perfect for dipping. Tim was so happy with his seafood salad that we both ordered it tonight.

After dinner we walked in the city park. The whole town is adorned with twinkling Christmas lights.

1065 December 1, 2023 Way Down Upon The Suwanee River

There is a really nice paved country lane that runs beside the campground.  I walked until the blacktop turned to dirt, about 1.5 miles, and then turned around.  Tim met me with a mile to go and we walked back together.  It was 70 degrees and sunny! 

Today we went to explore the Nature Coast.  We started at Shell Mound.  This is a 28-foot-high pile of mostly oyster shells that was left by native coastal peoples, thousands of years ago.  I was excited to see it.  When we got there, the road and trail was closed!

We did go to the campground.  It sits right on the Gulf and might be a possibility after we leave Cedar Key.

We drove to the Lower Suwanee National Wildlife Refuge where we did one of our favorite things.  We took dirt and limestone roads through the wilderness.  We traversed cypress swamps, hardwood forest, and salt marshes.  We drove down almost every spur and took the 9-mile nature drive through the park.  We got out to walk several times.

We saw some wildlife today.  Not pictured are the deer, the second armadillo, and the group of feral pigs.

This bat box is home to 30,000 bats of several species. At sunset, they erupt from the box and spend the night hunting.

This area is 40,000 acres and we had the whole refuge to ourselves.

We stopped for lunch across from park headquarters.

I really wanted to see the Suwanee River but the trail was closed because the boardwalk was unsafe.  We walked as far as we could.

We drove into Fowler where we found a boat ramp on the river.

We had a really fun day and the weather was outstanding!

1064 November 30, 2023 Moving To Cedar Key

It was another chilly day start.  I could see my breath as I started my walk.  There was fog hanging over the river.

I saw a bald eagle perched in a treetop.

We packed up and Tim drove us back to Cedar Key.

We went out with the Jeep to explore.  We found a couple of dirt roads to try.  This area is part of Florida’s Nature Coast; so named because there is far less development and commercial properties and lots of wildlife refuge and preserved land. 

When we got to town, we took our bikes and wandered around.  The city of Cedar Key is considered “Old Florida.”  The architecture is similar to Key West.  This is a small fishing village.  As we biked around, we saw more evidence of storm damage. 

We sat on a bench far awhile watching the sky change.

We decided to have an early dinner at Steamers.  The seafood was delicious!  This place knows how to do seafood well.  We enjoyed the Gulf shrimp last night.  Today we had mussels, fried oysters, and Tim had grouper, shrimp, and scallops on his salad.   

We thought the sunset might be spectacular but as the evening progressed, more clouds moved in.  There was some color in the eastern part of the sky.