To New Orleans, LA

This next leg of my itinerary should prove interesting. It's about 1,100 miles from Fiesta Key in Florida to New Orleans, Louisiana. It's a bold attempt to break up the trip into 4 overnight stays prior to arriving in New Orleans. This abbreviated blog will highlight each of my four stops.

1

Sun Retreats Lake Josephine Located 80 miles from either coast, this stop in Sebring was about 4 hours and 229 miles from Fiesta Kay; it's literally in the center of the state. On the way...

...I came upon this to the north and I felt like I was looking into the mouth and bowels of Mother Nature. All I could hear in my head was Creedence Clearwater Revival singing, "Bad Moon Rising." I thought it should be "Bad Weather Coming."

"I see the bad moon a-rising

I see trouble on the way

I see earthquakes and lightning

I see bad times today"

I hear hurricanes a-blowing

I know the end is coming soon

I fear rivers overflowing

I hear the voice of rage and ruin

There was no getting around it, you had to drive through it. So what started as a "splat, splat" on the windshield turned into what seemed an eternity of a full blown, torrential downpour complete with sometimes violent coach swaying high cross-winds and lightning. I heard the deafening "voice of rage and ruin" as I crept along white knuckled at 10 mph keeping a safe distance from the cars and trucks ahead of me while being battered by rain.

At the end (of only about ten minutes), as expected, I was rewarded with a most pleasant and deserving view.

Smooth sailing the rest of the way to Sebring.

The RV Resort with Lake Josephine to the left.

With just an overnight stay, this is the best I could find for a look at the Lake.

Tight fitting, long term, this campground was "nothing to write home about."

`2 Clermont, Florida. I tried and succeeded in getting the timing to work for a stop-over visit in a familiar location. It worked perfectly. From Sebring, FL, the route to my second overnight stay in Homosassa Springs, FL afforded me the opportunity to stop in Clermont to visit once again, fellow RVers, Ray and Kathy. Having just spent all of February and March at Elite RV Resort, the large Golden Eagle Shopping Center right outside the resort would be a perfect meeting place. I timed it such that I could have lunch with them at Hurricane Wings and afterwards, get a haircut, shop at Publix next door and be on my way with just under a two hour trip left.

Got to see their "Big Ass Fan"

Thanks for lunch, Kathy and Ray

Classic Bacon & Onion Burger

All beef patty with melted cheddar cheese, maple dunked bacon slices, sauteed onions in a tangy steak sauce, and jumbo onion rings.

3  Sun Retreats Homosassa River has 220 full-hookups sites. I could tell as I drove to my site that this place caters to the over 65 year-old crowd with the majority of sites occupied by "long term" RVs.

Clean, well kept and maintained.

Of course, across from my overnight site D2, lived an "artist"
and an apparent Canadian hocky afficionado. 

Art? or Eyesore? 

All in the eye of the beholder, I guess

.

Directly across from me was the Bath House. A welcome sight after a long drive.

My site was close to neighbors from Massachusetts. He noticed my "Truckers are the Best" sticker as I backed in and inquired. I said, "No, but I have a lot of respect for them." With that, his wife added, "I'm a retired truck driver. Drove from Boston the LA for twenty years." Now that's an achievement!!

4 Manatee Springs State Park The next day, with plenty of time before checking in the Old Town Campground, I decided a side trip would be a nice addition to my travels.

There's the usual $4.00 entry fee (per person per vehicle) to a State Park. I wanted to walk the boardwalk that would take me to the edge of the Suwanee River. I learned while touring the Okeefenokee Swamp in Georgia that the river begins there and empties into the Gulf of Mexico after running through the Panhandle of Florida. 

Reminiscent of the 1.5 mile boardwalk into the Okeefenokee Swamp (that I almost completed), I discussed the walk with my knees and feet; they balked but I decided to go for it. Glad I did. The park's 800-foot boardwalk runs through a majestic cypress forest overlooking one of Florida’s breathtaking first-magnitude springs. "First-magnitude springs" are the biggest springs that discharge at least 100 cubic feet of water per second or about 64.6 million gallons per day. Of the 723 springs in Florida, 33 are first-magnitude and the most of any state or nation.

The photos that follow are but a few of the sights I enjoyed.

Along the way there were three or four side walkways or extensions that brought you out to overlook the spring fed, crystal clear stream that flows from east to west.

To the left of the boardwalk, the swampy and slowly decaying matter provides an ecosystem unto itself.

This fallen cypress of long ago provides yet another ecosystem in the stream mostly populated with good sized aquatic turtles and mullet.

The water is crystal clear and shallow. As manatees prefer the cooler months, I didn't expect to see any.

Impressive girth of this cypress. Slow growers and long lived.

They often send conical woody projections called “knees” above the waterline. 

As you approach the end of the boardwalk, the silence continues to be deafening and the beauty, awesome.

The Suwanee River looking south heading toward the Gulf

Looking north toward Georgia from whence it came.

5 Old Town Campground My next stop for an overnight was Old Town, Florida. This place was another one of those "don't write home." Thankfully, it's just for a night. As one reviewer put it: "Nothing fancy but suitable for overnight."

6 Florida Caverns State Park Once again, a side trip. This time to my fourth cavern tour (from the past) before checking in at Alliance Hill RV Park.

$4.00 Park entrance fee plus $15.00 for the cave tour.

Jordan, our tour guide.

The 3/4 mile tour was taxing; another discussion with body. Body said, "Don't think so," brain said, "Go for it.". This cave system discovered in 1927 and opened in 1942 is the only air-filled cave accessible to the public in Florida. It's also referred to as a "wet cave'" Water seeping through the limestone keeps the humidity near 100%; there's dripping water ("cave kisses"), puddles and some slippery inclines. Temperature is a constant 75º. Y'all know what stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, cave bacon and flowstones are, right? Enjoy the tour.

To appreciate what goes into these formations, know that it take 100 years to form
1 cubic inch of what you're looking at.

"Columns" are formed when stalactites meet stalagmites.

The wonders of Nature continue to impress.

Alliance Hill RV Park. When leaving the Caverns, I called the Park as directed so that Jeanne could meet me at the gate and show me to my site. With only fourteen sites with concrete pads and full hookups, she asked if I'd prefer a site overlooking the hillside or one by the dumpster. I'm on site 9 overlooking the beautiful hillside landscape. And this, it turns out, is by far the nicest RV park I've been in since leaving Miami. This park also caters to the 50+ long term Rvers.

And to end a perfect day, I was gifted a beautiful sunset.

Tomorrow, I'm off to New Orleans, 345 miles and 5 hours away. See you there.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but bly the moments that take our breath away. ~~Maya Angelou