We Start Back North

On Friday we hooked up to the trailer and headed north on I-75.  We pulled into Valdosta Oaks RV Park in Valdosta, GA where we picked up our RV back in December.  We plan to stay a couple of days, leave the travel trailer here, and head back to Michigan.  Florida has been fun and we have decided to come back next year and tour the panhandle of the state.

The Bell Tower at Stephen Foster State Park

Many visitors to this part of Florida come here to see and listen to this....

It is the Stephen Foster Memorial Carillon that is located at the top of this tower in the middle of the state park.  The 97-tubular bell carillon is the world's largest. 

 

 It is one of the largest musical instruments ever produced in the Western Hemisphere.  It was built in 1958 for a cost of $120,000 which was real money back then.  Not only does it strike the quarter hours with a Westminster-type chime, but four times a day it rings out a small medley of Stephen Foster songs that ring throughout the state park.

 

The bottom of the tower is open to the public to tour.  This is the electronic mechanism that runs the clock and the carillon above.

 

This device has paper rolls like a player piano that play a small medley of songs at 10 AM, Noon, 2 PM, and 4 PM every day.  There is also an actual keyboard upon which one can play the massive tubular bells at the top of the tower above.

 

The Stephen Foster Museum and Memorial Carillon at this state park will be remembered by us for a long time.  It is worth a stop if you come into Florida on I-75.

Our Last Florida State Park for This Trip

On Wednesday we drove about 30 miles east to the Stephen Foster State Park that you see here.  It is just north of Lake City, and not far from the Georgia border.  Like our last park, it is on the Suwannee River and seems to be an excellent modern culture center with a campground included.  It is near the tiny town of White Springs, Florida.

 

Here is one of the two main attractions.  It is the Stephen Foster Museum that was built in 1950 to honor the song writer and his music.  For the record, we were surprised to find out that Stephen Foster was born, raised, and spent most of his 37 years in the Pittsburgh, PA area.  He only spent one month in the southern U.S. but that was what much of his famous music was about.

 

Inside the museum was this desk upon which he wrote many of his over 200 songs.  Two of his songs were later adopted as official state songs:  "Old Folks at Home" for Florida, and "My Old Kentucky Home" for Kentucky.  He sold all the rights for "Old Folks at Home" for $15 and never got credit for the song until after his death in 1864.

 

The museum had many interesting displays including beautiful large dioramas with moving figures that looked as real as if looking out a window.

 

This old piano had real Mother-of-Pearl keys.

 

This very old piano has a von Janko Keyboard with six rows of keys.

 

More about the second major park attraction tomorrow.......

 

 

 

 

 

Looking Around Suwannee River State Park

The ground on which this state park was built was strategic in the Civil War.  Confederate troops built earth mounds along the  river to defend the place against Union gun boats.

This is the confluence of the Withlacoochee River on the left and the Suwannee River on the right.  Both rivers start in Georgia and the Suwannee River continues on to the Gulf of Mexico. Both rivers are dark, deep, and wide.  We have seen kayaks and canoes which seem to be popular down here.

 

Before the railroads came, these rivers carried a lot of steamboat traffic and there was once a dock here.  On display are some paddle wheel mechanical drive parts.

 

Like much of Florida, this area is prone to sink holes opening up from the limestone base down below.  Here is one that the park has fenced off  to keep people and animals from falling into.



A New Campground on the Suwannee River

The end of our stay in Florida is drawing near so on Monday, February 23rd, we headed farther north to this State Park northwest of Lake City.

 

It is a state park with a small campground of only 30 sites, but the park was modernized about seven year ago so it is very comfortable.  It is the first state park in Florida in which we have stayed that has full hookups that include sewer as well as water and electric at each campsite.

 

The park has four cabins like this for rent that each have two bedrooms.  They are the biggest cabins we have seen at any state park.

 

Each rental cabin has its own pathway to the river and a huge screened-in porch with comfortable furniture.  The park ranger told us they cost $110 per night.

 

In the woods here we saw many white wildflowers that reminded us of mushroom time in May back in Michigan.

 

Throughout Florida we have seen great Oak trees like Karen found above.  I guess this shows how the nearby town of  Live Oak got its name.

 

 

 

 

Some Haunting Finds Near the Campground

The temp almost reached 80 degrees on Sunday so we did some exploring on our bikes.

We followed some dirt trails going off into the woods and came across this small cemetery .  Notice the crosses on the front gate.

 

The tombstones were very old and some graves were covered with sea shells.

 

It appears that Megan was not well-liked.

 

This bridge and old boat looked pretty spooky as well.

 

Finally, out behind some old buildings we discovered this wagon.

It is a good thing that we don't believe in ghosts, or this area of Florida could scare a person!

The Nature Coast Bike Trail

One of the reasons we are in this remote area of west central Florida is shown above.  It is a thirty-mile paved bike trail that connects the towns of Trenton, Cross City, and Chiefland.  It runs through Old Town, Florida that is near our campground.

 

Bill rode about twenty miles on the trail on Saturday.  The weather is warming up, finally.  When you see old stone markers like this along the trail you know it was once a railroad.

 

These deer stopped to watch Bill along the trail.

 

The maps called this the "Historic" wooden bridge over the Suwannee River.  We are not sure why it is historic but it was fun to ride over on a bicycle.

 

This is what the Suwannee River looked like from the bridge.  The river is high and flooded over its banks, but we heard from the campground host that is has been much higher in years past,

 

 

 



"Way Down Upon the......" Yes - That's the River We Are On Now

Friday morning we drove about an hour west from Gainesville to Old Town and grabbed a site in this small campground.  And sure enough, we ended up on the Suwannee River.

 

The water is high now so we were happy to use the long elevated boardwalk to check out the Suwannee River.

 

 The Suwannee is not as clear or pretty as the Manistee in Michigan, but it is deep and wide and flowing fast. 

 

 Like most of the private campgrounds in Florida this one has a pond.  The camp host and hostess are from Canada.  People here are friendly and we ran into a neighbor from Grayling who stays here.

Another Bike Ride (with no Nature Walk)

The paved bicycle/walk/equestrian  trail between Gainesville and Hawthorne is a great ride, so Karen decided she would like to try it as long as we did no nature walks with alligators.  Thursday was very cold (upper 40s) so we put on our coats and hit the trail.

 

Notice that this sign could not just say "Stop Ahead", but also had to list which Florida Statute justified the sign.  (As if anybody cared!)  What a silly waste of money.

 

Notice that this sign tells the horse riders that it is okay to ford the creek.  Maybe that is to protect the wooden bridge.  The trail has a grassy strip for horse riders along its length.

 

We are moving on today, but staying and exploring Paynes Prairie has been a unique travel experience.  Its 21,000 acres cover 33 square miles so there is room for small herds of bison, wild cattle, and horses.  The wildlife here is amazing, and it has a great bicycle trail.

 

 

Bill Takes a Bike Ride and a Walk On the Wild Side

Seven miles north of the campground is a 16-mile paved bicycle trail between Gainesville and the town of Hawthorne.  After repairs, Bill's bike was working so well that the drove to the trail head to ride the trail. 

 

The bike trail ran across the north end of Paynes Prairie Preserve so Bill decided to take a break from pedaling and walk one of the nature trails he noticed that ran into the preserve.

 

  It was a three-mile round trip but he decided it should be interesting and he figured these signs he was passing were needless warnings to keep people from doing anything stupid.

 

Not far down the walking trail he saw these guys and decided to take the signs more seriously.

 

The trail was narrow and ran between some lakes and swamps.

 

Then he started seeing sights like this ahead.  (to the left of the trail)

 

This was no gator farm and no fences to protect you.  At that point Bill decided to stay in the middle of the trail!  And walk faster.

Here is another big alligator hiding in the grass just off the trail.  Bill was wondering what he had gotten himself into???

Bill did complete the three-mile walk (nervously) and was rewarded by seeing these wild horses walk out of the wilderness to get a drink.

A Rainy Day near Gainesville

Tuesday was cool and rainy so we decided to catch up on a few errands.  We drove into Gainesville, where the University of Florida is located.  Karen did laundry at the Gator Laundromat and Bill took his bike to the Gator Bicycle Shop for repairs.  We also picked up groceries at the Wynn Dixie in town.  When we drove through the  U of F Campus we could not believe all the small motor scooters we saw.  The scooters seemed to be the student vehicle of choice down here.

 

Paynes Prairie State Park has a small campground of only 50 sites, but the park itself covers 21,000 acres.  Years ago there were two large ranches on the property.  Here is the Visitor Center.

 

There are many interpretive displays.  This table of  items has a sign that reads, "Please Touch".

Karen's family comes from Belgium so she is always willing to have a picture with a buffalo.

 

After supper we observed Fat Tuesday by having a couple of these Paczkis for desert.  As you can tell they made Karen very happy when Bill picked them up at the store.