Titusville Florida, bike to Georgia

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Road Trip 2016 – Part Fifteen
*Part 15 - The State of Florida – On the road again, starting in
Titusville, Florida pedaling north to Georgia.
Text and photos © All Rights Reserved by Peter Tanner and Ernestartist
Campsite in the Magic Forest, Titusville
May 10, 2016:
Something has been visiting the camp tonight, rummaging around in the
kitchen area and managing to escape before I can get out of my tent and
shine a light on it. It sounds fairly heavy like a cat or perhaps that
persistent little Possum, but it has awakened me three times, starting at
one and ending at about five this morning. It is something that doesn’t
care about being noisy and that blends in enough and is fast enough to
avoid scrutiny.
Daylight comes soon with warmth, and the promise of a responsibility to
the world to have a great day. The world expects me to be up and about
to the coffee shop so it can read what I have to say and see the world
here through my eyes.
It is a little past noon now, I stopped into the pantry on Julia along my
way to the soup kitchen – the folks there seemed happy to see me and
welcomed me back with a nice bag full of goodies – also a cylinder of
butane for the stove and some coffee creamer besides the canned
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goodies. I related the Mike Mofield story about how brutally violent he is
with mood swings and what ever medication he is supposed to have but
doesn’t, why I left and where I’m going to next. Do I need a new tent?
John has another one if I need it before I go on my trip.
The soup kitchen is inconsequential and nothing to write home about as
far as food in concerned, then I’m back on the road and down to Sand
Point, where I sit working on notes. There is a black plume of smoke high
in the sky to the west of us, and looks like a good sized fire and I am
tempted to go have a look. Thing is though, what if it is another one of
those controlled burns and I’ve just wasted energy to go look. So I didn’t
go investigate and that’s not in my mandate as far as pictures are
concerned anyways for Titusville.
Anole lizards: the female at
left is mindful of a male broad head Anole displaying a courtship throatlatch.
It is easy to think about going north on a bike, but in fact it is a really
energy consuming, ballsy thing to do and so I’ll wait until it feels right to
go before I do.
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After the Sand Point Park I headed to the forest to see what is up; Kenny
and Steve are there and it is interesting conversations about trivial
things, but it is company and beats being alone all of the time.
I found a couple of interesting dragon flies, the most colorful is the
Ornate Pennant (Celithemis Ornata) which has bright yellow markings
on a blackish body and tail which makes it’s body look a little like a
Zebra, except with out the legs, having yellow and black stripes instead
of white and black.
Sand Point
Park dragonflies; the shrubs next to Indian River Bay are full of these
little predators – I almost felt sorry for the bugs that they hunt, almost
but not quite.
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The other dragonfly is a Roseate Skimmer (Orthemis Ferruginea), which
has a white stripe on the back of its body like a skunk, while the thorax
is yellowish with a black stripe.
I downloaded Sonic again from my laptop original back up of the game,
and this means it is starting all over again at ground zero with the game
– that’s a good thing and it makes me feel good that I can work the game
just like I used to and still have the benefit of knowing what lies ahead.
The damn game is so addictive and energy consuming that I will only be
able to play it for awhile. We each at the office are into our own games
and thoughts are in our own little world until Kenny has to go home and
Steve has to go to work.
I saw a really big red-headed Skink this afternoon; it crawled up a tree
under a dirty sweat shirt that I made greasy from setting up at Titusville
with the Steve Lisco show. The lizard is about a foot long from nose to
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tail and is the first one of this type that I’ve seen so big, but try as I
might, I couldn’t get anywhere close enough to it.
I went to bed early just because there isn’t anything else to do and I need
the extra sleep anyways, except that it is hot now at night and I lay
awake and sweat which isn’t a comfort at all.
May 11, 2016:
Just before One this morning I had another visit from a something in the
forest tromping around the camp site – heavier crunching footsteps,
definitely not a cat, possibly a Raccoon or a Possum but by the time I got
out of the tent with a flashlight the creature had run off in a hurry – This
is the second night in a row that I’ve had a late night visit and not been
able to catch a glimpse of what is making the noise, which makes me
concerned.
About ten last night I heard a car entering and traveling slowly along the
little dirt road that goes from the southeastern entrance by the office all
the way to the northeastern corner of the forest by the pond. Steve seems
to think it is a jeep that goes through carrying a fellow that lives in the
area and is more of a short cut. I don’t think it is that, as it is a smaller
car.
I think that everyone on the Space Coast is gearing up for summer and it
is becoming a bad place to be visiting right now. I know that sounds like
I’m getting tired of the place, and I think that I am: perhaps this weekend
I will head north.
Sadly, when I updated my Sonic game this morning at McDonalds, it
updated to the last place that I left off, and I was having so much fun
starting over – so I jumped from level three to level thirty nine. Later,
while I waited at the soup kitchen line up, I played a little bit.
The day is cloudy, though hot and humid, at least there is a slight breeze
blowing along from Indian River bay while I sit in the picnic pavilion and
write notes and take care of business. It is about noon now, along the
way to the Sand Point Park I passed Steve who was heading for the soup
kitchen – “Spaghetti,” I yelled across the street to him as he passed,
“Well, it’s better than rice.” He answered back. I was tempted to stop and
give him the Allan Key set I bought at the dollar Tree for his bike, but
that would have cut down on the time he had to get to the kitchen for
lunch.
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It is really easy to slip into a relaxed mode in Titusville because
everything is in place for the homeless that doesn’t mind sleeping in the
woods. When I got back to the forest, Christine was there delivering
MREs to Steve and I, along with another bag of food for the masses –
Steve and I shared, or rather he took what he wanted which was less
that what I thought he would want, then I filled up the rest of the empty
spaces in my pantry with the rest. My containers are full of food again
almost to the point of being over stocked – later I gave up on relaxing and
went for a shower at the Marina Park so to clean up.
I found an interesting caterpillar at the marina shower, then went under
the highway and pictured some of the graffiti there – I haven’t done that
for a long time, photographed graffiti that is.
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Possibly a Yellow-striped Armyworm – (Spodoptera Ornithogalli) which
is found through out eastern North America.
The larvae feed on various plants, including alfalfa, asparagus, bean,
beet, cabbage, clover, corn, cotton, cucumber, hops, grape, grass,
jimsonweed, morning glory, onion, pea, peach, peanut, sweet potato,
swiss chard, tobacco, tomato, turnip, wheat, watermelon, wild onion, and
most other plants with soft leaves.
Callicarpa Americana (American Beautyberry flowers), or sometimes
called American mulberry in the back yard next to where I am camped.
The purple, raw, ripe berries, while palatably sweet, are suitable for
human consumption only in small amounts because they are astringent,
a chemical that tends to pucker up and gives dry mouth.
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November 2015 photos
of berries ripening in the magic forest
Highway
One overpass in Titusville from the parking lot near Titusville Marina.
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Graffiti under the bridge over train tracks.
Back to the digs, but on the way in through the northeastern entrance, I
saw that some one is using the forest for a garbage dump – there is
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about a half dozen bags and boxes, I’m wondering if it will start to
escalate to the point where we will all get the boot from our residency. It
looks like our peaceful corner of the world is changing fast and will be
forever different, like it or not, come hell or high water.
A male Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis Cardinalis) perches above the Office
while searching for seeds and bugs in the Magic Forest. It can be found
in southern Canada, through the eastern United States from Maine to
Texas and south through Mexico. It is found in woodlands, gardens,
shrublands, and swamps.
Air Potato (Dioscorea Bulbifera) Introduced invasive twining vine, fast
growing to 60 70 feet, covering and shading out native plants. Long
stalked, cordate alternate leaves to 8 inches long with palmately
arranged veins - usually not flowering in Florida.
Back lit Air Potato leaves
I’ve just spent the last couple hours at the tent, Steve has been chatting
at me, lamenting this and that, talking about women and exploits – we
both agree, I need to get published, the paper pages, hard cover variety of
publishing, not on the internet.
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May 12, 2016:
The sky is cloudy and the air is cool but humid, I’ll take cool where ever
and when ever I can get it – actually, I lament over the cold days of this
past winter, wishing it was nice and cold right now to take away the
boredom of this humidity.
I cycled to my favorite coffee shop and now sit suspended in time while
people come and go in and out of the restaurant doing their own thing,
becoming what ever it is that they dreamed about when they realized
dreams can become real.
I spent more time at the coffee shop than I intended, in fact I drained the
battery in the laptop and had to plug in for awhile – I was trying to
upgrade to windows 10, but the program is very heavy and the internet is
less than perfect here at the restaurant. I’ll try again tomorrow, but I
want to do this before I head out on the road.
I did manage to upload some of the PDF documents I’ve been working on,
and uploaded those, up to the birds of North America files. I still have the
new dragonflies to install and go through yesterday’s shots of the
caterpillar and graffiti when I’m done at the soup kitchen.
By evening the day is almost over for me and I have the chance to do my
notes again. Steve is at his job and I’m left in the Magic Forest to
contemplate life, the universe and everything. While I was in the forest I
got a shot of the male Cardinal which is slightly fuzzy, but I might be
able to fix that a bit for notes.
Later, when I went for a shower I photographed some ducks in the
Marina Park Pond along with at least four alligators floating there with
their heads above water and part of their bodies snaked behind them.
The alligators are from three to five feet in length, just big enough to pose
a threat – when here last winter, there were none that could be seen; now
there are four.
There were four Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks (Dendrocygna
Autumnalis) hanging out at the pond, but I couldn’t get too close to
them. Fortunately, they liked the area, so that when they flew away, they
came back to perch close to the pond. These birds are found in southern
most USA and tropical Central to South Central, South America. There
are two species of native Whistling Ducks found in North America, only
one of the species is found in Florida.
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In the background I noticed a pod of cavorting Dolphins
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One of the playful Dolphins
(Tursiops Truncatus) swimming with a pod of about a dozen, playing in
Indian River Bay by the Marina Park – at least one kept slapping his tail
fin on the water’s surface.
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I photographed all four, plus a Brown Pelican at the pond next to the
Magic Forest when I rode home. By the time I made home base it is six
thirty and I changed out of my wet swimsuit and hung up my laundry
and continued to enjoy my peace and quiet in the forest: as much as I
could with the sounds of the nearby highway, birds chirping, squirrels
acting up and lizards scurrying around looking for insects and something
to mate with. The evening birds are coming out and the day birds are
announcing the end of the day – crickets are starting to sound off and
the menagerie speaks to us in early evening footnotes – the frogs are
starting to croak and carry on like excited children, just to add a little
bass to the symphony.
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Rosary Pea or Crab's eye (Abrus Precatorius) near my
camp in the Magic Forest – this vine is introduced into
the area – this is invasive and extremely poisonous.
Later Steve rolled in to drink beer and babble about this and that, the
longer he sat there the more his voice slurred and the more repetitive he
got with his stories. It is getting a little annoying at times especially when
I’m not getting cerebral libations myself. He kept going on about a friend
who likes to bring down pizza for the homeless, someone from Little
Cesar’s and I wonder if it is the same fellow who brings down stuff to the
Church In the Park on Sundays.
May 13, 2016:
Another beautiful day is beginning, but I slept a little longer than I had
planned, finally the noise of the day time birds coming into duty got me
out of bed and on the road to the restaurant for morning coffee and
notes.
Last night about four in the morning I had another visit from the pesky
little possum who now regularly visits Steve’s and my tent looking for
food. It’s a bit annoying really because it usually awakens us out of a
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sound sleep as the Possum isn’t very quiet and it sounds like an intruder
when ever it rummages.
Over to the restaurant to try upgrading to windows ten again, didn’t pan
out for me I’m afraid, I need too much time to do the upgrade and the
internet is so limited at the restaurant that it seems impossible to do. I
think I need to do this before I hit the road so I have a good clean copy of
windows on the laptop to face the world with.
I managed to get some work done on the PDF documents, photos
processed and ready to add into pages – I still need to keep the nature
PDFs updated with the new images, but after the soup kitchen.
I was there at the kitchen early, trying not to hang out and trying to keep
from being a nasty person – certain people here are trying to assert
themselves, thinking they are better or something. I don’t know but this
whole thing is starting to get on my nerves. Perhaps it is just my brain
trying to set me up for travel.
Anole Lizard poking out of the cement case around the water overflow
inspection port, Indian River Bay, at the Main Street Estuary.
After soup kitchen I headed to Sand Point Park to work on nature pages
and do some organizing with them – seems that I have an extra link on
my main index page, and have to address confusion problems – I worked
on that for a couple hours while the laptop recharged and I could get
undivided attention onto it.
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I forgot to plug in the Nikon battery so I had to go back later in the
afternoon, when it was shower time and plug in to make sure I have
energy for that stupid little crap pot of a camera. It may be that, but it is
all I have.
This is a Puerto
Rican Crested Anole Lizard (Anolis cristatellus cristatellus) with a
drab, light brown skin color and ridge along its back and head. This
native of Puerto Rico has been introduced at several localities in Dade
County via pet trade escapees, and in recent years has spread widely and
is now frequently seen in urban, suburban, and agricultural situations.
Perched on a branch, looking pretty in the Magic Forest late afternoon.
I headed for the forest next after organizing the birds pages to a point
where I could comfortably leave it. Steve and Kenny were there, wrapped
up into games and crap, wasting the day away. We had a good visit, then
Steve got a call from Raj at the gas station, wanting Steve to come in and
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do some putting away of stock. Seems that some one was supposed to be
there to help Raj put the stock away, but they didn’t show up, so Steve
got the call – when Steve went for that, I went back to my digs and got
ready to have a shower.
I went back to Sand Point first to kill some time before shower, and
recharge the Nikon Battery, at least partially. I put a good charge on,
something that I can use for a few days if the other battery craps out, but
I would much rather fill it up to the brim. I wanted to knock off a little
early on that note because I wanted a shower before it was too late in the
afternoon to make it back to the forest – that new guy in the forest,
Jacob, makes me nervous, and I don’t trust him.
Fimbristylis Spathacea or commonly called Hurricane-Grass which is a
fringe-rush and may be found as single plants or as large colonies in
beaches, dunes, brackish shores, marshes, ditches and disturbed sites of
the central and southern peninsula of Florida. This particular plant is
beside the pond at Marina Park in Titusville.
Around six thirty, a few moments after making it back to my digs in the
forest, I heard Hooter and his mate bantering back and forth at the
middle to northern end of the forest. They were making their public
announcements actually, and I joined in with my own particular variety
of hoots, which cased quite a stir with Hooter who had to answer me
back as well as his mate. This is the most fun I’ve had in the forest since
I’ve been back, and it made me feel like I’m home.
The evening has passed into obscurity, twilight turned to darkness, and
during this time, Jacob the new guy stopped by the tent looking for
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Steve. I asked him what he was doing and he told me that he was looking
for Steve, but I know for a fact that Steve hasn’t invited him, and, if I
hadn’t have been at my tent, he would have helped himself and snooped
around stealing or who knows what.
After Steve got off work he came over with beer for a visit, talk and pass
time and the early evening away. That brought us up to ten and there are
crickets, Cicadas and Highway One traffic making noise. I made my
concerns known about the new guy, apparently Kenny knows him and
says that he is an okay guy, but I don’t know.
May 14, 2016:
I’m up with the sunshine today and it’s nice and cool, in fact so cool I
struggled with the temptation of covering up to warm up. The coolness
feels so good and it’s time for breakfast in the Lutheran Church on Main
Street at Hopkins.
I’m hoping that breakfast is worth going for this morning, as the last time
it was so much crap I was annoyed “It’s free, beggars can’t be choosers,”
but yes, we can, so one needs to eat garbage. At any rate, breakfast was
good this morning with French toast, sausage and a bowl of grits. Steve
showed up and we chatted over grits like a couple friends, noticeable by
other people at the table “Are you guys room mates?” was the question
put to the table.
Off to the McDonalds coffee shop to work on notes and see what is up in
the community, breakfast was good, but no notes have been taken care
of while there. I didn’t stay long because I just didn’t feel like spending
the time there, and on the way back to the forest I stopped at the dollar
stores and picked up a can of Cutters mosquito repellant, which only has
25% Deet, but I’m sure it will do for awhile.
Back to the forest and relaxed for awhile with Kenny and Steve before
going for a siesta in the afternoon. When I got up I heard voices on the
dirt road in our forest – some people were taking a short cut to the
Country Store. What I really think that it is are curious people because
they saw tents in the forest and they wanted to see if there were people
living here.
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Puerto Rican Crested Anole Lizard (Anolis cristatellus cristatellus) with
his orange-red throat latch displayed for an imaginary female he thinks
might be close by observing.
Brown Anole loosing old
skin, Magic Forest.
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A female Eastern
Pondhawk - (Erythemis Simplicicollis) also known as the Common Pond
Hawk. The species is distinguished in that the female is bright green and the
adult male has a blue abdomen with a green face and green and blue thorax.
Pictured in the Magic Forest, Titusville.
By four I was down to Sand Point Park recharging computer and working
on more notes. There is a Beer Festival going on in the park, with music
and all sorts of interesting tents and beer tasting – there are two live,
amplified music stages set up, one under the big pavilion, the other is in
the midst of the festival tents – the two compete with each other and it
sounds confused and sad. Come on guys, one or the other, not both.
I had enough soon enough and headed for a shower, then back to the
forest, but no one else was there. I had a nice sunset and early evening
by myself enjoying a cold beer and relaxing to the sounds of the forest;
that cardinal pair are chirping and tweeting up a storm, complaining
about what ever cardinals complain about, and those loud beaked, long
tailed gray and black birds are the ones that wake Steve and I up in the
morning and are so loud in the evening that they drown out the crickets.
I seem to be getting bored of the place already and think that the cure is
to go on the road for awhile and stretch my legs.
May 15, 2016:
Another year has slipped by and here I am in the forest, where last year I
was still in that office, contemplating whether I should stay or go, or
when I should do so. Seems that the question is the same, but the
accommodations are a lot closer to what I like, and I do appreciate the
freedom I enjoy now.
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It is cool this morning which is a welcome situation since last night I lay
there sweating like a boxer after an hour work out. I made it up and out
the tent good and early because I wanted to do another attempt on the
windows ten upgrade, but got to the end of the bike trail to discover I had
a flat front tire. Once I pulled over and took off the wheel things went
quickly, I found the pick in the tube and threw a scab onto it – while I
was there, my biker friend stopped to say hello and to see if I needed
anything.
He is another one of the Space X engineers, but he is in a highly stressful
section of the program and is leaving employment as of Monday. I think
he has downsized and moved close by here in Titusville and is starting to
contemplate another bike trip within the next year. Kudos to him for
giving up his comfort zones and making the move to someplace a little
cheaper – hopefully he will find another job soon so he doesn’t suffer.
The update is a no go again, I don’t know what the problem is other than
the damn internet connection with McDonalds – it is piss poor at best. I
don’t know why I keep trying, other than it is free and it is being done
while I do other work so it is no big deal if it goes or doesn’t go.
I took the back way to the forest today after spending way too much time
at the restaurant, and I stopped along the way at the pond in the
northern end of the forest, but had problems with the focusing of the
damn Nikon – that’s another thing that is piss poor, the damned point
and shoot thing I rely on to make photos with – out of about 3 dozen
photos I may have one dragonfly that is in focus; just one measly shot
out of how many.
Tradescantia
Bracteata or commonly called, Bracted Spiderwort (Sticky Spiderwort,
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Longbract Spiderwort) at the pond’s edge in the north end of the Magic
Forest.
I worked my way down to the Sand Point Park so I can do my battery
charging on the phone, iPod and computer; the phone somehow got
turned on and tried to install some damn game. Fortunately for me, I
don’t have a data program on the phone, so nothing happened.
So now I sit, working on notes, and I have a bunch of new photos, and
have found out a bunch of the old photos true names so I have to do
some updating.
Next is the Church in the park routine, but by the time I got there
everything is set up – they have a new tent to cover up the band area so
they don’t get rain or shine while they play in the park. That was the
reason for going and setting up early anyways. The music was good
because Dian’s brother was on the drums, along with Bruce on bass –
the music is always a step up when the three of them are playing.
At Tuesday morning in Kennedy Point Marina, to meet Bruce (by highway
fifty and highway 1) to do cleaning of a boat – does that mean janitor
cleaning, or scraping the hull?
After lunch, I headed back to the forest to continue relaxing and deciding
whether or not to stay or go on down the road. As I sat contemplating, I
looked over to watch a medium sized brown anole lizard which was
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poised to jump on a small beetle, and it may be a tell tale, or it may be
something that all lizards do, but the lizard’s tail started to quiver. As
soon as the beetle was captured, the tail stopped quivering. I think of
cats that have a tell tail twitch in their tail when they pounce on prey. I
just thought it was interesting to note that in a lizard.
I noticed Steve on the way to his work place this afternoon, he spent the
night before with his strange and ex-crackhead woman friend – the one
he broke up earlier in the week with. Steve does what ever he wants to
do; perhaps play games with a goodbye routine so he can perhaps play
games that will get him in good favor with the woman.
I’m ready to go, I’ve decided and I’ve done packing up the bike and
trailer. The trailer is hooked up and packed with the stove and food
enough for about three weeks – it is heavy as hell, but it will get lighter
with every meal I make. All I need to do now is pack up the sleeping bags
and tent in the morning and off I go.
Unless I change my mind during the night, weather might have a lot to
do with that because it is scheduled to rain for the next few days and if it
is raining in the morning, I will stay until the rain abates.
Mean time, since I will probably be heading out in the morning, I will
head down to the Marina Park for a shower. I had to unhook the bike
and make a few adjustments before going to the shower house outside in
the park. After shower it is back to the forest to hook everything back up
and getting ready to leave.
May 16, 2016:
I’m up at dawn this morning, based on my decision last night to head out
on the road this day. I finished up packing everything and realized just
how heavy everything is and that it is imperative that I lighten the load
as quickly as possible. Fortunately, the trailer is designed for two
children about 40 pounds each maximum and the trailer doesn’t weight
anywhere near that at this time, so I will be okay if I can keep the travel
speed under ten miles per hour.
I left what ever I didn’t really want any more, although I’m sure it will be
there when I get back – sleeping bags and tent are packed along with the
little bit of clothing and jacket I have for rainy weather. I don’t have the
duffle bag anymore as it has fallen apart this winter due to so much
sunlight I think, the dry rotting has gotten to the point where the whole
thing is splitting and tearing because the rot is so bad. That means I
have to put bags into plastic, and split up into two bags, front and back.
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I saw Steve in the way out of the forest this morning, somewhere near
seven thirty I think – he is already started in on the beer, and that makes
me sad because he is a good man but has a bad drinking problem. I
explained what I was doing, but said that I want to be back in a few
weeks – so if everything goes badly, I can come back sooner than later.
I got on down the road to Mims, where I saw a Clown Car in a chain link
fence area – I saw the car, which is an original Bozo kids car ride that
was set up in a shopping center – it still works and is coin operated – a
dime I think. It is an original 1950s ride that is kept at Daniel’s Bait and
Tackle shop, highway one in Mims.
It is going to be a hot day, but I have my long sleeve shirt which is light,
and my wide brimmed hat which will both keep the sun off as I pedal. My
next photo is the Sandman Motel in Mims along Highway One – it was an
old neon sign that has now lost the glass tubs.
Next photos is a Gopher Turtle munching on grass and plants at
roadside at the Scottsmoor town limit at the south end.
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Rescued Turtle
I stopped what little traffic there was
so I could get my four-legged friend across the road.
Space X platform in Scottsmoor, with police escort front and back. Then I
saw a police escort and at first I thought it was a funeral because there is
a Cape Canaveral grave site for veterans and government people – but I
soon saw it was another one of those platforms to go way down over the
bridge to Cape Canaveral
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At the south end of Oak Hill city limit by 11AM, and at eleven thirty I
stopped at Dollar General in Oak Hill to have a V8 Splash while I headed
up an MRE and have lunch/breakfast. Moving on a few more miles to
Edgewater, I stopped into Burger King for notes and a coffee.
I just got to the Facebook site and discovered a whole shit-load of happy
birthday wishes. This also means that I get senior’s coffee.
I Stopped into the fine city of Oak Hill and was gone by 11AM and then
made the Dollar General for lunch in Edgewater a half hour later – the
Burger Kind doesn’t have an electrical outlet so I cut the visit short, and
opted for an MRE at the Dollar General which means that I’m lightening
the load and saving money as well.
Next photo op is an old International pumper firetruck in front of James
Skinner Preservation, 1507-1515 Ridgewood in Edgewater.
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Vintage International Pumper
Southern paint and Wallpaper in New Smyrna Beach at 605 Highway
One. It’s the giant paint can with paint brush on top – I pictured the
same one on the way down, but from the point of view from the other
side of the road, so it isn’t as interesting as the ones I’m getting today.
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American Vets sign in New Smyrna
that has a digital board with events and advertising below a turning
globe.
I continued north along highway one into New Smyrna until I found a
good spot to camp – one never knows if the road ahead holds a better or
worse camping spot, so I opted to stop by a stream and I’m not sure
about alligators and other swamp creatures because the whole area is a
swamp with so many lakes – there seem to be other people camping near
by so I’m guessing that this is a good place to camp and the constabulary
leaves campers alone.
I separated myself from the other camper’s area by going down a hill and
next to a slow moving section of the stream, a landing if you will where
there is a fallen power pole with huge ceramic insulators broken on the
ground. I set up the tent and started to pay attention to the area that I’m
in and see if any one is wiser to me being here or not.
30
Tent and covered bike
and trailer next to the fallen power pole.
The cement foundation of the
Electrical substation where I camped at.
This is an area next to an old, torn down to the foundations, electrical
substation, in a spot right across the road from the Airport Industrial
Park. As I investigated the area I made a startling discovery; a species of
dark colored crab that burrow in the ground at shore’s edge and that
also climb trees. Photos of them are very difficult because they seem to
have really good eye sight and disappear behind branches and trunks
when I start to get close.
They obviously consider me to be a predator and stay out of site, but
after eating dinner at the fallen power pole, I seem to be partially
acclimatized and don’t pose a threat – I managed to get a shot or two of
the little critters on a trunk of a tree at water’s edge.
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Tree climbing crab, Aratus
Pisonii, at first reminded me of very large spiders.
Mangrove tree at water’s edge, same tree as
above with the crab.
Now that it is after six and I’m settled in, had dinner I congratulated
myself on a job well done, but I realize I’ve only traveled about thirty
miles or so today. The camp is comfortable, but there is something not
quite right here but I just can’t put my finger upon it. I settled into the
tent and started to doze off, but realized what it was that wasn’t quite
right.
It is supposed to rain, and the little stream that I am camped beside has
tidal water marks that are close to the tent. That’s what it is, if the tide
and the rush of water from a good rainfall happen at once, I could be in a
world of trouble with the tent being underwater.
So, I pulled everything down and moved camp up the hill to the top, on
the opposite side of the power plant station ruins as the other campers.
32
I’m in what appears to be a bit of a garbage dump, but no matter, I
cleaned the area under the tent footprint and set back up – it only took
about fifteen minutes, but I realize that there is a little bit of a realized
feeling now, rather than one of something wrong and the tension is gone.
It is a little noisier here since I’m close to the road, and it is close to the
New Smyrna Beach Airport, but I feel better about all of it and it wasn’t
too long before the sweat I worked up abated and I was back to enjoying
a bit of rest for the night.
May 17, 2016:
I’m up at dawn this morning so I can clear out before there is any
problems – I texted Steve and Ed last night to let them know where I am,
I also tried to text Bruce, but no go – I guess his number isn’t set up for
that.
On the road by seven this morning, and I suppose this is some kind of
personal milestone for me, being that it is a year on the road this
morning. The birds around the campsite aren’t letting me sleep, they are
announcing the new day and there’s nothing for it except get up and on
the road.
I got about three or four miles down the road and realized that I had left
my damned water bottle at campsite, so I had to turn around and get it. I
seriously considered leaving it, but then I remembered how difficult it
was to replace the other bottle I left with the Tip Top on Steve Lisco’s
show, and made up my mind to turn back and fight the head wind and
pick it up.
As it was, on the return trip I made a few photos that I had passed up
the first pass; one is a DC 7 prop plane at the airport in full view of the
visitor’s parking area, so I went to photograph that to make my anxiety
disappear from the retracing of steps for the water bottle.
33
Rolling through Port Orange where there is a place called, Last Resort
Bar – they have a tree with motorcycles chained up in the branches and
a base filled with old, rusting motorcycle parts. It is a really good photo
opportunity for me and by now the trip back to the old camp site seems
like a million miles away.
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35
A wall full of supportive
bricks
Next is a mechanical elephant with a painting that supports Donald
Trump on its side; outside Universal Towing and Marine in Port Orange.
The elephant is about seven feet tall and the mechanical part is a rising
of the trunk and flapping of ears and tail – it has been loaded upon a
four wheeled cart and waits at roadside for interested travelers to
witness.
Next I stopped in at River side Pavilion Park to have a bird bath and to
rotate the tires on the trailer – the tires are already wearing down
because of the steep angle they are on, and I know it is something to do
36
with the way the frame is put together but for the life of me I can’t figure
what to do to take care of the problem.
Next is an old neon sign at roadside in South Daytona Beach – it is the
Hawaii Motel and the neon flashes and makes the hula skirt move.
My next stop is the McDonalds in Holly Hill, a few sort miles from
Daytona Beach – there is always a problem at these places with parking
my bike – they asked me to move it since the bike is blocking wheel chair
access – so I did, and I’m working on notes like I should be doing and
getting through the day at a little past noon.
I found an overhang for my bike and sat down to eat an MRE – it started
to rain while I was in the restaurant, and now that it is raining, I feel like
I should be someplace dry.
Later and down the road a little ways, I stopped at Dollar tree to get a
cold drink and to sit under the awning for awhile – until a police woman
told me that if I had finished conducting business here, I had to move on
– I know it sounds like discrimination, feels like it, but. I can understand
from her point of view, so without a fuss, I moved on.
37
I stopped to photograph a historic church at Ormond, it’s the New Bethel
A.M.E. church, founded in 1885 – it has a nice brick structure and
stained glass windows.
Further north there is a really nice looking Catholic Church – Basilica
Saint Paul and is undergoing some renovations and a new addition of
cement stone.
38
It isn’t six now and the rain is falling like monsoon season. I should have
stayed another week in Titusville, but instead I’m in Ormond, in the
middle of a huge thunderstorm that looks like it will last another few
days. I will see if my tent and floor will hold out the water, or weather I
will swimming by morning – there are no pallets out here to stick my tent
on that’s for sure.
I’m soaked and here in this spot because I had to, finding it in pouring
down rain and tromping through the woods like a mad man. That will
teach me, but now that I’m two days out, what the hell am I going to do?
I could go back along highway A1A, back tracking through the rain and
giving up, or just move on. The other option is to stay here for another
few days to wait out the rain. Heaven knows I have enough food for a few
weeks.
Who knows where this road will lead?
May 18, 2016:
The night is almost over and the daylight is creeping into the forest
where I am camped. There is a really noisy bird perched near the tent
who is advertising that daylight is here and it is time to be up and about
my way out of here.
39
The blankets I slept on last night are all wet, but it could have been a lot
worse after that huge downpour. As I ride along the road later I see all of
the flooding that took place, overflowing ditches and flooded landscapes,
by little puddle in the tent could have been much worse.
I saw an interesting shrine to a young person beside the road just about
two miles south of Bunnell, so I at least dug out the camera from it’s safe
spot in the plastic bag under the trailer plastic – I was tempted to just
pass it on by, but there was something that compelled me to document
it, probably the children’s toys and how well cared for the place was.
Tyler M Tracy
I made the town of Bunnell some time later where I found Deborah’s
Laundry facility in a little Southside Plaza shopping center – I’m drying
out three of my blankets that got wet, now I need to find a place to
spread out the tent to dry it: That and a high and dry kind of place to
camp so that I can spread out and let things dry – I’m sure that soon
there will be another rain storm by tonight to look forward to. From the
weather forecast it looks like another three days of down pour to look
forward to.
It worried me to think that I have gotten off so lightly with the damp and
wet last night, and as I finish the drying of my blankets, I am grateful for
being so blessed on this road trip so far.
I am noticing a lot of wear on the trailer tires, especially on the right side
where the tread is almost gone. I will rotate the tires again and see if I
can lighten the load – I got ride of a lot of canned stuff, more than half so
that lightens the load about twenty or thirty pounds. I can predict a very
short life for this trailer unless I can get a handle on this wear because I
can’t afford the replacement lof tires every couple hundred miles. Also,
quite frankly, the damn thing is slowing me down and I don’t think that I
can cross the desert with that – I will keep the trailer as long as possible,
40
but I think it is going to get dumped – I remember my last trailer, from
the carnival guy, that was such a relief to unload. I’ll just have to trim
down things that I’m carrying.
I found a familiar sight to me: a life sized, old Marc’s Big Boy fiberglass
sculpture outside a sculpture art shop south of St Augustine about 10
miles at SR 206 and highway one.
Later in the St Augustine city limits, I found an old farm truck “Super
White Power” in front of Ruskin Tomatoes stand on Highway one.
Right now I’m at McDonalds restaurant on highway one on the north
side of St Augustine, I refused temptation to go photograph some of the
old buildings but I need to find a good place to bed down tonight where I
can dry things out and not have to worry about downpour.
41
A camouflaged
tank outside VFW Post 2391 in St Augustine.
Arnold’s Live Music
Lounge and Dancing in St Augustine, proof that neon signs are artistic
and tasteful.
I chose a big empty lot beside the road and found some high ground
where I could set up the tent and have some drainage: that seemed to do
the trick, the tent stayed dry fro the most part, except that I spilled some
of my drinking water inside the tent and made it wet inside anyway.
42
Everything eventually cooled off and the night got along just fine, the
rain hammered down until about two or three, then stopped.
May 19, 2016:
The crack of dawn is starting to peek through the forest and brighten up
the tent as I lay, hoping that the rain is truly over with. The last of it fell
about three or so hours prior to dawn and even the trees have stopped
dripping an over abundance of water, but watch it mind you because if
you bump a shrub or knock a tree, a shower of gathered rain will
cascade down.
St Augustine in all of its glory, I’ll leave you now much as it has been
these past years, and I will move onto someplace new. It is just barely
light enough to see what I’m doing to break camp so I go about rolling
everything up and putting things away. I think I’ll have a bite to eat
before I head out on the road as well, just to use the stove and satisfy
that hunger pang in my gut.
After breakfast I headed down the road, the skies are cloudy but for the
moment there is no looking like rain for awhile yet I think. The weather
forecast last night showed that there was increased chance of rain
toward the early afternoon, so I hope that is true and I have clear sailing
for awhile.
A Double Decker bus on display as an eye catcher outside King's Head
Pub - 6470 Highway 1 near St Augustine, Florida. It's a re-creation of a
British Pub complete with the tacky touch of a red phone booth and
Double Decker bus out front (this actually makes it easier to find when
you are speeding down US1). The inside is low lit with low stools and
small tables. Flags from many nations decorate the ceiling and walls,
along with antiques and memorabilia from Britain. A gas fire place is lit
for those cold 50 degree nights.
43
Double-decker buses are in common use throughout the United Kingdom, and have been
favoured over articulated buses by many operators because of the shorter length of
double-deckers, and less need to have standing capacity. The majority of Double Decker
buses in the UK are between 9.5 meters (31 ft 2 in) and 11.0 meters (36 ft 1 in) long, the
latter being more common since the mid-1990s, though there are three-axle 12 meters (40
foot) models in service with some operators. Double-decker coaches in the UK have
traditionally been 12.0 meters in length, though many newer models are about 13.75
meters (45 ft 1 in). The maximum permissible length of a rigid double-decker bus and
44
coach in the UK is 15.0 meters (49 ft 3 in), and although there are no theoretical
restrictions on height, coaches are normally built to 4.38 meters (14 ft 4 in) high, while
'highbridge' buses are normally about 20 centimetres (8 in) taller. Articulated doubledeckers are also allowed at a maximum length of 18.75 meters (61 ft 6 in).
In 1941, Miss Phyllis Thompson became the first woman licensed to drive a double-deck
vehicle in England. She drove for the bus company Messrs. Felix Motors Ltd, then at
Hatfield near Doncaster.
The red double-decker buses in London have become a national symbol of Britain, and
the majority of buses in London are double-deckers. A particularly iconic example was
the Routemaster bus, which had been a staple of the public transport network in London
for nearly half a century following its introduction in 1956. Because of cited difficulties
accommodating disabled passengers, the last remaining examples in use finally retired in
2005, although Transport for London has established two "heritage routes", which will
continue using Routemasters on selected parts of routes 9 and 15. A new Routemaster is
under development and is expected to enter service in early 2012.
Later on in the day I’ve stopped a couple of times for cold drinks and to
hobble along toting that damn trailer – it is still about 25 miles to
Jacksonville and I’m never going to make it if I keep up this pace. It looks
like rain now and I’ve spotted a place to pull over at a nice spot off the
road so I can transfer things from the trailer over to the bike.
Decisions; what to keep and what to leave behind; the tires are almost
shot on the trailer and I can’t afford the money to invest in a pair of fifty
dollar BMXs which seem to be the only ones that hold up to more than a
hundred miles of travel. I’ve had to give up the stove and cooking
utensils, and many extra items that I was carrying because I had the
room. Now my bike is over loaded – I also found an ant colony which
have taken up residence in my hiking shoe, so that was a little bit of a
shock, and a bit of a problem to get them out – they were already laying
eggs and hauling vegetation in to make food for the larvae.
I’m about fifteen miles from Jacksonville now and the bike is a little bit of
getting used to while it is stacked high with stuff, but the two wheels will
be much more maneuverable and lighter to get through the big city.
It is a couple hours later and I’m at the southern edge of Jacksonville –
the bike is so much easier to ride without that damn trailer – I don’t
know why I did that to begin with, but I think it was something to do
with that piece of crap I was riding from Pompano Beach and the
carnival nearby in Margate.
45
The Main Street Bridge, officially the John T. Alsop Jr. Bridge, is a bridge
crossing the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida. It was the second
bridge built across the river. It carries four lanes of traffic, and is signed
as U.S. Route 1/US 90 (SR 5/SR 10). A lift bridge, it opened in July 1941
at a cost of $1.5 million. In 1957 it was named after Mayor John T.
Alsop, Jr., but continues to be known, even on road signs, as the Main
Street Bridge. When the bridge was first built, its north end was at the
intersection of Main Street and Water Street.
The third photo is from the northeast side of the Main Street Bridge
looking north along the water front toward the Hart Bridge
46
The Ocearch Ship in
port at Jacksonville - (IMO: N/A, MMSI: 367073540) is a pleasure craft
and currently sailing under the flag of USA. M/V OCEARCH has 36m
length overall and beam of 4m.
The reason for this port of call is for its 24th expedition to generate
scientific data critical to ocean conservation by satellite tagging Great
White Sharks. In 2013 OCEARCH tagged Great White Shark Lydia in
Jacksonville, FL. The 14 foot 2,000 pound shark has traveled over
35,000 miles demonstrating the connectivity of Florida waters with
northeastern Atlantic waters off Europe with her track. OCEARCH has
assembled a multi-institutional, collaborative science team to gather data
to further the understanding of the ecology, physiology, and behavior of
white sharks in the Atlantic Ocean.
CSX engine coming into
Jacksonville from the north.
47
I’m at a Taco Bell which I mistook for a McDonalds, and demanded a
senior’s coffee, but settled for a senior’s drink which is free to folks like
me – wow imagine that, free drink because I’m a senior. The storms seem
to be in other places that where I am at for the moment so I’m not going
to look a gift horse in the mouth as the weather forecast is for
thundershowers in another hour or so. Looks like I’d best hit the road
again after this little interlude if note making at Taco Bell.
I suppose I should have recharged the computer while I was there, but
there was only a small drain on it, so I didn’t bother; instead I headed
out as soon as I could, don’t want to press my luck for free drink and all
– I continued through highway one till I got to the city proper, where I
had no problems picking up highway 90 west – the road work that was
going on last year when I went through is still going on and I am
guessing it will be awhile because they are tearing out bits of the
overpasses that are in existence and re routing traffic.
I got through town okay, heading west on Beaver Avenue or some such
thing and as I got further west I realized that I was heading through a
pretty tough neighborhood, with lots of homeless and poor folk hanging
around gospel missions and the like, and I got to a place called
Woodstock Park where there is a small community center there – got
some water and had some dinner before moving on down the road – all
the while I am looking at the sky overhead and wondering if I will make it
to a place where I can get out of the rain before the downpour or not.
The highway is really bad in many areas, the road so narrow that it is
dangerous to ride along, but there isn’t any choice, so I ride. I found a
small dirt road off to the side, between the highway and the railroad
tracks and decided that if it were going to rain, it would be really soon –
there is thunder and lightning getting closer and closer and I don’t want
another emergency camping spot like a couple nights ago.
There is a little triangular piece of ground that lies between the two dirt
spurs next to the tracks and this triangular piece is about eight inches
higher than the dirt around it on the road – so if it rains hard, the water
will drain off into the dirt road instead of under the tent and make the
tent into a swimming pool.
48
The bike beside a huge
earth moving vehicle tire abandoned between the rail tracks and Highway
90.
Problem is, it isn’t barely 5PM now and it is still hot and muggy outside –
inside the tent because of the dampness, is about ten degrees hotter –
and there are deer flies or horse flies – large flies that rest on you and
take big chunks out of my skin – I swatted a couple of them and they are
about the size of a house fly, but with tobacco and brown mottled wings
– nasty little critters – and here is the rain, falling lightly at first, but I’m
sure it will cascade at any time now. Now to see if my camp making is
going to do the trick – the weather forecast is for another two days of this
useless crap before it gets sunny and hot again.
A little later I had an encounter with local folk and wondered if I would
have to pull up stakes and head on down the road – the rain has been on
and off all afternoon since I threw the tent up and that’s a good thing I
guess. But the encounter came as a couple of kids were snooping
around, then an adult on a bike looking for the kids. I don’t think it will
hurt much, but I’ll keep my ears open fro the rest of the evening –
fortunately the rain heavily fell in no time and that killed any misgivings
I might have had about the whole visiting thing.
May 20, 2016:
The quality of a morning is fickle: one morning it is the sunshine filtering
through the trees, creating dazzling effects on the forest floor, other times
it is something simple like fog, and no rainfall with an overcast sky like
this morning. This is my fourth night of rainfall and thundershowers in a
row and I grow weary of the whole rain thing, and realize that the entire
49
downfall thing is highly over rated; unless of course you are a farmer and
depend on the rain to grow crops.
It seems nice enough from inside the tent, the inside walls are drying out
quite nicely, but outside the ground is wet from the downpour into the
early hours of the morning. Right now the only thing threatening is the
thick fog that is blanketing everything.
My campsite is right across the street from a trailer park called Paradise
Village at Ednalee Avenue at Beaver (Highway 90) I moved on after I had
a bite to eat and cleaned up a bit, the tent didn’t take as long to break
down today and this is perhaps it isn’t as wet as it has been the other
three mornings up till today.
Further along Highway 90 I stopped by Olustee Battlefield Monument this is the sign along the highway marking the site entrance. Olustee
Battlefield Historic State Park is a Florida State Park in the Osceola
National Forest, near the town of Olustee. The site of Florida's largest
Civil War battle, the park is located 50 miles (80 km) west of Jacksonville
and 15 miles (24 km) east of Lake City, on U.S. 90. It also has the
distinction of being the first park in the Florida State Park system.
50
The Battle of Olustee was fought on the afternoon of 20 February 1864.
It is recreated annually during that month by Civil War reenactors.
Old wooden fences still partition the West. Reminders of another era,
they stand solidly beside highways in cattle country or gently tilt back to
earth along forgotten trails. Their very names, snake fence, Russell rail
fence, leaning rail fence, bring to mind a time when a skilled fence
builder was a very desirable ranch hand . In those days frugality was as
important as skill. Miles of wooden fence were built using materials at
hand, often without nails or wire. Building these fences wasn't just a
matter of sinking in some posts, attaching wire and moving the tractor or
4-wheeler along. Why, some of them didn't even have posts. The snake
fence, for example, began with bottom logs, placed on the ground.
Notches, or saddles, were cut in these logs and the building logs placed
carefully in them. No posts or nails were needed. The weight of the logs
and the zig-zag style of construction held these handsome fences in
place. It was heavy work a definite two man job. A snake fence might be
as low as 3 feet or as high as 6, but the average was 4-5 feet high. Logs
used varied from 8" to 16" in diameter and were debarked before use to
make the fence last longer.
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Pictures of an old brick building with motorcycles and clothing in the
front windows - Herndon Brothers Cycle Shop – then Holy Smokers BBQ
next door, both are in Baldwin, along highway 90. I stopped into the
Family Dollar Store in Baldwin, I waited for about 15 minutes before it
opened, but that wasn’t too bad, as I found an electrical outlet to charge
up the iPod plus it gave me an opportunity to view the map for while.
I bought some Sunny D to take with me and found out that Lake City is
about 31 miles west from here, which I should reach by mid afternoon. I
am thinking about taking highway 41 North from Lake City like I did in
2011 and had so much good fortune with all the way from Georgia. It is
going to depend a lot on the weather for this decision.
I made it a little further west to Sanderson, to the I-10 interstate
overpass as it goes over highway 90 – there I sit while it dumps rain. I
have another 25 miles to go to Lake City and have to make up my mind
about the junction there.
I’m in a Burger Kind inside Lake City at the junction of highways 41 and
90 and I just don’t know which way is best to go – it looks like rain both
ways, but my gut tells me that I should go west on 90.
I worked on photos as long as I dared, a little past 6PM and now need to
move like hell to find a good place to camp, if there is such a thing
around Lake City. A few more miles down the road, a little past the
western end of the road work that is taking place on the highway, I found
a big forest – there aren’t a lot of lofty knolls, but I did find one spot that
looks promising, and I’m running out of daylight so I need to set up
camp really soon.
The damn thorny brambles are a problem as the sharp spines on the
tendrils and branches wrap around your leg and dig in deep – there is
some one else in the forest camped out, but they are a distance away
from my camp, to the east and I leave them alone and make sure I don’t
get too close.
The rain is due to hit again in the early morning, so I think the fact the
tent isn’t on much of a rise doesn’t make much of a difference, at least I
hope it doesn’t. Sunset is almost upon us, but already the forest is
darkening like forests always do.
The rain has been hitting on and off for the early part of the evening and
on into the early morning, but by night’s end the rain has stopped and
fog has crept in to replace the moisture giving job that the rain once had.
52
May 21, 2016:
The crows are in chorus, taking their turn making morning
announcements close by. There seems to be no more rain for the present
although the weather forecast was for heavy rain fall from six on through
the day. Maybe when the rain hit last night that was supposed to be this
morning’s rain: What ever the reason is, I’m grateful that I only have
some wet tarps to fold up and pack onto the bike.
I’m on the road nice and early, but I started with a flat front tire – I’ve
tried pumping the damn thing up but it has a slow leak and I’ll try to
keep it pumped until I can find a good spot to take a look and see if I can
repair.
I passed by a Country Western Station; WQLC FM 102 and an AM
counter part which looks strangely out of place in this farm land area.
Then I found an old tractor and bailer in some one’s yard beside the
road, at the entrance to Suwannee County entrance and county road
10A.
Gill Tire Store in Historic Live Oak, Florida – it looks like an old service
station that has been restored – then a Shunting Locomotive engine with
hopper cars moving for loading in Pilgrim’s Silos.
53
54
I stopped at a Dollar General on the way out of Live Oak, bought
something to drink and then found a nice little spot to pull the bike over
and fix that damn flat tire. The pinhole was not as difficult to find as I
thought it might be, and soon I’m back on the road heading west.
I have to remember to stop into the next Walmart or Target and pick up
some more scabs – I’m sure I have some new ones in the little pouch on
the saddle bag, but I’m not sure.
I have just been swimming in a really cool little place called Falmouth
Springs – it is a little vent from an underground river that has surfaced
in the form of a spring in front of a rock face – the water is brown at this
time of year, much like little mountain lakes are because of the rain,
There is a local here that informs me that the spring pool is crystal clear
and cold in the summer time, a perfect spot to do a little picnic and have
a swim. The water drains into Suwannee River a mile or less to the west
of the spring – it is one short river.
Suwannee River
55
I actually found out about it by accident because there was one of those
brown information signs talking about a park by Suwannee River some
five miles down the road, but I stumbled upon this local, a well kept local
secret instead. I didn’t go to the river which was a short distance away,
as I didn’t have a need.
I’m told that there is a cave under the cliff, and there have been
underwater explorers going down under the ground as far back as the
main road from what the local said.
I stopped into a Family Dollar store in Lee, Florida for a bite to eat and to
carry on to Madison about 12 miles further West. That’s where I am now,
in Madison, at a McDonalds, having a bottomless soda and enjoying air
conditioning.
The Wardlaw-Smith House in Madison
I didn’t dilly dally there for long because I wanted to get down the road
enough to be able to find a camping spot where I won’t be bothered – it
doesn’t look like rain and there is zero chance in the weather forecast, so
I am hoping this will be the first in a few nights without the wet stuff.
I found a not too bad spot awhile later, I passed up several not-too-good
sites because they were too near to people; this on is near a water
reclamation center, across the street from the Sheriff’s office so I am
close to help if I need it. The spot required about a half hour’s or more
56
work to clear bramble and old branches, but it feels good to have a place
where I don’t have to put up the big camouflage tarp.
May 22, 2016:
The forest around me is coming alive with daytime creatures sounding
off, waking and announcing the start of another new day. An early
morning train is passing, shouting out road crossings as it heads west,
yes, the day is here bold and proud in its beginning. Out on the road
after a somewhat meager breakfast and there is a full moon over the
Madison County High school that I pictured, more trees really, but it
looked so large and so beautiful that I couldn’t pass it up – then I found
an old church two miles west of Madison high school, plus a dead
alligator beside the road.
I made it to Greenville by nine and stopped into a Dollar General for a
drink and munchies before moving on toward Tallahassee.
An abandoned Amoco Station and sign in Greenville, at the US 221
junction.
Into Monticello by noon: a white building looking like the Courthouse, a
nice piece of history as I enter town – the road west goes circular around
the building, put up in the late 1800s. I stopped into a Shell station on
the west side of town and got a first coffee of the day – the place is
friendly and one of my better choices of places to stop; Soon I was away
from there and into Leon County where immediately the roads narrowed
and shoulders disappeared so I was riding in traffic for a few miles – then
the shoulder just re-appeared again like it was always there.
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Courthouse at
Monticello where Highway 84 is diverted around the building on both
sides.
Brahman Motel at the
eastern end of Monticello.
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The Perkins Block was built in 1890 by Monticello businessman John H.
Perkins. This building included three first floor bays housing Perkins'
mercantile interests - a general store and sewing machine shop, a
hardware store and a farm implement supply store. In addition, Perkins
built a stable behind the building from which horses, mules and wagons
were sold. The second floor of the Perkins Block included a large foyer
and an opera house boasting unparalleled acoustics and the largest
stage in the region.
I stopped into an interesting little water park, but mostly for fishing – I
wouldn’t want to swim there because there are so many gators that it
wouldn’t be wise at all. Lake Miccosukee, south water control structure –
basically a damn and walkway where everyone fishes – there are turtles
and gators to photograph there from the highway 90 bridge on both sides
of the road. This is the place that the lady at the Shell station counter
was talking about that isn’t allowing any swimming and I can see why.
Lake Miccosukee is a large swampy prairie lake in northern Jefferson
County, Florida, located east of the settlement of Miccosukee. A small
portion of the lake, its northwest corner, is located in Leon County, this
is where the water flood control dam is located. There are a lot of Florida
Red Bellied Turtles (Pseudemys Nelsoni) in the pond below the damn.
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Swamp at the
eastern end of the Miccosukee Lake.
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Lake Miccosukee dam and fishing area
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Alligator resting in the
mud – photographed from the bridge over the water control area.
I am about seven miles east of Tallahassee City center where I will pick
up Highway 27 that will take me north out of Florida and into Bainbridge
Georgia, then pick up Highway 84 and head west again for awhile. This
will get me away from all of the swamps and gators for awhile I think.
The Idea is to get to Dotham, Alabama, then pick up highway 231 toward
Montgomery, Alabama.
I am in the McDonalds on the eastern outskirts of Tallahassee and
stopped to use WiFi and have a coffee or something. I met Chad and
Julia from Europe who travel back and forth between Amsterdam and
Tallahassee – made a donation to the cause and stopped to talk for
awhile – Chad is a runner and wants to run across the USA with a
support crew and felt that the donation was good Karma points toward
his trip.
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I continued my writing of notes and found a live plug in to recharge the
computer for awhile before I head back out – it is almost six and not a lot
of time to get out and find a place to camp for the night.
Tallahassee
Automobile Museum entrance
I was in a bit of a panic to find a spot, and rightly so because I have left it
too late to do a good scouting job. I did however; find an empty lot
between two businesses, with a little section over a rise which made for a
hidden spot to set up the tent – the top of the tent is visible from the
road, so I threw the small camouflage tarp over the peak which does the
trick.
I kept hearing a small yapping dog nearby and thought to myself that
perhaps this is a dog that might be loose and can run over and give away
my position; so I had to be stealthy and extremely quiet all evening to
beware of this threat that never came about.
The night is dry except for morning dew and the sky is clear, although
there is a full moon so I can’t really see the stars that well. Beautiful and
the weather is going to be good for awhile I think.
Text and photos © All Rights Reserved by Peter Tanner and Ernestartist