Another day at Suwannee River. We took a side trip to Manatee Springs where they also have an elevated wood walkway through the swamp. We did not see a single manatee but did get pictures of two water moccasins that had hauled themselves out of the water onto floating logs. One of the moccasins was big (maybe 5′) and the other one was about the size of a pencil about 15” long. They are impressive but not cute.
After not seeing any manatees at Manatee State Park, we drove out to the town of Suwannee on the Gulf of Mexico. We found a restaurant in town that had great seafood where Peg had a shrimp Po-boy with real good french fries but crummy cole slaw. I had the seafood combo of fried shrimp and grouper with fries and everything was tip-top. We cannot remember the name of the restaurant but since it is the only place in town, I suppose it would be hard to go wrong.
We took a little spin through Suwannee which is quite scenic in a strange way. There are mostly little houses that have canals in their back yards where everyone keeps their motor boats in little boat houses with boat lifts. It is a pretty nice part of the world here where fresh water bumps into the gulf’s salt water.
We headed back to the campground to prep for departure tomorrow morning.

Driving day. Left Tallahassee and drove to Suwannee River Hideaway in Old Town, FL, about 3.5 hours SE. On the way, we were obliged to cross the Fenholloway River. Both Peg and I noted a foul smell that we thought was coming from Charlotte right after we went over the Fenholloway. However, Peg got on the internet and found out that 75 years ago the state of Florida made a deal with a chemical company / pulp mill 20 miles upriver from where we crossed that allowed them to dump their foul shit into the river which really stinks, in more ways than one. As we got further from the river, the smell definitely went away so we had suspected Charlotte and she didn’t do it. Sorry, Charlotte.
We pulled into the Suwannee River Hideaway which is a nice little park with all the stuff RVers need, including a pond with alligators that come up on the nice grassy banks to soak up some rays. They also have what they call a “boardwalk” which is actually a raised wooden walkway mounted on wood piles driven into the swamp. It is about 1500 feet from a trail in the campground over the walkway to the edge of the Suwannee River. It is a very nice walk and they have a great platform at the end where you can just sit down and watch the river flow by the perch. The walk through the swamp views is quite pleasant, as are the platform vistas.
A songwriter named Steven Foster wrote a song about the “Swannee” river but he was mispronouncing the name, perhaps from total ignorance or merely because he thought Swanee sounded better than Suwannee.

We got up really early which was sort of aided by yesterday’s time change and went to the Ford dealership so we could get in line early to meet their obnoxious first come-first served policy. We arrived at 6:45, 45 minutes before they opened and we were the first folks served but it still took three hours out of the day. I love Charlotte but I loathe Ford dealerships.
After dealing with these assholes, however, the rest of the day was wonderful. First we went to Wakulla Springs State Park. The springs pour out 400,000 to 600,000 gallons per minute of fresh water and they are located right in the middle of an area infested with wildlife. We saw big vultures, cardinals, ibises, gallinules, ducks, cranes, some animals with names I can’t pronounce and loads of alligators. It is spectacular, especially since they take visitors out on battery-powered boats to see everything from the water. We also went into the adjacent resort building and ran into the maintenance manager, Neill Adderly, the son of Cannonball Adderly the musician. He took us on a tour of the 1930’s vintage building which is very nice.
From there we went down to St. Marks on the Gulf of Mexico. The area is a federal wildlife refuge so, again, we got in free using our federal access pass we bought in Gold Beach last July. I love that $80 pass; we must have saved about $300 so far and the year isn’t over yet. The refuge is truly magnificent. We saw alligators everywhere, birds of all descriptions and stuck our little mitts in the Gulf. There is also an old lighthouse at the end of the road that is pretty neat considering it is cylindrical but built from brick. We also found that visitors should keep the windows up and run the A/C since there are also quite a few flying insects.
Dana called and spoke with Mom for a while before our miserable Sprint phone took a shit and dropped the call. Nice to chat with Dana.
On the way back to the Invader we found a restaurant called “Savanna’s Country Buffet” which had great food in their buffet for $8.75 a head, including the drink and tax. Good home-cooked stuff and we overindulged disgracefully. On the way home we ran through some thundershowers which only dropped rain at a rate of about 4 inches an hour. We also finalized all the necessary arrangements for our next three stops in Florida which seems to be pretty necessary because not only is it spring break for lots of Florida kids, this area is a Mecca for all the retired and elderly old farts from the entire eastern seaboard.

Fauntleroy was out to see us off this morning before we left Florida Caverns and drove to Big Oak Park just west of Tallahassee, FL. We arrived early so we went into Tallahassee to do some biz. We also crossed a time zone line just west of town so we lost another hour today.
First we went to the Ford dealership in town to inquire about getting the oil changed in Charlotte’s diesel engine. As usual, the dealership is difficult to deal with and they wanted us to hang out for a mere 4 hours for an oil change. I nixed that and asked if we could get an appointment but, of course, the assholes only do first come, first served so we bailed.
We stopped by B of A to make a deposit and, Zowie!, there was a Trader Joe’s across the street from the bank and we popped in to re-stock the Invader larders. We also shot down the road to a Camping World and bought some shit-dissolving enzymes for the waste tanks and a bottom step to help the gimpy old owner into his mobile palace.

Today is my birthday and Peggy bought me some bird seed because I wanted some to bribe birds to come to me. We drove into Marianna and scoped out some of the gorgeous historic buildings in town. Very nice.
The rest of the day we got to do what I wanted – nothing. Fauntleroy made an appearance again today giving us ample opportunities for pictures.

We went into Florida Caverns today. The caverns are really neat but the passages are really low in some spots and I almost shit my pants bending over and slithering through some of them. Nevertheless, the cavern is pretty spectacular and the tour takes visitors right up to the stalactites, stalagmites and columns. The tour guide was a nice kid but she pronounces stalactite as “stalagtite,” and said that her mnemonic trick to remember that the deposits are calcite is that calcite rhymes with “cow.” The tour is still fun for all but all the kids touch the deposits despite being told not to touch anything. Shitty parents, I guess.
There was an enormous Barred Owl that we spotted that lives in a Cypress tree in the swamp behind the the spot where we set up the Invader. He makes lots of racket, even before dark and is a truly gorgeous specimen. We have named him Fauntleroy the Assripper.

Today we drove to Florida Caverns State Park in Marianna, Florida. Daylight savings started last night so we lost an hour out of the day so after we arrived and set up camp, we just loafed.

Today we laid low in Chickasabogue. The weather was great.

Today we drove to Chickasabogue County Park in a little burg called Eight Mile north of Mobile, Alabama. It is nice park but there isn’t much to see in this neck of the woods. We arrived early so we went into Mobile to take a look around. Mobile is a particularly unattractive city with substandard buildings except in a small area right downtown. However, in the downtown area we hopped on a free shuttle bus that drives patrons around about the only attractive part of town and the buildings there are quite nice but many of them are vacant.
We also went to ancient Fort Conde which was used as a fixed fortification by Spaniards, Frogs, British and the U.S. Part of it is renovated back to it’s former glory and it is great to wander around in the facility. Right down the street we also popped into the Mobile Museum which is a nice renovated building with some good exhibits but nothing to get excited about compared to other stuff we have seen.
I would have a hard time recommending Mobile as a destination.

We got up early intending to head for Alabama but the weather was shitty with intermittent rain and gusty wind. I paid another $12 to hang one more day here in Swampville, USA. The country around here is quite beautiful, very green and lush but one does not spot many teeth in the heads of the residents. We initially thought we may go to see the Tchoutacabouffa River which they pronounce as “Choota-kaboofa” and allege means “broken pot.” Seems strange that with spelling being such a lost art in these parts of the world, they would call the place Broken Pot since the spelling seems easier.