TRAVELING ONLY 55 MILES TODAY WE SNAGGED US A REALLY NICE SPOT ON THE BANKS OF THE SUWANNEE RIVER

CAMPED ON THE BANKS OF THE  OLD HISTORIC SUWANNEE RIVER ABOUT A DOZEN MILES NORTH OF OLD TOWN FLORIDA
‘OMG’ even I could hardly believe it but there I was Tuesday night outside in the Walmart parking lot with shorts on and  no shirt.  Not even my hat did I have on.  ‘OMG’ I think that is even worth another ‘Oh My Gosh’.

MY GROOVY SOCKS AND YOU CAN TELL FROM THE TAN ON MY LEFT LEG THAT IS THE ONE i USUALLY HAVE DANGLING OUT THE MOTORHOME WINDOW WHILE DRIVING:))
It was already 70F at 7 a.m. this morning so I knew we were in for an uncomfortably hot and humid day.  Predictions were for 90F and we later reached 86.  With so much humidity in the air everything is damp in the morning including the ground.  If one happens to be parked in a sandy area that wet sand sticks to shoes and has a habit of finding it’s way into the Motorhome.  What a mess it can be and that is the problem we had the Pine Lake RV Park.

LOOKING OUT THE RIG’S WINDSHIELD THIS MORNING I SAW A HOMELESS PERSON SLEEPING ON THE GRASS
It was an easy 55 mile scenic drive for us this morning.  Scrambling around on our computers first thing today we came up with what finally looked like a suitable out of the way campground for us.  Located 12 miles north of Old Town and 12 miles south of Branford right on the banks of the Suwannee River we headed for Gornto Springs Park.

OOPS, MAKE THAT TWO HOMELESS PERSONS….A HIM AND A HER
Leaving Perry about 9 we made our way down highway 27 to Branford where we picked up highway 349 south towards Old Town Florida.  It was a mixture of sun and cloud today.  Wasn’t long after leaving Perry we began to notice the landscape changing and I immediately took a liking to the change.  More agriculture with large green fields, farm fences, horses and cows.  Gone were the unending rows of pine trees lining the road.  We could look across some of those farm fields for a good mile or more and the area reminded me of Huron County back home around Bayfield Ontario.  Liked it way better here than the bushy landscape we had seen further back in the panhandle.  This area seems to be an older part of Florida and that suits us just fine.  After all we’re far more comfortable hanging out with the Clampetts than the Rockefellers.

COUNTRYSIDE IN THIS AREA REMINDS ME VERY MUCH OF BACK  HOME AROUND BAYFIELD ONTARIO

A LOT OF PINE TREE LOGGING AROUND HERE BUT ALSO A LOT OF NEW PINE TREE PLANTING AS WELL

TURNING OFF THE HIGHWAY TOWARDS THE CAMPGROUND WE NOTICED THIS LARGE IRRIGATION SYSTEM
Not knowing what to expect we wheeled off highway 349 and headed in an easterly direction back in about a mile and half to the campsite.  A few minutes later we pulled into Gornto and liked it right away.  There we were right on the banks of the Suwannee River with only one other RV and a horse trailer in sight.  Big old Oak trees and lots of shade gave this small Park a homey feel.  Nobody around except the owner of the newer Motorhome so we talked to him for a short bit.  Nice fellow.  We decided to stay and pulled ourselves into one of the two pull through sites.  Could have parked a hundred feet closer to the river but I liked the spot we had under the big trees.  Put our coach levellers down, popped out our two slides and un-hooked the Jeep.  ‘Finally’ a place we like.  Might hang out here for a few days, maybe longer.  It’s $20 a night and we have electric and water.  In this humidity we definitely need A/C so we’re happy to have electricity.  We can run our A/C without using electricity by running our generator but we prefer the quieter electricity if available.  


FOUND US A NICE SHADY SPOT UNDER THESE TALL LIVE OAK TREES

THIS IS SURE OUR KIND OF QUIET PLACE ALRIGHT


NICE TO BE AWAY FROM ALL THAT COAST TRAFFIC

WE WERE ABLE TO SIT OUT FOR ABOUT HALF AND HOUR BEFORE THE HEAT AND HUMIDITY GOT TO US AND WE HAD TO RETREAT INSIDE TO COOLER AIR
Although we have never been to this area physically we have been here before via Google Earth as far back as 2011.  After a severe kidney stone attack landed me a Tucson Arizona hospital and a follow up Cat Scan alerted me to the fact I had a fairly large kidney stone problem it prompted Kelly and I to overreact to the situation and consider buying a place in Florida where we would be closer to home in case of emergencies.  It all seems rather silly now of course but we did go on-line and start looking at a bunch of properties right around the area we are now in.  Old Town, Williston, Chiefland.  Can’t remember why we picked this particular area to look but we did.  There was a lot of affordable places for sale at the time and we did do some serious thinking about it.  I think at the time we were beginning to tire a wee bit of our RV lifestyle.  A year later we bought the house in Congress Arizona.


THE SWUANNEE IS A VERY CLEAN SPRING FED RIVER AND THE BROWN SURFACE TEA COLOR I THINK IS CAUSED BY THE LEECHING OF TREES INTO THE WATER

OLD CYPRESS TREES LINE THE RIVER BANK

KELLY SAID THE WATER FELT COLD WHICH SUGGESTS IT IS SPRING FED

AND YEP WE HAVE CUTE LITTLE GECKOS HERE
And a big thanks to all the folks who through emails and comments have suggested places for us to stay and things to do.  We are keeping a separate file for all this info should we decide to return to this area at some point.  We still have a lot of looking around to do.

WE’RE RIGHT ON THE BANKS OF THE SUWANNEE RIVER
GROANER’S CORNER:((  A husband and wife were driving down a country lane on their way to visit some friends. They came to a muddy patch in the road and the car became bogged. After a few minutes of trying to get the car out by themselves, they saw a young farmer coming down the lane, driving some oxen before him.
The farmer stopped when he saw the couple in trouble and offered to pull the car out of the mud for $50. The husband accepted and minutes later the car was free. The farmer turned to the husband and said, "You know, you're the tenth car I've helped out of the mud today."  The husband looks around at the fields incredulously and asks the farmer, "When do you have time to plough your land? At night?"  "No," the young farmer replied seriously, "Night is when I put the water in the hole."
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So this old man is walking down the street in Brooklyn.  He sees a young boy sitting on the street in front of a candy shop, shoving sweets in his mouth as fast as possible.  The man walks up to the boy and says "You know son, it's really not healthy to eat all that candy."  The kid looks up at him and says, "You know my grandfather lived to be 97 years old."  The man replies "Oh and did he eat a lot of candy?" The kid looks at him and say’s, "No, but he minded his own damn business."
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