Welcome to our 50th Anniversary road trip....

We began our day sitting near the pool eating breakfast with Steve & Vicki while we shared about our adventures on the road so far.  Trying to recount the last 20 some days was fun for Linda & I but I think Steve & Vicki thought we were under the influence of some drug that made us talk!  I think it was healthy for us to put most of our trip in order in our minds while we told our friends about it. 

 

Steve & Vicki really know how to retire….they spend a lot of time exploring their corner of Florida that God has provided.  They are both natives of the ‘Sunshine State’ so it was natural that they would retire there.  They have a healthy curiosity about the rural areas around their home.  So after breakfast we piled into their cool blue, 4 dr Jeep and headed out to experience the interesting countryside.

 

The first thing that struck us once we left the paved roads was the utter pastoral quietness, no cars or trucks whizzing past us….in fact sometimes we would drive for miles and never see another vehicle.  The wildlife we saw was in their natural surroundings, we were the intruders.  The roads may have been deserted but they were in great condition for us city folks!  We saw long forgotten buildings, homes and churches.  It is a little sad to think of all the hopes, dreams, personal effort and money associated with those buildings….and now nature is reclaiming them.  One wonders who they were, what their life was like and if they were still here or have they moved out of the “country” to better things now.  There were also a few farms scattered around like the one that raised Bison, which was just a little surprising for us.  We had not thought of those big ole critters as being sort of domesticated? 

 

Steve & Vicki took us to one of the nearby natural treasures, the Suwannee River.  The first thing I thought about was Stephen Foster’s song about the river.  The river begins its 246 mile trip from the Okefenokee Swamp in Fargo, GA and meanders through parts of Georgia and Florida before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico near….Suwannee, FL….what a concept!  The river is a slow moving body of water that takes on a black color from the tannins of the decomposing vegetation along the way south.  The banks are mostly blindingly bright white sand that contrasts with the black water to make a very dramatic sight.  The trees have moss hanging from the branches, that will eventually kill them, which gives the scene a feeling of being in a picturesque ‘Southern’ environment.  Linda really likes the ‘hairy trees’!

 

After exploring a while we headed for the Blue Roof Grill for a late lunch.  Steve & Vicki had taken us to this restaurant the last time we visited so we knew it would be a fun experience again.  After that we did a little more exploring before we headed back to their home.  We just chilled out and talked the rest of the day…ending around their cool fire pit, sipping wine in their back yard….a really great day!