On Into Georgia

Sunday: (03/31) We left St Marks early. Breakfast at Golden Corral Buffet back in Tallahassee. We came back to Tallahassee to visit the Jackson Lake Indian Mounds. We then headed toward Jacksonville, mostly on Highway 90. In Jacksonville we stopped at Camping World and bought a new vent cap for our black tank vent. Also some chemical. I need to inspect our vent for a blockage or leak. We also dumped our tanks there. Still need to find water to fill our fresh water. We were in a rush to get dumped before they closed and we drove out of their automatic gate as they closed at 1700. Dumping was made more fun because their hose at the dump had a split and leaked and sprayed. We then stopped at Walmart to shop and spend the night. The same shopping center had a Cracker Barrel where we had dinner and a Lowe's for any other parts I might need for the vent. As it was, we were asked to leave by security about 2300. We drove up I95 stopping 1 mile into Georgia at a Rest Stop. Maybe Savannah will have any materials we need tomorrow.
(GPS: 30.7533566,-81.6497958)

 

 

Wakulla Springs And Fort St Marks

Saturday: (03/30) Another nice night at Walmart. Breakfast for all at Burger King inside our Walmart. We hitched up the Jeep and rolled South out of Town on Highway 319 toward Wakulla Springs. We caught the first boat tour at 0940. Very interesting tour with alligators, manatees, grebs, coots, osprey, and ? The spring is the deepest spring at 350 feet deep and the flow is up to 300m to 1b gallons a day. The water comes from the Wakulla- Leon Sinks Cave, which is the longest underwater cave in the US. It was also the setting for a couple of old Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies. From there we drove down to San Marcos de Apalache Historic State Park. The fort protected the confluence of the Wakulla and St Marks revers. It is the location of one of the earliest Spanish settlements in Northwest Florida (1679). I’ve been using Google to guide us through the back roads and through the cities. It routed us onto a sandy dirt road for about 5 miles on our way from Wakulla Springs. Interesting. In the cities I’m always in the wrong lane to do what it wants me to do and then needs to reroute. After several of these reroutes, I’ll swear that it then deliberately tries to send us down dead end streets. We explored the Fort at the park and enjoyed watching the boats come and go at the boat launch there. We are planning on spending the night in the boat launch overflow parking area.

Talahassee, Florida

Thursday: (03/28) Leftovers for breakfast. Wonderful nite at the boat launch last night. Nice river view, no one else about. We had a couple of people arrive to launch their boats as we were preparing to leave. We headed on out highway 20 stopping in Blountstown for breakfast at Connie’s Kitchen. We walked about town checking out an antique store, a thrift store and the M&B Railroad Museum. We then continued on into Tallahassee and visited the AAA auto club office for some maps. The we took a walk in the McClay State Park Arboretum. We then settled in at a nearby Walmart for the night. (GPS: 30.5467838,-84.2303069)

Friday: (03/29) Breakfast from the Burger King inside our Walmart. We went downtown and toured the Old State House Museum. It took a while to see it all, very interesting. There were scores of students there as well and the old hard walls were working overtime reflecting the noise they made. W had dinner at a cuban restaurant, the Habana. We were home about 1830 and worn out. Walking lowly and reading is such hard work.

On into Florida, Choctawhatchee River

Wednesday: (03/27) Leftovers for breakfast. We did some cleanup and slowly prepared to depart. We finally left the campground at noon. We stopped at a salvage goods store before getting on the road. We took Highway 98 off through Pensacola, and on to Sandestin and turned onto Highway 331 to Highway 20. We stopped at Choctawhatchee River Boat Ramp (GPS: 30.448926,-85.8998299) for the night. A sheriff was there when we arrived and we asked if it was OK to stay the night. He said Ok but no parties. Lou made green salads for lunch about 1400 in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Lou made chicken nachos for dinner.