A Long Trip and Some Disappointment - February 4&5, 2008

Well we were up early Monday morning due to the drip, drip, drip on the roof. We thought that it was trying hard to rain from about 5AM but when we finally rolled out we saw the fog was so thick we couldn’t safely go on down the road just yet. When the sun came out if began to whittle away at the fog and by 9:30 we were rolling along. Just as soon as we get moving we need to make a quick stop at Wally World for some supplies and then were off again. We had a ways to go to get to St George Island State Park, Linda wanted to check this one out as we had heard good reports on it. You’d never know it but 300 miles later, I’m still behind the wheel and Linda tells me were almost there. That’s a long day in the saddle follerin’ the yeller’ line fer some folks that don’t make 50 miles some days.
Along the way we made a stop at the site of Fort Gadsden, 3 miles off Route 65, in the Apalachicola National Forest. The fort was built by the British, on the banks of the Apalachicola River, for the purpose of recruiting Seminole Indians to fight against the Americans and disrupt river traffic supplying them. The fort was destroyed by a force led by Andrew Jackson, when early in the skirmish a cannon round landed in the forts magazine. Some 270 defenders were killed instantly and all other survivors wounded except 3 lucky souls, “Nice shootin’ Andy”.
The site was a little visited Gem in the middle of the wilderness of the forest.
When we got to St. George they had one site left but some folks were out checkin’ it out we were allowed to drive the 4 miles to the CG and look at the site in case they didn’t take it. That 4 miles took forever. Now I can see reasonable speed limits in a park but 25MPH for 4 miles to the campground? Glad we weren’t goin’ the 9 miles to the end of the park. We didn’t find the campground to our liking, I guess we had the idea that it would be camping on the beach. It wasn’t. When you live in this place many call a ‘Paradise”, you develop certain preconceived notions on the way some things should be.
What we expected was more like what we found At St. Joe Peninsula or Fort Clinch State Parks, with the beach out your window. After some quick discussion, we figured to go back to Ochlocknee River where we stayed Friday. I can see there’s no R&R this day!
At Ochlocknee we caught “Ranger Linda” just closing the office for the night and told her we’d see her in the mornin’ to settle up. We chose the same site we had on the river last time and settled in. After a dinner of ‘Linda’s Garlic and Parmesan Chicken Tenders’ (Mmmm, Mmmm), we sat by the campfire till it was time to shower and turn in.
February 5, 2008
After breakfast we broke camp, settled up with the state and we were off down the road towards home. We couldn’t decide whether to go SE to Ocala or south retracing our route coming up, but Ocala won out. For tonight’s stay we chose a PA park, Wandering Oaks (appropriate name), at $12.50 for a full hookup.