Today we ventured on down the coast further & made a stopover for lunch n' some siteseein'. Cedar Key is one of those places ya' always hear about but ya' never seem to be able to steer off your intended route to get there. Well today we ventured off that route and went to discover Cedar Key. As we first entered the island Linda saw a sign for shrimp at the local fish house. Of course I had to turn around so she could see about spendin' some $$$. As we got inside this 'Fish House' it was clear to see it was not your ordinary place. Looked more like a 'Mad Scientists' lab with all the different tanks bubblin' colored fluids. Well it seems we were just in time for a tour, as the gent inside told us, this was a clam farm. The tour was unbelievably informative as we learned about the beds the calms are kept in to sin.pawn eggs which are then collected and cultivated, fed and grown to seed beds out in the Gulf of Mexico. It seems commercial 'clammers' lease acreage from the state to raise their clams. All the tall cylindrical tanks with different colored fluids were algae that were grown to feed the clams. This was quite the operation, they raise the clams from seed to sell to the clammers, then buy the mature clams back from the clammers to sell & ship all over the country, so they make income at all stages. Another one of those interestin' stops you never would find if you don't get off that ;Big, Blue Road'.
After the clam farm we ventured further on to the island to see what other treasures it held. By the way we didn't buy any shrimp cause they were frozen and only sold in five pound boxes. Them Truck camper freezers don't hold too many five pound boxes. The island was rather small so it didn't take long to venture about. It is geared to the 'Touristas' that want to stay on the island. Having lived on the coast most of my life it didn't excite me.
The Cedar Key Pier
When we drove onto the 'Pier', which is actually a small island itself, we were lookin' for a parkin' spot. Well i spotted the gent from the clam farm. He turned out to be the Harbor Master, and was employed by Cedar Key to oversee the boat ramps and the boat slips. I asked about parking, cause I'd seen 'No RV Parking' around, he told us to just park it as after 11 AM the parking at the boat ramps was open for anyone. We also quizzed him on eatin locally, since we didn't have lunch yet. We followed his recommendations and chose a restaurant, of which the name escapes me, for a grouper sandwich special. The sandwich was good, but not exceptional, the prices were high and the atmosphere was not equal to the prices. We wrote it up to another of life's experiences and left Cedar Key.
That's us parked down there in the middle of this shot
After Cedar Key it was southbound again as we were going to stay in a PA park in Bushnell for the night. Well if you remember in the last post we encountered our first park almost full? Well the park in Bushnell was full, so we opted to stay overnight at 'Wally World'. The folks in the park offered us a spot to dry camp for $12.50, but that's what we would have paid for a full hookup at the Passport rate.
Well until the next adventure.
Hope to see ya' down the road as were,
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