Topsail State Park, Florida

Leaving Sopchoppy, behind, we headed to the coastal road and wade our way westward. We stopped for lunch along the way at a little family run diner which operated in a buffet style. You pointed to the dishes you wanted and the cashier tallied at the end of the counter. For desert we went next door for an ice cream cone and chatted with the owner. He operated the ice cream shop during the winter and then went to pan gold in Colorado in the summer! What a life!

 

Continuing along the coast we arrived at our next home for a couple of nights, Topsail State Park. It was a lovely, well forested park with decent showers and a much needed laundry which we took advantage of!

The beach was about a mile away and a shuttle ran every half hour during the day. Instead we decided to explore the trails which led out of the campground into the forests along the shore.

Once down at the shore itself we were taken with how white and sugary the sand was! It really did look like snow from a distance? 

The trails were not very well marked in places and a one point only my GPS told us we were getting lost! We back-tracked and finally found the trail we were supposed to be on and headed back to the campground.

In places the camp rangers had burned the underbrush leaving it looking black and a bit ugly, however this is a natural process and will actually make the area less prone to accidental fires which could prove very dangerous.

In the evening we strolled down to the beach to see the sunset. The shuttle had ended for the day. So the beach was nearly deserted. The white sand and green plants made a nice setting for the sunset. This place was certainly one of the nicest spots we had camped in during the trip to date!

Sopchoppy Delight

Allstays, the camping app I use said their was a County Park in Sopchoppy, Florida so that's where we headed next. Some friends had stayed at a state park a couple of miles down the road and liked the area, so we decided it was a good spot to stop and explore for a few days.

Driving into the town park it was not immediately obvious where the office was to sign up for a camping site. A man in a pickup truck headed our way, so I lowered the window and ask where I could register. He said, "Hang on, I’ll go round to the office." and then he got out of the truck and walked to the rear, lowered the tailgate and announced the office was open! He wrote up a few details and I signed in. We were registered for two nights! It was that simple!

The campground was nearly empty, but that changed the following day when a few more rigs showed up for the weekend. We checked out the washrooms behind the stage, the showers were hot and the facilities clean. A trail led across a bridge to the opposite side of the river, but we didn't follow it too far. We'd had a long drive and spent the evening chilling out.

 
 The following day we backtracked a few miles to a little trail system we had seen which promised sinkholes and underground rivers. It proved to be quite interesting as we followed the several kilometres of trails through a forested area.

In places the forest sat in water, while in other spots it was high and dry and the streams disappeared underground!

One curious sign suggested not to take a trail as it was closed for some unspecified reason. We headed off in another direction, visiting a number of sinkhole features and so on, eventually coming out at the end of the closed trail. Deciding we didn't have time to continue the loop we were on, we headed down the closed trail to see what the problem was. It turned out to be a bridge spanning a drowned cypress forest. The bridge must have required repairs so was closed. However another trail paralleled the bridge along the shore so we took it as the gps suggested it led back to the park entrance. In fact it led to the original trail closed sign we had seen at the outset!

 

Another kilometre or so and we were back at the park entrance having followed several rivers as they appeared and disappeared on their way through the forest. 

It was time to head back to the campground and forage for food!

I Go To Hell, Tate's Hell That Is...

My son Lee has made the suggestion to check out Tate's Hell, so when we passed a sign indicating the state forest by that name was just ahead, we pulled off and headed down a single tracked sandy road. The further we went the more concerned I became that this wasn't the best place to tow a camper, but the road didn't get worse so we kept on going. After several miles we came to an intersection and turned left following the signs. Another left shortly thereafter and we had arrived!

 

 We headed up the tree lined track, turned the camper around and got out of the car. This was Hell? It was actually an elevated boardwalk over a section of the swampy forest which for some reason had been dwarfed. Perhaps a crucial lack of nutrients had resulted in the dwarf trees, but all the same it was an interesting area to visit.

As you can see in the photo on the left, the boardwalk climbs above the forest and curves around slightly to give a good view of the area below. The dwarf trees are surrounded by normal sized trees, but appear stunted and slow growing. 

 

Finally after having a good look around, we headed back to the main highway and continued our way westward. There were lots more interesting places to see along the way!

Cedar Key

I'd been to Cedar Key years ago and was anxious to once again see the funky little town at the end of the road. I also wanted to revisit the little campground where I had stayed as well. It was one of those places which lingered in your mind and kept asking for your return. We were lucky to get the last spot for a couple of nights. 

When I say lucky, I'm not sure that was the correct term. The site seemed like an after thought it was so small! Luckily we were even smaller so we managed to fit in, but really, what were they thinking? The campground had changed hands over the years and the new people seemed only to be trying to squeeze as many ribs on the grounds as they could. The funky ambiance was gone. It was just wall to wall rigs, the old washrooms no longer the delightful surprise, but a sorry sight. Where was the maintenance, the care and the love the old owners had given the place?

 

Oh well, we headed into town and enjoyed some shopping and the yummy food overlooking the gulf. That was still as wonderful as ever!

That night the bottom fell out of the thermometer and we weren't ready! We damn nesr froze to death! Good thing we both had a warm body to cling to...!
 

Once we had thawed out the next day, we went for a hike up the road a ways where a trail led to some old shell mounds built by the indigenous people long ago. I suppose they had had a village nearby and had taken advantage of the shallow water to harvest the abundant shellfish for food. I had walked this trail on a previous visit and was pleased to find it in good shape.

It was soon time to move westward along the coast to see what else there was to explore.

Bad Day In Naples

Thinking it would be interesting to drive south down Route 41, we headed south from Pine Island roughly following the route laid out in a 1935 guidebook. Needless to say there were changes, lots of them! In fact there were changes even from a few years past when I had taken the same route south to the Everglades. Most notably, there were no more open spaces. It was mall after mall after mall divided briefly by traffic lights. It was at a traffic light that the trip took a nasty turn...

Waiting for the light to change green, we took a sudden impact from the rear. Someone hadn't stopped in time and smashed into Big Trill! I got out and walked back. A young girl was at the wheel on a middle sized car. She claimed her sandal had come off the brake pedal, but I suspect she had been texting someone. In any event, I suggested we pull off to the side and exchange insurance info etc. As I turned right another car clipped the right corner of Big Trill! Obviously in Florida even when it's clear there has been an accident, charging ahead on the right is common practice! 

 

Once on the side street, it was apparent the young girl had run off. We dealt with the second car, exchanged info and so on. We then dealt with the damage. The rear bumper had been pushed in, the right tail light was gone and the fibreglass on the right corner around the bumper was cracked in multiple places. We headed for a hardware store and between that and a deli counter at the grocery store we created a new red tail light. Duct tape covered the cracks in the glass and once again we were on the road headed south.

We were so happy to pull into the Riptide RV Park on Key Largo and find our spot waiting for us. The natives were friendly and the sunset beautiful. Life was good once again...

Pine Island and Sanibel Island

One of the places I had always wanted to paddle was the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, so My companion and I made plans. The first obvious thing we discovered was the total lack of camping spots available in Sanibel, but I had a backup plan. We would camp on Pine Island across the bay! That proved to be difficult as well, but finally we secured a spot at Sea Isle RV Resort in Malakta on the isthmus which leads over to Pine Island itself. There we met Carl and a number of his friends who called the Resort their home. 

It turned out Carl only ever had one site for transients like us and I think thenidea was so that he could have someone new to chat with when the locals got a bit much. Many of the permanent inhabitants were at their last stop in life having been everywhere, done everything already in their lives, mostly thanks to the military. They were quite the crowd each having a small corner on some speciality so that all together they could manage to get by on practically nothing. 

Anyway, Carl was a gem. He got us decent internet, a great meal out just across the bridge and a yummy breakfast in the other direction. All places that mostly cater to locals which gave us a glimpse of the Florida we wanted to see.

Sanibel Island proved itself as well. We ended up renting a canoe and got a first hand look at the mangrove tunnels and typical west coast Florida paddling. We had a great time, although there was less wildlife than I was hoping for. After all it was a refuge!

 

Lunch was just up the street at Dr Ford's new bar and grill. It lacked some of the charm I was expecting as a fan of the books, but I was glad to have see it and we both enjoyed the meal.

I had thought I would take a little tour around on Pine Island the following day and there was a new hiking trail Carl told us about, however, we wanted to see the Keys and we had secured a reservation on Key Largo so we headed south once again.

Lithia County Park, Florida

With no room at the inn, that is Hillsborough State Park, I motored down the road to the county park at Lithia Spring a few miles south of the Interstate east of Tampa. It proved to be a nice, quiet camping spot with a huge spring, some hiking trails and a few interesting characters as well. It proved as well to be a perfect spot to welcome aboard a traveling companion who would be with me until Louisiana, a few weeks away. She was Big Trill's first guest traveller and I was anxious to see how it would work out as the accommodations were on the smallish side!

The first character we met at the check-in. She wasn't afraid to tell you whatever she thought, but did it all with a twinkle in her eye. We certainly enjoyed her dry wit! Another character was living in an old school bus with his band name written all over it. He was camping and writing new songs for the band using the quiet campground for inspiration. He was full of interesting info and recommended another similar County Park north of Tampa which we were never able to find in any map or app we had. Oh well...

We checked out the hiking trails which followed the river out of the springs. Yes, there were several Springs and the flow of water was substantial.

 

Washrooms were nearly new, clean and had lots of hot water, always appreciated, but not always found!

We spent a couple of nights here sorting out the camper and making it more comfortable as we switched over from one person to two. Needless to say, it was a welcome change and the beginning of our second adventure together, the first having been last fall in California. As the photo above shows, we set the 'hut' up for the first time here. It provided a bit of privacy when using the toilet and taking showers when none was available. We learned a few other tricks on using it over the days ahead, but basically it worked very well and was set up almost everywhere we camped.

We then made plans and set out southward...

Return to Hillsborough State Park, Florida

I had stayed at Hillsborough State some years ago in my Teardrop camper and had enjoyed my stay there, so I was interested to revisit. One of the things I wanted to do was hike some of the trails across the river as I had not done that previously.

Once again, it was difficult to reserve a site longer than a single night in any park, so we had to get out an explore quickly and then pack up and move along.

There were more trails than we really had time to explore, but we did cross the river and head down one fine trails. We were surprised to discover it soon came to a fence forcing me to turn along it and then head back into the forest and back to another bridge! Crossing the bridge, we followed the river for a while seeing an alligator and some paddlers in the water below. Where's my kayak! It seemed odd to be in Florida without one...

Turning back along a trail which headed towards the park road, we discovered around a dozen or so vulture like birds in the trees and on the ground. The odour of a large rottening animal permiated the air. The birds were enjoying themselves, feasting away on this find.

We continued along the path and arrived back at my camper. It was time to pack up and leave. On the way out we drove around the park looking for where I had stayed before. It wasn't easy to find the exact site, but it was most likely in the open area furtherest from the river sites. The park certainly was full. I had inquired at the gate about any cancellations, but the ranger didn't seem to want to bother looking. He wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. A lady volunteer  working in the office smiled and rolled her eyes...

We headed down the road...

Florida Surprises

  

The crossing of the border into Georgia did not improve the I-95. In fact it got worse and in more than one spot I saw piles of tire retread debris lining both sides of the road, evidence of the tire shredding road surface. I was one of the lucky one to have slipped into Florida wearing the same tires I had left with. Not everyone was so lucky, it seems...! Once in Florida, the condition of the interstate improved and I could finally relax knowing the camper's axel wasn't going to be shaken off the camper and left on the side of the road. Thank you Florida!

The first surprise, not too unexpected in high season, was the almost complete lack of campsite availability anywhere close to where I had hoped to stay! What a change from just a few years ago when it never occurred to reserve ahead. I simply drove into campgrounds and easily found a place to camp. Those days are gone it seems with everyone seeming to own an RV. I pleaded for help from some Facebook friends and finally one suggested I try Tomoka State Park near Daytona and finally I had a spot for the night. One night... The park turned out to be a gem with nice clean washrooms, good showers and friendly people. 

 

The following day, I discovered that by moving a couple of sites closer to the washroom, I could stay a couple of extra days, so move I did. This resulted in me being next to the couple in the photo above, two Harley enthusiasts who were down from Pennsylvania for Bike Week in Daytona. It was the twentieth anniversary of their previous visit and they were anxious to have a good time revisiting some of the old spots they had been to all those years ago. I loved their vintage bikes which they had trailered down and promptly began riding as soon as they had set up their tent - in the bed of their truck!

That evening they invited me over to their campfire for a few beers and we all had some good laughs together until the rain set in.  Returned to Big Trill, but a while later the Scheller's knocked on the door. My bloody pants - from LL Bean no less - had shed my wallet which they had found in the dirty while dousing their campfire! Thank god! They saved my trip from certain disaster had my wallet gone missing for good. It set off a series of panic attacks throughout the trip whenever my wallet wasn't where I expected it to be.

In the days ahead I biked around the park, checked out the day use areas, the boat launch area, the old shell mounds and the other facilities. Soon it was time to head westward across Florida, but I really enjoyed Tomoka SP and all it had to offer.