“We’ll Be Baaaack”

Today is our last day here at Salt Springs campground until we stop on our way back in February. This is a beautiful spot and the springs are fabulous. We have yet to see a Manatee here, but it is a tad too early. Our weather has been in the 80’s all week, much warmer than when we were here last year at the same time…

I love this dripping mossy stuff…You don’t see much of that in the deeper South of Florida…

They say some use it for crafts…after they de-bug it..Soooo, why am I trying to touch it?..duh.

Notice those “bear proof” trash containers!! I saw a neat T-shirt that said “ I Live in Salt Springs, Florida…and yes, that IS a bear in my backyard.”..love it!..So far we haven’t seen one, but they warn you NOT to leave your coolers sitting outside your camper..even if there is no food in it..Those sneeky bears will tear it up to make sure!!

This spring flows from 7 large and 2 small vertical fissures in the rock floor of the pool, and is nearly 110ft in diameter. The water travels 4.2 miles from Salt Springs to Lake George, the 2nd largest lake in Florida.

You can swim in this springs too…They say the gators rarely come into it..(key word here, RARELY)…NO, thanks anyway.

We took a ride 24 miles North of here to Patalka, FL…FYI, if you ever come here, there is no cell phone service within 20 or more miles..Our cell phones are AT&T…Our internet is Verizon and that is no problem. At least we  have a way to communicate with friends and family!

On our way to Patalka for groceries, we crossed the Cross Florida Barge Canal..

“Hauling things overland was slow and uncertain, so ships were the quickest way to move cargo. Yet navigating around Florida's capes, keys and reefs was time-consuming and sometimes deadly. Florida was not yet a state. Much of its interior was terra incognita. Federal surveyors dispatched to plot the canal route reported back that the terrain was too rough and the ports too shallow. Branded as impractical, canal fever faded for a century. The Depression revived it. By the 1930s,canal-boosters persuaded President Franklin Roosevelt the canal was needed but because the project would create jobs. 6,000 workers assaulted the land, quickly clearing 4,000 acres -- knocking down ancient oaks and longleaf pines, ripping out saw palmetto, driving out bears and other wildlife, digging up 13,000 cubic yards of soil. Then Congress, to teach FDR a lesson about who controlled the government purse, halted funding, idling construction for 30 years.

Contractors set to work creating dirt-pile hills and backhoe-bucket valleys where none had existed. Florida's fledgling environmental movement dithered about what to do until ecologist Marjorie Harris Carr realized the threat to the wild Ocklawaha River.Pushed by Carr, environmental groups tried to halt the canal. They were sneered at and snubbed by state and federal officials, who contended that the land they wanted to save was worthless scrub. But in 1971 they won a federal court injunction and persuaded President Richard Nixon to halt construction. Canal-boosters were never able to get the crusher-crawler started again.The taxpayers had spent more than $70-million for a ragged scar in the landscape. The state has turned the rest of the old canal route into a 110-mile-long greenway named after Carr. There are trails for horses and hiking. Mountain bikers love the old limestone quarries..

Built in the wrong century for the wrong reasons with the wrong numbers to justify it, the Cross Florida Barge Canal will forever stand as one of the biggest blunders in Florida history, one that permanently altered the state's landscape.”

Never underestimate me..I will usually find some kind of lesson in places I visit!!

I’m hoping "the birdlady of blogland", Judy, will appreciate this photo of the Pileated Woodpecker..Hey, Judy..see that square hole above him???Did he do that??Does he live there?? Inquiring minds want to know!

Tomorrow we are leaving here for Ortona Campgrounds East of LaBelle FL. We have been there a lot and find it one of our favorite places to spend Christmas and New Year’s. Tonight Den and I are venturing out for date night..Going into downtown Salt Springs ( there are a few homes, hardware store, a couple joints and a VFW…that works for us!)..Thanks for reading…and thanks to Al and Kelly, also Sam and Donna for putting the info about using Open Live Writer..Den uninstalled the old version and after a few tries, he successfully downloaded the new version, Open Live Writer..and I figured it out!!SCORE!!!!!