Our original plan was to follow I-10 eastward to I-95 and then head south down the east coast of Florida to Stuart, FL to visit an old friend. While we were overnighting in DeFuniak Springs, FL I read on one of the blogs I follow (Technomadia) that they would be in Cedar Key for a week starting this past Monday. Cedar Key is on the west coast of Florida about 150 southwest of Tallahassee. I talked with Elaine and we decided that if we could get a spot at the same RV park they were at we would deviate from our course a couple of days and hook up with Chris and Cherie, as well as some other fulltime RV'ers that also publish blogs about their journeys in their RV's.
From DeFuniak Springs we were about 278 miles away, and even though we could have made it in one day we decided to stick to our 120+ mile per day plan and get there on Wednesday. Our original destination was another Wallmart Supercenter just east of Tallahassee, but we decided we did not want to overnight on the edge of a capitol city, so we pushed our daily stop another 50 miles south on Florida SR 19 to the small town of Perry. We subscribe to the Escapee's (SKP) Days End report that gives information of free, or very inexpensive places across the width and breadth of the USA to overnight. We have used it a couple of times already on this trip. In this case the free spot was Forest Capital Museum State Park, which provides over 100 spots with water/electricity on grass among pine trees.
Forest Capital Museum State Park - notice the Spanish Moss on the oak tree
We departed DeFuniak Springs around 8:15am....we're gettin' real good at getting up and on the road! Each hour we try to stop at a rest stop, or picnic area, get out of the coach and walk around. Sometimes we meet interesting people. At one stop we met a long trucker named Joe who came over and asked questions about our rig, and told us a lot about his business that I never knew. Joe is from Indiana and spends 3 out of 4 weeks on the road. After every 70 hours of driving he must sit it one place for 34 hours to get his time back and drive again. It is monitored electronically, so there no way to "fudge". Another lady we met, and I don't recall her name, was from California originally. She and her husband had moved to Florida for work.....something in aerospace I believe, and it didn't work out so she was (with a Master's degree) working at the restop to supplement their income. Everyone has a story, and there are a lot of those stories that are part of our memories of this trip now.
At our second rest stop of the day just west of Tallahassee, where we spent about an hour discussing our alternate destination for the day, we decided to push on to Perry. We were glad we did, and really enjoyed our overnight stay at the State Park.
Of course, once we hit Tallahassee we entered the Eastern time zone, where we will be for the next couple of months. So, when we arrived in Perry it was 1:30pm, not 12:30pm. As a result our departure was a little later on Wednesday....about 9:30am.....we only had 95 miles to go to Cedar Key, and we also needed to stop in Chiefland to stock up on food and drink for the next week, or so. The Walmart was on the east side of Florida SR 27, and the Win Dixie on the west side.....very handy as we needed to shop in both stores.
Site #29 at Sunset Isle RV park
We arrived at Cedar Key after a very relaxing uneventful drive around 12:30pm. I have to say that these Florida secondary roads are wonderful.....we've been on 3, or 4 now and all are in excellent shape!
The Lovely Elaine
After geting settled, which involved unhooking our trailer, dumping our tanks, and then cooling down, we went over to visit Chris and Cherie. They have a spot right on the water, and it is worth the extra they are paying.
Their Cedar Key view
Chris and Cherie
Just after sunset....I won't miss the actual sunset tomorrow!
After talking with Chris and Cherie for a while and exchanging tours of our Nomad homes, Elaine and I suited up and took a bike ride into Cedar Key (1.5 miles away). We rode about 8 miles in total and saw the whole town, including the airport. A very nice, LAID BACK place. I can see why people come here and never leave.
Later, after sunset, we walked over with Chris and Cherie to the local Tiki Bar located at Low Key Hideway about a block and a half down the street. Enjoyed a great conversation over great beer watching the after glow of the sunset turn to darkness.
A very nice day in Cedar Key....tomorrow looks like Kayaking, and some more bike riding!
Thanks for stopping by!
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