Hiking Annutteliga Hammock

We woke at 4:30 as Mark and Cindy were preparing to leave for the Tampa Airport. They were out of the house by 5 am for their flight to Eugene, OR with a stop in Phoenix.

Mary and I had cold cereal then took the dogs on a walk around "the square" in the neighborhood. As we walked we discussed the weather forecast for the coming week. A huge cold air mass is heading for most of the Eastern US including Florida. Mush of the Midwest, including Cincinnati, Georgetown and Huntington have been in deep snow and ice for over two weeks already with more in the forecast. This would bring near freezing temperatures to the Homosassa area as well as wind and thunderstorms. We decided that the best plan would be to leave for Kentucky after the dogs were fed and walked this afternoon.

Mary spent the morning cleaning, doing laundry and continuing to pack for our return home. I spent more time trying to clean the adhesive from the side of Mark's boat. I carried most of our things out to the car and into the trunk.

The neighbor from the house on stilts came over while we were loading. She had her father, Jimmy Williams, with her. He is a nice 92-year-old man who is a lifelong Florida resident and was a logger for many years. His daughter was trying to turn the water main off in anticipation of subfreezing temperatures. The saltwater and mud from the Hurricane Helene flood made the valve difficult to turn. I sprayed it with WD-40 and was able to turn it off with a crescent wrench after soaking for a few minutes.

We had a lunch of leftovers with coconut shrimp and fries from Thursday's dinner at Marguerita Grill. We also had some leftover potato soup from earlier in the week.

After scanning a map of the area, we decided to walk around an area about 30 minutes to the south that is a part of Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area that we hadn't visited. The Annutteliga Hammock area has 570 acres with 8 miles of easy trails through sandy soil. It was a beautiful day with temperatures approaching 80 degrees but there was a slight comfortable breeze. As we walked, we saw a lot of tracks but three deer were the only wildlife that we saw.

When we returned to the house, we took the dogs on a short walk on Standish and Battle Creek then put the last-minute items in the car, locked up and left by 3:30 pm. We hoped to get to Atlanta by the time we stopped for the night.

The drive north through Crystal River took longer than we expected because the Manatee Festival was going on. We were listening to playlists on my old iPod Touch to make the ride go by faster, Clouds were rolling in as predicted before the forecast storms to hit the area.

We took US 98 all the way to Chiefland then cut east to pick up I-75 north near Lake City. We stopped for dinner at an Arby's Restaurant near Lake City, Florida. The restaurant was attached to a TA gas station and was very slow but we enjoyed our sandwiches as we continued driving north.  We enjoyed the break before driving on to Forsyth, Georgia where we stayed at a Travelodge near the exit. The room was only $50 for the night and was an older motel in need of a remodel but it was clean and quiet, so we were fine with the room and the rate.

Kayaking the Chassahowitzka River

After waking and doing our morning German lessons, we took the dogs on a long walk around the neighborhood. When we returned to the house, we had oatmeal with raisins, walnuts, and brown sugar for breakfast.

After breakfast we loaded the kayaks and gear for a day of paddling. This time we loaded the boats into Cindy’s new Ram pickup. We drove a short distance south to the Chassahowitzka River, where we launched quickly and paddled toward some of the springs. The first springs have interconnected tunnels allowing swimmers to snorkel through from one spot to another. Cool water was gushing from the tunnels feeding the stream.

We went into a small inlet where we saw a cow and calf manatee. They were swimming under the kayaks but would surface to breathe from time to time. Not many other visitors knew about the manatees, so we were able to see them without interruption.

We went up Baird Creek toward The Crack, where a large spring produces a steady flow of saltwater fed by the Gulf of Mexico. We paddled up the narrow stream that had many shallow places, as well as submerged logs and rocks. Fighting the current was difficult in the narrow stream. When we it as far as we could navigate, we beached the kayaks on a sandbar and walked up the streambed. The large break in the coral stone is where the saltwater spring emerges. Along the way, I stepped in a pit of mud and broke both of my sandals getting out of the sticky mud. At The Crack, I waded into the deep water to wash the mud from my legs up to my shorts. By the time we were leaving the spring, many kayakers had gathered at the sandbar. We had a snack lunch of corn nuts, jerky and fruit before paddling back down the narrow channel.

On our way back to the boat launch, we saw the two manatees again but didn’t stop to take photos or watch them for long. The launch was busier than in the morning. We were able to get the kayaks loaded quickly and get on the road for the short drive back to Homosassa.

When we pulled into Standish Drive, we thought we heard something falling out of the pickup. After checking the road carefully and inventorying the contents of the truck, we decided that nothing had fallen out.

Unloading and packing things away went quickly, and we came in to clean up before dinner. Mark fixed some of the sea trout and redfish that we caught on Thursday. We had them as fish tacos along with white rice. Everything was very good.

After dinner we relaxed and watched an episode of The Brokenwood Mysteries on Acorn before turning in for the night.

Hiking at Hog Pond and Burnt Bridge Trails

Breakfast was sheet pancakes with maple syrup and bacon, which we all enjoyed. We did our morning language lessons when drove the short distance to the Hog Pond and Burnt Bridge area of the Withlacoochee State Forest and Chassahowitzka River and Coastal River Swamps. The area is really beautiful and has a diversity of habitats. There are areas with longleaf pines, some with palmetto and others are open savannah. There were areas where the pine forests had burned, but we were uncertain whether it was a controlled burn or an accidental fire. The area and trails had been closed the prior week because a man was thought to be missing in the area. His car was at the trailhead, but there had been no sign of him for days. Rangers, police and volunteers had been searching for him since his disappearance had come to the attention of authorities. There was a spot along the trail where we detected a scent of a dead animal if the wind was blowing correctly. I took a waypoint of the location with the GPS in case it might be helpful to searchers. We ended up hiking for over 7 miles before we made it back to the trailhead where Mark’s pickup was parked. As we were preparing to walk to the truck, a sheriff’s deputy came to the trailhead so I walked over and told him about the smell. While it could have easily been a dead deer or other animal, he was happy to get the coordinates and said that someone would check the area.

Hiking at the Withlacoochee State Forest

We were all very tired after the long walk. The dogs were especially exhausted, so we gave them water while we cooled off in the shade of the parking area. The temperature had been in the mid-80s and was overcast early in the day, but when the sun came out, we got very hot. We drove to the house and put the dogs in the air conditioning, and we made a run to Ace Hardware for materials to mount the weather station and some blue safety paint. We also went to Publix for a few grocery items since Mark’s sister, Jodie, and her husband, Grant, were coming for a visit on Sunday afternoon. They were bringing a friend, Carolyn, from The Villages as well.

Mark and I masked some of the areas around their driveway and garage with steps in the concrete. I painted the edges of the steps in the front of the house with the bright blue safety paint. We hoped that this would make the steps more visible and reduce the chance of someone falling. As we were cleaning up, we noticed that the charcoal grill starter that we were using as a solvent for the oil-based paint had a familiar smell. It smelled exactly like the distillate that comes from a bourbon still.

Siding damage from strong wind

The Ferrells and Koehlers met for an outing at the Cincinnati Zoo today, and it sounds like everyone had a good time. We asked the Ferrells to stop by our house on their way home to check the damage from Friday’s wind. Ian sent photos of the siding loss, but there didn’t appear to be much other damage. We felt fortunate to have avoided as much damage as others in the area.

Surveying the menu at Marguerita Grill

We went out to Marguerita Grill for dinner. Although the restaurant was busy, we were seated right away and the service was good. The restaurant is owned by a very conservative older man who has the interior and exterior decorated with posters for military branches and right-wing political movements. We opted for a table outside since the evening had cooled off and the weather was nice. Mary had the seafood platter, Cindy had spanakopita, Mark went with steak and shrimp, and I had the fish basket. We split a pitcher of margaritas and enjoyed sitting on the deck.

Once we returned from the restaurant, we watched a couple of episodes of Swamp People Serpent Invasion on their Roku. I was very tired and went up to bed before 9:30. Mary and the others turned in around 10 pm.