Manatee Springs

Today began with a treat graciously offered by our hosts last night.  It’s not very often that we get to take an outdoor shower and it’s the first time this has ever been offered to us, but, here it was.  The house next door (owned by their son) has an outdoor shower on the side of the house facing us and they said we were welcome to use it.  So we did.  Kind-of cool, taking a shower and overlooking the Suwannee River on a beautiful morning.  One could get used to this.

We had a more leisurely start to the morning.  Our next reservation was in Manatee Springs State Park, a scant two miles away.  However it takes 30 minutes to drive there since it’s on the other side of the Suwannee River. One could get there faster in a kayak.

So we took our time having breakfast and enjoying a morning walk.  We also talked with Butch, our host for a while.  Always interesting talking to people we meet.  He has owned this spread since 1968 and was the first one here.  No roads, the only way to get in was by boat.  So he camped here for several years, going upriver two miles to dip fresh water out of Manatee Springs.  Lots of interesting stories of how he acquired this land and built his home on it.

The  Nature Coast State Trail runs through this area.  32 miles of rail-trail running through small towns and wooded areas.  We stopped at a trail access in Old Town and rode this trail for a while.  Pleasant, easy ride but it was really starting to get hot after a while.  So after 13 miles we packed up the bikes and headed for Manatee Springs State Park.

The day became overcast about the time we changed into swim gear and walked over to Manatee Springs.  This is another popular swim and dive area and we jumped in for a swim.

The 72-degree water seemed chilly at first but was wonderfully refreshing. Another treat is dunking your head in the water and looking at the spring below.  I took a video and figured out I’m still learning how to swim and shoot video at the same time.

After about an hour, we got out, changed, and walked the boardwalk to the Suwannee River.  Manatee Springs lived up to its name; we saw three manatee along with a few alligators and lots of other wildlife.

We saw several pileated woodpeckers, but never got a picture of one.  Also heard a barred owl.

About this time it began to rain so we started making dinner.  Deb made a taco-bowl dish.  She had to substitute several ingredients, as we don’t have the full complement of stuff at our disposal when on the road.  But it turned out good, and even looked amazing.

We usually eat pretty well on these trips although the difference in climate sometimes makes for some ... imbalance.  Yesterday we had chili.  Chili is a great cold weather food and it sounded amazing when it was packed in snowy Michigan.  We don’t normally eat chili when it’s 80 degrees outside, but here we were, eating cold-weather food when we were sweating.  It’s all good, though. These meals are usually extra from a previous meal and then packed in the freezer for just this purpose.  When on the road, we can get a meal on the table in five minutes using these leftovers.