08 PanHandle

Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Eldridge, Iowa, United States
Left Ocala National Forest (NF) at a reasonable time and headed NorthWest toward the PanHandle. Turned West at Perry to stay along the coast and was lucky to secure a campsite at Ochlockonee River State Park (SP) – the home of the elusive White Squirrel. Got setup quickly and erected the tarp to keep a passing shower at bay.
After a leisurely breakfast (coffee and shake) down at the river's edge, we headed to Carrabelle to pickup some seafood (Oysters, Flounder fillets and flash frozen Tuna steaks) before claiming our favourite site at Rock Landing in Tate's Hell State Forest (SF). The seafood in the PanHandle is awesome and I tend to try everything they have available. This three campsite campground with picnic shelter and clean pit toilet is rarely used by anyone except daytime fishermen using the boat ramp since it is about three miles off the main road. Have seen some evidence of Hurricane Michael's fury with a few snapped trees along the edges and cottage dock destruction, but in general this area escaped the main wrath of the storm.
Tried to camp at St George Island SP but with its late opening due to storm damage it was not possible to get a campsite (St Joseph Island SP with over a hundred campsites is closed for the season) so we continued on to Cash Creek on the west side of Tate's Hell SF so we could secure something for the weekend. Of course we picked up supplies and more fish in Apalachicola which has recovered completely from the storm surge where places near the river got around four feet of surge. Cash Creek is very quiet with a great dock available to escape the SandFleas/No-See-Ums.
Took a chance on Sunday and retried successfully to enter St George Island SP; we got one of the three unforeseeable walk-in sites which allowed us unlimited time (maximum two-weeks). The beaches where great and we got to view the final March Madness game on our TV using the portable aerial. Over our five day stay, we saw Porpoises, an Otter plus numerous fish being caught from the shore which was extremely entertaining. Songbirds are also plentiful and bold around the campsites. The walks and sea breezes kept everything cool even with the thermometer over 80C/27C; this was a hard place to leave but the River Styx was calling.
Travelled sixty miles (100 kilometres) to paradise but ten percent of the trees east of the Apalachicola River had been toppled or broken by Hurricane Michael. The Barred Owls are always active around the boat launch and we also saw a Glossy Crayfish Snake. Swallow-Tailed Kites are plentiful and they are fun to watch feed from the tree life and drink water from the river. We also had great campfires so the trailer is now cleared of all firewood for the upcoming border crossing.
Left the River Styx campsite early before the forecasted rain arrived. Drove through Bluntstown Florida on our way North; the trees have been decimated like in a war zone with at least forty percent of trees levelled or broken in many places – a really sad sight and I assume Mexico Beach was even worse. We caught up to a storm in Alabama which dropped torrential rains plus twisters hit thirty miles north of us in Troy; needed sunglasses to see the road during lots of the rainfall. We ran out of energy on reaching Tennessee and stopped for the night in a cheap motel.
Left early again and made it to Tracy and Patrick's house the next day. After a couple of days relaxing in Iowa, I am returning to Canada while Cindy stays for a while longer. So ends another winter escaping the snow...
Stay tuned for upcoming summer travels in Canada and hopefully, also Overseas...
Tidbits:
  • Coming North on I-24 from Kentucky, we crossed the Ohio River and ended up in Illinois!
  • Bypassing Tallahassee delayed our visit with Kim & Jim Burke's new place until next year.
  • Southern people are always overly polite and respect their elders.
  • I wonder how exotic species (Gecko and Fire Ant) arrived on islands (built rafts?).
SPOT:

Comments

Deb
2019-04-17

Hope to see you and Cindy soon! Great story and pictures as always!

2025-02-15

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