Thursday, November 5, 2015

November 3, 2015 - Horseshoe Beach, FL

We were busy getting our Lil’ Home (LH) ready for the road trip to Horseshoe Beach, FL.  While Erwin was putting stuff away Edith went to the concession to use free wifi to update our travel blog.

When Edith got back the LH was all ready to hit the road.  We left the campground at 10:30 am, already missing the state park, but promised that we will come back here another time. It is a very nice park to visit and the campground is satisfactory.

In Chiefland, FL we stopped to pick up groceries at Winn Dixie.  There is a grocery store in Cross City, FL, but it is small and does not usually have a lot of selections that we might want to get.  

The road trip on US 19 was very smooth.  In Cross City we turned left on US 351(the only highway into the village) for Horseshoe Beach, FL. At that point it is 20 miles away.  There was a bit of road work on 351 as the crew was rolling out sod for the shoulder.


We were relieved to know that campsite #8 was still vacant and we set up the LH right there.  There were about 10 boat trailers on the premises.  After we got the chairs out we lounged a while and watched pelicans diving in the water to catch fish. One pelican was successful.  One Great Blue Heron was standing on the bank of a small island way out in the water.  We watched it for a while and it did not catch anything.

This will be our "home" for 6 days

Airboat 




Something in the air caught Edith’s eye and when she looked up to see what it was it was an osprey with half eaten fish in its talons. She quickly got out of the chair, walked around to the front of the LH to see where it went.  Lo and behold, the osprey is on the top of the light pole that is right next to the LH!  Of course, Edith wasted no time in getting her camera ready and got many great shots.  She could see the fish tail sticking out.  What kind of fish, she wondered. It could be a redfish… no, not a redfish, the tail is differently shaped! Possibly Spanish Mackerel? The osprey seemed to have had enough of Edith’s presence it left. 



Edith went out for a bike ride to the village checking out the library for wifi access code.  The cafe was closed, so was the convenience store.  The ice cream parlor is closed permanently.  It was really very quiet in the village. 

The park attendant showed up around 4 pm to collect camping fees. We asked her if it was ok the way the LH is parked. "That should be fine, but you will need to move your car in the back behind your motorhome this Friday", she advised.  "Why?", we asked. She said it is because Fridays through Sundays the city park will be crowded with campers and fishermen with boats and they will be parking everywhere and may even block you in so if your car is behind your LH, you may be able to leave.

After Edith came back from biking she decided to take the Jeep and drove to the dead end on the other side from the city park for sunset pictures.  However, the rain clouds were right in front of the sun.  She spotted a bald eagle in the air and it landed among trees in private property not too far from where she stood. She tried to look for it, but was not able to go around it because if she did she would be trespassing!



Created in HDR effect
Two shrimp boats went out to haul shrimps.  Pelicans were busy diving for fishes.  Anhingas were flying in twosome to the place where they would rest for the night.  There were many different species of gulls flying around.  Few cars came by and the people joined to watch the sunset. Edith did not stay there very long, went back to the campsite.




Late in the night Edith was determined to drive to the dead end park and looked for the Milky Way. There is not so many street lights out there as they are at the city park/boat ramp.  It took a while before she was able to spot it and took pictures.  


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