Dusted Cob Webs Off

Ocala, Florida

Weather: low 63 degrees, high 93 degrees, clear skies

This is the beginning of the dry season in Florida, and we're glad to see it arrive. The humidity is lower and the temperatures are moderating to the point that I can go outside and not feel as though a wet blanket was thrown over me. It's great!

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that we didn't feel 100%. We felt better this morning, so I suggested to Carolyn that we get out of the RV and see some country. I asked her to come up with a place to go, so she suggested a loop we ended up driving about 100 miles. That might seem like a lot to do on a whim, but we like doing things on the spur of the moment, so off we went.

Our route led us through Williston, where the only reason we slowed down was because of the speed limit and lights. We continued out of Williston on US 27-A, driving through farmland, timber, pastures, and swamps. About 12 miles from Williston, we entered Bronson, the county seat of Levy County. Aha, I thought, a courthouse. A photo opportunity! Well, not so fast, Jerald. The courthouse looked fairly recent, and I like to take pictures of the old ones, with interesting architecture. So, a lost opportunity. I think that lost opportunity set the tone for the day, as I didn't see anything that I wanted to take pictures of today.

Leaving Bronson, we continued on down the road a few miles to Chiefland. What's so great about Chiefland? My family lived there when I was a child for a couple of years. I have a lot of memories from that two years, but I didn't see anything that I recognized. Of course, that was a loooonnnnnng time ago. I was only about 11 years old then, and remember hoeing crops, pitching watermelons, and raking yards to make a little spending money. About the only building that was air conditioned at that time was the movie theatre, which had a big sign advertising their cold water air conditioning.

Boy, I'm really dating myself!

We drove through Chiefland for about 20 minutes, trying to find something that looked familiar to me, with no luck. That's to be expected, since Florida has never been known for saving their heritage. The town has grown, but not as much as I thought it might have. These little towns of the west side of Florida are out of the mainstream. We think they're good places to raise a family.

Our next little town was Trenton, a little town and county seat of Gilchrist County. The county has one traffic light, and all the roads only have one lane going each direction. Now, that's a busy county. It was created in 1925, meaning that it's the youngest county in the state. When we left Trenton, we headed east to Newberry, which we had visited a few weeks ago. Since we had already visited Newberry, our main priority was making a circle back home, instead of retracing our tracks for the day.

Once we got to Newberry, it was lunchtime. As we were driving through the historic district, I noticed a bar-b-que restaurant named Backyard Bar-b-que. Hmmmm. That sounded interesting, so we parked and went in. Now, the outside of the building was nothing to write home about, but the inside was something else. The restaurant was decorated in a way that made you feel welcomed. Very comfortable store to be in, and the service was friendly and helpful, without hovering. And then there was the food.

Wow!

It was the best bar-b-que we've had since we were in Texas. Carolyn had the sliced pork on a bun, while I had the pulled pork doused in sauce on a bun. Add in sides of cole slaw and french fries, and we had a very good lunch. This was one of those local places that I love to eat at, and we would have no qualms with eating there again.

To complete our circle back home, we drove through Archer and some other little spots in the road, back through Williston, and on to the RV. It was a great ride to knock off some of the cob webs, and it reminded us why we love this RV way of life.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Bronson, Florida: The Heart Of Levy County

Not all who wander are lost.