NBNC>Florida: March 20-22 2014

March 20 2014

Two Old Coots!

Along the byways of central Florida, we ride with Avis and Jim through the quaint town of Lakeland, where craftsman bungalows line streets surrounding Lake Mirror. We strolled Hollis Garden that has over ten thousand trees, shrubs and flowers. 

The gardens were established as “rooms” including the vegetable room, which is planted with wonderful heading cabbages, ripening strawberries and ferny carrots. The yellow, white and red rooms reflect colors of flowers and plants blooming in rich, vibrant colors. 

Channels of water through tiered courtyard fountains harmonize with serenity and stillness of this oasis in the city. We continued to Lake Morton where more than 200 swans nest and swimmingly reside. The swans that gracefully preen and drift across the lake are descendants of the first pair of swans brought from England in the early 1950s, whose ancestors are direct lineage from swans bred during the reign of Richard I. 

The goal of the day was to return to Goodson’s Strawberry Farm in Balm to eat their strawberry shortcake and pizza. We were surprised to see the parking lot full and a line patiently waiting to place their orders at one end of the building while at the exit patrons are streaming out with bowls heaped with freshly sliced strawberries and whipped cream generously covering cake.  

It is a good thing Jim was driving or we all would have been rolling back to camp.  We follow along the country roads through prairies and crossroads. One of which is a place named Picnic. The proverbial ‘wide-place in the road’ Picnic was settled after the Civil War and as a crossroads was the gathering spot for neighbors, who lived several miles from one another. Ergo, the intention of the gatherings was to picnic. Nearby communities along the Alafia River include Keysville, which is all of 91 feet above sea level, and Welcome. These small communities were at one time prosperous farming areas that produced potatoes, sugar cane and corn. Our one last, unplanned stop for the day took us off route 630, near Fort Meade, to Streamsong, an 80 million dollar golf resort designed by Ben Crenshaw.

After driving nearly five miles down a country lane we came around a bend that focuses on an ultra-modern and sleek clubhouse that enhances its natural surroundings and molds to the landscape. While we did not see the two golf courses on property we learned that the courses are considered in the top ten for the country. The evening closed with a round of shuffleboard between Dave and me. (Yes, Dave won both!)

March 21, 2014

Today we ticked off another mission; meeting with Linda and Ed in Okeechobee. Dave is Facebook friends with both Linda and Ed, having attended elementary and early high school years with Linda in Fayetteville. Our drive through the backroads of central Florida led us to the northern shore of Okeechobee. After a lunch at Applebee’s we all drove about 4 miles to the northern edge of Lake Okeechobee to an elevated view of the lake where a pier stretches over a fresh water marsh. On this overcast day the lake was looked like watered-down chocolate and in the distance to the south there were plumes of smoke that showed some cane fields being burned. After a farewell to Linda and Ed we traveled back to site 400 and the watching of some March Madness. On the way back to camp the sun was reflecting across the grassland prairies where herds of black angus nibbled on bahiagrass and were framed by tall sabal palms gently arched in the breeze. About twenty-five miles north of Okeechobee we pass the remote Kissimmee Prairie State Park. It is a five-mile journey from the main road to the park’s entrance so there was not much to see from our vantage point.  Along the way we saw an Amtrak service that sped along with its destination of Tampa. One of the small towns we passed through is named Lorida; could not help but wonder how many people think there is a typo when writing to this address-Lorida, Florida!  As with traveling across the mid-west, there too is a lot of land and acreage across central Florida that is isolated and secluded.