Gainsville

As indicated, the trip from Tifton, GA was a short one. People have wondered why anyone would go to “hot” Florida in August. Well for one thing, it is cooler here now than in more northerly spots on the map, and we have left the irritating gnats behind. In this area, we have not encountered any bugs.

The campground, Williston Crossings RV Resort, is one of the nicest we have been in. Nice concrete pads and patios, nice landscaping with plenty of room, full hook-ups, the security of a gated community with guards, and cable TV (which we never seem to watch). The only problem is that the sites are all back-ins and at 90 degrees to the road which is about ten feet wide. With RVs and vehicles on the other side, it makes it tight to maneuver a 55 foot rig into. The neighbor directly across the road came out to protect his vehicles from damage and helped direct me into the spot. It took a lot of inching back and forth, but we got it in position.

The highlight of this portion of the trip is being with our long-time friends and former business partners who live in Gainsville, and who we have not seen in some dozen years, Dan and Ann Sherwood. They are the most gracious hosts and have treated us royally. They took us to Cedar Key, FL, on the west coast, for lunch. We ate at one of those quaint places called Fog’s Landing, pictured here, then took in other points of interest. We have enjoyed wonderful meals in their home, which is secluded in the woods at the end of a half-mile private road. The woods here has its own entertainment, which I must tell you about.

You see the little creature looking through the glass door in the picture above? That is one of the raccoons that shows up daily looking for a handout. This one female raccoon comes around at about 3:30 pm every day. She looks in the family room door and waits for Dan to bring some grub. This is made more remarkable since raccoons are mostly nocturnal and normally sleeping at this time of the day. Because of the heat and dry conditions in the area, it is hard for them to find enough to eat, so Dan, who is obviously an animal lover, decided to give them a hand. He makes a mixture of two types of dry dog food and one can of dog food with gravy and puts it together with some four or five bagels and hot water. He makes enough to fill some nine or ten good sized dog bowls, which he places in the back yard close to the edge of the woods.

When Dan goes out the door with the large bowl of food, the raccoon stands on its hind legs and waits to be handed a bagel, which she takes directly out of his hand without fear. The raccoon moves a little way off on the porch to eat while Dan fills the other bowls with food. Soon another raccoon appears, then another, then another until all the bowls are occupied with one or two raccoons eagerly eating. Then some foxes begin to show. They are small foxes with red color on the face and chest, outsized by the raccoons. The foxes have to “out fox” the coons to get a bit of food, since they are outnumbered. The fox family is a male and female with three or four offspring. The “daddy” has an injured left front paw and has to limp. The first night we witnessed this “wild life restaurant” there were 11 coons and 3 foxes. Last night, an opossum joined the group. I am told that as many as 22 raccoons have showed up to eat at one time.

We have continued to enjoy outings to places of interest with the Sherwoods, and more meals with the family, their son Danton and Shelton, Ann’s bother and other interesting friends of the family. We had a most interesting visit to the Museum of Natural History on the University of Florida campus and a long walk up and down 213 steps into Devil Millhopper Sink Hole. I understand that in years past, say the 1950s, the Sherwoods used to search for shark’s teeth here before it became a State Park and before the steps when one had to walk, crawl, slip and slide in and out of the sink hole.

The Sherwoods are busy getting signs, banners and decorations ready to welcome their son Lt. Col. Van Sherwood back from his second assignment to Iraq. Van has distinguished himself as an Entomologist and has made many important contributions to the Army effort, attested to by the awards and decorations he has received for his efforts to improve the health and wellbeing of the people of Iraq. He is returning to Gainsville on the 21st, with a big party on the 26th. He will be reassigned to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC. We wish him and his family well and are sorry we can not join the party.

Today is Friday, August 17. We are taking a trip to Brooksville to see a cousin who I have not seen in some 30 + years. Brooksville is about 70 miles south of Williston. Betty King Kessler, is on my maternal Grandmother’s side of the family. I hope we can get some “King” genealogical information from her for which I have been looking for a while. We’ll let you know how that goes. Tomorrow we make the move to Kissimmee, only some 121 miles from where we are now, and meet up with our daughter Debbie. We’ll talk to you again from near the land of Mickey Mouse.
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