Alabama to Ocala, Florida

From Chattanooga we headed back into the forest, this time in northern Alabama. The highlight of this trip wasn’t the spectacular scenery or the wildlife. Instead the highlight had to do with hot running water …. free of charge if you stayed in the campground. Ahhhh, the joys of a hot shower. We will never take it for granted again!! We had not showered for over a week so this shower felt extra good! Alabama was good to us. There weren’t many people around and the forest was easy to walk through, not dotted with briars and other unmentionables like in Louisiana. We had a good time relaxing in the forest.

From northern Alabama we headed to Dothan, Alabama near the Florida border. We stopped in for a doggie play date with an old neighbor of my folk’s. Brigit’s dog Buster was best friends with my folk’s dog Chloe. We wanted to see if Otis and Sprout would get along as well. Unfortunately it was so hot out the dogs couldn’t play for too long without overheating. Regardless it was fun to catch up with Brigit and finally meet her mystery man, Chuck.

Brigit told us a scenic way to head south to our next destination. Along the way we came across vast fields of cotton. I had always heard about cotton plants but had never seen one up close. So we stopped to take a few photos and grab some samples of fresh cotton. It pulled off just like cotton balls but there were a few seeds in each puff.

Cotton Fields

Cotton Plant Up Close

Our next stop took us to the Tallahassee National Forest in northern Florida. We found out the next day this probably wasn’t the best place for us to camp. But we got suckered in by the thought of another free nights camping. Only later did we realize that the place was infested with fleas and ticks. We started the dogs on flea and tick prevention medication before we left Alaska. Although there are no fleas or ticks in Alaska, we knew we would be getting into infested areas soon. Good thing we planned ahead. As much as I hate putting chemicals on our dogs, those chemicals prevented what could have been a very nasty situation. Otis only had two fleas on him and one tick. Sprout got away scott free or her black fur duped us into believing that. Either way the fleas didn’t infest the van and dave and I got away with only a couple of flea bites. So much for not letting the bed bugs bite!!

Northern Florida is sprinkled with a variety of freshwater springs. The thought of jumping into one got the better of us and the next thing we knew we were in the Ocala National Forest camping at Juniper Springs. The springs have been developed for awhile now. In fact the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) were responsible for much of the development. For awhile the facilities were powered by a small hydroelectric waterwheel powered by the flow of water coming out of the spring. The waterwheel is still there and the old building next to it has been turned into an interpretative center. Sadly, although the wheel was still turning, the building was now being powered by grid electricity. The place was beautiful. Only one other couple was camping in our loop and we had the boardwalk and springs to ourselves when we finally went swimming.

Juniper Springs

Boardwalk Trail

Fire Ants
dave hit this fire ant mound with a rock and the ants didn’t seem to like it too much. If you should be unlucky enough to step on one of these without knowing it, it won’t take long before you realize your mistake. Lots of them will run up your leg and all at once they will bite you. After you have brushed them all off these tiny blisters appear that itch like crazy. The only way I have been able to get them to stop itching is to pop the blister. But it leaves a mark. My legs told that story pretty well when we were living in Louisiana!
Resurrection Fern
This is a pretty common plant in the south. It grows on the branches of mature trees, mostly live oaks. It is called resurrection fern because it will wither up and look like it is dead if there haven’t been any rains recently. But once it rains it turns green again and starts looking healthy.