DAY 13 - 0 MILES

IRON GRANNIES PLAY TOURIST

We could not pass up the opportunity to see the only commercial cave in FL located in a beautiful hardwood forest (it doesn't flood or burn) in a state park. Our tour guide was terrific, and we learned so much. Here are a few tidbits:  the cave is made of limestone, formed by water over thousands of years, is constantly 65 degrees, was discovered in the 30s and excavated by the CCC under Roosevelt's New Deal, opened in 1942, and was expanded in the 60s. The workers were paid a dollar a day, kept  $5 for themselves at the end of each month and sent the rest back to their families. It takes 100 years to get one cubic inch of a stalagtite or stalagmite. One gallon of spilled gasoline can pollute a million gallons of water in the aquifer.  If any of the formations are touched by humans, it can prevent any further growth because of the oils on our hands.  We also learned a lot about bats, and one flew by us. After the tour, we walked back to the visitor center on a path through the forest and saw various native species of plants and trees before visiting the museum.  We ate lunch on the patio of a cute little bistro in town that was recommended to us by the woman who stopped to talk to us in Chatahoochie. The owner told  they were open for dinner tonight, so we went back and had pizza and salad.   This afternoon the Colorado girls enjoyed sitting at the pool. 

DAY 13 - 22.1 miles

The highlight today was stopping at the Visitor Center in town and talking to the director of the Chamber of Commerce. She took our photo and some information and thinks an article will be published in the local rag newspaper.  We also talked to an older guy who told us about the Civil War Battle and some of the history of the area.  We added to the roadkill list: anyone remember this guy from Biology lab?  A couple of us saw a freshly hit deer being carted off by the police but could not get a photo 

Special Roadkill Edition

Can you itentify these creatures?

DAY 12 - 23 MILES

Another beautiful day with a more hilly route that took us through Chatahoochie which is where the state mental hospital is located.  We were not committed!!

We had a few funny incidents today. At breakfast in the hotel there was a family, grandfather, daughter and 2 kids who were interested in what we were doing. They did not believe it at first, but the older child told them to look at our shirts and then the grandpa said to us, "Y'all do know you ain't no spring chickens, don't you?"  While sitting on a bench in Chatahoochie eating lunch, a woman drove by, stopped, asked us what we were doing, got out of her car and chatted with us for a while.  She even went to see if the newspaper editor was in so she could come and take our photo, but that didn't happen. 

Sights along the road were an old cemetery with headstones from the 1800s that we walked around, Three Rivers State Park, dead armadillo, deer, possum and rabbit, and a Kid riding a horse in his yard. 

Coming tomorrow - a special post of roadkill photos!!

DAY 11 - 24.8 Miles

Today was beautiful after major thunderstorms and tornado warnings last night. We are getting better and better at figuring out the leapfrogging and did our highest mileage total and passed the 200 mile mark!  We are at 220!  We walked through a historic town with an old Coke sign on a building. In the 1800s the mayor and the bank told  everyone to buy shares of Coca-Cola, and the townspeople were among the wealthiest in the state. There are still some really nice old time Florida homes. We may have seen a dead bobcat, definitely a dead bunny, a couple of live horses, a donkey and a goat.  It was finally warm enough to put our feet in the pool after we returned to the hotel, but the water was cold. 

DAY 10 - 22.6 miles

Today we walked to and through Tallahassee and then walked around the state Capitol buildings-the old one and the newer 22 story one with an observation deck.  Since we were having Starbucks withdrawal, there are actually 3 in Tally, so of course we stopped in one. We also walked past FSU, and Pat walked by her high school, which we also saw from the observation deck.  The western part of town was the pits-too many cars, strip shops, car dealerships and fast food joints. We did see a cute dolphin mailbox before we reached the city. Now we are in the hotel watching the Grammys, and a tornado watch is in effect for our county. 

DAY 9 - 20 miles

Happy Valentine's Day to our fabulous husbands who sent us cute texts and emails.   Hope they had better dinners than we did. 

Today we did a better job of leapfrogging and using the driver to pick up and drop off. We saw the Miccosukee Lake and settlement, a nice courthouse, again very little traffic, and signs of the Lawton Chiles Trail. 

Photos are of the lake, courthouse and Jacque and Mary Kay chilling after a day on the trail.