Suwannee River – White Springs, Florida

Our Location  Tonight we camped in the Stephen Foster State Cultural Park, next to the Suwannee River. The river was made famous by Stephen Foster’s song, “Old Folks At Home”, which I was surprised to learn is the Florida state song. The Suwannee flows from the Okefenokee Swamp where tannins from decaying plants turn the water black through Florida to the Gulf of Mexico.

The tannins in the water also prevent bacteria from growing. Black water was highly prized by sailing ships who collected it for their long voyages because it remained fresh much longer. As the photo shows, the black water is an almost a perfect mirror.   The spanish moss looks pretty also.

After our dinner in the RV, we roasted marshmallows over a quick campfire of long pine needles, pine cones and twigs.  Florida has some excellent state parks for tent and RV camping.

Black Friday

Arriving at the Ocala Appleton Museum of Art, I announced we were here for the Black Friday sale. The nice little lady just giggled and apologized that the museum wasn’t having one.

We were out looking for one of the hard to fine pine needle baskets. We were pleased to find this one (upper right corner picture) by Gina Henson. Pine needles are woven on  to a pecan wood base. That was the extent of our Black Friday shopping spree in Ocala, Florida.

We spent the rest of the day exploring nearby towns and driving through the Ocala National Forest.