Seminole Wind
I'd been waiting for days to get to the part of Florida where it makes sense to share one of my all-time favorite songs. I may have overshot it a little, or I might never get to the right area at all on this trip, depending on which map of Seminole territory you want to consider. The song went through my head often in the marshy parts of the state I drove through. I sometimes welcome songs that stick in my head, and this was one of those times.
If you never listen to country music, then you've probably not heard it before. It's not cornball country, it's a heartfelt love song about Florida's beauty and its loss amidst the development of the state. The first link shows a live performance. The second one is just the lyrics, which you might need to understand all the Native American words that John Anderson sings. If you don't know the song, "Seminole Wind," you might want to start with the lyrics and then watch him perform it if you like the song enough to want to hear it a second time.
Live performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8sh9P3X33w
Recording with lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgyefNXreds
I loved the drive from Apalachicola to Crystal River, mainly the part between Apalachicola and Sopchoppy that often took me right along the coast, with only a thin strip of rocky coastline between the road and the Gulf. When I'm driving on the interstate I often start to get antsy right away, but I could have happily driven with that scenery for hours. I stopped to use the restroom at Sopchoppy and got pointers from a local woman about sights worth seeing in the area. I didn't want to take the side trips that day, but I made mental notes for another time.
After the road cut inland it was still pretty a lot of the time, but more conventionally so. Traffic got heavier inland and then I was just driving the rest of the way to Crystal River, having to remind myself to stay present instead of focusing on my destination and how far away it still was.
When I got to Crystal River, I checked into my motel at a busy time. I often show up an hour or so before check-in time and am able to get settled into my room early. Entering into the Eastern time zone the previous day had thrown me off a bit and I rolled in right at 3pm, the standard check-in time. While I waited for my turn, I got to hear the standard list of rules being read to someone ahead of me in line. There were two new ones that none of us checking in had ever heard before: no cleaning fish in your room and no throwing fireworks in the parking lot. I could have asked about fireworks that didn't require throwing, but since I didn't plan on setting off fireworks of any kind and wanted to move things along for the sake of the folks behind me, I will have to leave you to wonder about the finer points of the fireworks rules.
Another thing I learned while overhearing the check-in conversations of people in front of me was that there was a boat ramp at the back of the property. So after checking in, I took a walk as close to around the water's edge as I could. This shows the area near the boat ramp at the back of the property:
I kept walking until I got to this spot behind a seafood store/restaurant right by the water in Crystal River. You can see what the local trees look like, and a stash of pallets and crab traps connected to the seafood place.
At one point in my walk, I stopped for a moment to consult the map on my phone and immediately attracted some kind of small flying insect that seemed to think my nostril would be worth investigating. Fortunately any time I kept moving, I didn't notice any more overly friendly bugs.
Manatees are one of the big attractions to Crystal River, but I wasn't sufficiently motivated to visit with them while I was there. I was just in town overnight, and the way most people see them is by taking a boat tour. Another way to see them is to view them by live video camera on a screen at a state park nearby. I thought I might give that a try on my way out of town, but my navigation program failed me on this particular occasion and it tried to send me into a one-lane road that had a vehicle emerging from it. Then when I noticed I was driving past the real entrance a few minutes later, I wasn't into it enough to turn back and go check it out. I was ready to make the drive to my next stop, where I'd get to hang out a couple of days and rest.
My mind would return often that day, and in the days to follow, to the idea of driving back through the panhandle, perhaps on my return trip in a couple of weeks. We'll see how the traveling and weather go.
If you never listen to country music, then you've probably not heard it before. It's not cornball country, it's a heartfelt love song about Florida's beauty and its loss amidst the development of the state. The first link shows a live performance. The second one is just the lyrics, which you might need to understand all the Native American words that John Anderson sings. If you don't know the song, "Seminole Wind," you might want to start with the lyrics and then watch him perform it if you like the song enough to want to hear it a second time.
Live performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8sh9P3X33w
Recording with lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgyefNXreds
I loved the drive from Apalachicola to Crystal River, mainly the part between Apalachicola and Sopchoppy that often took me right along the coast, with only a thin strip of rocky coastline between the road and the Gulf. When I'm driving on the interstate I often start to get antsy right away, but I could have happily driven with that scenery for hours. I stopped to use the restroom at Sopchoppy and got pointers from a local woman about sights worth seeing in the area. I didn't want to take the side trips that day, but I made mental notes for another time.
After the road cut inland it was still pretty a lot of the time, but more conventionally so. Traffic got heavier inland and then I was just driving the rest of the way to Crystal River, having to remind myself to stay present instead of focusing on my destination and how far away it still was.
When I got to Crystal River, I checked into my motel at a busy time. I often show up an hour or so before check-in time and am able to get settled into my room early. Entering into the Eastern time zone the previous day had thrown me off a bit and I rolled in right at 3pm, the standard check-in time. While I waited for my turn, I got to hear the standard list of rules being read to someone ahead of me in line. There were two new ones that none of us checking in had ever heard before: no cleaning fish in your room and no throwing fireworks in the parking lot. I could have asked about fireworks that didn't require throwing, but since I didn't plan on setting off fireworks of any kind and wanted to move things along for the sake of the folks behind me, I will have to leave you to wonder about the finer points of the fireworks rules.
Another thing I learned while overhearing the check-in conversations of people in front of me was that there was a boat ramp at the back of the property. So after checking in, I took a walk as close to around the water's edge as I could. This shows the area near the boat ramp at the back of the property:
I kept walking until I got to this spot behind a seafood store/restaurant right by the water in Crystal River. You can see what the local trees look like, and a stash of pallets and crab traps connected to the seafood place.
At one point in my walk, I stopped for a moment to consult the map on my phone and immediately attracted some kind of small flying insect that seemed to think my nostril would be worth investigating. Fortunately any time I kept moving, I didn't notice any more overly friendly bugs.
Manatees are one of the big attractions to Crystal River, but I wasn't sufficiently motivated to visit with them while I was there. I was just in town overnight, and the way most people see them is by taking a boat tour. Another way to see them is to view them by live video camera on a screen at a state park nearby. I thought I might give that a try on my way out of town, but my navigation program failed me on this particular occasion and it tried to send me into a one-lane road that had a vehicle emerging from it. Then when I noticed I was driving past the real entrance a few minutes later, I wasn't into it enough to turn back and go check it out. I was ready to make the drive to my next stop, where I'd get to hang out a couple of days and rest.
My mind would return often that day, and in the days to follow, to the idea of driving back through the panhandle, perhaps on my return trip in a couple of weeks. We'll see how the traveling and weather go.
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