May 2022 – Page 3 – Travels with Fred

Cedar Key – Day 2

10 May 2022

The owner/manager tells you, upon checking in, the building is old (1859) and the walls are paper thin and there’s no insulation so please be quiet. One sign in the hotel strongly suggests, in a polite way, you may not want to have sex in your room because people on either side of you will hear everything. I didn’t hear any sex going on last night but you certainly can hear everything – flushing of toilets, coughing, whispered conversations, etc. I did sleep fairly well other than early in the morning, I woke up itching. I guess I could blame it on ghosts. The place is supposedly haunted (as many as 13 different ghosts) but no one came knocking at my door. The hotel has even been featured in one of those TV series that hunts for ghosts.

This itching has been driving me crazy for months. My cousin Jimmie suggested I try Dove soap. It seems to work or at least it mitigates the problem. I used the hotel soap last night and the itching returned. She also suggested I bring a bar with me on the trip and I did. This afternoon, I showered after my hike with the Dove.

Breakfast is complimentary and served from 8 am-9:30 am. I was surprised at the meal. Bacon and biscuits were provided and you had a choice of eggs (any style), mushroom and onion quiche, or waffles. You also got your choice of beverages, including a wide choice of juices. I chose the quiche and it was excellent. The biscuits were homemade and the bacon done crisply. It’s one of the best breakfasts I have in a hotel in years.

After breakfast, I put on my hiking boots, got my walking stick, and headed out to the Cedar Key Railroad Trestle Trail, about 0.8 miles from the hotel. The first train arrived in Cedar Key on March 1, 1861 and the tiny town, with the advent of the railroad, became a significant port in Florida. Grover Cleveland returned from his Cuba trip through Cedar Key.

Henry Plant’s railroad by-passed Cedar Key for Tampa, and the town slowly declined. The last train out of Cedar Key was July 7, 1932. The nature trail follows the old rail bed and takes you to the trestle that crosses the water from a smaller key north of Cedar Key into Cedar Key. The trail is 0.6 miles one way and is totally in the shade from a canopy of mangroves, pines and cedar trees.

You can see how much shade is available on the trail. It was pleasant walking.

You may wonder where Cedar Key got its name. Eastern Red Cedars (Juniperus virginiana) were harvested from the area along from other areas of Florida. They were milled into the two halves that form pencils. From the port of Cedar Key they were shipped to Germany where the “lead”(graphite) was added when the two halves were glued together. The pencil business was a big deal back in those days.

One of the Eastern Red Cedars found along the trail.

I ran into a birding couple on the trail but otherwise, had the trail to myself. There was a nice breeze and the temperature was in the mid-70’s. It was perfect walking weather.

The remains of the trestle that crossed over into the town of Cedar Key.

From there, I headed to Cemetery Point Park on Rye Key, northwest of Cedar Key. The distance was 1.5 miles; however, the address for the park is confusing. It leads you to the street intersection of Pagoda and Gulf Blvd. and not to the cemetery nor the trail. After asking some bulk trash workers, I finally found the cemetery and the trail.

The board walk is one of the longer ones I’ve been on at 1299 feet. It winds along the bay and the cemetery. It also may have been the point John Muir first saw the Gulf of Mexico on his walking trip from Louisville, KY.

My grandmother Ruby got me visiting cemeteries. Often, after lunch on Sunday (after church services, of course) she would often drive around to various cemeteries in and around Scott County, Mississippi checking on relatives’ graves. I got interested in the various shapes of the tombstones and memorials and sayings carved into the tombstone. As you might guess, once I finished the trail and boardwalk, I meandered through the cemetery.

The cemetery is very well maintained with large numbers of live oaks covered in Spanish moss shading the graves. Sadly, there was a burial scheduled for today. The grave was dug, the chairs around the graveside and the concrete top to the grave was ready.

I’ve mentioned in previous posts about the number of deaths in the U.S. evident in cemeteries for the year 1918 – the influenza pandemic. As I walked through the cemetery, I noticed a number of graves with 2020 and 2021. I assume at least some are from the COVID pandemic. Later, I overheard some locals talking about having contracted COVID. The Tampa Bay Times reports at 1 in 14 in the Cedar Key area developed COVID as of 2021.

My intention was to also visit the Cedar Key Historical Museum. During my first visit about four years ago, it was closed. Also closed was the Cedar Key State Park Museum. Both were closed this trip also. I understand it’s summer and they have reduced hours but I think they are only open certain days of the week (the ones which I’m not here).

Lunch was a Cuban sandwich at the 2nd Street Cafe, across the street from the Island Hotel. It was mostly locals at the place and the topic was certainly real estate – from the waitresses to the clientele. One waitress commented that she couldn’t afford to live in town any more. That’s the same problem Key West has had for years.

If you want to see Cedar Key before it becomes totally developed like Key West, this may be your last year to do it. It still has some of that old fishing village atmosphere, particularly when you look at some of the old buildings in town.

Store front in Cedar Key, 2nd Street – the Main Street in old Cedar Key

McCormick Management and Realty is the predominant realtor in town as far as the signs are concerned. I’d said the majority of the properties in town are vacation rentals. The total permanent population in Cedar Key is around 800. The prices I’ve seen in the windows of realtors in town are $400 k for a total fixer upper to over a million. The locals are being priced out of their own town.

The old buildings and original bungalows and fishing cabins are being replaced by multistory apartments and condos. It’s the gentrification of Cedar Key.as

I was tired after lunch. I hiked a total of 6.2 miles today. The weather was nice but 6.2 is still 6.2 and I’m old. Fortunately, most of it was level with the highest point at the water tank for the city. Otherwise, it was just gradual grades. My hips held up and I had no pain. Perhaps my exercises to strengthen my butt is working.

Dinner tonight is at the restaurant at the Island House. No cutoff shorts or shirts allowed, no t-shirts deemed obscene, and no profanity. I’ll try to keep my cursing to a minimum.

Tomorrow is a 3 hour drive to Wakulla Springs State Park, just south of Tallahassee.

Stay tuned!

Cedar Key – Day 1

9 May 2022

I backed out of the driveway at 9:45 this morning. My GPS continues to direct me to I-95 and then to Commercial Blvd to the Turnpike when I can get on the Turnpike 2 miles from my house. I continued to ignore Cassandra until she finally figured out I was on the Turnpike.

Things got very interesting when I left the Turnpike at Wildwood and was routed to US41 through Inverness and Dunnellon. That now makes three Invernesses I’ve visited in my lifetime: Inverness, MS, Inverness, FL and Inverness, Scotland. The Scotland version is the nicest of the three.

After Dunnellon, it got hairy. The GPS, for some godforsaken reason, routed me to a dirt road. Dirt roads don’t really bother me. I grew up with them and pretty much learned to drive on them. What a lot of people don’t know is you can easily skid on them. That’s where I learned you have to steer into the skid to get the car back under control. You also learn to ignore washboard dirt roads. It’s teeth chattering but there’s no real damage.

Then there’s the road the GPS routed me to.

At first it looked OK. Then it narrowed and got rougher.

It seems Cassandra wanted me to drive back roads through a hunting camp (private property no less). The road started out like any normal dirt road but then it got worse.

This was typical for about 15 miles. Some times I could actually speed up to 20 mph but 2-4 mph was more the norm. Instead of washboard road, it was more washout road.

At least I didn’t have to put the jeep into 4-wheel drive. Finally, I turned onto FL24. I was 6 miles from Cedar Key. I will have to admit Cassandra cut significant time off my trip but I could just see someone stopping me on hunting club property or even worse, shooting me while I was driving down their road.

I made it to Cedar Key around 4:15.

I parked directly in front of Island House.

The building was constructed in either 1859 or 1860. It was first a general store. The lower floor is concrete coccina a foot thick and the wooden structures are all cedars from the area.

The place is on the National Register of Historic Places. Supposedly Grover Cleveland stayed here. John Muir walked from Louisville, KY to Cedar Key, developed malaria along the way and had to stay in Cedar Key to recover. Other famous people on the register are Pearl Buck, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Frances Langford, Myrna Loy and Richard Boone. Boone supposedly wrote during the day and drank at night. Jimmy Buffet often stayed and would hold impromptu concerts in their bar. It’s also been famous for housing Florida governors, members of the legislature and Congress because of its closeness to Tallahassee. Everyone would drive down for the weekend and they would fish, eat, and drink, and legislate.

My room is great! The hotel is so old, the floors slant.

The width of the room is not much but there is a small love seat, dresser, and ewer stand. I feel like I walked back into the 1800’s.

The term “water closet” comes to mind when you see the bathroom.

The white structure to the right is the smallest shower known to humankind.

My room is just off the second floor “lobby”.

Note the checker table! Also, the walls contain a mural that blends into the wood.

The second floor opens onto a porch that I plan to spend some time on.

The only scary thing is being on the second floor which is composed entirely of wood. Very old wood. Everywhere through the hotel they remind you smoking is strictly not allowed.

The lobby downstairs is more typical of a hotel lobby.

There’s a classic “check-in” area.

By the way, the hotel is up for sale. The current owner has worked it for 18 years and is ready to give it up.

Alas, the restaurant and bar are closed on Mondays. I’ll have to make use of them tomorrow. The restaurant is considered one of the best on the island.

I took a walk around Cedar Key. It reminds me of the Key West I visited 40 years ago before it got trendy.

Although these buildings look new and touristy, they are really mostly wooden structures that have survived numerous hurricanes. There are gift shops but most of what you see are seafood restaurants and bars – with the emphasis on bar.

Every restaurant and bar overlook the Gulf of Mexico.

I’ll do the complimentary breakfast in the hotel restaurant tomorrow and walk around to see the sights. It’s pretty much an artist colony and they have two museums to visit.

Stay tuned!

Cedar Key

8 May 2022

I’ll be back on the road tomorrow to Cedar Key, Florida. Enough with the pandemic! Besides, everything in and around the house seems to be breaking down – including me. First, it was my iMac computer that died. I had to replace the hard drive. Then the internet in the house died. Of course, I had to spend an hour on the phone with a representative from ATT going through diagnostics before he reached the conclusion that yes, I did indeed need a service call to my home. Luckily, the service technician came the next day and replaced some components to the outside junction box and replaced the router with a new one.

Then the electrical receptacles by the sink went out (except, strangely for one pair). Dinnen Electric came the next day and it was found the ground fault interrupter (GFI) had gone bad.

Next to break was the toilet. First, once flushed, it started to make groaning noises. After it quit that, it began to continuously run. I used Kyle Plumbing and when they found out my toilet was a Kohler, they said they didn’t carry the parts and would have to order them. We agreed to replace the entire guts of the tank as the originals were getting a little ragged looking. Simple toilet parts used to be inexpensive. These cost $75.

Next, I had to rewire the lamps in my bedroom. It got to where they would flicker on and off. At least I was competent enough to accomplish that on my own.

Hurricane season begins on June 1st and ends on November 31st. I always try to get my palms trimmed before June 1st. Coconuts become cannon balls in 100 mph winds. Luckily, my next door neighbor directly across from me is in the business and he scheduled the trimming the day before bulk trash pickup to save me the land disposal charge. He and his crew did an excellent job and my yard has never looked so good!

And then, when I was getting ready to post this blog, I found that I could log on to WordPress (the blog software) but when I went to start, the page continuously reloaded. I called iPage (the web hosting site) and after trying really hard to solve the problem, they kicked it upstairs to a more technical person. I got an email saying they would have a response in 24 hours. True to their word, I got an email the next day saying I wasn’t the only one with the issue but they had fixed the problem. Sure enough, since you are reading this, they did!

Instead of waiting around for something else to break, I decided to schedule a little trip. My first stop is Cedar Key, Florida, a quaint little town that reminds me of Key West before it got rediscovered for the fiftieth time and turned into a playground for the rich and famous.

I’ll spend two nights at Cedar Key at the Island Hotel and Restaurant. I also hope to do some hiking (bad hips not withstanding).

From there I’ll drive 2 1/2 hours northwest to stay two nights at the Lodge at Wakulla Springs, just below Tallahassee. I used to go to Wakulla Springs when I was doing my library science degree at FSU back in the late 80’s. I also swam in the river (they have a great swimming area there) but you have to be watchful for alligators in the swimming area – that and the Creature from the Black Lagoon – since it was filmed there. I’ve also scheduled a boat ride up and down the river. The lodge serves three meals a day and hopefully they are as good as I remember from my Tallahassee days.

From Wakulla, it’s a long drive to Clayton, Georgia (approximately a 7 hour drive). I’ll be staying at the Beechwood Inn for two nights. Clayton and environs seems to have some quality dining opportunities. The first night will be at the Julep Kitchen, a farm-to-table establishment. The next night is at Lake Rabun Hotel and Restaurant for dinner. I tried to reserve a session on horse back riding but the stables apparently don’t take advanced reservations. They keep telling me to call back closer to time. Don’t know how much closer I can get so if they aren’t interested in my business, too bad.

The next two nights will be in Bryson City, NC. This will not be my first rodeo in Bryson City. My first time there was with my best friend Crag Knox when we had hiked in the area. I remember we ravenously opened a restaurant one morning. We had the country ham with red eye gravy. My blood pressure went up about 100 points with all the salt in the ham, but damn it was good. Since then I’ve been back to Bryson City many times, mostly associated with the Deep Creek Campground. That first time, Bryson City was a sleepy little town at the foothills of the Smokeys. Today, it’s a real tourist destination. This time, I’m roughing it at the McKinnley Edwards Inn not the Deep Creek Campground (no showers).

Hopefully, during my two days in Bryson City, I’ll get some more hiking in and a trip to Gatlinburg to get my dose of salt water taffy.

Next up is three nights with my cousin Jimmie and her husband Stephen in Greensboro. I’ve gotten to where I really like this town. It has a lot of interesting parks and museums. Unfortunately for Jimmie and Stephen, they treat me too well and I keep turning up like a bad penny.

On the 20th of May, I’ll head to Jacksonville and spend the night at a rather less bucolic inn, the Hilton Garden Inn. Actually, I’ve had some pretty good experiences at their Garden Inns. From Jacksonville, it’s a 7 hour drive back to Fort Lauderdale. Actually, it’ll take longer because I-95 slows to a crawl near Palm Beach.

You may have noticed I keep saying “I hope to get some hiking in.” The reason is one of the breakdowns seems to be my hips. I was diagnosed with bursitis in both hips where the ilium and trochanter meet. Currently, I am in no pain and that’s why I hope to get some hiking in. What prompted the doctor’s visit and diagnosis was the pain, at one time, was so bad I couldn’t finish my morning walks. It’s also the reason I’m camping inside lodges, inns, and hotels, as well as my cousin’s house.

I hope to blog every day, or at least every other day if not internet. Stay tuned! And yes, I’ll be wearing my mask.