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.
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 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.
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.
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!
