it is friday feb. 5,, and we're stuck in the rain...

in a campground 40 miles from st. george island state park where we have a reservation for today. but we will stay here in the monkey house saiting out the storm. last evening i had a belly busting dinner of "all you can eat fried oysters with hushpuppies and two sides". it was magnificent. the restaurant is "coastal resturant" in panacea, florida. highly recommended. judy sez it should be stated that broiled or grilled was $1.00 extra... it ws "fried" heaven. but there was more earlier in the day.

cedar key is now one of my favorite towns in florida. it isn't glossy like so much of what we have seen to date, and it is brimming over with art! it is a rough and ready fishing villiage with minimal facilities for the occasional tourist. we met a couple who have a small motel with about four trailer sites. they were on the road for four years in a tailer and found cedar kay where they decided to stay. they have leased the motel complex and expect to have the tiki bar open by the end of the week. we are planing to spend a week or so with them toward the end of march if it works out.

in the meantime... the intrepid couple with the sock monkey mascot were sliding down the highway with swamp on either side shen there suddenly appeared an old steam locomotive... hmmmm they pondered... what is that doing there? they stopped for a look. it was a roadside park donated to the passing public by georgia-pacific... i guess as a place to store their obsolete locomotive. nice.. but curious.

then we drove on down us highway 19 and passed through rosewood... do you recall what happened there? the plaque alongside the highway was photographed and is quite legible if you need your memory refreshed.

we had hoped to go to wiki watchee springs to see the mermaid show... but alas it was only available thursday thru sunday,,, and we were there on monday.. we will have to catch it on the rebound. darn.. we were really looking foward to the show which has been going on since 1947. one of the origional roadside attractions!

we camped that night at manatee springs state park. see pic. quite nice... quiet except for the martin denny sound effects. the nighttime hoots and screeches are quite remarkable.