East Coast Land of Sunsine

 On our way out of Georgia we got to see where they make clouds.

Apparently the factory was in full operation (not affected by COVID), looking at the clouds already in the sky. I'm not sure if this plant also fills the clouds with rain water, of if they are floated off to another facility, either way we did run into rain on this leg of the drive.

We made it to state 31, Florida. Our first stay was at the the Elks lodge #2605, Orange Park, which is a suburb of Jacksonville. The people were very nice, and willing to interact with us. The lodge RV sites total 5 that have water and 30A electrical, and there is a dump station that requires some magic to back into it, and I chose not because of... rain. Now there is lots of space for dry camping. As you can see

the spaces are close together. Our water and electric were in the neighbors space. During our stay there were several RVs staying long term (greater than a month). We were 

fortunate to get the last site, which allowed us to move over a tad to give our neighbors a bit more space. What you can't see is the mushy slope to the trees... not good for setting leveling jacks. Part of our week stay involved rain, some of it was heavy.
The small picture is all the space available for dry camping, probably close to an acre.

The walk to the lodge was a distant walk, must have been close to 150 yards. With the off and on rain we didn't do much for sightseeing, we decided to use the time for relaxing.  Relaxing was troublesome a couple of the days and evenings. Behind those trees you see behind us, was a church that celebrated their salvation... very loudly with music that was bass oriented. I am all for people celebrating their salvation, but not to the point of annoying others. Carol went on their website, and it stated that they "were proud of the loud music", without respect for others.

Here was a really bright point to see up close. This hawk was resting in one of the trees by our trailer.

Besides popping into the lodge, we went out to eat at Ted's Montana Grill, located near the lodge. The restaurant is owned by Ted Turner, who now lives in Florida. What we enjoyed about the menu was an opportunity to relish a bison ribeye. salad and a side.

Our drive through Florida took us to our next stop in Perry, FL.

Our temporary home was at the KOA. It was a bit of a surprise for us when we arrived. To the right of the photo is the office.

Our site was across the river and to the left... and off we go.

We made it across the river. What you are seeing in the center of the photo are three sites totally flooded, and to the right was the site next to us.

This was the next day... they had great drainage. It was good for a few days before the next storm front came through... repeat as required.

We did find the opportunity to visit a little state park, Forest Capitol State Park, near the campground. This is an educational park fourth grade classes visit during their school year... we beat them there, so we did not have to wrestle with any kids.

The starting point for the self-guided tour begins in a room with exhibits on industry in the area, to a model of the farmhouse and property on the rest of the museum land. We started on our right, with an exhibit about how turpentine and rosin were produced, and called "Naval Stores" or "Navy Industry". The process has been around since the early days... and I mean B.C., when Jacob gave a gift of rosin and turpentine to Joseph. Rosin and turpentine were used by various naval fleets to protect their rigging and hulls. It actually started in Europe in the 1500s, made its way to North America around 1606, and slowly working its way southward to Florida somewhere around 1905.

Pine trees were the main source sap, known as "dip". Bark would be removed from the tree in various ways, either a strip of bark removed, or several cuts, creating a face on the tree. Gutters were inserted at the axe cuts, and the "dip" drained into a cup.

Once the cups were filled they were poured into small "dip" barrels, and when they were full, the barrels were transferred to larger barrels weighing 500 pounds. Those barrels were delivered, via animal pulled wagons, to a turpentine fire still. 

This was a typical circa 1900 fire still. The large barrels were rolled up to the upper level and poured into a copper kettle, and once the kettle was full and capped, cooking, known as "charging", would begin. 

The small turpentine stills, called "crackers", became a thing of the past when WWII broke out. There was a large demand for turpentine and rosin, meaning a demand for larger production stills. Technology also placed a big part of the "crackers" dying out.

The next section dealt with the forests of Florida. Believe it or not, there are a lot of pine trees here, and a large number of farms growing them. Today they are harvesting second generation growth, thanks to the 1800s when 27,000,000 acres of virgin timber was depleted, as lumber became a big business, lessening the turpentine industries.

With the growing timber business, railroad tracks were laid to the tracts of forests to be logged. After the section of forest was logged out, they pulled the tracks up and moved them to the next tract to be logged. Many of the northern Florida towns sprung up because of the lumbering industry, and lumbering was a principal revenue for the railroads.

The forest was not without sickness and disease, from insects or airborne spores.

The innocent beetle is called the IPS Engraver Beetle. This little guy, and I mean little, ranges from an 1/8 of an inch to 1/4 of an inch, depending on which of the three species he may be. 

What he does is attack a weakened or injured tree at the injured site. He is not a picky eater, and will work top, bottom, or in between.

This cute little caterpillar is known as the Forest Tent Caterpillar. This caterpillar creates serious forest defoliation of hardwood trees. If a tree is infested with this critter, there are several ways to know. First, one may see shiny black egg masses encircling twigs of the tree. Second, they do not actually build tents, they create silken mats on the larger branches of the tree. Nature does have her way of controlling this insect through weather, predators, and parasites.

The Pine Sawfly Larva attacks all sizes of pines, doing serious defoliating. Again mother nature has her way of dealing with them via armadillos, mice, shrews, parasites, and other predators.

These are signs of Hardwood Heart-Rot. Windblown spores create a variety of fungi which attack a tree by entering an open wound in the tree. The decay takes several years growing before it becomes obvious to the observer, and that is only when one sees the mushroom-like "conk" on the outside of the tree.

Fusiform Rust is the most serious disease for Florida pine tree. The fungus starts out as a microscopic spore. Interestingly, the spore attacks the oak trees leaves, then becomes airborne spreading to the pines. This disease cannot be passed from one pine tree to another, it must alternate with the oak tree. (oak-pine-oak-pine). The first signs of disease to the human eye will be bright orange spores on the galls (abnormal outgrowth) of the dying tree.

A lot of time we will be hiking and see what looks like a neat growth of mushrooms, only it is not neat... for the tree at least. This is Mushroom Root Rot. Like other diseases, this is the first sign of disease, but only noticeable after a couple of years of the initial infection, and serious damage to the root system. This disease is frequently transmitted by root contact and slowly spreads to the stem of the tree.

If you cannot read the plaque, it says that each one of the 67 counties in Florida are represented by a different species of wood.

If you haven't considered what comes from wood, enlarge these photos.

Enough about trees, lets take a walk outside... right after we take a look at a model of what we are about to see.

Cracker Homestead, circa 1863

A short walk brought us to the actual homestead.

Bet you didn't see the sand coming, there is green over most of the property. This home was in the "dogtrot" style, living quarters on both sides of the opening. The "cracker homestead" was built in 1864, initially on a ranch, and was moved to this site. This homestead is provides a look at life in the 19th century Florida. 

I am always intrigued with how the structures were built... and without building codes of today.

The chimney was built using wood, same as the house, definitely there was no lumber shortage. This homestead sports a chicken coop, food prep area, meat prep area, corn crib, smokehouse, a animal driven mill, and the all important outhouse.

The spot where Carol is standing was the meat prep area. The trough was where the animal was butchered before being put in the kettle for boiling. The meat that was designated for curing went in the small building (next photo). The photo with the tree and saw horses, is the area where they planed down their lumber for building repairs.

Between the raindrops, Perry was a nice stop before heading to Tallahassee. We stayed at the Coe Landing campground, operated by Leon County.

This campground was close to the lake, and we had a view from our site. A short walk from the campground was a boat launch that was fairly busy... when it wasn't raining.

This couple was our welcoming committee, and wasn't afraid to meet us. These two chickens are wild, but sleep in a tree behind the caretakers house.

This was our view from the picnic table, and it got better when the trailer left. The folks in that trailer were good people; besides their trailer, they had a fishing boat.  

On the short walk around the 20 site campground there is a landing out to the lake, where one could actually fish. There was one aspect that visitors needed to be aware of... alligators, so we stayed out of the water.

Once the rain decided to let us out to play, we did. We took a run to the Tallahassee Museum. 

This museum eclectic, and mostly outdoors.

The first building we visited, again spoke of the world of making products from the pine trees. The first half of the building talked about the process, the camps, and the cycle of indebtedness the workers incurred. Turpentine was made much the same as moonshine, with a few differences. The sap from the trees was added to a copper kettle containing  water and resin, then cooked; this was called charging. The kettle was heated by a large wood burning firebox, causing water and turpentine to evaporate and move to a water-cooled coil called the "worm". As the vapors cooled, they flowed to the separator barrels, where the turpentine would be drawn off the top of the water. The distillation process was now complete, but the work not done. Back at the copper kettle, the fire was pulled away, and the remaining rosin was emptied into straining vats; this was known as turning off the charge. 

The camps were for the heartier souls. While the Operators and Woodsriders lived in comfortable houses, the average "Joe" lived in leaky shanties in the "quarter", reminiscent of the slave days. These shanties shared a common water source and toilet facilities. Larger operations could have several camps located on the thousands of acres, with the distillery centrally located. Also located in these camps was a commissary, stable or barn, and a cooper (barrel maker).

I mentioned a cycle of indebtedness, which was by design, thanks to the owners of the operation. Due to the general isolation of the camps, the owners had the workers over a barrel (pun intended). With a monopoly on shopping, the owners would mark up their commissary prices anywhere from 100% to as much as 1,000%. When the worker could not pay for necessities, they were graciously extended credit... with an exceptionally high interest rate. In a since, it became free labor. You see, if a worker tried to leave without paying his debt, he could be arrested and sentenced right back to the employer.

The other side of the building was the commissary. The commissary was the starting point for new employees. This where they received their supplies and housing assignment, got their job instructions, bought groceries, got paid, socialized, and even got married. Some of the workers were able to save enough money for a "courthouse marriage" vice the "commissary marriage".

The commissary was also the drug store. Imagine yourself buying your medicines bottled in bottles that look like some "snake oil" salesman supplied it. How about aspirin?
If you notice, you get 12 tablets for .10¢. I would like to have the days when there weren't so many headaches.

Where else can you find your gut grooming next to your hair grooming product. The Brilliantine was invented in the early 1900s as a treatment for softening men's hair, including beards and mustaches.

Leaving the commissary, we entered the Big Bend Farm. The name Big Bend referred to an area stretching between Florida and Alabama. As they built their homes they kept the environment in mind. The roof was gabled allowing heat to raise above the families heads, the doors and windows were facing in the direction of breezes, houses were built one-room deep to take advantage of the air circulation, walls facing north generally did not have windows, the "dogtrot" created two sections taking advantage of air circulation, they built the house on piers to allow air circulation under the house, and porches that created "buffer zones" to the interior walls. Before we went in the house we walked the out buildings of the "farm".

Some of the larger farms had a full time blacksmith, otherwise they were generally found at crossroad towns. This was the typical blacksmith shop.

Look up and to the left of the fireplace, you will see how the "smith" got air into his coal fire... that's right, bellow.

These are some of the other buildings that were built between 1889 and 1915. The house was made in several sections, cooking, social, sleeping, and storage.

This property has a grist mill too.

If you are adventurous, you can travel overhead throughout the park.

These passages vary from a wire rope with wire rope to hold on to, to walkways using wood slats and wire ropes to hold on to. There are a couple of ziplines for getting to a few of the farther areas.

Speaking of other areas, lets head to the mini zoo. The hike over to the zoo was interesting, as we had to travel back in time.

This Stegosaurus is not your everyday dinosaur, he was made from car parts. The artist Jim Gary created his sculptures from salvaged auto parts, trying to remind us humanoids that if we continue to waste our natural resources, we too could end up extinct. If you look close at this dinosaur you will notice the head is made out of an oil pan.

This Brontosaurus is made up of over 500 auto parts, rocker arms for hips and shoulder joints, brake pads for claws, and oil pans for its head.

Jim Gary used all kinds of parts, not just the inner parts of a car and engines, but the outside too. This Ankylosaurus shell came from a Volkswagen hood.

The walk through time took us to back present day... and the zoo.

We saw animals, but most of them were sleeping somewhere cool.

The first time we walked past the bobcat cage there was nothing to be seen, but by the time  we came back around the little guy made a dash between plants. 

This big cat didn't want to be seen... period.

The Florida panthers were probably the most prolific. There is history with these panthers. The panthers in Florida were a small, isolated population that had weakened and declined due to in-breeding.

Back in the day Texas cougars and Florida panthers had neighboring ranges. So, in 1990 they moved some female cougars into Florida for mating. Mating occurred, and hybrid kittens were born. once the young cats became independent, the female cougars were re-captured and taken back to Texas. The offspring remained in Florida to re-populate. The guys and gals here have the life of leisure.

FUN FACT: There has NEVER been a reporting of a black Florida panther. The only black panthers were associated with a political group in the 1960s and 70s.

Leaving the zoo portion of he museum we headed across the grounds to the Bellevue, a modest southern plantation home.

The plantation was bought by Ms. Catherine Murat, in 1854. The home wasn't over furnished, and most of the rooms were used to teach visitors about life on a Florida plantation. One exhibit I did find interesting, talked about mattresses. In the summer the cooler corn husks were used in the bed, and in the winter warmer feathers used in the mattress.

How would you like your work schedule filled  out for you... for the whole year?

Farming today isn't what it used to be.

At the end of the Civil War, Ms. Murat actually gave some of her land to some of her slaves.

This museum also has a day care/pre-school facility, and entertains 4th grade classes as well. The museum was a lot of fun too. Before we leave the museum, lets part with a fun fact about the caboose on exhibit.

FUN FACT: who is in charge of the train, the Engineer or the Conductor? Believe it or not, the Conductor has more power than the engineer... so that means the Conductor is in charge.

HOW ABOUT A BREAK BEFORE WE MOVE ON?

One more journey out before we leave Tallahassee... and that would be the Tallahassee Automobile Museum. 

Visit https://tacm.com. Now this museum isn't just cars, it is an eclectic wonderland... and owned by one person.

Before we even walked into the museum, we had the opportunity to watch the local VFW "retire the colors".

The process varies between service organizations, but the event is always about burning American flags that are no longer serviceable... for whatever reason.

The first cars visitors see before entering the building are a Rat Rod, and a funky Cadillac and trailer. The Cadillac and trailer was once owned by a DJ, and the Rat Rod is a 1930 Ford.

Its time to enter through the doors to wonderland.

This bike is a tribute bike to Brandon Robert Sapp, SFC, who was killed in action in Iraq, in 2004. 

After hitting the register to pay for our tickets, the fun began.

This is the view from the register... and is only a portion of the first floor. You will have to visit this museum to see all the cars on display... cuz I'm only going to highlight a few of them.

This is a 1934 Packard Formal Sedan, Super Eight / Series 1103.  For you big spenders, the original base price for this beautiful vehicle was $3,600.00. Notice the additional seat in the back seating area.

This series year came with a few changes, which included hood door handles, running boards, a larger generator because of the radio, a fuel filler in the left tail lamp, plus many additions to the engine and engine compartment.

The next car we present to you is the 1954 Kaiser Darrin Roadster, which was to be an American sports car, designed by Howard

"Dutch" Darrin.  The prototype  of the Darrin 161 was unveiled to the public in September, 1952, two months before Chevrolet debuted the Corvette. The body of this car was fiberglass as well. Besides six prototypes, only 435 cars were produced due to financial problems, loss of assembly facilities... and a freak snow storm that ruined 50 cars. This next car is unique as well.

Meet the 1948 Tucker, a car ahead of its time. Mr. Tucker designed a car that was far ahead of what was on the road in 1948. This car had a rear mounted engine built of aluminum,

extended bumpers (which didn't show up on cars until 1973-74). It also had pop-out safety glass, seat belts, padded dashboard, and other amenities to protect driver and passengers. This car was also advertised to attract women, offering "no-stoop" doors, that opened street to roof (so they would have no problem while wearing their frilly hats), safety for children riding in the car, and easier steering

and control, a lead into power steering. It also touted a "parcel storage" area behind the rear seat, and rounded control knobs for passenger safety.

Some of you folks may recognize this car from the movies, it was in the 1988 movie Tucker: The Man and His Dream. Sadly, only 51 were produced, there are 47 still in existence, and this one is #5 of the 47.

The engines for the car were originally designed to go in helicopters. Tucker liked the motor so much... he bought the manufacturing company to secure his motor source, cancelling all of the companies aircraft contracts. One idea that has miffed historians to this day is... why modify it from air cooled to water cooled. It was also thought that cancelling those aviation contracts was not a good idea, as those U.S. aviation contracts were 65% of the post-war contracts.

Continuing on a journey around the first floor, there were many eclectic exhibits. One exhibit, not eclectic, is the story about the owner of this collection, Mr. DeVoe Moore.

So what is so special about this truck? While going to college at Florida State University (FSU), he earned extra money as a Blacksmith (Farrier), and this truck made him mobile. While the truck carried all his tools, he carried an additional toolbox. Understand that it was his belief that to be successful, failure could not be an option. So what was in the toolbox he carried..."perseverance, faith in God, support of my family, and a limitless ambition."

Now it the eclectic side... I'm not sure if this classifies as the dark

side. Behind these pranksters are several of the most fabulous looking pianos, fossilized items, and patches and badges from first responder associations.

I am going to start with the tease of the fossilized items.

Can you tell what you are looking at? 
These are "dung-stones". There always a lot to learn. These stones are from vegetarian and carnivore dinosaurs. The lighter colored stone is from the vegetarian, the darker from a carnivore. For the weaker at heart, he also has a couple of meteorites on display.

His collection of badges and patches. There are a lot of them, but I want to move on to the pianos.

This piano was a prototype that was made for a Steinway and Sons Dealer Meeting in 2015. it was inspired by show cars. The traditional case corners were rounded out, and the keyboard is concealed.  If you look real hard in the second photo you can see that the piano's lid emulates to car hood. This is not the traditional lid either, it is made from carbon fiber, 80% lighter than a regular lid. With the lighter weight, the builders were able to replace the prop stick with state-of-the-art friction hinges. The paint job is yacht paint, so it will not scratch.

Although most of this collection was bought by DeVoe Moore, some of the collection was donated to him by friends, an example being the dolls.

This collection is several isles deep, and the dolls range from Barbie to Shirley Temple, and yes, Ken is included. From the dolls we walked out to a back room.

My I present to you a 1931 Ford Model A "Woody. It took 12 months to create it from red oak and plywood. The chassis is from a 1980 Chevy Caprice, shortened by 22 inches. All wood is stained red oak... and yes, it is street legal. How many of you went to school in one of these?

This is a 1932 Ford Model BB school bus. These buses had a low gear ratio, allowing them more torque, with a top speed of 35 mph.

WE ARE TAKING A BREAK HERE BEFORE HEADING UPSTAIRS.

On the way upstairs we passed a very special protection kit:

your very own vampire hunter kit, for hunting those nasty vampires in the neighborhood. It appears that the kit is multiple use, looking at the little bottles.

This ship was made from lots and lots of match sticks. The ramp leading to the second floor was

collections of golf clubs from famous golfers, once on the second floor, WOW. I thought the first floor was eclectic... we're talking more golf clubs to boat motors. 

The first turn on the floor brought us to display cases filled with sports memorabilia.

Most of the sports equipment is autographed, some of it was vintage. Walking past the memorabilia we found display cases filled with sewing items, decanters, miniature cars and trucks, and beaded purses.

This gentleman has a fantastic collection of radios too.

The right side of the shelving, all the way down to the end of the hall,

is radios. Moving down that hallway there were more little toy cars, pot metal as well as plastic. 

FUN FACT FOR BACON LOVERS:

The mirror of fun and embarrassment:

Lets get past the shame and look at some of the bicycles and motorcycles he has.

The bicycle was a 1946 Whizzer. It was built on a Schwinn frame, which had heavy-duty appointments that could support the motorbike option. Surprisingly, this bike had a top speed of 35 mph, and the price ranged $87.50 to $97.50. How about 

this little guy?

There are several more isles of car on this floor, but just past the motorcycles were some movie vehicles. Devoe has three Batmobiles, one is a replica, and the Batman motorcycle. 

The first Batmobile debuted in Batman issue #5, in 1941. As different artists rendered their interpretation for the vehicle, it changed in size, shape and features. In the 1960s a full size Batmobile was created for the Batman TV series.

Devoe's is a replica of the original Batmobile built by Georg Barris. Custom car fanatics know his name as one of the best customizers back in the day, including me. He acquired a concept car from Ford that was abandoned as "too advanced" for production. He built the car in three weeks. Here is the amazing part of the story... the 1966 Batmobile sold at an auction in 2013 for... $4.2 million; the 1966 base price was $65,000.00.

For you young kids, this is the 1992 Batmobile from Batman Returns. There were five "Keaton Mobiles", three for the 1989 Batman movie, two for the 1992 Batman Returns movie. Anton Furst got his inspiration for his design from the 1940s salt flat racers,  the 1950s Corvette Stingray, and added a jet engine, creating this cohesive machine. This here is Batman Returns movie car #2, which had a base price of $225,000.00. Oddly enough, in 2016, a "Keaton Mobile" replica sold for $1.1 million in Russia. In the Batman circle this is considered the #1 Batmobile design.

You are now looking at the 1995 version of the Batmobile for Batman Forever. This fine example was constructed in Australia using a fiberglass body and tubular frame. The mold reportedly cost $2.5 million, and another $300,000.00 to complete the build. The Batmobile sitting in front of you is the Batman Forever #2. This rendition of the Batmobile was short lived, it only made it through half the movie. Even vehicles like this don't generally survive a bomb placed in the cockpit. Kind of frivolous considering $2.8 million was shelled out to build it.

DeVoe Moore sense of humor:

Moving on from the alligator and fox, we will experience a few boats in his collection.

This is a replica of the African Queen (scaled down). It was created by a local woodworker was commissioned in 1997. 

He has a variety of fishing boats too.

This here is the Lady Bug, a one person boat. It was built in 1987 from a set of 1945 plans published in Boating Magazine. the motor is a 1920 Callie "Bantam" inboard canoe motor. For those concerned, the boat is only 7'6" long.

You can't have a fishing boat now days without a motor... and boy does he have motors for you.

Some of the other items on this floor are calculators, cash registers, adding machines, knives, and figurines.

One parting thought before we leave the museum, and Tallahassee.