Florida - Stamp Hunting / Fishing (1)

Recently I was invited to join my cousin and a couple of his friends on a salt water fishing trip in Suwanee, FL. This fishing trip would work well with my ongoing National Parks Tour. With that in mind, I left Paducah Friday, September 7th. My first stop was The Trail of Tears Commemorative Park in Hopkinsville, KY. This park, along with several others, commemorates the Cherokee Indians forced migration to Oklahoma and the many trials they suffered along the way. This park is primarily funded by a yearly Pow Wow which was taking place the weekend I visited the park.

I left Hopkinsville riding northeast to Leitchfield, KY and then southeast, entering The Mammoth Cave National Park through the back entrance. A light rain was falling as I entered the beautiful forest that makes up this park. Wild turkey and deer were at every turn, seemingly oblivious to my presence. The road I was traveling eventually dead-ended at The Green River, where I boarded a small ferry to cross. It was only a short ride from the ferry to the Mammoth Cave Visitors center.

I departed Mammoth Cave NP and rode due south to Nashville and on to Murfreesboro, TN where I visited Stones River National Battlefield and Cemetery. I found the cemetery a solemn and peaceful place. Reading the plaques gives one a greater sense of the magnitude of the death and destruction of the civil war.

While in Murfreesboro, I spent the night with my daughter and her family. Saturday morning I delayed my departure a bit to spend a bit more time with my grandson.

It was a short trip to the Alabama state line and on to Russell Cave National Monument. Once again I was treated to a back door entrance, over a windy, gravel/semi-paved road, about the size of a small driveway to arrive at this park.

I have learned when working in Map Source if you drag an established route over to include a new stop, Miss Garmin will take the shortest route possible. It might not always be a road you would normally ride. This can be avoided by establishing a way point and letting her route between each way point or, simply picking the route yourself.

In this case it led over a beautiful wooded mountain and was well worth the effort to ride. It was very similar to riding some of the gravel back roads of The Land Between the Lakes. Miss Garmin favored me with a more civilized road for my departure.

Crossing the Georgia state line, it was on to Fort Olgethorp and Chickamauga National Battlefield.

Leaving Chickamauga National Battlefield, I rode due south on I-75 to Atlanta, then southwest around the by-pass to Peachtree City, where I spent the night with my cousin, Dwight Wilson.

Sunday around 1pm, after church, we departed for Florida. The three of them, and all the gear, in Dwight's van and me following on my V Strom. It was slightly over 300 miles to Suwanee, Florida and Captain Howard's Fishing Excursions. We arrived around 8:30 pm in a light rain.

The next morning we boarded the boat before daylight and were fishing for Speckled Trout and Redfish soon thereafter. Monday was a beautiful day to be fishing, and it wasn't long before we caught our limit of trout (5 each) and other assorted fish. That night we had a great seafood dinner at Salt Creek, the only restaurant in Suwanee.

Noel Foster and the infamous "Mackerel Man" Butch Kendall

The bright sun made it very difficult to get a good picture.

Noel Foster

Captain Howard at the helm.

Speckled Trout on light tackle can be a lot of fun to catch, to say nothing of being delicious to eat. Sea trout are toothy, hence the careful approach to the business end of this fish.

Dwight Wilson

The first day's catch.

Mike Blevins, Dwight Wilson, the infamous "Mackerel Man" Butch Kendall, Noel Foster

We had thunderstorms Monday night and awoke Tuesday morning to dark skies and lightning off in the distance. Forever the optimist, we loaded our gear and headed out to the flats, only to find the fish were not cooperating, and the weather only got worse. Eventually, we were surrounded by looming thunderstorms and repeated lightning. Discretion became the better part of valor as we called it a day, leaving Suwanee in a steady rain around 1pm.

I departed the group 30 miles later at Old Town, Florida and headed due east, riding two lane roads across northern Florida, through the many small towns.

I arrived in St. Augustine too late to visit the next park. Tomorrow I will visit two parks in the St. Augustine area before I turn northwest on my return trip.

"Of all things, good sense is the most fairly distributed: everyone thinks he is so well supplied with it that even those who are the hardest to satisfy in every other respect never desire more of it than they already have." ~René Descartes~