Wednesday 9/13/2023 – The Circle Continues

Today, I got up at my normal time and walked for a mile on my own and then I met up with Mary, Charlie’s sister and we walked for 2 miles. She dropped off and picked up her husband and went over to have coffee with Charlie. I finished up my 4-miles alone and enjoyed the sunrise across the RV resort.

We had a leisurely morning at Southern Leisure, and we departed at 11am for our drive to Torreya State Park.

We traveled on US 19/98 from Chiefland to Cross City. Cross City is part of Dixie County. It is probably the most remote, sparsely populated county in Florida. Cross City, with a population of less than 2,000 people, is the largest town in the county.

On the northern side of the city is Putnam Lodge. The historic Putnam Lodge was built in 1927-28 by the Putnam Lumber Company, the Putnam Hotel is part of a bygone era in Florida’s forestry history. The lobby and the dining room of the 36-room lodge were decorated exclusively with the still preserved, artfully stenciled “pecky cypress,” a now virtually extinct lumber product. In its day, the Putnam Lumber Company, founded by William O’Brien, a timber magnate of Irish descent, and associates including E. B. Putnam, employed hundreds at its two state-of-the-art sawmills in Shamrock. The mills annually produced and shipped worldwide millions of feet of “deep swamp tidewater cypress” and “dense Florida longleaf yellow pine” lumber, products that are now rare because the old growth trees are gone.

We saw our first real evidence of storm debris on the southern edge of Cross City, look closely and you can see the twisted metal high up in the tree!

North of Cross City is a cut-off road that heads to the Gulf and the town of Steinhatchee. Some of you may remember hearing that name during the aftermath of Idalia news coverage. 

Steinhatchee was devastated by the winds and flood water. We could see more of that damage as we continued to head north-west on US 19/98.

The town of Salem is on US 19/98 and it is almost directly northeast, about 15-miles, inland from where Idalia made landfall in Keaton Beach. You could see some tree and home damage here.

About 20-miles north of Salem, we arrived in Perry Florida. You would be amazed at the amount of visible damage you could see in this populated city. Here are a few pictures to show the damage and the massive clean-up effort.

We have stayed at the Perry KOA before and the owners, Debby and Brian, are originally from western NY. The front of the park looked OK, but on the interior, they have lots of large old oaks. We pray, they faired well. They have put a great deal of time, money and work into making the park a great place to stay!

Here are a few more pictures of the destruction in Perry.

This is the Forestry Museum in Perry. There used to be a large number of standing pines here.

In Perry we stopped at Walmart, so we could grab a few things and have lunch!

On the north side of Perry US 19 and US 98 split, we stayed on US 98 and started heading in more of a westerly direction along the Gulf coast. 

US 98 is part of the Big Bend Scenic Byway. Heading toward Apalachicola, this scenic drive offers so much to the average traveler, with wildlife, waterways, and woods. These areas are inhabited by birds, butterflies, animals and wildflowers. If you are out for a Sunday drive and taking your time. You can trace the footsteps of the Apalachee and the Creek, Spanish Conquistadors, British and American troops, pioneers, cotton and timber barons, and Hollywood producers by following the Byway to historic markers, interpretive displays, parks, museums, forts, depots, lighthouses and historic buildings. Experience the diverse scenery, small towns, farms and rural countryside that is Old Florida. I think it’s one of the most beautiful Florida scenic drives around!

In St Marks, we turned off the scenic byway onto FL 267, traveling through the Wakulla Springs Basin. Wakulla is one of the largest springs in the US and is the end of one of the longest and deepest cave systems in the world. Teams of cave divers have explored and mapped 32 miles of the cave system during the past 20 years setting world records in the process. Approximately 400 million gallons of water flow from the spring daily creating the nine-mile Wakulla River.  The spring is fed by a 1300 square-mile basin, the largest spring basin in Florida.

We turned onto FL 20 as we neared our destination for the next 2 days, Torreya State Park. Tomorrow we will explore the park and the area!