Day 54

Good sleeping last night and woke to a VERY dense fog!!! The girls headed out at 6:30am to beat the heat. The three boys, we headed next door for a full breakfast and were on the road by 8:00am . . .

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. . . where it was till very foggy. Good thing I had my See.Sense rear flasher onboard. The first Intelligent Flasher . . . smarter than I am!!!

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Hard too see from the reflections but there are silt clouds billowing around under bridges and mixing with the still water. Won’t be clear for long!!!

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Here is the scoop on this, . . .’Deep in the swamps along the border between Alabama and Florida can be heard stories of a water monster of a different sort.  It is said that he is more than 20 feet long, has red eyes, and is demon possessed.  Two-Toe Tom is the focus of numerous legends and tall tales.  His name originates from the claim that he lost all but two toes on one foot to a bear-trap.  Due to his ferocity and frequent attacks, many have hunted for Tom.  But Two-Toe Tome has never been captured. Some believe Tom still lurks in Sand Hammock Lake near Esto Florida, even to this day’. The festival is a little more civilized with a horseshoe tournament, car show and country music . . . and a beauty pageant!!!!

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Nice riding  today once the fog burned off . . .

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. . . first one of these I have seen . . . 4280

So  close on the spelling . . .

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Sounds down right friendly . . . and a horse motel !!!!

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. . . if you are not going to spend any money though, you might not be so welcomed!!!!

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Our half way point for today . . . too early for lunch. The sign implies there is an ocean and mountains . . . ahhh, not in FL. Maybe they are celebrating their sister city, the Marianna Islands located in the Pacific??? Pretty city.

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Not sure if I have ever seen a McDonald’s with ACTUAL golden arches. This could be an original  . . . or a replicate. Not sure!!!

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Nice old home in Marianna . . . it’s now the cities Visitor Center.

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Another interesting mix of business and religion. You only live once . . . get that car today!!!

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For 10 miles, no shoulder, but nice rollers today . . .

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Another one for the list . . . first dead turtle I have seen.

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I came down over a hill and there was a VERY big and VERY much alive turtle, about the size of the top of a 5 gallon bucket, in the middle line of the road with traffic, coming from both sides, trying to go around it. I stopped, carefully grabbed it and carried it to the side of the road. It mad a B-line for a little stream flowing through a culvert . . .

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. . . and sat down for a rest. A bunch of the cars honked at me for approval and thumbs up!!!

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I watched him for a while and he seemed to be staring at me, maybe because I had on a neon yellow jersey today, but I think it was to say Thanks . . . I named him Blinky because, as he stared at me, he was slowly opening and closing his eyelids!!!

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Not sure what is hitting these pine . . . might have been a slow burning fire that killed some of the lower branches.

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This one was a beauty . . .

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Soon we were in Snead, our home for the night. Not much for restaurants so we stopped at the local Piggly Wiggly for a little lunchy . . .

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Then on to the Lake Seminole Motel, our home for the night . . .

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bad news is the pool is empty . . . .

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. . . good news there is a funeral home right net door, a local landmark!

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Wasn’t long before someone had to come over and show off their new jammie bottoms . . .

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With no restaurant in town it was back to the ‘Pig’ for a picnic dinner of ham, sweet potatoes, cole slaw, salad and vino!!! But first how about some ‘goober peas’ . . . IMG_3336

Boiled and salted . . .  YUM . . .

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Dinner was fabulous, at a picnic area on the side of the reservoir . . . lot’s of leftovers!!!!