The time had come for us to pick up our rolling home for the next six weeks and hit the open American road. We said goodbye to Disney, and headed over to Cruise America to meet our new steed. So far this year I’ve driven a right hand drive Motorhome on the right side of the road in Europe; and a right hand drive Motorhome on the left hand side in New Zealand; but this is my first time driving a left hand drive Motorhome here in the states. It felt a bit weird at first, but I soon got used to it. As with most things in America, it’s bigger than I’m used to. It’s a metre longer than mine, half a metre wider, and half a metre taller. But luckily, America is set up for this kind of thing, there aren’t any narrow medieval streets or low bridges to negotiate here, unlike in Europe. In fact, most people’s pick up trucks are bigger than this out here. The norm here is to tow an enormous fifty foot mansion on wheels behind your twenty foot long Super Duty American pick up truck. Our rig looks positively puny in comparison, so I guess I’ll just shut up and get on with it! We stopped for a bite to eat, and checked out the baby gators in the Florida Citrus Centre, and I couldn’t resist getting myself a gator foot Florida keyring to adorn my rigs keys.
After working out a few teething issues, and giving the van a bit of a clean (they’re not too hot on cleaning between rentals by the looks of it!), we headed off to our first stop a few hours north of Orlando. The Ichetuknee Springs State Park is home to the spring fed Ichetuknee river, and a true only-in-Florida experience – river tubing. Thousands of people flock here during the hot summer days to float care-free down the length of this glorious river atop a humble rubber ring. It’s literally as simple as that. You can bring your own tube, or for a modest fee you can rent one and catch the shuttle bus to the north river entrance to begin your floating experience. I had one burning question though – this is Florida, what about all those pesky alligators?! Well, apparently, the ‘gators don’t like these spring fed rivers because they are a constant 22 degrees, and that’s a bit chilly for these cold blooded reptiles. Supposedly there aren’t any here, so we shouldn’t worry about it. Ok, that’s all very well, but not being from around these parts we thought we’d err on the side of caution and take the slightly safer option by traversing the 3.5 miles of river on canoes instead. That way, if there were any sneaky gators lingering in the water, they wouldn’t be nibbling on our posteriors as they dangled tastily through the centre of a rubber ring.
There wasn’t much of a briefing involved here, they literally shoved us in the water at the top of the river and walked off. As he walked off, I asked the man if there was anything we needed to know, and he simply said “All you need to know, is you’re on your own out here.” as he chuckled and disappeared around the corner. And we were. There was not one other person on the river with us at that point. It might have been slightly intimidating, if it wasn’t for the overwhelmingly beautiful surroundings we found ourselves in. The water was as clear as I have ever seen. You could easily see the riverbed eight feet below as you glided serenely through the sunlit avenue of trees. This was Florida at its finest. The first ten minutes were spent getting used to paddling as a pair and learning to avoid obstacles while gawping at the scenery. Once we’d mastered our crafts (by that I mean managed to stay in a straight line), we were able to really drink in the surroundings we found ourselves in.
The wildlife here is incredible. This area is home to many different types of turtle, and they weren’t shy. Every log that jutted through the surface of the water was covered with Suwannee Cooters, Red Bellied turtles, Loggerhead Musk turtles and yellow bellied sliders. There were even sightings of the infamous Florida snapping turtles. You could see schools of bass and mullet at every turn, as well as several huge Gar measuring up to 4 feet long. Hunter and I even saw a family of Otters escape from a tree root as we drifted too close to their secluded home. These waters are home to thousands of manatees in the colder winter months, as the constant 22 degree temperature of the springs becomes preferable to the surrounding rivers and estuaries. But alas there were none to be seen on our visit.
As we drifted care-free along the Ichetuknee, all thoughts of its potentially dangerous poisonous snakes, snapping turtles and alligators had evaporated from our heads. The kids were jumping in and out of the kayaks to cool off (and perform their necessaries!), and we dragged our feet and hands lazily through the water. That was until Hunter spotted one of those sneaky, scaly reptiles lurking in the undergrowth with his head submerged in the river.
He wasn’t huge, but he was big enough to cause you some bother at around 5 foot long. That was it for the swimming. The fact he was lying there in the water that was apparently too cold for him was enough to re-sharpen my non-Floridian survival instinct and keep all my body parts firmly within the kayak. I paddled back upstream to edge as close as I dared and snap a few pics, then warned the family behind us who were tubing and swimming down the river. They appreciated the heads up, but weren’t unduly concerned. One of them took point and stationed himself standing in the water 10 feet from the gator to watch he didn’t move as everyone passed by. I don’t know what his plan was if the gator had actually swam towards him. Perhaps he had form in hand wrestling these beasts? Maybe he hadn’t thought that far ahead!
To reward ourselves for a hard day paddling down the river (!) we headed into High Springs for a true vintage American Diner experience at The Pink Flamingo. It was one of those amazing aluminium clad buildings dripping in neon lights and serving bypass-inducing meals. We ate burgers and drank Arnold Palmers next to Elvis in true Americana style before heading back to the campsite.
Next stop was the glorious white sand beaches of the Gulf of Mexico…