2/19/22 Gainesville, Citrus, to Forgotten Coast FL

 2/19 Saturday

Waved goodbye to John and Yvonne after a light breakfast and coffee.  We've decided to begin heading back to Texas rather than continuing South.  Too many people and we figure the Everglades will be super busy.  Plus we've been through there and down to Key West before and have seen enough critters this trip.   We've also heard that boondocking gets very difficult this time of year and campgrounds are filled.

We're interested in visiting the "Forgotten Coast" area of the Florida Panhandle, so head north on 75. Today will be a travel day. We take exit 390 at Gainesville and visit Devil's Millhopper Geological State Park to stretch our legs.

 Nice State Park which includes a walk down into a large sinkhole, 120' deep and 500' across. 

It formed when the limestone was slowly dissolved by rainwater and eventually created a large cavern whose ceiling collapsed. 

It is located in upland pine forest, with pines, red oak and wiregrass and there is a swamp at the bottom of the sinkhole with standing water, supporting a more tropical and temperate climate.  A few displays and picnic areas and a few redbud trees beginning to bloom!

We get back on I75 for a little while before turning westward.  We stop and buy some citrus at a stand - honey bell oranges are what is popular right now and they are sweet! We buy a bag to take home. 

 We take some back roads,  looking for a boondocking spot called Goose Pasture, but GPS keeps telling us we passed it.  We finally just take a little side road and make our own spot for the night among the trees.

 The roads are sandy dirt with no traffic - well, we did see one three-wheeler.  We learn later that we stopped 2-3 miles short. Oh well....gps doesn't do well with dirt roads.

Quiet night, but cold, so we add another blanket.