Bits & Pieces: Florida Side Trips

When the main farmer and I travel, we don’t just have the final destination in mind. And even when we have a destination, side trips are always expected. Some side excursions, however, are better than others.

Florida is a wonderful place to be in the winter. It can be cool, and often windy and rainy, but no snow, ice nor freezing rain. 

When we first arrived in Dunedin (just north of Clearwater on the Gulf side), the fishing boat charters were predicting 5’ to 7’ waves. Some weren’t even going out. 

Fortunately, Jacob Robinson had a side trip all lined up for the farmer. The main farmer’s private chauffeur drove him about 2 ½ hours for Venus in central Florida. Jacob had arranged a wild boar hunt.

At Lightsey Ranch, Jacob and Nate Robinson with Taylor Phillips, son Ryker; Nick Seeyle, son Huck, and our main farmer met up for an afternoon of guy fun. 

The guys boarded a swamp buggy with bucket seats about 7’ off the ground. Below the seats was open storage to place the trophies. All the adults were successful and returned to the starting line for photo ops.

The main farmer and Nate Robinson have been enjoying this camaraderie for over 50 years. It is always fun to see that their joy together never fades.

After a tornado just missed us by going south, we had a few cloudy days with high winds again. I had found an interesting place for a side trip about 2 hours due east of us – beyond Tampa.

The name of the place was Spook Hill. It was the location of a gravity hill. Putting the vehicle in neutral, one could experience what appeared to be rolling uphill. The website had it as part of the National Park Service. So, I fished out our National Park passes, and away we went.

From the hype, one would expect this to be out-of-town or at least at the edge. But, we ended up in a residential area, right next to Spook Hill Elementary School – which by the way has Casper the Friendly Ghost as its mascot.

There was no Park Service entrance or even a lovely approach. All of a sudden, in the middle of the road ahead, there was an arch over the road with “Spook Hill” splayed across. A wide white line extended across the street below the arch.

Directions on a sign at the edge of the street read to pull up to the white line, put the car in neutral and let the car roll back. It was to simulate rolling uphill, but felt like rolling downhill.

That was it! Four hours round-trip to sit on a white line and roll in neutral. To extend the fun, I was instructed by the main farmer to take a second try putting the front wheels over the white line. Same thing. Then I was to move the truck with all four tires beyond the white line. Still no difference. 

Enough fun for the day, now to face the highway traffic homeward.

I’m hoping that the Museum of Science and Industry is a better choice for the next rainy or windy day.