Lake City, FL 6/9/08

We are in Lake City for our grandson's All-Star Baseball tournament and has it been interesting, or what!? We have had an opportunity to do some interesting exploring as well. Lake City used to be called Alligator in the early days and I was aware of the city because my g-g-grandfather and his family settled in this area in the mid-1800's. The Civil War was beginning to brew and he was the first Confederate soldier to be killed in Florida - in Jacksonville while on a patrol near the junction of LaVilla at the "old brick church". Lt. Thomas Strange left a wife and 5 children. One afternoon we drove to High Springs to have lunch and go through the cemetery to see another site, my g-grandfather Lucius Knapp's grave. It gave us an opportunity to explore a beautiful little old Florida town - I love them, and time really has stood still.

On Wednesday afternoon we drove up to the Stephen Foster Memorial Cultural Center to see if we'd like to take our RV to camp in the future. The Cultural Center has room to hold our 40' rv and not only is it a beautiful area, an added feature is the carillon concert 4 times a day. Old Florida is in this area as well....the ranger told us the small motors that operate the diarama were made in the 30's and are still working just fine. The River is probably the lowest I have ever seen, but there are many canoes and kayaks still putting in and going to the Big Shoals area. There are many campgrounds, but only a couple we would consider staying. Did you know when you are 65 and a resident of the State of FL you get to camp for $8/day? Why would you cook when the Suwannee River Diner feeds us for $5 apiece? Delicious homecooked meals! We even went to the local library to look up the ancient records of our families - RV's family has been all over this area for generations but he hasn't gotten the bug yet. One of the most interesting articles I read has really sparked my curiosity - about the "tin can tourists" that used to come into this area every year and camp at the Suwannee River - most of them were gypsies and told fortunes, sold potions that could cure anything! My first magazine article is going to be about those "tin can tourists". They paved the way for us!