Hanging With the Hillbillies!

For those of you who do not know, I'm currently in Florida, partially through my two-week sales trip. Last week I managed to go through Georiga, starting just north of Atlanta and snaking my way down to Gainesville, FL for the weekend. The trip has been very successful thus far without any major mishaps along the way. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it stays that way for the remainder of my trip.

I was "trapped" in Gainesville, FL this weekend and decided on Saturday that I was going to experience Florida that most travels don't see. I packed up my camera equipment and headed out to Suwannee, FL as it's a small town right on the Gulf of Mexico. I thought maybe I could get some cool pictures down by the water and experience some of small town Florida.

As I was driving to Suwannee I noticed along the road that there was a National Wildlife Refuge on the left hand side of the road that stretched along for miles. Every so often there would be an "access road" coming out that was bacially two tire-ruts heading into the bush. I was upgraded to a Jeep Compass by the rental car company so I figured I'd head in...I was in a Jeep, it would have been wrong had I not diverted from the beaten path!

I drove about half a mile into the bush and stumbled upon two locals who were packing up some guns. I wasn't worried because it was clear they were hunters, though after talking with them it was clear they were hillbillies and I was in uncharted territory. The conversation went something like this:

Hillbilly Husband: You planning on walkin' 'round in these parts?

Me: Yeah, I'm not from around here and I thought I would take a look around and snap some pictures. I'm not trespassing or anything am I?

Hillbilly Wife: No, but this be huntin' season and you need to watch out in here. Best to wear your bright orange huntin' vest that you can get at the local Wal-Mart. You best not be wearin' that nice green shirt that you have on. You got a huntin' vest?

Me: Ah, no...But I do have a bright yellow tank top that I could wear.

Hillbilly Wife: Here, you can have this extra huntin' vest we have.

Me: Ah...thanks. What should I be looking out for in these woods? You know, animals.

Hillbilly Husband: Well, you best watch out for coral snakes, ticks, 'gators, panthers, and most critters. You best find youself a walkin' stick so if you do run into a critter on the trail you can fend it off. I'm not sayin' they're vicious, but sometimes they have the rabbies and you want something to protect yourself with.

Me: Oh, ok...

Hillbilly Husband: If you see something like a 'coon that's foaming at the mouth or something it has the rabbies and you don't want to have to go through the rabbies shots.

Me: Alright...thanks for the info.

Hillbilly Wife: Now you don't foget to wear that huntin' vest. You don't want to be shot by some hunter. Not that it happens a lot but this is back-country Florida...

Me: Ok. Well, I'm going to head out now. Hope you have a good day hunting.

I should have taken some pictures of them because they were just classic hillbillies! Oh man...

Anyway, I drove further into the bush until I reached the Suwannee River. The spot I was at didn't have much to offer photograpically, but I did snap a shot of the jeep in the forest and some leaves of the palm trees. Pretty nice picture actually.I drove off and was going to head into Suwannee but decided to take the Dixie Mainline road. This is a connecting "road" that goes between the Florida 347 and 349. It was about 10 miles long and the speed limit was only 25 miles an hour. The "road" was basically a single-lane gravel road and there were times when traffic would be coming the other way and we'd have to get creative to get by each other! Along the drive there were a number of places to pull off and go on little nature walks, which I took all of them. I got a little bored of the "road" after a while and decided to take my Jeep further into the bush. I ended up taking every little hunting trail I could find just because and had a good time going through the forest. You can see, some of the areas I was in were quite remote!During my drive I had the opportunity to take a few wildlife pictures. I got to see an armadillo in the wild which was very cool. They do really look like little tanks going through the forest. While trying to get a shot of its face I decided to lob a small rock into the forest beyond it to get it to come back to the road and I found out that these little tanks can jump! It must have jumped at least a foot and a half into the air when the rock hit the forest! Crazy!I also saw some butterflies in my travels. I've never done macro photography of butterflies and I'm very impressed by the quality of the pictures I got. Next time I will increase my depth-of-field a little since the wing was blurred a little on some of the shots because I was in so close.During one of my little walks I found a pool of water with a stick popping out of it. The water was relatively calm and had a good reflection coming off it. I cautiously got down to take some pictures after deciding that there were no gators in the water. Stupid hillbillies got me all worried!I continued my drive to the end of the Dixie Mainline road and decided to head town to the water. On my way I wanted to take a look at an observation tower that was listed on the map I had picked up on the area. When I got there it was hillbilly central! There were about 6 big pickup trucks (all with the off-road tires) and a whole bunch of people out fishing in the marshes. I went up the lookout tower (it was only about 15 feet tall) and chatted with the locals a little. Turns out it was a pretty popular fishing spot. While I was chatting with them they asked me what I was taking pictures of and the like...I ended up talking with this couple who were launching their boat to go out with their kids. One of their kids, a little girl about 3 years old, came running up to me and was the cutest little kid you've ever seen! Blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and COVERED in mud from head to toe! I asked her if she was having fun and she said yes and I asked her if she was going for a boat ride. To that she answered "You're silly!" and I replied back, "Well, you're the one covered from head to toe in mud!" She laughed and ran away.

I left the hillbillies to their own and headed to the Gulf of Mexico. I walked out on a path to the water, dipped my feet in, and just hung out there for a bit. The wind was blowing a warm breeze off the water and it was just a beautiful place to be. I should have brought my book out there and read a little but I was getting rather hungry. I took a shot of myself hanging out there but unfortunatly couldn't get the ocean in the background since I would have had to put the camera in the water! Oh well.I left that spot and decided my day was done. Drove all the way back to Gainesville (about an hour) and called it a day. Sunday was a low-key day...about as low key as I've had in a long time. The weather outside was wet so I didn't venture out at all...Spent the day sleeping and watching movies...What a tiring day!

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll have some other stories to tell in a few days along with some more pictures.

D