IT'S A BLIP MEET!!!

The place? Ocala, Florida. The meeting place? Cracker Barrel. Anything else special about the exit? It's the spot where there is a museum for...(wait for it...wait for it)...BE THERE! BE THERE! BIG DADDY DON GARLITS! He was either a drag racing, or a funny car legend. The radio commercials...you never forget.

It was me...CK Johnson, and PepperG, along with our tour guide...Kays friend Patsy. Sefferdog had to do the 4-letter word...WORK! Besides the biscuits and gravy...the best part of breakfast for me was saying..."Can you pass the pepper...Pepper?" The 2 ladies had Florida roots, but Pepper had roots in Maine.

As we left the parking lot, and hit the back roads...I thought Patsy was trying to do her BIG DADDY DON GARLITS impression. I held on for dear life. (Not really...she was an excellent driver, and an excellent tour guide. Plus...every question I asked was followed by a "Yes sir." Very polite.

I finally got to see Tuscawilla Park, and Lochloosa Lake that Kay and Wade (Sefferdog) talk about. Neither disappointed. A nice variety at the park...including these white pelicans...and...a new bird for me...the hooded merganser. What a striking bird...tho camera shy. Then...WE SAW EAGLES at the lake. The national bird. I wish I could have got better pictures...but still... oh so thrilling.

We finished up with a tour through Florida horse country. Who knew? I always thought my native Kentucky was THEE horse country...but this was mile after mile after mile of gorgeous spreads, and white fences. We ended up at a place callded HITS...Horses in Tim's Sunshine, or maybe it was Horses in the Sunshine. All sorts of young good looking young people doing horsey type stuff. CK flirted with one. I put him on my FLICKR PAGE...along with our little group photo, and some more birds.

The only bad part of the day? Patsy and Kay telling me about the "rainbow people" that live in the woods of the Ocala National Forest. How visitors go in there, and never come out. And...if that wasn't enough...the tales of the pygmy rattlesnake. "They won't kill you...but they'll mess up your day." Neither lady could tell...but my knees were shaking in the back seat...and it wasn't from the AC.

All 3 of the Floridians were special people, and I'm thankful for a great day. I'm now sitting in the cell phone lot in Tampa...waiting for my wife to come in from Michigan. I haven't seen her since the 1st of February, and I miss her.