River and campsite (look for our tent in the shadow of the trees on the
right)
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Camping
Camping on the river is a blast. There are many natural
clearings, especially near the springs, where we can pull over and pitch
the tent. We take a huge one that accommodates all of us
easily. While several of us are setting up the campsite, Rich (Hop
Sing) gets the Coleman stove heated up and starts preparing dinner.
We usually have spaghetti, garlic bread (heated over the fire), and tossed
salad. Yes, we are really roughing it.
I have fished the river many times, but have caught nothing.
There are large mullet jumping all over the place, but they are herbivores
and can't get excited by the bait I have tried. We have also seen
sturgeon the size of VW's in the Suwannee. I have read, and seen
pictures, of alligators in the Suwannee River, but I think they are found
farther north. I have never seen any of them. The part of the
river we usually travel has spiders the size of alligators, so the element
of fear is still there.
We Bury a Bone, for Later
Once, we took along four of those baby bottles of whisky. It was our
last night on the river, and we hadn't drank them, so we stuck them in a
beef jerky container and buried them on the island on which we had
camped. I took a picture of this event so that we could, in the
future, dig them up again. Well, two years later we were floating
down the same stretch of river and camped on the same island as
before. I pulled out the picture (see the actual picture on left)
and we found the whisky on the first try. There was also a note,
signed by all the canoeists, that I forgot we had put in there!
MORE LATER.... |
