The next morning (2-16) just south of Perry I
encountered the local litter clean-up crew hard at work.
It was four guys, each riding a small ATV and each armed
with a two-pronged spear. Two
were in the median and two were along the right edge of the
highway. They would
speed along, spot something, slow down, spear it as they went by,
then drop it in a large bucket mounted on the front of the ATV.
The whole thing looked pretty effective to me.
I’ll bet it’s good practice for spear fishing too.
A few miles down the road, I saw the prize of the day
for the litter crew. It
was a four-foot long alligator, lying right next to the road, that
was apparently recent road-kill.
I am assuming it was deceased even though it wasn’t
smashed, but I didn’t stop to find out for sure.
I wish I could have been there when the litter crew
arrived. One thing
for sure – it wasn’t going to fit into the bucket very well.
I spent the night at Manatee
Springs State Park near Chiefland.
It’s a great State Park.
The Manatee Springs flow up from the ground here at rate of
81,280 gallons per minute and a constant temperature of 72
degrees. The crystal clear water then flows in a swift river for
about 400 yards before joining the famous Suwannee River (“Way
down upon the Suwannee River…”).
Other than the springs, the attraction of the area is the West
Indian Manatees that live in the Suwannee River particularly
during the winter months. The
Manatees (also known as Sea Cows) are one of the most gentle of
all species, but have become endangered (maybe only 2400
remaining) due to another (much less gentle) species that likes to
run up and down the rivers in their motorboats.
Interesting fact of the day (if I ever heard this before I
didn’t remember it at all): Manatees are the closest living
relatives to elephants. I
didn’t get to see any Manatees, but did see wading birds,
vultures and lots of fish.
Click
on thumbnails to view full photograph.
(Great
Adventures to Scenic Places)
