Pioneer Days

Our Canadian neighbors are staying in south Florida for several more weeks, fore spring does not come to the provinces until May. The northeast is being battered by a strong nor’easter as I write this; I don’t miss those cold rain swept winds. For Millie and I, winter is about over. Spring is popping in Myrtle Beach and we are migrating home. 

roughly 200 mile trip to our next stop

Leaving South Florida this year we drove a different route north, for no other reason than we’ve run the spine of the state (route 27) many times and wished for some different scenery. We left Southern Comfort RV Resort in Florida City on Krome Ave, the straight as-an-arrow road that runs north between Miami and the Everglades. At the intersection of Krome and the Tamiami Trail we turned due west onto the 75 mile causeway across the ocean of grass and water. 

We're not the first ones to think it would be a good idea to "Drain the swamp!"

The state has already built one long bridge on the Tamiami Trail and has another longer one under construction. The adjacent causeway is being removed to allow a more natural flow of water through the glades. It is man correcting the mistakes of those in the past whose master plan was to drain the swamp for farmland and development. Where did they think all those alligators and mosquitoes were going to live!

On the western side of the state we moved onto I-75 to avoid the congestion of the gulf coast cities. Much like the rest of Florida there is a lot of commercial and residential building going on in the southwest coast. Most of it looked high end to me, no poor people retiring over here.

Just shy of Ft Meyers we angled northeast on secondary roads into the very rural interior. Cows grazing on the tropical savanna dominate the landscape with an occasional village or small town at the intersection of long lonely roads.. One of these towns, Wauchula, is our destination for the weekend.

Before the electrical power grid these stationary engines provided power for farms and industry.

Hardy County Pioneer Days is an annual festival held in Zolfo Springs. It has grown each year we have attended with its main attraction being the antique tractors and stationary engine gathering. There is also a large flea market, food trucks, live entertainment, and historical displays. 

This tractor was sold with the claim it would run on almost any combustible oil and would pull its rated horsepower.  That was probably a good selling point back in the great depression.

In addition to walking past miles of flea market tables we watched the Antique tractor parade and enjoyed a performance by a local gal who sings in the style of the British singer Adel. Nineteen year old Nola Price was a contestant last year on “The Voice”, and made it to the battle rounds. 

"The Voice" contestant Nola Price

Our campground for the weekend is the Thousand Trails campground which is just down the street from Pioneer Park. About half the campground sites are out of service due to damaged electric and water lines. They say they are waiting for construction permits to rebuild, I suspect the county is taking a serious look at the wisdom of rebuilding in a flood plane of the Peace River. This part of the campground floods several times a year.

Now closed lower campground was built in a flood plain