The Mermaids at Weeki Watchi Springs have been a Florida attraction since the 1940s. In 1947, a Hollywood underwater stunt coordinator named Newt Perry purchased a lot of land in Florida around the Weeki Watchi Spring, a freshwater artesian well. The spring fed over a hundred million gallons a day into the Weeki Watchi River, which meanders … More Weeki Watchie Mermaids

[NOTE: I’ve blogged all these how-to posts before, but am gonna re-run them on occasion, since folks may have missed them, and many of them have been updated or expanded since they were first posted.] Most people can’t live without their TV or DVD. I don’t have a TV set or DVD player in the … More Life in the Van: Entertainment

The re-created Fort King is memorial to the Florida Seminole Wars. In 1763, under the treaty ending the Seven Years War with France and Spain, England obtained ownership of Florida, and when the American Revolutionary War began in 1775, Florida remained loyal to the Crown, launching cross-border raids into the rebellious colony of Georgia. At … More Fort King

Silver Springs, near Ocala FL, served as the filming location for everything from silent films to the Creature From the Black Lagoon to James Bond. But it is most famous for its glass-bottom tourist boats. Originally, this area of Florida was inhabited by the Timucua, whose domain stretched from southern Georgia down along central and … More Silver Springs State Park

[NOTE: I’ve blogged all these how-to posts before, but am gonna re-run them on occasion, since folks may have missed them, and many of them have been updated or expanded since they were first posted.] Back in my younger days as a backpacker, we used almost no electricity at all. I sometimes carried a small … More Life in the Van: Electricity

Okay, it’s not the most imaginative name they could have come up with. But this is a very nice park, consisting of an open wild area where the city discharges its stormwater to let it slowly percolate down to the aquifer. There are several miles of walking paths and lots of Florida wetland critters to … More Ocala Wetland Recharge Park

Okay, I confess—I know nothing at all whatsoever about drag racing, at all.  🙂 But it looked like an interesting place, and I’ve certainly never been in a drag racing museum before (and likely never will be again). Some history: Ever since there have been automobiles, there have been automobile races. These were most often … More Big Daddy Don Garlits Drag Racing Museum, Ocala

[NOTE: I ve blogged all these how-to posts before, but am gonna re-run them on occasion, since folks may have missed them, and many of them have been updated or expanded since they were first posted.] So, how do I cook while living in the van? Often, I don’t. Parking lots are usually surrounded by … More Life in the Van: Cooking

This whole place is a mess right now because they ae expanding it and doing a lot of new construction. But it’s still a nice place to walk, and there’s always something in bloom. Some photos.

I had planned to head up to Ocala for a week or so, but it’s still pretty chilly at night to be going north, so I decided to hang around St Pete for a bit instead. Some photos from an afternoon at Clearwater Beach (which often gets listed as one of the “Best Beaches in … More Clearwater Beach FL