Rodman Campground

 October 1, 2020

  Arrived at Rodman Campground in Palatka, Florida and was only given a campground map of sites so after setting up we got in the truck to look around.

Here is what laid just on the other side of the campground.

This is the Cross Florida Barge Canal.  I found it captivating.  (It's a project that was started but never finished so it does not cross Florida)

And here is what I saw for the very first time

I was lucky enough to see a MANATEE ! I was not lucky enough to get a picture of him but it was great.  First the manatee blows some air and then you see him roll into the water like a dolphin, with his tail finishing off the maneuver.

From that great moment we drove 1 mile away to the Rodman dam.

And the sign did not lie.  We saw alligators in the water down by the dam, close enough to be cool, but not too close to be scary.

Also down at the dam, these birds liked to sit across the water

That's basically all they did was hang out by the dam.

This guy looked much cooler hanging out on the shoreline under some Spanish Moss.

October 2, 2020

    Today is a chill day for me.  So I grabbed a book and a chair and went to sit by the canal.

I could sit and watch the plants drift by, sometimes upstream and then downstream, not sure if the current and wind were taking turns or the flow of the dam had something to do with the direction the plants drifted by.

The plants were not alone in the canal.

Here you can see an alligator in the water closer to the far shore.  (I did not see an alligator on my side of the canal.)

I also saw more manatee today, but once again no photos of them. Sorry.

Jim had a productive day replacing our current battery with a new lithium battery that will hopefully prove to be much better for us when we boondock (camp with no electric hookup) which we will do tomorrow at our next Harvest Host.