Road trippin'

Since it has been a good while since my last article, I suppose it would be good to post something new so that the world knows that I have not died somewhere in the woods.

See, still alive.

 After a week long visit to friends at Southern Adventist University, I decided that the winter weather was quickly approaching so the original route of the trail of tears water route was probably no longer a viable option for two reasons. First being that it goes north west which would have taken me into the colder weather rather than away from it, and second reason being that I would be over the water during snow and cold rain. This probably would not have been a good situation for me. So I decided to reroute straight south and shoot for the gulf coast. I had never been to the gulf before so it would be a treat for me any way. The problem with this route is that there are no established trails, which means a lot of road walking. On my way through Georgia I was stopped by police twice for no reason and taken to the edge of their jurisdiction and told not to return. For the most part the route I took through Georgia was hot, flat, and boring. However, I noted on the map that there was a state park called Kolomoki mounds. Curious as to what it was, I decided to make that my goal for this state. After several days of walking and worrying that I would get picked up again just before arriving there, I finally made it to the park. Kolomoki is an interesting burial mounds park. It has several mounds on the property, including a massive temple mounds. The best of these mounds can be found inside the visitor center which was built over top of it. The mound belonged to a Chieftain and has been excavated and a board walk going around it for visitors to get a close look.

If you are in the Area, I would definitely advise you to stop by and take the tour, which costs a whopping three bucks. The museum inside the visitor center has a large collection of artifacts from the grounds including earthen pottery and statues. Unfortunately, the collection used to be bigger, but the place was robbed and a lot of the collection has been lost as a result.

After leaving Kolomoki I resumed my shot towards Florida. I started to notice the landscape and climate changes that were taking place around me as I went ever south. The changes started in the northern part of the state and became increasingly noticeable as I went further. It started with simple things like saw palmettos and hanging mosses and then came my very first live Armadillo sighting, and scorpions showing up at night.

Needless to say I was slightly more worried about finding the scorpions coming into my camp at night than I was the armadillos, though the dillos payed me several visits each night. Eventually I made it into Florida and saw the Gulf coast for the first time.