February 20, 2012

We drove from Tampa to Tallahassee today. For about 180 miles, off the interstate and along the coast, it is nothing but strip malls and constant stoplights. Hopefully those who live here can go another way to get where they want but the traffic was heavy all day.

These papaya trees were growing by our motel last night. The manager said that it grew from a seedling to having fruit in about 4 months. Unbelievable!

 
We stopped at the Forest Capital Museum State Park at Perry, FL and saw a "cracker" homestead which was built in 1864. The people who lived in this part of the state used whips to drive their cattle and oxen. The home has a porch on two or more sides which gives shade to the house.

The netting above the bed is dropped down at night so the mosquitoes didn't bite during the night because they didn't have screens in their windows. They kept their windows open because they didn't have fans or air-conditioning.

Girls, here is a rug like the braided rug I showed everyone at the library. Her's looks much nicer than mine.

How would you like to take a bath in this bathtub? No bathrooms or showers in those days.

This is the inside of the chicken house. The chickens could walk all over the yard during the day but at night they were kept in a fenced area so animals couldn't get to them. In the house, there was a board with straw where they would lay their eggs and poles on the back wall where they would roost (sit) during the night.

This is the long-leaf pine tree that grows around here. We saw many trucks carrying the logs that had been cut.

This shows the kitchen behind the house. It is separate because it gets very hot and humid here in the summer and it would make the house too hot if it were attached.

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