Reed Bingham State Park, GA
It was hard to say goodbye to Marc, Sheila and the boys. A couple of days is never enough time to hang with these guys. Today’s big adventure is heading to Madison Blue Springs. It was touted by USA Today as the number 1 swimming hole in the US. It was a very hot and humid 92 degrees and we couldn’t wait to jump in. We pulled into the spot and...uh oh...closed for swimming! Turns out the Withlacoochee River had risen and flooded out the springs during Tropical Storm Alberto. It was “browned out” meaning the bacteria levels were too high to swim. We went to take a looksee and this is what we saw. Yeah, not so inviting, especially if you’ve seen the pictures of all the other cold water springs.
Top picture is Ned looking forlornly at the flooded out springs. The bottom right picture is what the springs are supposed to look like, at least according to the sign in the parking lot.
I put on my best navigator and detective’s hat and located some other springs close by. The Falmouth Springs was located on the Suwannee River so we thought perhaps it hadn’t fallen to the same fate. Mmmm, would you swim in this?! Yuk, time to move on.
A couple of days ago I made reservations at Suwannee River State Park. It’s a small campground, only 30 sites, and it looked like it was booking up fast. We were resigned to give up the swimming, as there are no cold springs here, and go for a bike ride instead. Sweet little park, let’s put out the table cloth, some of our things to dry out and go for a ride! No sooner had we got set up then...kaboom...the skies opened up and it started pouring. Yeah. Everything was now soaked. We looked at each other and said, “Plan C. Let’s head to Georgia and take our chances.” Enjoy our $30 donation Florida State Parks.
Georgia or bust!
The best part of traveling the back roads of Georgia is enjoying the houses, spanish moss tree lined streets and lots of roadside stands. Seeing all the delicious peaches made me think of my great nephew Zak and how much he loves peaches, We picked up a few and some homemade peach ice cream too. I did pass on the boiled peanuts tho. Maybe tomorrow.
Pushing on for Reed Bingham State Park was a great decision. It was a lot cooler and not as muggy as the swampy, rainy Suwannee River State Park. Luckily, it looks like we had just missed the rain here. We took advantage of the sun peeking out and went for a bike ride exploring this expansive and beautiful park. It was a nice chill day, although it could have been a tad chillier.
