Inverness, Florida - September 2022

This 4 day adventure took me through Sebring, including a visit to one of my favorite state parks, Highland Hammock, and ended at my first visit to Citrus County Speedway where I enjoyed some of the best short track racing I’ve experienced in the state of Florida. I enjoyed some great Harvest Host locations, and stayed at my first Boondockers Welcome spot. Here are some of the highlights of the trip.

On Thursday afternoon, I make a stop at Highland Hammock State Park for a bike ride and before I even get into the park several deer are hanging out on the side of the road.

And my bike ride was halted for a few minutes so I could spend some time with this beautiful deer that had little fear as I took some photos and video.

First Night’s Stay at a Harvest Host called Turn Two Brewery in Sebring. I started with a flight of four beers and ended up liking the chocolate stout the most, so added a couple of those to the end of the day. The food truck of the day was Chubby Wubbys Hot Dog Emporium, so I sampled ‘The Coney’, with chili, cheese, onions, heartburn, etc.

During my visit inside the brewery, I had a wonderful chat with a retired couple who lived in the nearby Tanglewood community. We talked RVs since they had previously lived in the RV capital of the world, Elkhart, Indiana, and I described the Harvest Host program to them. The gentleman had been a truck driver across our country so he had some fun stories to tell. I am enjoying meeting people like this who are willing to share some stories of their lives with me.

I depart the next morning with a final destination of another Harvest Host location, but make a couple of stops along the way. First, I go for a hike at the Crooked Lake Wildlife and Environmental Area in Fort Meade. I spotted a few young wild boar crossing my path during this hike, and captured this short video.

And then a short walk through Patterson Park, also in Fort Meade.

I then continue north for about an hour towards Plant City, where I spend the night at my second Harvest Host of the trip, Roos and Coos Farm. This is a wonderful little animal sanctuary for several animals, run by a mother/daughter team who are very dedicated to their little creatures.

To continue the adventure north, I head out the next morning after breakfast and make a stop in Dade City at the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village. I was surprised to discover that this museum had recently become a Harvest Host location, so I’ll likely be back to this location for a night’s stay in the future. For this trip I spent a couple of hours walking through the multiple buildings that hold some artifacts from the past that gave me a feel for how life was back in the 1800’s, including some Civil War artifacts.

I continue the final leg of my journey towards Inverness where I check in to my first Boondockers Welcome host location, and get settled in before departing for a night full of hometown racing at Citrus County Speedway, which had a night full of action from 6PM to 11PM.