We headed north towards Silver Springs and Ben’s Hitchin’ Post Campground on a Friday afternoon after a busy work week. It was a long weekend ahead in honor of Labor Day and that gave us a total of 3 nights to explore the regions of two of our final three rivers in our long-lasting goal of conquering every river in Florida.
The journey felt long, and our last few turns seemed like an eternity, we slowed to a crawl for the final stretch as we turned off the main vain to a pitted private road that had our setup jostling to and fro. Pulled in and realized this was not a campground as much as it was a permanent park. Still, they had our transient spot reserved next to main office. Took a minute to secure power and had the neighbors try to send us to the storage lot as a worthy alternative, but with tenacity from the new handyman host onsite, we were able to make it work. Our dog, Seger, didn’t have any trees to tie off too, so his dog fence came in extra handy as the kids that ran all over the park seemed to multiply as the night went on.
True to form, we enjoyed an easy dinner of fire roasted Koegels’ hotdogs and mom’s tuna pasta salad. We failed to bring our portable fire pit thinking it was a campground, so we used our small charcoal grill to make a petite fire for flames to cook on as well as ambiance. It was clear we did not belong, still the kids in the park found us intriguing and we were able to gift some of our new give aways. Regardless, dad still chose to sleep outside to ensure all was on the up and up and thankfully morning came quick.
Rayside Park was a brief 8-minute drive and took us directly into the Silver River via its boat ramp. Upon entry, it was the honesty policy at work to pay to use their facilities, yet it was the “Beware of Monkeys” sign that really stopped me in my tracks as I walked our dog around the parking lot while the boys prepped the boat to launch. Did we see any monkeys? No. But boy did I try!
Charlie, our son, had to navigate under several fishing poles in the water, despite the “no fishing off the dock” signage, as he waited for Seger, dad, and me to load onto the boat. Truthfully, it happens all the time and folks fishing is not anything I would ever complain against so we always just work around them best we can and never cause a fuss. Good thing too…because the river was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. After the lily pad canal lead up, the temperature dropped, and the water was so clear you could see every fish, rock, and plant; amazing! Despite having brought our floats, there is no swimming or floating in the water at all, bummer! Still river #138 had us on a day’s long roam that provided short dips in the water as we entered the intersecting Ocklawaha River; great memories had!
It was an early night for us with plans to leave by 9am for the St. John’s Marina & RV Resort to hit river #139, the Dead Hontoon. First to rise, mom and Seger encountered a random, roaming potbellied pig and that helped wake up Charlie and dad for sure!
A short hour and half later, we rolled into our next and final campsite for the trip. Located right next to the public boat ramps, this park took us to our first love of all the rivers here in Florida, a few miles on the St. John’s River south to Hontoon Island, we rounded the island’s backside to a small passage into Dead Hontoon full of colorful birdhouses.
That evening, we took advantage of the onsite restaurant with rooftop dining and enjoyed a Birdseye view of that entire stretch of the St. Johns River. If you were wondering…the food was on point at the St. John’s Grill. We enjoyed their signature jambalaya, garlic parm wings, chef salad, and bbq rib mac and cheese. In route home, shout out to Doghouse Pizza in Melbourne, who knew pickles on pizza would taste so good (Pickle Rick)! Only one river to go ya’ll, happy river roaming!
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