The Wandering Disciple

The words of Jason Aldean's Dirt Road Anthem come to live as you hit the many dirt roads of Central Florida. While this road may not take you to memory lane, it will take you away from the hustle and bustle of the developed coastal cities and into rural old Florida.  This dirt road leads to one of Florida's most endangered ecosystems, the sand scrub. Rapidly lost to development, the sand scrub is home to threatened species like the Florida Scrub Jay and Gopher Tortoise. This portion of scrub is preserved as part of the Lake June-in-Winter Scrub Preserve State Park, an 845 scrub preserve located on the eastern banks of Lake June-in-Winter.  Taken: February 27, 2011 at Lake June-in-Winter Scrub State Park (Lake Placid, FL)

While known as the Sunshine State, Florida should also be known for its water as well. In addition to being surrounded by water on all three sides, the middle of the state features tons of freshwater lakes as well. Here in Central Florida is Lake June in Winter just outside Lake Placid. This 3,700 acre lake can be accessed through Lake June in Winter State Park as well as other places. It is a popular place for fishing, boating and picnicking along the shores. The park not only protects the lake but also some of the sand scrub habitat which is Florida's equivalent to a desert. It is home to many threatened animals such as gopher tortoise, Florida Scrub Jays and the Indigo Snake. (Photo: February 27, 2011)

Water, water everywhere is the theme in Central Florida as lakes by the thousands dot the landscape.  The Sunshine State features over 5,000 lakes recorded in the Florida Atlas of Lakes with many of them along the interior portions of the state.  The one pictured here is Lake June in Winter, a 3,700 acre lake located at the Lake June in Winter Scrub State Park in Lake Placid.  (Photo: February 27, 2011)

Lake Placid, Florida: Located on the western banks of Lake June in Central Florida lies a state park that is trying to preserve a dwindling Florida ecosystem. Lake June-in-Winter Scrub State Park is one of the few remaining homes of the Florida scrub communities and its mix of unique plants and animals. Opened in 1999, Lake June-in-Winter Scrub State Park was developed to help preserve Florida’s desert, the scrub community. Here you will find 845 acres of scrub community and its resident animals. It is here amongst the thick palmettos you will find the Florida Scrub Jay, gopher tortoises, raccoons, rattlesnakes and more that live in this delicate habitat. As you approach the 3, 500 acre freshwater lake June, the ground gets wetter and the wildlife more abundant. Here you will find egrets, herons, bald eagles, alligators, ospreys and more. The rich variety of birds found here led to it being designated on the Great Florida Birding Trail. The park only features one permanent trail,...

Sebring, Florida: With the baseball season fast approaching and the heat and humidity starting to return to Florida, we decided to squeeze in one more camping trip. We have been watching Highland Hammocks State Park for availability and it has been booked each time we checked. However when we returned home from our last trip to Lake Manatee, we checked the website and were lucky enough to learn that a spot had become available at Highlands, so we quickly booked it. So within a month, we went from never going camping to going back-to-back weekends. Although Highland Hammocks is a pet friendly campground, we decided to board the dogs for the weekend so we could enjoy some of the parts of the part that were restricted to the dogs like the boardwalks and tram tour. So after we dropped the dogs off at the kennel, we hit the road towards Sebring. Sebring is located about an 80 mile drive north east of our home in North Port. But to make the trip a little more interesting, we tried to s...