Bill & Carol's 'Head South' Tour: Visiting Mike McKelvy

Today is Thursday, March 21st and the 19th day of our vacation. I have not made an entry in days! First of all, when we left Charleston, we stayed at Mike McKelvy's house in Altoona, Florida. Mike lives in part of the Ocala National Forest which is very different than what most people think of when thinking about Florida. It is quite secluded with dirt roads and some trailer parks. When we arrived at 10:00 p.m. and started driving down his deep sugar sand dirt road, we thought we had made a wrong turn and were now lost in Hillbilly Land never to be found! All of a sudden there was a loud knocking on our window and there was McKelvy - scared the s**t out of me!

Mike was a wonderful host. He had everything ready for our stay (except for coffee) :-) and we couldn't have been more comfortable. It was fun having him tell us all about the area. He brought us to two of his favorite places which are two Springs in his 'neck of the woods'. Alexander Springs and Silver Glen Springs. Both were beautiful spots and we could see why Mike liked to visit them often.

Mike swims almost daily YEAR ROUND at Alexander Springs. There is also a great boardwalk trail that goes almost entirely around the Spring with markers along the way giving you information on the plants and animals surrounding the area. There were very few people there when we were but the weather was beautiful. We enjoyed watching the turtles and fish and looking for 'gators'.

Silver Glen Springs was nice because you could get closer to viewing the actual spring but more crowded. There were several boats and pontoons and more people on the beach. It also had a great picnic area like Alexander Springs and you could walk around it on a trail for viewing. An interesting site to see here were the large fish in their nests. It was hard getting Bill to leave this area because of this - you know Bill and his fish!

On Friday night Mike had a gig at the Frog and the Monkey Restaurant and Pub in Mt Dora, Florida. Bill sat in to sing and we had a very nice evening. The gig was from 6:00 to 9:00 which was great since we could still spend more time reminiscing in the evening. We 'reminisced' till the wee hours of the morning and Bill and Mike went over many tunes for the upcoming Walrus gig this summer at Harbor Fest in Marquette. Yes, for those of you who didn't know, Walrus will be playing on Saturday night at Harbor Fest (formally the Seafood Fest) this summer, Saturday, August 24th.

We also got to visit Joe Martin! Jose' lives just a few miles from Mike and we had a lot of laughs with him and his friend Wanda who has a place 'on the hard road' as she says, which is about a mile away. Jose's place is even more remote than Mikes but a great spot all by itself.

Mike has played piano at the Harbor Hills Golf Club for their brunch for the past four years It was a beautiful place with fountains and peacocks all around and Mike treated us to their wonderful St Pat's Brunch.

We had a great time visiting Mike and it was nice to finally see where he lives. He has a nice setup here with his living location (our secluded style) and interesting gigs.

THANKS MUNUCH (Mike) FOR A GREAT TIME!