Day #79 – Linger Lodge

Sarasota FL

Still a little tired from the drive yesterday, we got off to a late start this morning. We packed a few things, farmed a little on Farmville, and called around trying to find a place to park our RV. Most of the places were already full, and did not expect to have any openings until the snowbirds migrate back to their northern homes in mid-March or early April. Yikes! One place had openings, but informed us that they do NOT allow pop-ups in their park. I tried to explain that we aren’t really a pop up, but they didn’t care. Finally we got a nibble at a place called “Linger Lodge”, which is only 20 miles north of where we are now. We took it. North is North. We’ll deal with farther North later. We need a campground now.

Happy with the fact that we found any place, we headed out for a late lunch at El Torro restaurant. Once again the food was excellent. Suzie and I were talking about getting on with our road trip, and how happy we were to find a campground. I had recalled a blurb about Linger Lodge in one of those “One Tank Roadtrip” books that Barb had loaned us. Suzie remembered it being “One of the ten weirdest restaurants in America”. We were excited and thrilled just to be planning our adventures again. We decided to check out the place and have some dessert in the restaurant. It was pouring down rain, but we didn’t care. We were having an adventure of sorts!

Well, the adventure continued as we were lost on Linger Lodge road. We had plugged the address into our GPS and it took us to a dirt easement road with a “No Trespassing” sign posted at the entry. We thought it looked a little too rustic to actually be the campground. So we decided the GPS must be wrong, and we would just drive up and down the length of Linger Lodge Road, until we found it. It had to be somewhere. I mean they didn’t name it Linger Lodge Road for nothing right? We did finally stumble upon the place, but it was not easy! We found a sign that pointed to the Lodge. Apparently Linger Lodge is no longer on Linger Lodge road. It was built in 1945, but since then some subdivisions have come into existence and the roads have all been renamed. Check their website (http://www.lingerlodgeresort.com) for the GPS address – it differs from the mailing address.

Linger Lodge is everything you expect to not expect in a restaurant. There is a huge stuffed alligator mounted on the wall just to the right of the main doorway. A foot is hanging out of the alligator’s mouth. There are stuffed bobcats in a glass case across the room. A sign spelling out “Linger Lodge” is located near the bar. Each letter on the sign is a snake. This place is a taxidermist’s delight.

The food is just as varied as the décor. You can get all the usual diner food, burgers, fries, soups, salads, pasta, fish, alligator, and frog legs. We only had room for dessert, so I had a slice of orange citrus pie (tasted like a Creamsicle) and Suzie had mudpie (Oreo crust, coffee ice cream little rosettes of whipped cream, and dressed with some chocolate sauce, and walnuts). Suzie got hers without the walnuts, and said the thing was absolutely delish, but too much for one person. We had a fun dining experience and would recommend it to anyone in the area.

Next we walked around the campground. It was rustic looking with trees, and decent sized spots. Each campsite had a concrete pad to set up a table and some camp chairs. A few had picnic tables, but not many. Most of the full-timers have appropriated any available tables. Still the place was nice, and the Braden River runs right behind the restaurant and along one side of the campground. There are a few docks available for motor boats, and a boat ramp. We were very interested in the boat ramp and were happy to find our site was near that. We were looking forward to kayaking and camping.

The rain stopped. We drove home with full bellies, and wonderful expectations. Life is good.