Follow the adventures of these Kayak Girls as they travel the country with their 1996 TrailManor 2720.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Day #110 – Legal to Drive & Yulee Sugar Mill

Crystal River FL

Gosh golly, I sure ticked Kelly off this morning.  All I did was sleep a bit late (not my fault Big Brother changed the clocks), require breakfast before leaving the trailer, and insist on a cup of tea.  I just couldn’t move fast enough or stay out of her way.  We were both nervous about our impending trip to the Florida Driver License Center and expressed it in very different ways.  I wanted to procrastinate and Kelly wanted to march forward.  We eventually got ourselves out the door and on the road.  [Kelly insists I mention it was 11:30 when we left the trailer.]

The Driver License Center was a welcoming place.  They started you off with one of those pull-the-tab-for-a-number and a list of what you need for a driver’s license.  I pulled #75; they were serving #58.  [Kelly insists I mention that all but one of the employees were at lunch for the first 45 minutes of our wait time.] While we waited, many people left in disgust.  Some auctioned their numbers to those still waiting.  Kelly got one and wasn’t pleased that I did not – she threatened to leave me there.  Some brought back lunch that just made my stomach rumble. A lot of people were missing required information and were sent away in shame.  As soon as all the employees returned from lunch, and the supervisor started helping, we both got new licenses without a hitch.  The woman who helped Kelly recognized our address as a mail forwarding service and added our personal box number to her license.  No such luck for me – very inconsistent.

After lunch, we drove over to the Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Historic State Park (http://www.floridastateparks.org/yuleesugarmill).  There was no visitor center or ranger on duty.  We walked around and took lots of pictures.  Before the Civil War, each sugar plantation had at least one sugar mill on it to process the sugar cane.  This particular plantation mill provided sugar for the Confederate Army.  The mill was run by a steam engine.  The engine was fueled with water from nearby wells and discarded cane.  Huge rollers pressed the juice from the cane.  The juice was heated in a very large shallow bowl.  The juice was ladled from one bowl to another, with more and more water evaporating at each stage.  When it got very thick, it was allowed to crystallize into sugar.  The leftover molasses was used for making rum.  The used cane was put into the fire to heat the water for more steam.

After our visit to the sugar mill, we stopped at the library to download our photos and write some blog entries.  We got back to the trailer long after dark.  Our crock potted sauerkraut and potatoes had smelled up the entire area around our trailer.  I was surprised we didn’t see a row of raccoons waiting with forks for their share.

[Kelly insists that I discuss her insisting.]  She thinks I’m making her sound pushy and she insists she is not.  Tomorrow brings me fresh new hope for an improved atmosphere.

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