February 15, 2022 – Homosassas, FL – Pedaled north to Homosassas and while looking for a place for the evening set out to find 7 Sisters Campground.

In my mind, it sounded charming. Seven sisters working together to start a campground on property that had been in their family for generations. Grassy lots, a boutique coffee shop, warm fires at night and the camaraderie of the sisters and all the stories they could tell.

Weaving down a back country road I followed the signs and pulled into not what I had imagined at all.

A sign that read “office” hung on the side of a rustic trailer. It had a wooden porch next to open water that looked rather murky… and that’s being kind.

I had my mind made up already but a voice from inside bellowed “hello” and I went in to, at the very least, get the lowdown on how the 7 Sisters must have escaped.

The trailer was mostly barren, except for a beer sign, a big desk, and a large man with deep black eyeliner sitting behind a computer screen.

“Seven sisters?,” I asked quizzically. The man nodded.

“Where are they?”

”It’s just me and Roy,” said the young man. I will call him Kevin because he said his name and I, obviously disenchanted, wasn’t listening.

Kevin reminded me of Adam Lambert; season 8 of American Idol. He was charming enough, friendly and, aside from the computer and the desk he was sucking on a vape pipe. He would take a drag during our conversation and then place it, not on his expansive wooden desk nor in his shirt pocket, but his legs were crossed and he rested the pipe in the crotch atop his blue jeans.

It was odd but real, and now I can’t unsee it.

“I read that you had cabins,” I said. “How much?”

”Well,” said Kevin, dancing the mouse around the desk and trying to place the cursor in the grid on his screen, “Let me see if we have any left.”

Camping on a random Wednesday in February is apparently a hot market in the tourist metropolis of Homosassas.

“We might have one… if the girl can turn it over,” he said.
“How much,” I asked.
“It’s $100 for the night.” Said Kevin. “With a $100 cleaning fee.”
”So $200 for the night,” I confirmed.

”Nope,” said Kevin taking a hit off his vape pen and returning it gently to its holder, “It’s $100… and then $100 for the cleaning fee.”

Silent pause… as I let it sink in.

“I know it SOUNDS like $200,” said Kevin. “But someone’s gotta pay the cleaning lady.”

I started to wonder if Kevin was talking about himself in the third person and that HE was really the cleaning lady.

I kicked around and toed at a dark spot on the floor. “You’re right… it sure DOES sound like $200,” I said.

Figuring I didn’t go to school in Florida and I never took campsite math I told Kevin it was a little steep for me and I’d push along and explore my options.

He was pretty unphased and went back to looking at his computer screen and noshing on his vape pen.

And the dreamy Seven Sister Campground would live on only in Wisconsin biker lore and my crushed imagination.

“Have I not commanded you? …  Be strong and courageous. … Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9

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The 2022 Amazing Ride for Alzheimer’s is raising money this year for music programming for seniors at Cedar Community, a 501c3, so all donations are tax-deductible.

Donate via the secure website through Cedar Community.  Donations should be marked “Amazing Ride 2021.” Click HERE to make a secure online donation.

Checks may be made payable to “Cedar Community Foundation” with “Judy Bike Ride” in the memo line and mailed to 113 Cedar Ridge Dr., West Bend, WI 53095

Be sure to include the Federal Tax ID Number for the Foundation: 39-1249432

You may also find a downloadable donation form HERE.

Cedar Community is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, and donations are tax-deductible.

Weeki Wachee, FL – There are signs of pirates in Florida and talk of mermaids. Pedaling into the community of Weeki Wachee you’ll find it has flair similar to the Wisconsin Dells with unique dinosaur art followed by a chaser of mermaids.

The underwater show at Weeki Wachee is Disneyesque with a voiceover script lip-synced by underwater actors in bikini tops, mermaid tails, and what looks like a hookah pipe. (It is the oxygen resource.)

The entire show is performed underwater, except for a brief stint on stage once the mermaid’s wish for legs is granted so she can have a dance with the handsome prince.

The mermaids spin and wave as real fish swim in front of the audience watching the show through the giant aquarium glass.

Reminded me of this Disney quote by Sebastian in The Little Mermaid, “Down here all the fish is happy. As off to the waves they roll. The fish on the land ain’t happy. They sad ’cause they in the bowl.” 

After the performance, the mermaids arrive on land to meet guests and pose for pictures. During a lull in kid traffic, I had an in-depth interview with a mermaid who hails from New York.

“It’s always been my dream to be a Weeki Wachee mermaid,” said Nikki.

It is her third year in the performance. “Once I get this acting bug satisfied I will probably pursue some sort of scuba diving/tourism field,” she said.

Down to hardtacks. “Who is dating the prince?”

Nikki said there are budding relationships. Over the past 60 years, one pair of performers got married and now their daughter is in the show.

”Other performers also come back,” she said. “Retired mermaids are called sirens. They’re such a large group they have reunions.”

The fitness level of the mermaids is Olympic in nature. “You need really good core and arm strength, “ said Nikki.

Weights are not used to keep actors underwater. And the water comes from a fresh spring with a temp of about 72 degrees.
After posing for a rare actual photo with a mermaid I moved along to explore the park, but… spun around for one last question and heard a dramatic thump like a wet log falling on a hardwood floor.

The mermaid’s shift above land was over and she was off her chair and back to the water. I’m sure they’re instructed not to ruin the mermaid mystique so in typical Darryl Hannah fashion Nikki had clunked to the ground and was crawling back to the dressing room.

Because I had to ask… “yes” there is currently a mermaid from Wisconsin. But neither of the two out of water could pronounce where she was from.

Ruth was not a unanimous choice for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

A year after his retirement, Ruth was among the five initial inductees elected to the new National Baseball Hall of Fame under construction in Cooperstown, New York. In spite of Ruth’s amazing career statistics, 11 of the 226 voters left him off their ballots, and the “Sultan of Swat” trailed Ty Cobb as the leading vote-getter. Ruth’s plaque in Cooperstown refers to him as baseball’s “greatest drawing card.” Klein, C., (2014, July 11) 10 Surprising Facts You May Not Know About Babe Ruth history.com https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-babe-ruth

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“Have I not commanded you? …  Be strong and courageous. … Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9

______

The 2022 Amazing Ride for Alzheimer’s is raising money this year for music programming for seniors at Cedar Community, a 501c3, so all donations are tax-deductible.

Donate via the secure website through Cedar Community.  Donations should be marked “Amazing Ride 2021.” Click HERE to make a secure online donation.

Checks may be made payable to “Cedar Community Foundation” with “Judy Bike Ride” in the memo line and mailed to 113 Cedar Ridge Dr., West Bend, WI 53095

Be sure to include the Federal Tax ID Number for the Foundation: 39-1249432

You may also find a downloadable donation form HERE.

Cedar Community is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, and donations are tax-deductible.