# 114 Dead River Landing, Bruce Florida

I saw a freecamp.net called Dead River Landing. I didn't know if I wanted to go to a dead River or not. I read google about it and it said it wasn't bad or creepy it's just the water did not move hardly at all. They called the Dead River because sometimes a Jon Boat could be left untied and it wouldn't move for five feet in 24 hours. Since it wasn't dead as I had feared or poisonous, we decided to stay there after Tallahassee.

We followed the GPS directions to the Dead River Landing. It was down a paved road for quite a ways, I'd say about two miles. We got there and it opened up to a big RV loop. In the far corner, there was a playground and a nice concrete boat ramp. I love these places because they’re so nature-based and so way out from nowhere. Somebody was there that seemed to be alike a campground host. They were just folks who lived in the area who came by so often they left their camper set up all the time. They said that they stayed there quite often for days and weeks at a time because they only lived 5 miles away. They enjoyed hanging out here all day but go home to the house to sleep. They seemed like they were having a pretty good time as retirement people. We came in with us and just kind of messed around went for a nice walk. India and I decided to be good stewards because the people that visit here are pigs. it would seem and they throw their litter out as if there is no tomorrow. We walked the road back towards the entry and filled 30 of those plastic grocery bags. These ideas are great but we didn’t realize it was such a big job. She was doing her side of the road and I was doing the right side and we picked up bottles and cans and trash until we were worn out. You can also add the Florida sun and humidity to the scene. When your food lion bag is full, we would set it on the side of the road and keep on walking. Later we would come by in the truck and pick up all the bags. I kept commenting on human beings as a species. I pretended to have a perspective as a creature from another planet.

I would tell India I say I'm not so sure about these human beings. They seem very disrespectful to their planet.

It was good to do this but we were kind of worn out by the time we ran out of bags. Later we measured it with the odometer and we cleaned about a mile and a half of the road. Then unfortunately for us, we still had to walk back. All in all, it was a really good feeling to make the place better.

I kind of had a hard time getting the girls off their duffs the next day so after a certain amount of whining and complaining I went kayaking by myself. They said they would rather just sit inside and stare into a phone or watch TV. I'm really glad I did it as was a real old-growth cypress swamp. I always knew some sneaky gator could have come out and made me wish I hadn't done it. Nothing bad happened as I tried to fish a little bit. Mostly I was just communing with nature took a video of it. I was just so remote and I liked it.

Bruce

At the dead river, if you want to leave out and go somewhere the only place to go was down to the end of the road to the small town called Bruce. We were looking to find a church service and that would be in Bruce. When we got to the church, we just kept on waiting and waiting for some activity. Finally, I kind of looked at the sign in the church's front yard. It said due to our declining congregation we only meet on the first and third Sundays now. Since it was apparently the off week there would be no services there today. We just figured we would go to the next available which was a town maybe 10 miles west. It was a nice little place and they ended up suggesting a diner and we went to have lunch. On the way back home, I saw some toolboxes that go on a pickup truck, and when new they are very expensive new like 250 apiece. There were three of them there and they wanted 200 for everything. I ended up buying them and they have become a permanent part of my truck now.

The other part that's worth mentioning is that the night before we wanted to go out to the big city and so we went to eat dinner at the little cafe in Bruce. The only cafe. People think they know what a small town looks like. Bruce is a cafe, a gas station, and a 12x12 post office. They made it clear on the front door we don't take credit cards so I had to decide what I wanted to eat so I didn't buy more than I can pay for. We only had a little cash. When I looked at the menu I saw it was going to be pretty close. I asked if they could take a personal check. I think it's awkward to say but I think it was deemed ok as I had white skin privilege. I had asked the waitress and she went back to the back and ask granny. Granny peered around the corner, looked at me and made eye contact, and said yeah, he looks okay. I hope it was that I look pretty harmless. I hate to say it but would she have said that if I have been Hispanic or a person of color in this part of the deep south. There's a chance that she could have said no, cash only.

On the way to Falling water, I heard a new sound from the truck engine. It was a very high-pitched shrill sound that you hear at a certain RPM. It starts at about 1700 RPMs till maybe 2200. It's like fingernails on a blackboard. so one of the things I kind of halfway thought might be a turbo problem but I thought I better check all my fluid levels. I went from the Bruce Cafe up to the only store that existed about 10 miles up. On the way by I saw a dog track which by the way, I don’t approve of. I understand they breed these greyhounds to run fast for a year, make us a bunch of money, then euthanizing them. All that seems pretty rough to me. We didn't go but the church people mentioned if you wanted a great place to eat, the dog track restaurants are fantastic. I couldn’t quite bring myself to eat there because I didn’t want to support dog racing even if it was only the concessions area. I got some transmission and differential fluid at an AutoZone. The fluids were topped off but the shrill sound hung around. Later in Austin, I replaced the power steering pump and an idler pulley. They must’ve been the problem because it got quiet after that.

I would note that driving from north Florida to gulf shores via Pensacola was sucky traffic. The kind where you’re going 5 mph for 2 hours because of spring break I assume.