From ghost towns to river crossings, these are the strange, sacred, and sunbaked corners of Florida you won’t find on a postcard.
Introduction: Where the River Still Waits There are places that vanish quietly, and then there are places like Ellaville—towns that don’t disappear so much as sink. Tucked along a bend of the Suwannee River, Ellaville was once one of Florida’s most prosperous lumber towns. In the late 1800s, steam whistles echoed through the trees, steamboats … Read more
There are places you stumble across once and never forget.And then there are places that call you back. Giddens Homestead Cemetery is the latter for me. Hidden deep in the Florida woods, this small pioneer cemetery has been part of my life for nearly a decade. I found it long before I understood the story … Read more
Some places don’t announce themselves.They wait. Kingsley Plantation sits quietly on Fort George Island near Jacksonville, Florida—white walls softened by time, palm trees standing like sentinels, the river moving along as if nothing ever happened here. At first glance, it feels calm. Preserved. Almost peaceful. But peace can be deceptive. This stop came during my … Read more
Some roads don’t fade quietly.Some stop mid-sentence. Stretching nearly a thousand feet across the dark, tannin-stained waters of the Suwannee River, the Hillman Bridge stands rusting and silent—an abandoned steel giant that once promised connection and now leads only into forest. We didn’t set out to find it first. On our way to scout the … Read more
Some places don’t announce themselves. They don’t have visitor centers or iron gates or tidy rows of matching stones. They sit quietly behind trees, letting the world grow up around them, waiting to see who notices. McGeachy Cemetery is one of those places. Despite driving through this Hernando County neighborhood countless times, I had never … Read more
Some places announce themselves with open doors, guided tours, and gift shops buzzing with voices.Others ask you to slow down, stand outside the gate, and listen harder. The Mission Nombre de Dios is one of those places. We arrived early—too early, as it turned out. The gates were still closed, the gift shop locked, and … Read more
We didn’t leave early because we planned it that way.We left early because excitement wouldn’t let us sleep. By 4:19 a.m., the TV was still glowing, my son hadn’t slept at all, and I’d only managed a few half-dreams. We looked at each other, shrugged, and silently agreed: Let’s just go. A rental car waited … Read more
Gravestones, Ghost Towns, and the Long Way Toward What Matters Some road trips begin with wanderlust.This one began with unfinished business. On Alabama Road Trip #1, Dusty and I did what we thought was right at Bethlehem Cemetery—but “right” didn’t quite stick. Time, weather, and the quiet cruelty of neglect had already erased almost everything … Read more
The long goodbye. The final day of a road trip always has its own personality. There’s less talking. More staring out the window. A soft, shared understanding that something good is ending and reality is waiting patiently down the road. Day Four of our first Alabama road trip was exactly that—simple, meaningful, and intentionally slow. … Read more
The road to Pensacola crawled that morning. Dusty and I had already conquered every cup of coffee the truck could carry before we finally reached the causeway that led into Gulf Islands National Seashore. Traffic melted away as white dunes swallowed the skyline, and the Gulf turned the color of polished glass. Somewhere under a … Read more