This town just isn't big enough for the one of me.

I decided to go ahead and keep exploring Ocala, but then I realized that there are so many other places, even in this county, that NEED me to explore them.  And explore I will.

I thought this would be easier since there isn't much to say about the individual pictures. Please enjoy another cinematic creation.

The adventure started out with me trying to find more of the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway, but I got distracted (if you can imagine that).  I actually did visit a part of the Greenway about a month back, but I did not take pictures.  The path was paved and I had no bicycle to enjoy it with, so I didn't think it was documentary worthy.  Instead, I went to a couple of parks in Marion County, in Dunnellon to be precise.  The first was a small park that is located adjacent to land designated for the Greenway, and seems to function mainly as a launch point for the Rainbow River (no, Dad, not the rainbow road....river).  There was about one mile's worth of a small pathway.  I only crossed paths with one other person.  Unfortunately, that other person happened to have 2 dogs in tow, so I spent most of my energy trying to avoid contact with the remnants....and I still managed to step in some just as I left the trail...silly me for looking at the scenery as I walked, rather than at the ground.

Stop number 2 was at a trailhead I happened to see on my way back to Ocala.  The H‏álpata Tastanaki Preserve is located at the Pruitt Trailhead.  Best part of this trail? no dogs allowed.  For those interested in reading more about the particulars of the park and a little history, here is where I found my info after I got back from exploring.  As I hadn't planned on walking this trail, and didn't come prepared with water, I didn't go very far and just did a short loop before it started getting too hot for this fair-skinned person.  You can see in the pictures that there was a lot of wide open space, which turned out to be fun because there were a few different kinds of wild flowers that I had never seen.  I was surprised to find the purple flower (near the end of the slides) growing in a small meadow.  Only a few were in bloom, but there were hundreds of plants ready to go.  The purple passionflower is about the size of the palm of my hand, and my picture does not do justice to its beauty.  It is a vine, and I suppose this variety produces a fruit, although I would have to come back in a few months to see for sure.

The big beetles on the thistle plant were about the size of my thumb.  They are also unfamiliar to me, and I haven't taken the time to find out anything about them; just thought they were very interesting to look at, so you get one of my poorly taken pictures.

Tracie's flowers are called Phlox.  I started to see them about 6 weeks ago as I was driving to and from Cocoa.  I asked a local friend of mine about them, and she told me what they were called and that they just bloom in the spring until it starts getting really hot.  They grow wild on the sides of the freeway, sparsely in some places, but pretty thick in others, and I must say of all the non-human things I have found in Ocala, I will miss these flowers the most.  I had been meaning to pick some for a while, but was too embarrassed to stop by the side of the freeway and get them while all the other cars passed by, watching....I really don't like being watched.  Then on Saturday I found myself in a parking lot just on the other side of the freeway, so I quietly walked over to the fence and helped myself, and the only one who was watching was the little rattling snake I startled when I reached in deep to get some white ones.  No, I didn't get bitten, but it probably still would have been worth it.

I have eluded to the possibility that I might not be here for much longer, and for those who know me well, it won't come as a surprise that I don't really have the next chapter of my life planned out.  Surely, someday I will leave and when I do, I don't want to do so with regret on my shoulders.  And although there are a few small things I wish I would have done differently, so far, there is nothing big I would change about my time in Florida.  So I guess I will just keep exploring, and you will just have to keep putting up with my ramblings.