Serenity on the Dunnellon Trail

Don’t know about you, but I’m stressed.

Not about normal stuff. I’m somewhat healthy. I have an extremely rewarding business that didn’t exist a year ago. My adorable wife loves me.

No, my stress is more abstract. The kind that comes from watching cable TV news, no matter whose side I’m on at the time.​

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I used to insulate myself from such unnecessary worry by focusing on Citrus County issues, but it’s getting a little weird around here too.

Library Guy, who as we know is a candidate for Inverness City Council, last month attended a Homosassa Republican club meeting (where all the Inverness voters hang out) and said if elected, his priority is to run the Citrus County Chronicle out of business by ensuring it doesn’t get any of the city’s legal advertisements.

What the heck?

Since I find myself writing about such weirdness now somewhat regularly, I need means of escape at least once a week.

Friday is my “off” day; I’m not writing a blog that night for the next day. I still post Friday on the Just Wright Citrus Facebook page as the situation arises, but I to separate myself from politics a little.

That means getting out, away from the home/office, somewhere on my own to explore.

I took a recent drive to the Dunnellon Trail off C.R. 39 near U.S. 41 in Citrus Springs. The trail has a connector to the Withlacoochee State Trail that goes underneath U.S. 41.

I remember some of that. The state wanted a connector between the two trails, but how to get it across U.S. 41? There was talk of a bridge, but that would be expensive and time-consuming. The state considered a simple crossing lane, but everyone agreed that didn’t seem smart on a 55 mph road.

The underpass idea is a real winner. I walked down there and could see its value, particularly to bicyclists who can cut easily between the two trails without having to navigate a highway.

But it’s the walk north, about 20 minutes or so from the trailhead parking lot, to the Withlacoochee River, where peace really started to sink in.

I leaned on the railing of a bridge where trains once crossed and smiled at that vision as the hot sun brightened my September day.

Sometimes it’s gotta be real simple for me. Just breathe. Citrus County offers me multiple ways to do that.

I’ve created a little business here where my job is to tell you things you should know and wouldn’t know if I didn’t tell you. Mostly that’s politics and government type things.

But here’s something else you should know: Get out. I’m serious. Go outside and see what Citrus County and the outlying area has to offer. 

Especially you newer folks. Doesn’t have to be a day-long thing, but something to reshift the focus a little to one of gratitude for living in such a cool place.

Here’s 10 random, call-em-what-you-want, excursions I’ve enjoyed:

1. Turner Camp Road boat ramp.
   
2. Ozello Park on John Brown Drive.
   
3. Mason Creek Road boat ramp.
   
4. Dunnellon Trail at the trailhead, walking to the river and back.
   
5. Withlacoochee Bay Trail along the barge canal, which is a lot prettier than you think.
   
6. Lake Lindsey Road in northern Hernando County.
   
7. County Road 40 connecting Dunnellon and Inglis. It’s rural, man. I’m not sure, but I think I saw in someone’s yard the other day an airplane propeller. The drive also provides nice glimpses of Lake Rousseau.
   
8. I couldn’t tell you where exactly, but Citrus Springs has some great out of the way drives. (On passable roads.)
   
9. Chassahowitzka.
   
10.  Gobbler/Withlapopka Isles in Floral City.
    

P.S. I  actually wrote this earlier in September for My Hometown Citrus. Today’s blog is edited slightly from the original.

By the way, always a nice stroll for me: Crystal River and Inverness downtowns, Floral City’s town center and Old Homosassa.

Have a great weekend friends.

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