Casey Jones ...

... which is an RV Park in Lake City.

In late September we decided to make a short trip in Timmber Wolf to the Olustee Battlefield near Lake City. There are two main north south routes in Florida. I-95 runs within a few miles of the east coast. It starts at the Canadian border near Houlton, Maine, and runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean passing through 15 states all the way south into Miami. The other route is I-75 which also begins at the Canadian border near Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, running into Florida north of Lake City, running down past Gainesville into Ocala and Tampa and then through the Everglades to suburban Miami.

On this, the north end of the state, I-10 connects the two north south interstates, crossing I-75 at Lake City. We chose an inexpensive RV Park in Lake City, just off I-75. This park has a sizeable residence section but also seems to cater to short termers heading south to Orlando and environs. Just a couple of weeks after we were there, Hurricane Michael hit the coast of Florida. Although the worst of the damage was west of Lake City, there was damage to the Lake City area. We don't know if there was any damage to the Casey Jones RV Park but were quite thankful we were no longer there.

If any of you are RV'ing through this area, Casey's is a great choice for a night or two. We didn't see any pool or that sort of amenity but the laundromat looked good and it is inexpensive and very convenient to the interstate although it was not as noisy as you might expect.

The Battle of Olustee was in late February of 1864. Union  troops were in Jacksonville and, including three units of colored troops, was sent towards Tallahassee to interfere with and disrupt Confederate supply lines. The Union and Rebel troops collided in Olustee and after an afternoon of fighting, the Union troops retreated towards Jacksonville. The Confederate commander was criticized for not pursuing the Union army.

Graves of unkown Confederate soldiers killed at Olustee or died in Confederate Hospitals in Lake City

We intended to spend the day or at least most of it at Olustee but there is little to see beyond a visitor center and a short movie if you are not inclined to hike around which anyone who know us realizes we are not the athletic type! If you can be there in February, there is what is said to be an excellent reenactment of the battle along with the Olustee Battle Festival in nearby Lake City at the same time. If we were younger and sprier, we would attempt it!

What did make it of particular interest is that I had distant maternal relatives who served in the Union troops stationed in Jacksonville in the Civil War and some of them were probably at the Battle of Olustee. Some were known to be at the attack the Union forces made on Palatka from the St Johns river and certainly some were involved in some of the skirmishes the troops engaged in during the war. Those of you who are related to me may find that of interest, certainly I had many relatives all over the Union troops (and a very few in Rebel troops).