America the Beautiful – By Cooper Chilton

Most of you will agree, long hours of interstate riding gets BORING, but sometimes it is the only reasonable option. So what do we do for a break? Send someone into the gas station to grab food, while another fills the tank, and eat in the parking lot or spend an hour in a restaurant. Then spend more hours of BORING riding toward our destination. How about an option? Grab that fast food and look for a nearby sanctuary to relax for that hour. There are lots of available getaway places, if only you look. If you are riding to South Florida, just a 15 minute drive from I-75, near Gainesville, is such a rest stop. O’Leno State Park is a peaceful place to picnic, with some interesting features. Admission will cost you $5, for you and your passenger, but if you can afford to go to Florida, you can swing it. The park was built in the 1930’s, by the Civilian Conservation Corps, on the banks of the Santa Fe River, as a Florida Forest Service camp, and became a state park in 1940. The CCC built a suspension bridge across the river, dormitories (now group camps), and picnic shelters. However, the neatest thing about the park is the disappearing river! After an easy 10-15 minute walk, from the parking lot, the roaring river enters a pool and doesn’t come out. Florida, like Tennessee and Kentucky, is known for its sink holes, this entire river enters a sinkhole and runs underground, for three miles, to appear again in the River Rise Preserve State Park. After your short walk, spend a few minutes enjoying the peace and quiet of the surroundings and read the history of the railroad town of Leno (originally Keno) that once occupied this land. Now, doesn’t that sound more relaxing than spending time in a chain restaurant? You should be more ready to ride after your stop. And yes, for the toy hauler group, they have camping hookups and, also, cabins, and tent camping. O’Leno State Park is located at 410 SE O’Leno Park Road, High Springs, FL, 32643. The park is open from 8 am til sundown. Ride Safe and Have Fun!! Cooper