Monday, December 29, 2014

Turn Here, Now There, ... Canopy Roads of Levy County

We drove with no purpose other than to enjoy a balmy December day in a topless JEEP.
At some point, we went searching for a tiny cemetery, and then a whim directed turn put us onto our first canopy road of the day.
After that road, we now had a goal.
Find canopied roads ... and ride em.


I remember being up north in Leon County, Florida once and picking up a "Leon County Canopy Roads" brochure at a tourist info place.
Leon made a big deal out of their scenic tree covered country roads ... maybe Levy County should too.

We may not have the rolling hills of the Tallahassee area, but we sure have an abundance of pretty canopied country lanes.

Ours are more rustic and unpaved than the paved roads of Leon.

There's hidden treasures all along the way on these canopy roads, like this old house being reclaimed by the land.

On the left side of this doorway, the way the shiplap siding didn't reach quite far enough, requiring a lot of cutting of small pieces to make it right ... I can so relate to this carpenter of long ago.


One thing that was clear as we explored the back roads, ... Levy has a lot of cows.
Dairy cows, beef cows, white cows, black cows, chocolate cows, spotted cows, yellow cows, striped cows ... no, wait, that was a zebra ... anyway, it's a bovine bonanza out there.


Every time I see a really small house, whether it's abandoned like this one or still being used, I wonder about the floorplan.
How are things laid out I wonder?

Rainbow cows.

Some people like dark meat, some like white.
I like it all.

There were some half-canopy wannabee roads ... we rode them too.

Several of these nice rides were dead end roads, but one of the sweet things about a JEEP Wrangler is they can turn around in tiny spots, so no worries mon.

We can get out of any tight spot , well, almost.
Submitted for your approval ... the road not taken ...

There were barred owls swooping ahead of the JEEP, leading us into this swirly vortexian canopy road. We crept down it slowly, the owls moving ahead from branch to branch.
Was it a trap?
Was it a worm hole into some creepy alternate dimension ... or worse ... into Duval or Dade county?

We may never know ... some roads just shouldn't be traveled...even in a JEEP.


13 comments:

Julie Zickefoose said...

You got me, you got me, you got me.
Dirt roads. Overhanging mossy trees. Multi-colored cattle. Barred owls. Slowly deliquescing buildings with bad carpentry. You can have no idea how good all this green looks to an Ohioan in December. What a blast! Thanks for the ride! Only thing better than JEEPback would be horseback.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Here in SW IN the canopied roads are few and far between. This is an agricultural area and they keep any ditch, road lines totally groomed. It is always exciting to find a canopied road and to find Owls there would be outstanding. Thanks for the tour.

Doug Taron said...

Isuspect that there are really cool tiger beetles lurking on those roads during the oppressively hot midsummer days.

showmetravelers said...

What a fun ride! No tree canopies like that in south Texas! You have such an interesting perspective! Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

Loved this journey in your jeep through these canopied roads.

Sayre said...

I think your canopy roads might be better than the ones in Leon County. Try as we might to protect them, development marches on with paving and sidewalks and trimming trees so they don't bring down the power lines. Yours remind me of how ours USED to be. We still have a few and they are jealously guarded, but the number has been drastically reduced... Thanks for sharing YOURS!

Connie said...

A most welcomed journey on this frigid, gray, Colorado day.

Miz S said...

Loving this post. Have been back to read it twice.

Marilyn Kircus said...

Canopied roads all take my heart home.

Mark P said...

Very nice. I'm not sure we have any drivable canopied roads here in northwest Georgia.

Wally Jones said...

What a great way to start my New Year's day!
A cup of coffee and a drive along some beautiful canopy roads.
Cows, a couple of cracker "fixer-uppers", Barred Owls and the promise of unexplored territory.

Now THAT'S "Pure Florida"!

Minnie said...

Dappled light. This being a coastal agricultural area quickly turning suburban, canopy roads are in short supply. The nearest one will be widened into ordinariness within a year or two, but we'll drive it in all seasons and weathers in the meantime. Happy New Year.

R.Powers said...

Thanks for the comments y'all.
These were all in a small bit of our county, not far from each other, so the canopied and just plain Florida rural roadiness potential is high.

More to come, I'm sure.
Really appreciate the commentary and connections.
Have an wonderful new year!