Send us your Florida questions!

The Ocklawaha River in Central Florida has been dammed for decades. Now, there's a chance to tear down the dam and reunite the rivers. That's good news for bass, anglers, environmentalists, and the local economy. Margaret Spontak comes on the podcast to talk about why, and she encourages people to call their state legislators and ask them to support restoration of the Ocklawaha and reuniting the rivers.

Links We Mentioned

Interactive map of the Ocklawaha

Reunite the Rivers and the Rodman Dam

Governor Ron DeSantis and the budget to tear down the dam

Great Florida Riverway Trust

Reunite the Rivers Student Showcase

Rick Kilby: Reclaiming the Sublime on the Ocklawaha

Rick Kilby: Return the Ocklawaha

Rick Kilby: Holy Water, Sacred Ground

Rick Kilby: What I Saw at Silver Springs

Photo by Rick Kilby

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Ryan Worthington joins the podcast to talk about a new initiative he and Cathy are working on — a podcast to document and discuss history in Florida that doesn't get taught in schools. Submerged Stories is the name of the forthcoming podcast, and the Facebook group they've created to crowdsource information. Check out the link below, join the group, and share it with your like-minded friends.

Links We Mentioned

Submerged Storie: Florida's Other History (Ryan and Cathy's Facebook Group)

Magnolia Lakes State Park

Don't Tread on Me history

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

With Cathy traveling through what she calls "historic West Florida", she and Rick talk about forgotten parts of Florida's history — and geography, the War of 1812, and some less savory parts of the early history of the United States and why they get left out of history classes.

Links We Mentioned

Map showing Florida and a "contested" area "sold" to the US by France

Documents Accompanying the Message of the President of the United States of the Fourteenth Instant on the Subject of East Florida (abstract only; paid subscribers should email us for a full copy of the letters)

The Other War of 1812, by Jim Cusick

Image in the public domain.

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Did you know cattle ranchers were the "first intentional conservationists" in Florida? Annie Muscato does. She wrote her doctoral dissertation on it, and this week she joins the podcast to talk — passionately! — about research into how some Florida cattle ranchers are working to protect wild Florida, why Florida cattle ranching isn't nearly as cruel as it is in the rest of the country, and how ranchers work with the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

Links We Mentioned

From Cattle to Conservation (the ecological humility of cattle ranching)

The Omnivore's Dilemma

Food, Inc.

Florida Wildlife Corridor

Adena Farms

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Andrea Conover of Azalea City Brewing and Palatka Mayor Robbie Correa join us this week to help roadtrippers find Palatka's best-kept secrets.

Links We Mentioned

Palatka Coffee Company

Angel's Diner

Palatka's historic riverfront

Velchoff's Corner

Ravine Gardens State Park

Magnolia Cafe

Azalea City Brewing

Lemon Street Market

Kayak tours

North Star Charters

Amara Zee

Bronson Mulholland House (and Rick's post about it — and this one)

Camping in Palatka

25 Taps for the St. Johns

Festivals

Azalea Festival (last weekend in February)

Bartram Frolic (April)

Palatka Blue Crab Festival (Memorial Day weekend)

Palatka Craft Beer Festival (November)

Palatka Porch Fest (first Saturday of December)

Historic Home Tours (second Saturday in December)

Mayhem Datil Pepper Festival (November)

Photo by Rick Kilby

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Rick serves on the board of the Winter Park History Museum, and Cathy lived there for a time in the '90s (and loves to go back). That's why the book written by this episode's guest, Kim Michalak, was so appealing to both of them. Kim shares how she selected her 100 things for her book 100 Things To Do in Winter Park Before You Die.

Links We Mentioned

100 Things To Do in Winter Park Before You Die

Winter Park History Museum

Barnie's Coffee

The Imperial

Ten Thousand Villages

Tyler Gillespie

"Because This is Florida" by Campbell McGrath

Umi Japanese

Park Plaza

Ancient Artifacts and Treasures

The Hurston Museum in Eatonville

The Enzian

Prometheus Esoterica

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

Dan Reiter joins the podcast to talk about his career surfing Florida and writing about the same. The trio talks about everything from the best place to surf in Florida to why surfers shouldn't be scared of sharks. Check out Dan's book about surfing (link below).

Links We Mentioned

On a Rising Swell: Surf Stories From Florida's Space Coast (and a link to buy the book)

Ron Jon Surf Shop

Kelly Slater

Surfing Upham in Pinellas County

Beach renourishment and why it's bad for surfing (and so many other things)

Florida Surf Festival Film Festival June 13-14, 2025

Siam Orchid Thai food in Cocoa Beach

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

Send us your Florida questions!

"Nature isn't just more complex than we know, it's more complex than we can know."

There's a sadly great chance that the State of Florida is going to build a toll road through the last remaining wild growth of a pretty — and pretty endangered — plant. Here's what's happening, where it's happening, and what you can do about it.

Links We Mentioned

Background on the dangers to this endangered mint

Sign up and get involved to protect this mint

Article by Rose Schnabel, WUFT on the mint and the road

Background article on the threats to the genus Dicerandra in Florida

President Eugene Kelly's interview about this issue

Horse Creek (where you can see the last remaining stand of this wild mint)

More about the mint

FDOT details on the project

Photo by Gene Kelly

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!