Travel Let’s go back in time and relive Florida of yesteryear...it’s the former Spanish territory of Escambia and Saint John, a vast wild landscape stretching from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico. A lawless and hostile land of swamps, hammocks (hillocks), forests, salt marshes...and wide savanna prairies stretching as far as the eye can see. Narrow rutted Indian paths cut through forests of live oaks and cabbage palm; clumps of saw palmetto and Spanish bayonet tear at your body. Dangerous wildlife is everywhere...alligators in the wetlands and hungry black bears hunting for food – cow or human – it doesn’t matter. If you’re foolish enough to sleep on the ground, rattlesnakes might climb into your bedding at night or hide in your discarded boots seeking warmth. Deadly water moccasins, panthers, wild boars and wolf packs lurk in the dark around us. In the swamps, black clouds of vicious biting mosquitoes bring malaria...all adding misery to this wild country. Mother Nature provided her share of danger. Homesteads built on “dry” hammocks flood in heavy rain downpours, powerful forks of lightning caused raging fires on rain-starved savannas and, of course, the vicious weather of occasional hurricanes arrived with no warning. The Wild, Wild East Deadly rattlers were everywhere Travel writer Dave Hunter finds that the Wild West was a “cake walk” compared to the Wild Wild East...Florida 22 | www.snowbirds.org
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