I have many fond memories of the Ichetucknee and floating with the family and friends down the river. Stopping to rent inner tubes and spending the day enjoying the river. I can still see the bins of black tubes. Strangely enough, I don’t think that we always rented them. For some reason, I think that we had tire tubes because my grandfather was a mechanic or my father drove big trucks. In fact, I remember having tubes when we would go to Ocean Pond, so we must have carried them with us. And it was mostly pleasant, though I do remember if you laid your back on the tube the wrong way that the valve stem might occasionally poke you. I remember balancing back and forth of tires and trying to stand while floating down the river. Pulling to the side to jump from trees and the cool crisp and refreshing feeling on a hot summer’s day. I do have a few fond memories of going with my Grandmother to her friends cabin on the lower Ichetucknee. We would put in at the bridge and float down to their dock and repeat. When we were ready to go back, they would drive us and drop us off and repeat through out the day. Nothing like the wonder of being a Florida water baby and enjoying the sun and springs. Have some fun memories canoeing as well. One of my buddies John wanted to canoe the river and Santa Fe in the fall, so we put in at the drop off point North of 27 then canoed towards the bridge, and oh my goodness the drop under the bridge. I have no idea how we did not flip into the river, but luckily we did not, but we enjoyed a nice cool fall morning in November. The beauty about the river is that you might not see fall anywhere else in Florida, but you see it on the river. It is one of the few places where you can see the leaves change their golden hues and reds, and I remember how pretty those colors reflected in the clear pool of the Ichetucknee. I have a fond memory of taking my father canoeing down the river and getting to spend the day canoeing and swimming with him when we got to the end of the river where the spring mixed with the Santa Fe and swam the rest of the afternoon. I remember many a dusk canoe trips in the spring when the lightning bugs would light up the tree canopy light Christmas lights, and it was majestic. I always thought how glorious it was to see nature electrified against the night sky. I remember many trips in which we hopped fences to sneak a watermelon or stopped at a side boiled peanut stand to grab a bag of salty goobers to enjoy along the journey. I dont think that those who are not from the area fully understand how that river water runs in our veins, how its a part of our families, how our memories are tied not just to the land but to the water that gives it is life blood and feeds the soul of our liquid hearts and the sunshine beats down and feeds the flora and nourishes our bodies with Vitamin D that on a bright day looks more like beet juice stained upon the neck and skin that failed to take precaution while playing in the cool depths. There is that feeling that every Floridian knows when you are wind burned and sunburnt and riding home either in the back of the car or maybe in the back of the truck with the wind blowing you dry that is just magical. It is joy and exhausting that gives way to the setting sun. That feeling and that sentiment are the essence of home and Florida and the Ichetucknee laid out in my imagination and calling me back again.