ON THE ROAD WITH THE EVERHARTS
“We were traveling east across mid-Florida,” Bob
Everhart said as he piloted his RV camper down the Florida backroads.
“We had been looking for some orange groves, and we finally found some
on Highway-80. Tons of them, everywhere we looked there were orange
groves, and large numbers of oranges on each tree. Then the orange
groves disappeared, and sugar cane fields started popping
up….everywhere. We went right through Pahokee, Florida, where Mel
Tillis was born. I even wrote a song called the ‘Pahokee Sugar Cane
Blues’ quite a few years ago, with Steve Hansen from Lincoln,
Nebr., playing an electric guitar lead on it. You can probably find it
at Smithsonian-Folkways and then type in Bob Everhart to find the song.”
Everhart said as he piloted his RV camper down the Florida backroads.
“We had been looking for some orange groves, and we finally found some
on Highway-80. Tons of them, everywhere we looked there were orange
groves, and large numbers of oranges on each tree. Then the orange
groves disappeared, and sugar cane fields started popping
up….everywhere. We went right through Pahokee, Florida, where Mel
Tillis was born. I even wrote a song called the ‘Pahokee Sugar Cane
Blues’ quite a few years ago, with Steve Hansen from Lincoln,
Nebr., playing an electric guitar lead on it. You can probably find it
at Smithsonian-Folkways and then type in Bob Everhart to find the song.”
“We went right through a huge sugar cane field burn,” Sheila said, “the smoke was so dense we could hardly see to drive.”
The Everharts are at Lion Country Safari, where they
performed their ‘Traveling Museum of Music’ at the KOA RV resort, right
next to Lion Country. “We could hear the lions every night we were
there,” Bobbie Lhea, the Everhart’s 16-year old daughter said. “We
could hardly sleep at night. They would start roaring about 11pm and keep it up until two in the morning.”
performed their ‘Traveling Museum of Music’ at the KOA RV resort, right
next to Lion Country. “We could hear the lions every night we were
there,” Bobbie Lhea, the Everhart’s 16-year old daughter said. “We
could hardly sleep at night. They would start roaring about 11pm and keep it up until two in the morning.”
“We did a nice concert for about 60 of the KOA folks,”
Sheila added, “and then they gave us free admission and a free car to
travel through the Safari attraction. It was pretty incredible,
considering we also got free RV camping at this same RV resort.. We got
to see the lions that made so much noise at night, but even more
spectacular, we had to stop the car in the middle of the road to let
five huge rhinos pass through. The same thing happened with some huge
cattle that commandeered the roadway. We had such a good time doing the
Safari, we did it twice. Those huge rhinos, lions, ostrich’s,
giraffes, and water buffalo all came right next to the car. There were
huge numbers of antelope and gnus and animals like this from all over
the world. It could be pretty scary if you didn’t follow the
instructions of the guides.”
Sheila added, “and then they gave us free admission and a free car to
travel through the Safari attraction. It was pretty incredible,
considering we also got free RV camping at this same RV resort.. We got
to see the lions that made so much noise at night, but even more
spectacular, we had to stop the car in the middle of the road to let
five huge rhinos pass through. The same thing happened with some huge
cattle that commandeered the roadway. We had such a good time doing the
Safari, we did it twice. Those huge rhinos, lions, ostrich’s,
giraffes, and water buffalo all came right next to the car. There were
huge numbers of antelope and gnus and animals like this from all over
the world. It could be pretty scary if you didn’t follow the
instructions of the guides.”
“We’re finally getting pretty close to the reason we
came to Florida,” Bob added, we will be at the German-American Club to
do a charity show for Horse Country in Miami.”
came to Florida,” Bob added, we will be at the German-American Club to
do a charity show for Horse Country in Miami.”
“Dad did a good job finding us a budget lunch,”
Bobbie Lhea added. “We got to eat at the Lion Safari. Dad took us to
the theme park that is connected to the Safari, and sure enough he found
some terrific food for us. I had chicken fingers which were good, mom
had a bacon cheeseburger, and dad had a pub style cheeseburger, and he
still kept it under $20, which is getting harder and harder to do here
in Florida.
Bobbie Lhea added. “We got to eat at the Lion Safari. Dad took us to
the theme park that is connected to the Safari, and sure enough he found
some terrific food for us. I had chicken fingers which were good, mom
had a bacon cheeseburger, and dad had a pub style cheeseburger, and he
still kept it under $20, which is getting harder and harder to do here
in Florida.