Sat., Jan 19/13

Up and out after breakfast headed to Tavares, FL via Howie-in-the-Hills, FL.

Howie-in-the-Hills is a quiet, well-kept rural village located on the shoreline of Little Lake Harris nestled among the gently rolling hills of Lake County, FL. The area, once dubbed the "Florida Alps", has peaks slightly over 300' above sea level. (Florida's highest point is only about 45' higher).

Howey-in-the-Hills was founded by William John Howey and incorporated as "Howey" on May 8, 1925. In 1927, the name was officially changed to Howey-in-the-Hills to reflect the beautiful rolling hills and sparkling lakes, which he dubbed "the Florida Alps.” Mr. Howey envisioned a great citrus empire with the Town as its commercial and shipping hub. The first citrus plant in Florida opened here in 1921 and has been periodically been modernized and still operates today.

Sadly, in many areas, real estate is worth more than orange groves. The Citrus Tower, One of Florida’s first “attractions” , in Clermont near where we are staying, was a stopping point from which to view the orange grove covered landscape of the area. Built in 1956 on one of the highest hills in Florida’s ridge section, the tower reaches 22 stories into the sky. In the late 1980's development took over many of the groves. Today the glass enclosed observation deck allows visitors to observe the panoramic view of the rolling hills of Florida’s ridge section and hundreds of spring-fed lakes in the surrounding 8 county area; but only a few orange groves.

Continuing on we soon arrived at our destination for today - the "Orange Blossom Cannonball" steam train. This train is also known as Florida's Movie Train which began it’s career in 1964 with the film “This Property Is Condemned” starring Natalie Wood, Robert Redford and Charles Bronson. Famed director Martin Scorsese used the train in his second feature film “Boxcar Bertha” in 1972. Barbara Hershey and David Carradine teamed together to make a story of train robbers and lovers in the American South.


Since then over 20 additional TV and film projects have used the train. The most recent: “True Grit,” “Appaloosa,” “3:10 to Yuma,” “There Will Be Blood,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou,” and “Rosewood.”

Actors who have appeared in these films, reads like a “Who’s Who of Hollywood.”

• Slim Pickens Jaclyn Smith Ben Johnson Harry Carry, Jr Keith Carradine Dennis Quaid Stacy Keach
• Lloyd Bridges Gregory Peck Patrick Swayze Jean Simmons Daniel Day Lewis Russell Crowe
• Christian Bale Peter Fonda Jeff Bridges Ed Harris Tom Skerritt Ashton Kutcher James Coburn
• Matt Damon Josh Brolen Hailee Steinfeld Jimmy Stewart Olivia de Havilland Linda Evans
• Wayne Newton Hal Holbrook Johnny Cash Jon Voight George Clooney John Goodman
• Holly Hunter Charles Dunning Viggo Mortensen Renee Zellweger Jeremy Iron Dylan McDermott
• Rachael Leigh Cook

Other facts the trip: 

• trains and cars are involved in an accident every 2 hours in America. This train has been hit on an average of once a year.
• to move the train to another location (not allowed on other rail lines due to its age) they remove the steel wheels on the train and all (4) cars; hook it up to a semi (transport truck) and tow it down the highway. This is very dangerous - not the towing; the idiots swerving all over the road trying to take picture.
• the train station is being refurbished and in a few moments will be completed with an exterior matching the original late 1800's station.
• in the near future train tracks will be restored to allow the train to run from Mt. Dora through, Clermont, Winter Garden, and on to Orlando.

After purchasing tickets I placed 2 pennies on the track before boarding the train. They were exactly were I left them when I checked on our return - double pressed - coming and going. They are the two smudges on the rail - quite flat. This old practice, some say for "Good Luck", is the fore-runner of today's flattened souvenir coins. 

The trip itself was relaxing although the scenery was not astounding. It is still fun to ride the rails, hear the clickety-clack and enjoy the slow ride (top speed less than 20 mph). Many folks that live beside the tracks come out to wave. The train, at times, running close to the lake, gave interesting views of city the and the countryside.

Since this train is the only daily operating wood-fired (oak) steam locomotive in America I thought that after smelling so much oak smoke we should go to Sonny's Real Pit BBQ (also oak smoked).

There are several  in the area. We decided on the Sonny's in Clermont being it was closer to the RV. The sun was out and the temperature was now into the 70's F so the top off the Del Sol and enjoyed the country roads. At Sonny's we decided on the Rib Sampler. We had the Sweet & Smokey St. Louis Cut Ribs and their Signature Baby Back Ribs. Both were sweet, tender, and full of that real hardwood smoked flavor. Lots of meat and both had great taste.

After the meal we ran the car through the nearby car wash. We got the exterior wash only - a full wash (includes interior cleaning) could run up to $25. We then went to the SuperTarget store a few miles down the road to pick up additional car cleaning supplies. SuperTarget is a Walnmart SuperCenter without the chaos and the crowds.

Again, a GPS is advisable as most of the commercial properties are not allowed prominent signage. You can't drive and find these places as they are so well hidden by the rolling landscape. Even when we knew where to look it often meant, if we spotted it (at 55 mph), we had to turn around and go back to an available entrance. 

On the way back to the RV we were stopped at a traffic light. Two police cars approached the intersection with full lights and sirens; yet the first car in line crossed right in front of them when the light turned green. What part of sirens and lights didn't they notice? Oh, yeh - the light did turn green; so why not pull out right in front of them. Duh! Another reminder to drive defensively - all the time!

Back at the RV channel hopping brought up the Pittsburg (Penguins) vs Philadelphia (Flyers) hockey game. NHL hockey has returned. We watched a NOVA (PBS) program checking in on the game occasionally and did catch the last few minutes as the Flyers tried to get the equalizing goal with their goalie out of the net (for an extra forward). As usual, it didn't work. Pittsburg scored an "empty-netter" to win 3-1.

The weather today was much like a nice summer day back home. We had fun!