Road Trip! – A Weekend in Gainesville

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  It is amazing that I had not been on a road trip since Jul of 2023!  That is a lot of time staying around one’s home.  I had been planning to visit the Lubee Bat Conservancy for quite a few months since making reservations for a private VIP tour!  This trip almost did not happen.  However, working the numbers in my head while 8 hours of driving round trip was a slog.  It was entirely possible!

  The plan was to drive up on Friday, see some of the local attractions on Saturday then take the Bat Conservancy tour on Sunday then drive home!

  Preparing for the trip.  I wanted to play radio as much as I could while driving, so I mapped out as well as I could which 2 meter and 70cm repeaters I would be passing along the way.  The programming software for the Yaesu FTM-500DR makes that very easy with its online Repeater Book integration.  I simply compared the cities I would be passing next to on Interstate 10 and 75 with what was in Repeater Book. 

Selected them and imported them in a range of open memory slots.

  Here are is a conversation (known as a CUE-SO  “QSO”) I had with John W4CJB a radio amateur near Defuniak Springs on the WF4X repeater using 2 meters FM.  Hearing everyone’s surprise that I was going to tour a bat conservancy always made me chuckle!

  The radio made the trip go by much faster than it would have otherwise.  Before I knew it I was pulling in to the hotel, where it was time to check in, find a place to eat dinner (Which turned out to be the McDonald’s across the street), take a shower and go to bed!

  Saturday dawned bright and early and I had scheduled an experience flight at the Gainesville airport. 

Here is another QSO I had with Kevin, KE4NVI via the East Coast IRLP Reflector on my way to the airport, discussing the Lubee Bat Conservancy and the University Of Florida Bat Houses.

Unfortunately  the airplane had some technical difficulties that precluded me from being able to go up.  I compliment the companies attention to safety and detail and am glad the problem was discovered on the ground rather than in the air.

  So, I had the entire day to kill and ended up at Depot Park and the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention.  An interactive children’s / science museum named after Dr. James Cade one of the inventors of the sports drink Gatorade.

  They had some interesting exhibits that captured the attention of children and adults alike.

One of my favorite exhibits was this thermal camera exhibit.

Proceeding outside I finally got to lay eyes on an alligator.  Even if I was a captive audience!

I had a lot of fun after finding this hopscotch board laid out on the walking path.

So, I got some walking in, played radio, and got some great pictures!

I then broke for lunch and found a really good Mexican restaurant near the university ( I will post a formal restaurant review after the Bat Conservancy blogs are complete and published..).

  I then became lazy and headed back to the hotel for a quick nap before heading off to the University of Florida Bat Houses.  I had some time, so I set up for some selfies and more ham radio!

  At sunset the bats come out of the houses and begin their search for insects to feed on.  I learned a few things!

• Bats in bat houses smell! You could definitely tell one was in the air.
• It was very difficult to capture a clear image of a bag in flight! The low light just would not enable me to use a shutter speed that would enable me to capture a clear image.

After the bat houses, it was back to the hotel, with another dinner from (you guessed it!), McDonald’s and  bed.  Tomorrow was the reason I came to Gainesville, to tour the Lubee Bat Conservancy..

Mappable Addresses:

DEPOT PARK

874 SE 4th St,
Gainesville, FL 32601

Cade Museum

811 South Main Street
Gainesville, FL 32601

Admission Price –
Youth – 5-7 $10.00
Youth – 0-4 FREE
Adult – $15.00
College Student (ID Required)  – $12.50
Senior – $12.50

University Of Florida Bat Houses

Museum Rd, Gainesville, FL 32611 ( I do not have an exact address, but I was able to search for them by the heading on my GPS.

Thank you for visiting Brent’s World!  I hope you are enjoying our adventure.

Please come back to visit for more exciting content, such as touring the Lubee Bat Conservancy in Gainesville.

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