River Ratz Cafè

Bushnell, FL – Events of Tuesday, April 1 to Monday, April 7, 2014

Early last week, Margery got hit with a cold. It came on fast, and she was pretty miserable with a sore throat and stuffy nose. We have been having some of the nicest weather we have had in a long time with sun and warm temperatures almost every day, but unfortunately, Margery didn’t feel like going anywhere.

On Thursday evening, the bug hit Paul. Margery was starting to feel better by Friday afternoon, but she didn’t feel like cooking. Paul wasn’t feeling too bad, so we decided to head down to River Ratz Café for lupper. River Ratz is about 10 minutes from Bushnell on the Withlacoochee River in the small town of Nobleton.

We took Freeway along because there is a park right down the road from River Ratz that serves as a trailhead for the Withlacoochee Bike Trail, and we wanted to take him for a short walk down the trail before lupper since we haven’t been walking around the campground much for the last few days. We also knew River Ratz had plenty of shade in their parking lot for Freeway so he would be comfortable in the car while we ate.

Margery and Freeway on the Withlacoochee Trail

We walked the trail a short distance toward the north when we went to River Ratz last year. This year we headed south.

Before we had gone too far, we came to a side path that connected with a short, dirt road leading to a boat launch that was also part of the park. We decided to check it out. Down by the boat launch was a short boardwalk along the bank where we could get a nice view of the river.

View of the Withlacoochee River from the boardwalk at the boat launch

View of the boat launch area (right) from the end of the boardwalk

The banks of the river are lined with large cypress trees. Cypress trees grow in shallow water along rivers, streams, lakes …