Birds & Antiques Roadtrek Rally - Nicolay Family Albums

Nicolay Family Albums > Birds & Antiques Roadtrek Rally

Roadtrek International Region 5 Birds and Antiques Rally held Jan 6-9, 2011 at Paynes Prairie State Park near Gainesville and Micanopy, Florida. leaders Mary and Hugh Nicolay.

Bright clear days and crisp evenings greeted a record number of participants in the seventh Birds and Antiques rally. It was held at Florida’s Paynes Prairie State Park Preserve near Gainesville Jan 6 – 9, 2011. Twenty eight people and eight dogs were distributed over 17 rigs in the campground. Some were new to Roadtreks and rallys and others multi year repeaters.

The wine and cheese social the first night and ever popular pot luck dinner the second night were a big hits. A new outstanding, informal Italian restaurant just outside the park attracted a good number of campers for the second year.

Rally leaders Mary and Hugh Nicolay led a three mile bird walk along the Bolen’s Bluff area where we again found some of the wild horses on the Preserve. A few participants saw the elusive Bison herd out on the prairie along with five endangered Whooping Cranes. The latter are part of an ongoing effort to re-establish the species in Florida. Everyone saw large numbers of Sandhill Cranes on the prairie and nearby pasture lands. The total number of bird species seen was 56.

Some campers browsed the antique shops and used book store in nearby historic Micanopy while others visited nearby sights including the Marjorie Rawlings homestead and the Florida Natural History Museum and Butterfly House.

Photos taken during the rally can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/4p25btk and will also be posted on the Region 5 website http://www.flroadtrek.org.

For the first time we also have a great 5 minute Youtube video produced by participant Bob Barbour . Check it out at http://tinyurl.com/4nno56b.

Photo credits: Hugh Nicolay and Wally Handleland