I ate at these two restaurants on opposites sides of the St John (on 40) River today for lunch. I was trying to experience the area written about in The Yearling. I turned right on 19 after lunch and hit the Yearling Trail. I then went up to Palatka and came back down via 17. It's a pretty boring drive to be honest. I also forgot to search for the town she writes about in the book (I think it's Salt Springs) before I set out and I think I drove passed the place when it was right in reach (soon after the turn onto 19. I did see a big canal that they call the Cross Florida canal. Who knew?
William's Landing - This is atop The Blackwater Inn (my original destination - opens at 4pm). It's a snack bar above it. I had the daily special of a Cod Rueben for $7. It wasn't special. A frozen slab straight out of a box. Not much else. The macaroni salad was the highlight. Love it when soda, tax and tip costs me $12 for a Filet-o-Fish. The place is ratty. The selection is sad. I checked the menu at Blackwater. It wasn't much better. Fried crap. Probably frozen. Hard pass. Maybe bikers and people on Medicare medication don't know where to find the dine that is fine?
Castaways Bar and Grill - This was the unfancy place in town. They didn't take AMEX, so, I had to order something within the $8 in my wallet. Just as well because I didn't really want anything they had. I had a BLT for $6 because it was basically that or some fried crap that didn't sound local. Didn't see many guys in waders raking for clams. This place was even dirtier than William's. Menu was sad here too. You can bypass this place as well. The BLT was sloppy, but, not so bad. It came with fries (limp/undercooked).
The best place I saw in Astor was some road side Mexican food truck. You don't need to go here.
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