“What’s a skunk ape?” Brandon receives this question and a lot of weird looks whenever he wears his shirt depicting this creature. So what is a skunk ape? Well, we think of it like the Bigfoot of the Everglades. It’s a large, hairy creature that walks on two legs and smells like a skunk. And how do we know this? We know because we spent the night at the Skunk Ape Research Headquarters in Florida!

We needed a place to spend the night between Clearwater and Key Largo and we couldn’t resist this roadside attraction. I probably shouldn’t even call it that as this research center means serious business. Dave Shealy, one of the owners of the campground and lead researcher, has spent most of his life traversing the Everglades in pursuit of the mysterious creature. He claims to have seen the stinky biped three times in his life and has the photos and videos to back it up. All this exploration has culminated in the headquarters where you can buy a field guide for your own hunt or lots of skunk ape emblazoned tchotchkes.

A zoo, too!

The Research Headquarters also hosts a small zoo filled with local creatures like alligators, snakes, turtles, and more. We walked in to check out the Research HQ in the morning and were happy to find out our stay included a tour. The zookeeper Rick walked us through the exhibits and told us about each animal and how it came to be at the zoo. Many were nuisance animals or needed to be rehabilitated and couldn’t be released back into the wild. People have also given up many pet birds to the zoo. Two parrots, in particular, were real ladies’ men. One macaw blushes around any women. It’s quite endearing to see the cheek feathers on this bird turn pink from your sight. Another cockatoo always chooses one female in each tour as his own. This lucky lady gets all his attention and since we were the only ones there that morning, that lady was me. He sat on my shoulder and tilted his head, but if Brandon would venture too close, all his feathers would go up in a show of dominance. I was his lady! Rick told us it didn’t matter if there were five women in a group, he would choose one and then treat the rest as males.

What a sweetie!

Me and my new boyfriend

For an overnight stop in the middle of nowhere, this place has a lot to appreciate. You can walk through the displays up front, check out the zoo, or you see what wildlife you can find in the campground. Personally, we were taken aback by the giant grasshoppers on giant leaves and the small alligator in the pond across from our RV. This little guy was trying to hide out from the big dudes on Alligator Alley and wasn’t too concerning. I still wouldn’t walk the dogs too close, though.

How many grasshoppers do you see?

Sopchoppy sits in that little curve of Florida before the panhandle known as The Forgotten Coast. It’s a sleepy little town in the Apalachicola National Forest without much happening. Sometimes, though, that is exactly what you need. We made Sopchoppy our layover on our way from Crystal River to Santa Rosa Beach. Our previous and future stops were social and our calendar was full, so Sopchoppy would give us a week to ourselves to chill out and catch up on projects around the “house.”

The City

We heard that the city of Sopchoppy ran a nice, economical ($15!) city park on the river, so we pulled in to find a spot. There are full hookup sites along the road, but we opted to forgo sewer, so we could have a site along the river. Our windows afforded us a peaceful view looking out along the water and that’s worth giving up the convenience to me.

We settled in for some r & r and took a tour around town on our bikes. This didn’t take long as the town is only 1.5 miles square. We found a small grocery store for essentials, a street named Faith with three churches, a railroad Depot Museum, the historic gymnasium, and even a recording studio! There was a cute little shop, too, but a sign on the door said, “Gone Shopping” and a return date after our departure.

River Paddle

The Wakulla River is only 30 minutes away and we decided to rent a canoe and have another paddle in Florida. There had been quite the downpour during the week filling the river to capacity and turning it a muddy brown. The Wakulla River normally isn’t as clear as say Silver Springs, but it still has some translucency. Despite the murky water, we had a good time floating along seeing the wildlife and cypress trees. On our way back, we stopped at some roadside art made from old, rusted cars.

Sopchoppy Pizza Company

Back in town, we had to wait until the end of the week to visit the pizza parlor we saw on our bike ride. It was worth the wait! To be honest, we weren’t expecting much from a small town pizza shop in Florida, but it surprised us. The dough was made with local tupelo honey and blistered just right in the oven. It had that delicate balance of chewy and crispy that is a hallmark of a thin, hand-stretched pie. The toppings were fresh and full of flavor. This was good pizza! We also ordered a Greek salad that came with their house-made “Cody Bug’s Mo’ Betta Feta” dressing. Creamy with the zing of vinaigrette, the dressing complemented the greens and artichoke hearts perfectly.

Sloppychoppy, as Brandon likes to call it, turned out to be a great place for quiet relaxation, focused work time, and a bit of adventure. We may have to go back sometime for the Worm Gruntin’ Festival we heard about. A small town festival and worms, what’s not to like?