As Long as the Sky is Blue
and the Grass is Green …
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| Chumuckla Heritage STORE |
You have to hand it to Mom. She insists on the very best, especially in terms of her diet. Even the water she drinks must be as natural as God intended. She requires a sweet taste to her drinking water and it must contain elements of nature in the following proportions: .94 grains of silica, .30 grains of iron and aluminum oxide, 1.02 grains of sodium chloride, .37 grains of potassium sulfate, .27 grains calcium sulfate, .90 grains of magnesium carbonate and 1.34 grains of calcium carbonate.
As luck would have it, the water at Chumuckla Mineral Springs spews forth from the belly of Northwest Florida in those approximate proportions. The spring is only a few miles from home.
Mom overheard me and Pop discuss plans to go to the springs for breakfast with the Nowlings, Dawson and Jane. They manage the leasing of lots there for an absentee landowner. Mom wanted us to be sure and bring back a half dozen gallons of spring water.
Over the past twenty years, since I left home, Chumuckla Springs became a haven for real people. Life loving, reed assisted, limnological pisceofiles (They like to fish in freshwater with cane poles). Fifty seven families live there, some on a permanent basis. About 74.3 percent (rough estimate) are retired Navy chiefs. The rest are civilian locals and other misplaced ratings.
Navy admirals normally retire to haciendas in Coronado, California, near San Diego, Sea World, Nouvelle Cuisine and boutique shopping (espresso coffee while you wait). Navy Chiefs go to places like Chumuckla Springs, where the permanence of their trailer homes is accentuated with colorful decals depicting white tail deer, largemouth bass and mallard ducks. There is a small bait store with a modest supply of cold drinks. It is a three point four mile drive (give or take a mile) to Diamond's Store in Brownsdale. When you run out of coffee, you can get a fresh can of Maxwell House there.
Chief Joe Cottrell was pouring us a cup of coffee as we pulled up to the Nowling's trailer. The Chief and his wife live next door. The grill is fired up driving away some of the dense fog hanging on the humid , early morning air. Just above the coffee pot is a quart of 100% SAE 30 weight VIRGIN motor oil. Didn't know if it was for the coffee or for the salt pork he was about to cook up. Coffee tasted fine, even though it was decaffeinated
The Chief had a big scar from his navel to his chin and two scars inside the thigh of each leg. Said he had multiple arterial bypass surgery recently. Had to eat healthy foods … anymore. No caffeine in his coffee.
Jane came out of the Nowling's trailer right behind Dawson. She had a pan full of salt pork. Said she got it from Jim Reahm who makes the best sausage and salt pork in three counties. She had to go all the way to Jay the evening before to get it.
"Hello Jane, howdy Dawson. How Y'all doing?"
The Chief had a slice of salt pork in front of my face before the steam from my second cup of decaffeinated coffee reached the convex surface of the hardened plastic lenses of my wire rimmed spectacles. Jane added to the offering with grits and scrambled eggs. Like Pavlov's. dog, I drooled. Two minutes and fifty one seconds later, I asked the chief for some more salt pork, and some link sausage.
'
And Miss Jane, can I have some more of them grits, please?"
We ate and we talked. It was like the 'old days. The river environment and the fish camp camaraderie were at work. As the enticing smell of Reahm's sausage worked its way around the camp, more people began to show up. Ken and Louise Colaw came by. Kenny Baker and his son Mike pulled their pickup truck up to the table and entered the conversation.
Ken said he really, got a deal on a side of beef. He wondered if anybody here knew how long he should have it aged.
Pop said, "Yessir, you should age your beef 8 to 10 days to get the best flavor."
We ate and we talked. It was like the 'old days. The river environment and the fish camp camaraderie were at work. As the enticing smell of Reahm's sausage worked its way around the camp, more people began to show up. Ken and Louise Colaw came by. Kenny Baker and his son Mike pulled their pickup truck up to the table and entered the conversation.
Ken said he really, got a deal on a side of beef. He wondered if anybody here knew how long he should have it aged.
Pop said, "Yessir, you should age your beef 8 to 10 days to get the best flavor."
Dawson disagreed, "You should age it 25 to 30 days. There should be 'hair' growing on the meat from the aging process. There no better beef than that aged for 25 to 30 days. Tender, oh, so tender."
The talk meandered on, much as the river flowing among the cypress stumps in the swamp behind us.
Dawson began to relate how the fish camp families pitched in with food and and comfort for a search party that had to drag the river for the body of a drowned boy. It was a few years back. The job was a sad one. But the little community of trailer camp retirees felt pride in their contribution to the effort.
Jane told us about the 'spring monster' that lived in the deep hole just off from the boat launch. The giant black 'thing' clearly frightened an experienced diver who examined the area some years ago. The man came up out of the hole gasping for breath,-his face blanched as white as hominy grits. He had seen the 'thing'. Everybody here is convinced the monster is for real. Any day now, there could be a national news break on "The Monster of Chumuckla Springs". Maybe Geraldo Rivera will do a spot on it. There is potential.
Then, Jane wondered aloud, "Where is 'Big Jim' McGaha? It ain't like him to not be here."
It was surmised that. "Big Jim" might be sick. After all, Jane explained, the man is over a hundred years old. At least, if you figure up all the years he worked in all the jobs he claims to have worked at, he has to be much more than the 87 years allowed by law. "Big Jim", according to Jane, said he wants to live out his life at the springs and 'kick the bucket' right there. She said he’d better hurry up though because it looks like there is a move afoot to close the trailer park down. It may be that everybody will have to move out in a couple of months. 'Big Jim' might have to die fast or die someplace else.
Me and Pop had to get a move on. Pop had to get me to the airport, to catch a plane to North Dakota. From there, I would eventually return to my home in The People's Republic of New Jersey. They may have a place like Chumuckla Springs in New Jersey, but I haven't found it yet. •
"Pop, did you get the spring water for Mom?"
"Nope. Forgot."
"Me too. You'll have to come back later and get some for her. I hope they don't plug up the spring after all those people get moved out."
Vic Campbell -- Press Gazette .. CA-1989
https://photos.app.goo.gl/82tM8f29KBPYmk8R6
Down on the river............. near the springs. (video)
Chumuckla Heritage Store
Jane Nowlng messaged me on Facebook and mentioned this story I wrote many years ago. What a warm thing to have these memories. Thanks, Jane. At the time I had been away about 20 years. After 40 years absent we returned to the area. So ... this story is about 30 years old. I do wonder what happened to all the people. The spring is there but it is private property and has been for many years. A fishing landing nearby is open to the public.
Vic 12ponder.com
Thanks, Dad -- J. Lee Campbell ( Centennial of birth this year)
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