A Surprising Update on The Desert Inn - Forgotten Railroad Remnants / Searching Florida Backroads
A visit to the backroads of central Florida to check out the areas of Kenansville and Yeehaw Junction. Found some old railroad remains , wildlife interactions and what’s left of the Desert Inn .
Transcript
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welcome everyone Adam the whoo here
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today's adventure takes us to the
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backroads of Central Florida and it just
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kind of away from crowds congregations
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of people but not farm animals cows
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we're letting you to join me
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shall you my goal is to do an update on
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the desert in an e hot Junction so
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heading that direction
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it's about 4550 miles give or take see
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what we can find along the way there and
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back
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there's a solar power facility past that
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fence line a lot of grids there
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not allowed to cross that fence line
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however high-voltage the signage states
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this is way out here hiding out over
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there just hanging around
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all right
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see ya
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one could really do some thinking out
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here
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here's a unique plant the bloom on top
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is a an insect a fly if some sort just
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landed on top of it
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I want to keep my distance just a little
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bit don't want to get too close to the
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nest but look up top there maybe we'll
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get a peek yep there are you up there
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I heard you being shy okay I'll leave
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you be there she is
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I'll be checking on our young making
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sure they're safe
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okay bye obviously out of season these
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bushes or trees that are planted here
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rows of them they're all dried up now
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that it's springtime
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to be honest I don't even know what
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season they would be right so empty
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trailers over there and someone has
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erected a cross as well
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the oldest-known public school building
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in Osceola County here in Kenansville
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and transferred to this property is the
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old post office right over there
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the Heartbreak Hotel which I've heard is
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used as office space now no correlation
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to Elvis Presley it was rumored that for
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a long time but just a clever name it
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looks as if the front doors have been
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boarded up for one reason or another and
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this classic old building the first
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state bank it's been sitting here for a
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heck of a long time curtains have been
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pulled back and we could see in the
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windows this is the first time I've ever
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been able to peek inside this old-timey
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phone on the wall
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a tiny safe that states Railway Express
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agency over there in the corner date
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stamp they are on the walkway in on the
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tile 1914 I really hope this opens one
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day has a museum of some sort
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Kenansville is a very teeny tiny
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community quaint on a side note this
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area is not very mountainy
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not a hill in sight
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it's also interesting to note that way
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back in the day running parallel to this
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road used to be railroad tracks before I
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walk over and show you some remnants
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it's gonna say hi to this this little
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turtle oh they're having a good day okay
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see you according to the info I've
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always heard the tracks ran along here
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and occasionally you will see a
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structure like this one which was
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adjacent to them so this is a remnant of
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the old railroad this building with the
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open door don't go in it's a trap you
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just kind of need to think about however
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even though the rails the wood beams are
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gone there are still some memories out
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here in the middle of nowhere Florida I
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don't know your age and it wouldn't be
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polite to ask but were you around back
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in those times or did you hear stories
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from your parents or grandparents about
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the old railroad
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I don't remember huh you can almost kind
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of picture it see it in your head
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running parallel
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there's another structure there
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this is a bit of a surprise in all
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honesty I didn't expect it to be fully
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standing I knew parts of it would be but
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they have not removed anything since a
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couple days before Christmas last year
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when an 18-wheeler ran into the front of
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the historic Desert Inn all they have
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done since those days since that
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occasion is put up a fence around it
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that's it
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nothing has been removed
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Wow before arriving I was trying to
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think about what it would look like once
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I got here my thought was that this
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entire front portion would have been
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taken away
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you know bulldozed out and maybe the
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back end would remain but nope all of
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its here found it as a trading post in
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the late 1880s the current building
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dates before 1925 and served as supply
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and recreational center for cattle
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drovers lumbermen and tourists during
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the era when much of Osceola County was
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under development and if it sat here
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this long after destruction odds are
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pretty good that there is no hurry and
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it could be this way for a long time
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cut the do not cross line they're on the
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opposite side that was put up almost
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immediately and then following this
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chain link when I heard the news of that
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late evening the following day drove out
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here as I did today to document the
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event and what had transpired and now
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I'm back and it's eerily a little deja
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vu moment months later months later
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still the same
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there is quite a bit of signage stating
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that this has been deemed structurally
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unsafe
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kind of slithered through that little
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opening I am NOT gonna do so I'm just
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gonna look from outside and one aspect
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I'm kind of excited that it's still here
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and another one I'm thinking what the
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heck
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parts of it need to go this was a very
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cherished place for a lot of locals and
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those who pass through now I know
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nothing about architecture building
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something putting a home or business as
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far as the facade goes together
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construction is not my forte but if I
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had to guess
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could just take off this this end get
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rid of the debris and put another wall
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on it and closing it leave the rest of
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it I'm just kind of thinking out loud
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or possibly there are plans in the works
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to get rid of all of it maybe it's just
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a waiting game they figured no sense in
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taking some of it away if it's all gonna
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go just do it all in one in one shot I
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guess I could maybe see that happening
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the answer is wind and if I guess I have
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to wait and see you know in the future
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way down the road come back to Central
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Florida to check it out again and see if
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there's any progress
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should also mention that it was placed
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on the National Register of Historic
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Places back in 1994 that could have
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something to do with its current state
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it could
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the thing about this low-lying areas of
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water Alyssa I heard a grunting which
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means there could be alligators through
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here don't want to go wading can't see
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him there in there Lake Marion no
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dumping of fish in the ramp or Park area
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I would walk out on this dock but there
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is a lot of bugs I started to walk that
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direction and they were everywhere kind
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of guarding guarding the wooded platform
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that's gonna do it for today if you're
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