12-May-2000 -- This is the closest confluence to
my parents' house. I knew the attempt would fail, but I figured it was worth
a few minutes the morning of my flight home to get some pictures, anyway.
Florida 16 runs through the middle of Camp Blanding Military
Reservation and Wildlife Management Area. Part of it is a
National Guard/Army Reserve base, and part of it is simply protected forest.
Unfortunately for confluence-hunters, those parts overlap.
On my way toward the confluence on Clay County road 215, I found
the reason not to jump the barbed-wire fence: photo #1 shows the name
of the road leading into the target area (pun intended). After I got to 16
and drove past the main gate, the highway narrows to 2 lanes just east
of the place I wanted to be. I parked on the side of the road and took
picture #2 toward the confluence from 82°W, 29°58.92'N
(documented in photo #3). On my way back home, I got photo #4 through
the windshield; unfortunately, the green sign beside the dump truck isn't
legible. It says "Camp Blanding Main Gate". Trust me.
On my next visit to my parents, I'm probably going to try again. My
brother works for the Wildlife Management Area; we just didn't have a
chance to coordinate this time (he had just graduated from college and
was going on vacation himself). And a good friend of my mom's is a
geography teacher; an "official" request from the local school
district may make for an easier time getting permission from whatever
military powers that be.