Episodios

  • Episode 251: Wonders of Shadow Key, Elvis, and Cryptids We Have Loved
    Apr 8 2026

    Send us your Florida questions!

    Florida author John Fleming joins the podcast to talk about his latest book, Wonders of Shadow Key.

    Links We Mentioned

    Wonders of Shadow Key

    Review of Wonders of Shadow Key

    Connections TV show (BBC)

    John Fleming's website

    Follow That Dream (movie)

    The Legend of the Barefoot Mailman

    Fearsome Creatures of Florida (and the website)

    Dave Barry's Swamp Story

    Songs for the Deaf

    The Book I Will Write

    Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods

    Support the show

    Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

    Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

    Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

    NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

    Más Menos
    50 m
  • Episode 250: Snails, Snail Kites, and Hilary Flower
    Apr 1 2026

    Send us your Florida questions!

    Hilary Flower, author of The Kite and The Snail: An Endangered Bird, Its Unlikely Prey, and a Story of Hope in a Changing World, joins the podcast to talk about what prompted her to write the book.

    Links We Mentioned

    Review of The Kite and The Snail

    Limpkins

    Snail kites

    Apple snails

    Slugs

    Merlin bird app

    iNaturalist app

    HilaryFlowerAuthor.com

    How To Spot a Snail Kite


    Image courtesy of University Press of Florida

    Support the show

    Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

    Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

    Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

    NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

    Más Menos
    46 m
  • Episode 249: Submerged Stories: Santos, Segregation, and Disenfranchisement
    Mar 25 2026

    Send us your Florida questions!

    Ryan and Cathy talk about Santos' Black history and how it's been erased, and put out a call for help from anyone who knows the history of the people displaced for the Cross Florida Barge Canal.

    Links We Mentioned

    The Zorg

    Santos historical marker

    Historic Santos Recreation Area

    Negro League Baseball

    Saving Santos



    Support the show

    Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

    Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

    Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

    NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

    Más Menos
    35 m
  • Episode 248: Art of the Springs
    Mar 11 2026

    Send us your Florida questions!

    Springs artist and activist Margaret Ross Tolbert joins Rick Kilby and guest co-host Chadd Scott to discuss her artwork and advocacy on behalf of Florida's springs.

    Links we mentioned:

    Aquiferious.com

    AQUIFERious Facebook group

    Margaret Ross Tolbert on YouTube

    Proje SU coffee table book

    Support the show

    Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

    Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

    Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

    NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

    Más Menos
    47 m
  • Episode 247: Submerged Stories (Sundown Towns)
    Mar 4 2026

    Send us your Florida questions!

    Cathy Salustri and Ryan Worthington talk about Sundown Towns, apologies, and the problems the racism of the past still creates.

    Links We Mentioned

    Tougaloo College's Sundown Town database

    Was Gulfport, Florida a Sundown Town?

    South Pinellas Sundown Towns

    Florida Sundown Towns

    Support the show

    Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

    Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

    Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

    NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

    Más Menos
    33 m
  • Episode 246: Bithlo, Getting Chased by a Cobra, and a Springs Adventure
    Feb 25 2026

    Send us your Florida questions!

    Buckle in for a wild ride... this episode starts in Bithlo, detours through Orlando Speed World, gets chased by a cobra, and then goes on an adventure through the springs.

    Links We Mentioned

    Bithlo

    Bithlo real estate

    Orlando Speed World

    Swampy

    St. Cloud Serpentarium

    Barberville Yard Art Emporium

    DeLeon Springs State Park

    Queenie the Waterskiing Elephant

    Ginger Ale Springs

    Green Springs

    Sam Stoltz houses

    Orlando Shine

    Giant inflatable pigeons in Orlando

    Photo of Orlando inflatable pigeons by Rick Kilby.

    Support the show

    Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

    Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

    Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

    NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

    Más Menos
    49 m
  • Episode 245: In the Shoes of Florida's Black History
    Feb 25 2026

    Send us your Florida questions!

    Rick and Cathy talk about gentrification, the difficult relationship white people have with Black history, its place in Florida's history, and how Florida's Black history impacts modern-day Florida.

    Links We Mentioned

    Lincolnville

    Fort Mose

    Axe Handle Saturday

    The Zorg

    Eatonville's Zora Neale Hurston Museum

    Kingsley Plantation

    Carter Woodson Museum

    Lincolnville Museum

    Historic Hampton House

    American Beach

    A.L. Lewis Museum

    Support the show

    Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

    Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

    Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

    NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

    Más Menos
    34 m
  • Episode 244: Eliot Kleinberg, Nate Moran, and Hypocrite's Row
    Feb 18 2026

    Send us your Florida questions!

    Eliot Kleinberg, a journalist whose career spans five decades, has turned his talents to fiction. His first book, Hypocrite's Row, is due out February 26.

    From Eliot:

    Hypocrite’s Row, the first book of my “Adventures of Nate Moran” novels about the Roaring 20s Miami police detective, comes out next month. The setting is the real battle between gangsters and law enforcement during the mostly failed effort to enforce Prohibition in South Florida.

    Florida native Eliot Kleinberg, creator of the Civil War historical novel "Peace River," the"Adventures of Nate Moran" novels, and the original "Weird Florida" books, spent nearly a half-century reporting on local news and writing about Florida and Florida history. He produced two history columns and wrote fourteen books -- and co-wrote or contributed to several more -- all of them about Florida. Son of longtime journalist Howard Kleinberg, he lectures regularly on Florida topics and runs a blog on better writing called "Something Went Horribly Wrong."

    Links We Mentioned

    Eliot's website

    Eliot's newsletter

    Level Best books

    Planner or Pantser?

    Hypocrite's Row

    Bookshop.org



    Support the show

    Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

    Subscribe to The Florida Spectacular newsletter, and keep up with Cathy's travels at greatfloridaroadtrip.com. Keep up with Rick at studiohourglass.blogspot.com and get his books at rickkilby.com.

    Find Cathy on social media: Facebook.com/SalustriCathy and everywhere else as @CathySalustri; connect with Rick Facebook.com/floridasfountainofyouth, Bluesky (@oldfla.bsky.social), and IG (@ricklebee).

    NEW: Florida landscape questions — Send us your Florida plant questions and we'll have an expert answer them on the show! Use this link!

    Más Menos
    36 m