It's so quiet along two-lane Highway 441 through the Kissimmee-St. Cloud area that the rare glimpse of a human might be of an arm reaching out a pick-up window into a rural mailbox.

Odds are it's an arm tanned from working cattle. These are Florida ranchlands. You're between Yeehaw Junction and Holopaw. For 33 miles there's the Heartbreak Motel, the Cow Palace Restaurant and the Red Gator Lounge - that, and the signs that remind locals of what they already know: "Beef, it's what's for dinner."

Near Pure Country Road, one spread combines ranching with good times and learning about Florida. It's actually two ranches in one. The Crescent J raises cattle using best environmental practices. The other is Forever Florida.

The 1,500-acre Crescent J stocks mainly Cracker cattle and Charolais; the Cracker breed hardy and heat tolerant, while the Charolais are most efficient for converting feed to meat. These animals are huge and in the distance look like rail cars.

Across 3,200 acres, the land at Forever Florida is more like it was in 1521 when Ponce de Leon introduced the first Spanish herd to Florida.

Those blue jeans you own? Here's where to wear them. They're for riding horseback trails, for overnight cattle drives and swamp buggy rides. They're for meals in the Cypress Restaurant, where the open beam ceiling reaches to 28 feet and on chilly mornings the big stone fireplace crackles with warmth.
Sandy trails cushion footfalls. Fog low to the ground turns spiderwebs pewter. Days in the saddle you might cross creeks deep enough to soak your boots.

You can hike the ranch or cycle 12 miles of dirt trails. You can root for your favorites in the new horse arena where competitors barrel race and, on command, cull cows from herds - everything shy of rough and tumble rodeo.

There's a chuckwagon here with yellow wood-spoke wheels. Tables with red-checked covers and tiki torches surround a campfire. Kids love the hay bales with mock steer heads on their fronts - "Hayfords," owner Bill Broussard calls them. Though cabins are still a year or two away, as part of a group tour package you can stay the night at the rebuilt 1870 Crosby Homestead, right on the ranch.

Sandy trails cushion footfalls. Fog low to the ground turns spiderwebs pewter. Days in the saddle you might cross creeks deep enough to soak your boots. Nights, you can walk 50 feet from a campfire and find yourself in pitch dark. Hour by hour, you slip back into some 1521 of your own.

Rural ways hang on, too, at Horse World Riding Stables. On 750 acres, good- time activities range from horseshoe tossing to volleyball. But back in the saddle is where you need to be here.

The Nature Trail Ride is the best choice for beginner riders, and children as young as five can ride along with a parent at an easy-going pace.

Those already comfortable on the back of a horse may want to opt for the Intermediate Trail Ride (for ages ten and older) and pick up the pace a bit with trotting, while the more seasoned rider can break into a canter on the Advanced Trail Ride.

A day or more spent at places like Horse World or Forever Florida settles folks in a mid-state ranching world where Florida cow-hunter culture is a way of life rather than a lost tradition.