I moved this to our "Bug-like Creatures Not Covered By BugGuide". This is a good illustration of one of the gray areas in BugGuide's coverage: it's aquatic, but walking around on land.

I also took out the "December 31, 1969" from the date: if you enter the date in a format it doesn't understand, it defaults to that date. Try using numerals in the format month/day/year (e.g. 3/2/2007 or 03/02/07for today).

Definitely a crayfish, though I'm not sure which species. Actually, crayfish can be found somewhat far away from a decent water source, as long as the ground is somewhat moist. They sometimes burrow little "chimneys" where they chill out until it rains a bit. I've found some chimneys some 1000 feet or more away from a water source, but usually when it's been raining quite a bit. Hope this helps!

within about twelve inches of this image. The direction is straight down! Crayfish live underground in many areas often in tunnels that lead down to the water table which we're guessing is not too far down in your part of the country. Maybe some of our Floridians can tell you about your particular crayfish.