Orlando, ‘Religulous’, ‘The Way of War’, Everglades (again), Key West

(posted from Boyd’s Campground, Key West, FL)
(This post covers 21-25 February, 2009)

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Thursday, 26 February-

Today we spent most of the day driving to Key West. It’s only 135 miles from Flamingo to Key West but we had some stops to make. We checked out the Everglades Visitor’s Center, we shopped for supplies, and we stopped for a Key Lime pie sample on the way.
We arrived in Key West by 1600 and went to Boyd’s Campground and checked in. We then drove in to a parking lot at Fort Zachary Taylor, unloaded the bikes, and rode into Mallory Square just as the sunset celebrations were getting underway.
After walking around to sample the various performers, we had supper at Cuban restaurant near the Square. I had a very strong caprinha to drink and just a guacamole appetizer and then a grouper ceviche appetizer.
We then walked the length of the harbor walkway pushing our bikes and rode back. But then we decided we could use another drink so rode back to a nice restaurant with a rooftop bar and listened to live music.
We finally decided to call it quits around 2200 and rode back to the van for our ride to the campground. I updated the blog and gratefully called it a night.


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Wednesday, 25 February-

What a beautiful day. After a mid-Sixties night we woke to a pleasant 70-degree morning. After morning chores we took a short walk on the Long Pine Key Trail. We then drove to the Anhinga Trail area again to walk the Gumbo Limbo Trail. But we noticed the tourists on the Anhinga Trail (the one we were on last night) seemed to be taking a lot of pictures. We soon found ourselves walking the same boardwalks, this time in daylight. We again saw many alligators but also the classic Florida birds (egrets, herons, bitterns, turkey vultures, and anhingas). We then finished up with a walk through the Gumbo Limbo Trail.
We then headed south for Flamingo. Along the way we stopped at Paurotis Pond to see the wood storks and roseate spoonbills.
At Flamingo we checked the weather report at the marina and decided we’d take the fishing boat out even though it was blowing 15-20 knots and Whitewater Bay was reported to be choppy. We first checked in at the campground, then returned to the marina to launch the boat.
We headed up the Buttonwood Canal and into Whitewater Bay. The canal was smooth but Whitewater Bay had small whitecaps. But with the wind blowing from the east and us headed mostly east we had it nice—at least until turning to come back.
We zoomed out the Wilderness Waterway for a couple of hours. Around Mile Marker 33 we shut down the engine and just sat enjoying the view and the pleasant sun.
We hit the satellite messenger and marked our position on the GPS, then turned back so we could get back in time to load up the boat and still have sunlight to make supper.
Our trip back was a bit rough as we were now going into the wind but the boat took it well. We made it back to the launch ramp about an hour before dark.
As we loaded and tied down the boat we noticed a USGS (US Geological Service) boat come in and load. We struck up a conversation with the young folks running the boat. They had been out working on tidal and salinity-measuring gear, mostly replacing batteries.
We drove back to the campground, taking a brief delay to walk around Eco Pond. In camp, we had a gourmet supper of beef stew accompanied by a glass (ok, a paper cup) of Wal-mart’s very nice Oak Leaf box wine and a dessert of mandarin oranges. (Man, are we living it up out here!)
We then took a bit of a break. I caught up the blog while Orat read ‘Yukon Alone’.
Before bed we stepped out to marvel at the spectacular night sky and then turned in for the night.

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Tuesday, 24 February-

I did a bit of re-supply shopping at Wal-mart, then headed on over to the airport to pick up Orat. I circled through the Arrival area just to see the layout, then drove to the cell-phone waiting area. I like that idea. Instead of having to find and pay for a parking spot, all I had to do was go to the cell-phone waiting area (a large, free parking lot well away from the terminals) and wait for Orat’s call, then go pick him up. And in this case I was in the parking lot looking for a good spot when his call came. Five minutes later I picked him up and we headed out.
We drove down 441 toward Okeechobee. Our first stop was a motorcycle shop which had Ural motorcycles and sidecars and Royal Enfield motorcycles displayed out front. We only stopped for a quick look but were invited inside by the owner who gave us a little tour and talked about the Urals.
For lunch we stopped at the Desert Inn at Yeehaw Junction. Orat tried the Cuban sandwich and I had a “Pan con bisteca” or (literally) “bread with steak”, sandwich. The name doesn’t do my sandwich justice. It was a wonderful, fresh Cuban bread with a nice thick slice of steak garnished with fried onions, lettuce, tomatoes, and (of all things) potato sticks. Excellent choice! And we had a bonus at the Desert Inn. Ever since St Cloud we had been in cattle country. And the Desert Inn is a working-man’s place. And it was there that we noticed that the table of working guys (and a woman) were all wearing spurs. Very, very cool! This was true Old Florida stuff.
In Okeechobee we stopped at the Wal-mart to return my Redbox movie. The box had malfunctioned at St Cloud and would not accept the return. But since you can return them to any Redbox, I just brought it along to the next Wal-mart I’d be passing.
We also shopped for a sleeping bag for Orat. All we need was a simple bag which could be used as a quilt or a sleeping bag and we found a perfect one for --- get this--- $10.47.
We went on down 441, following it down the east side of Lake Okeechobee. We had enjoyed seeing the cattle country north of the lake and there were still some cattle ranches here, but we also began seeing sugar-cane fields. Again, the stuff of Old Florida. We mostly passed mown-close sugar cane fields but also saw some controlled-burns as well as a big Domino Sugar processing plant which was burning sugar-cane residue to make electricity.
Below the lake and Belle Glade, we began seeing tropical plant nurseries. There were dozens of them! We had to wonder at how large their market must be to have such extensive nursery areas and retail lots.
We made it to Florida City and the Wal-mart there by 1730. We shopped for supplies in preparation for entering the Everglades for the next day or so. We then drove on to the Everglades entrance station and then the Long Key Campground.
We settled into our campsite by 1830 and had supper. Afterwards, we drove to the Anhinga Trail for a night-walk. As we arrived we noticed a large number of cars in the parking lot and thought our plans for the evening may be spoiled. But it turned out this was the park’s evening event— an evening walk—and it was just finishing up.
Orat and I spent the next two hours slowly walking the Anhinga Trail boardwalk, looking for gators and other denizens of the night. The night was pleasant but not so warm as it had been last Friday on my previous visit. But we still managed to find a large group of very active gators in the waters under the west-side boardwalk. We took our good old time and very much enjoyed the wild feeling of seeing the gators.
We then drove back to the campground. But we realized it was only 2130 and a bit early for sleep. So we drove to the Pa-hay-oh-ki boardwalk and walked that one. This was a very different feeling. The boardwalk leads to an observation platform looking out over the wild Everglades.
By then we were both exhausted from our long day. We drove back to the campground and gratefully hit the sack.

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Monday, 23 February-

Another hang-around day in Orlando. I tried the local library and they had wireless but it’s only available to residents of Orange County (around Orlando). Thankfully, I’ve found that attitude to be the exception rather than the rule. But the guy was gracious enough to direct me to the local Dunkin’ Donuts for a wi-fi hotspot. And this one was great— just a nice, fast connection directly to the Internet. I spent three or four hours on it, doing everything from catching up my iTunes podcast backlog to catching up on email and the news, to making a long phone call to Labashi via Skype.
Late in the day I drove through Orlando to St Cloud to position myself near the Orlando airport to pick up Orat tomorrow morning. I went back to the same Wal-mart where I had stayed a few nights ago since I knew it was a good one.
I rented ‘The Way of War’ with Cuba Gooding, Jr. Horrible movie. It doesn’t make sense, the actors look like they’re playacting, it’s just awful. When I saw it had several of the actors from ‘The Wire’ in it (especially Lance Reddick who played Lt Daniels in ‘The Wire’), I was rooting for it but the storyline just didn’t cut it. Skip this one.

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Sunday, 22 February –

Today I hung around Orlando. I spent much of it at the local Bass Pro Shop, picking up a few items for fishing. A local outfitter gave a talk about fishing and I had a chance to talk with him later for some recommendations on fishing for snook from the Chokoloskee side of the ‘glades.
After that I hit a local park for lunch then just began driving around through Orlando’s neigborhoods. I ended up west of the city in Ococee and found the local Wal-mart for the night.
I picked up ‘Religulous’ with Bill Maher from the Redbox and passed the evening with that. I appreciate what he was doing but I think I would have preferred someone a little less inclined to interrupt with his own opinion. The people being interviewed were perfectly capable of saying foolish and ridiculous things without prompting, interruption, or interpretation from Bill. I did, however, really like his making a strong statement that agnostics should be more vocal about objecting to the evils of organized religion.

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Saturday, 21 February-

After a wonderfully-quiet night at Flamingo, I headed north in Mocha Joe. I stopped at Pa-hay-oh-ki to remind myself what was there (an observation tower looking over the river of sawgrass) and chatted with a couple from British Columbia who have a second home at Hundred Mile House. I very much enjoyed comparing notes about touring Canada.
I stopped at the Long Key picnic grounds for lunch and there met an interesting photographer. He said he was from New York and does some work for Time and some celebrity photos but his passion is insect photography. He’s a little disappointed to not have more bugs in the ‘glades this time of year but I gave him directions to a good place for photographing tree snails so hopefully that will help.
When I said I was from south-central PA, he asked if I had ever heard of Camp Hill--- that’s where he grew up. And of course I have. He had worked for Book-of-the-Month Club in Camp Hill and that’s what led to his working for Time Magazine.
We chatted for quite a while as he maneuvered around for good shots of an interestingly-colored lizard in the brush. He showed me some really top-notch photos on his iPhone and have me addresses to galleries of his work on the web.
After lunch I drove up through the park and into Florida City. I stopped at the Everglades Hostel to see about renting a canoe and then went on to the Homestead Library to chat with Labashi and post my blog update.
I decided I’d start working my way up to Orlando to pick up Orat on Tuesday. I worked my way around Lake Okeechobee and reached the little town of Okeechobee by 1800. I stopped at the Wal-mart there but it just didn’t appeal at all. I decided to keep running and ended up another 100 miles north at the St Cloud Wal-mart before stopping for the night at 2000.
Along the way I stopped at the Desert Inn at Yeehaw Junction for a piece of pie. I had read a little about this historic roadhouse/flophouse/onetime brothel and wanted to see it. One of its claims to fame is a manikin in the ladies room which is only clad in a tee shirt. Should the overly-curious lady visitor lift up the tee shirt to peek underneath, a loud alarm goes off in the bar.
I had an overly-generous piece of apple pie ala mode as my supper.
By the time I reached St. Cloud I was ready for sleep—it was a long day of driving.

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