Marco Island, Naples, Picayune Strand, Sanibel and Captiva, Myakka River State Park, Lake Manatee State Park, Little Manatee River State Park, Alafia River State Park, the trip home, trip to New York
(posted from home)
(This post covers 1 – 14 March, 2011)
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Monday, 14 March-
This morning Labashi made the chicken pot-pie we had bought at Monicas for us. These are fantastic comfort food but we can only have them occasionally. We weren't in any hurry since we had had a light snow during the night. The roads didn't look dangerous but still, there was no reason to hurry. But around 1100 we decided it was time to go so we'd be home well before dark.
Our trip home went quite well and the weather improved along the way. We had left new snow and a cloudy, spitty day in New York and arrived home in sunshine and near-50 temperatures. The weekend's time change meant we still had several hours of daylight.
We unpacked the van and settled in for the evening and watched a modern-art documentary called 'The Cool School'.
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Sunday, 13 March -
We spent the morning and early afternoon sitting around the kitchen table talking with Orat and Taro. Around 1500 we drove to a nearby park and its community center room rented for the party. As the adults arrived, things were very subdued. But when the kids showed up, things started happening ; nothing dramatic, just kids being kids... and it was a hoot! The dramatic moment of the day, though, happened when the birthday girl got her big present-- a kid's John Deere Gator. The drama was the birthday girl's reaction to it. She was clearly awed by the present but she wasn't ready for the attention of everyone in the room to fall on her. She burst into tears and ran away! When it was clear she wasn't about to come back, her Dad took the Gator out into the parking lot and only a few close friends watched as the little one assumed control of her new toy. The giggles soon came.
We had a big meal at the party and afterwards returned to the house. We had brought along a bottle of Limoncello. Given the big meal, that's just what we needed. We spent the rest of the evening sitting around sipping and telling stories.
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Saturday, 12 March -
Labashi and I loaded up Mocha Joe and drove the 250 miles north to Orat's house, stopping along the way at Monica's Pies (near Naples) for some goodies.
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Friday, 11 March -
Today Orat called to ask if I was coming up for my grand-niece's 3rd birthday party. I had forgotten about it since I had intended to be away another week or two. But it was an easy decision-- heck, yeah!
That afternoon we went shopping for a birthday present and that evening had supper at an Indian restaurant in Mechanicsburg.
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Thursday, 10 March -
I spent most of today on the web, catching up and re-charging. I did make a trip into town to return my last batch of Blockbuster DVDs and make a quickie stop at Starbucks. But other than that, I was glued to my laptop at home.
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Wednesday, 9 March -
Ah, it's nice to be home!!!
My Florida trip this year added 4600 miles to Mocha Joe's odometer-- now around 178K total. I had one 'breakdown' but it was my own fault. While spending a rainy first week in Jacksonville I spent much more time than normal using my laptop. It's powered by an inverter running off the van's battery. So because I wasn't driving nearly as much, the battery was being drained down.
I did get a warning but didn't recognize what it was. The inverter's 'Overload' LED would light and I'd get an audible alarm. I thought this meant the laptop was drawing power in excess of the inverter's capacity. But that didn't make sense. I've used this setup quite a lot without a problem.
I thought my inverter must be going bad. I even went so far as to look up the local West Marine in hopes of finding a direct replacement. Think of the irony of it. There I was using power to search for a replacement inverter for the inverter that was telling me (if only I'd listen) I should be shutting down because my battery voltage was too low.
I finally shut down and decided to leave. Imagine my surprise when I heard nothing but a click when I turned the key. But, as I described earlier, I got lucky. When I opened the hood two guys at a car-wash across the street noticed and came over to help. They gave me a jump and I was on my way only ten minutes after discovering the problem.
Though I may have been able to charge up my existing battery and continue on, I knew that my battery was aging and was nearing the end of its life. Given my desire for reliability, I drove to a nearby Pep Boys and bought an Optima yellow-top. I've been monitoring battery voltage since to try to get a feel for 'normal'.
Gas mileage ran about normal. I get 14 – 16, depending on how much interstate driving I get.
As far as gas prices, my best this trip was $2.84 a gallon in South Carolina the first week of February. Prices back home were in the $3.12 to $3.15 range at the time. But of course with the uncertainty in Egypt and Libya, gas prices were rising the entire trip. The highest I saw this time was $3.89 but that same day I bought gas for $3.65 not far away. On the way home gas was $3.35 in South Carolina and $3.45 and $3.55 the rest of the way up I-95. Strangely, I saw gas for $3.29 that evening in Manchester, only five miles from home.
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Tuesday, 8 March -
I left Manning shortly after 0700 this morning, determined to get around Washington before rush hour. I did pretty well, arriving there by mid-afternoon. But I was surprised to find the going pretty slow around the beltway, apparently because of all the construction south of I-66. Things seemed to open up but then slowed down again on I-270. It was only 1530 but already traffic was only running at 25 miles per hour. Looking back on it, that was only about a half-hour of my time but of course once I'm in my 'headed for the barn' mode, any delays seem never-ending.
I arrived home by 1730 and spent an hour unloading and 'arriving'. It was GREAT to see my sweetie again.
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Monday, 7 March-
This morning I woke and almost immediately knew it was time to go home. This has happened several times now. I just suddenly know I've played enough and it's time to go home.
I thought I'd first go see the 'Fantasy of Flight' attraction along I-4. I drove over there and waited for them to open at 1000. But once inside I lost my interest in touring the facility. It seemed too contrived. A walk through the gift shop and a look at the schedule confirmed my gut feel--- “nothing to see here, move on”.
I spent the rest of the day headed north. I decided to go up Route 41 to get a look at the countryside and did enjoy that. By evening I was in Waycross, Georgia and soon got back on I-95 around Savannah.
I drove through to Manning, South Carolina where I stayed at a relatively quiet Wal-mart. That would put me within striking distance of home the next day.
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Sunday, 6 March-
My night at Wimauma Wal-mart was a fairly noisy one so I slept in a bit. By mid-morning I had driven to Alafia (Ala-FI-ah) River State Park. This park has an extensive network of mountain-biking trails. I first walked a short loop trail through the spoil-banks of the old phosphate mine, then got out the folding bike and rode the River Trail-- the easy-level mountain-biking trail. That one turned out to be a bit more challenging than expected, mostly because of large roots across the trail and narrow clearances (and tight turns) between trees. I also zoomed up on an armadillo (“EEEK!!!!”, said the armadillo) and a small family of wild hogs (“EEEEEEKK!!!!”, said the wild hogs) at the far reaches of the trail.
The riding really wiped me out so I took a bit of a nap and read for an hour that afternoon. I then headed for the nearest Wal-mart. Along the way I came upon a Panera so dropped in there to pick up a wi-fi signal and had Skype-video chats with Labashi and Maypo.
I spent the night at the Zephyrills Wal-mart. It had a Chili's nearby so I enjoyed a Presidente margarita and a quesadilla. And there I saw a 'cowboy', a local guy in cowboy hat and cut-off tee shirt hanging around the bar, talking with everyone and teasing the kids. I asked my server about him and she described him as a lonely guy who lives nearby, has no family and spends a lot of his spare time entertaining the guests.
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Saturday, 5 March-
This morning I drove on to Lake Manatee State Park. I walked two and a half miles on the Bobcat Trail and around the campground that morning. I then drove on to Little Manatee River State Park. I had extra-terrific weather and after lunch decided I needed a break. I read a few chapters of 'The Swamp' and napped a bit to recharge my batteries.
I then drove to the other side of the river for what I intended to be an hour's walk. But once there I saw the trail was a 6.2 mile loop. I couldn't resist seeing the entire trail, even though I had to keep up a fast pace to finish the trail before dark.
That evening I drove to the Wal-mart at Wimauma. I picked up 'The Girl Who Played With Fire' from the Redbox and settled in for the evening.
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Friday, 4 March-
This morning I left the Cracker Barrel and drove to Myakka State Park. I had heard this one is very nice and it was indeed very scenic. The main road goes through trees heavily hung with epihytes and this makes for a wonderful 'green tunnel'.
After checking out the park I opted for a hike recommended by a ranger. I parked at Fox's Lower Road and walked to Mossy Hammock, then returned via the Florida Trail segment, totaling six miles.
As the day ended I drove on to another Cracker Barrel, this one at Bradenton. I loved the back roads from the north side of Myakka River State Park to Bradenton-- it's very nice ranching country.
That evening I decided I should return DVDs to Blockbuster and ran into a problem. I went to the nearest Blockbuster and found it out of business. I then started calling each Blockbuster on the GPS. I had to call five of them before finding one still in business. When I finally talked to a Blockbuster in Sarasota I learned all the Blockbusters in Bradenton had been owned by a franchisor who ended up closing them all when times got tough. I was less than happy to have to drive what I considered an 'extra' 15 miles to return the videos. But then I realized it was actually about the same distance I have to drive at home to my nearest Blockbuster. No big deal!
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Thursday, 3 March-
I woke very early (around 0600) and decided I'd take an early-morning drive to look for panthers (you never know!). It was still dark as I left but soon the skies lightened up enough for me to turn off my headlights. I cruised several roads I hadn't been down before and in the process came upon a herd of turkeys (okay, a 'flock' or 'rafter' of turkeys). I couldn't see them well as the entire flock was walking rapidly down the road ahead of me. I saw at least eight, two of them toms. The highlight of the morning, though, was seeing the 'grandfather' cypress. The photographer I met last night had told me about it and gave me basic directions ('off Miller and 116th '). Once close, I could see it towering above the other trees in the area. It was absolutely spectacular. It's a very large cypress with a huge (at least 3 feet in diameter) hole in the trunk. And nearby was a mystery. It was a small green box with what looked like a t-shaped antenna on top. Someone had scratched words on it- something like “I can hear you!” on it and I saw the logo 'SongMeter'. I subsequently learned it's a bird-sound digital recorder (see http://www.wildlifeacoustics.com/sm2_platform.php ). Sounds are recorded on a chip over many days, even months and they're time-stamped. Researchers can then use special bird-sound software to determine what species had visited and when they were there. Cool!
I cruised around until 1030 or so and headed back to the campground to relax. I spent an hour or so reading 'The Swamp', a history of south Florida and the Everglades. I then cleaned out the cooler and re-stowed gear.
I spent the afternoon driving to Fort Myers. Along the way I passed a Batteries Plus and was finally able to find replacement batteries for my video camera (at $35 each!).
I then drove to Sanibel Island, arriving only two hours before dark. I spent the time cruising the island and the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge. I also cruised on through to Captiva Island but only had time for a quick drive-through before dark. I stopped at “Doc Ford's Sanibel Rum Bar and Grille”, a restaurant owned by novelist Randy Wayne White. I've long been a fan of his Doc Ford novels. I didn't stay, though. The restaurant was quite busy and I still had to find a place to park for the night.
I then drove to the Fort Myers Bass Pro, hopefully for the night. According to my overnightrvparking.com list, I could stay there with the manager's permission. I had my doubts when I saw the parking area was part of a large mall and that indeed turned out to be a problem. The manager explained that the parking lot was owned by the mall and it had a strict no-overnighting policy. It happens.
I moved on to a nearby Cracker Barrel (also on the list) and the manager there welcomed me. I had dinner there and then spent a few hours with my friends on 'The Mentalist' in the van.
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Wednesday, 2 March-
I had stayed at this Wal-mart before and it had always been very quiet. But last night I was awakened at 0130 by a noisy vehicle and a loud radio. The rain had stopped and now a work-crew was working on landscaping the 'islands' in the parking lot. The noisy vehicle was a backhoe/loader running back and forth with loads of mulch for the workers. The radio was theirs.
I quickly realized that I wouldn't be able to sleep through the noise so my choices were to wait it out or move. I decided to stay and read. The noise tailed off by 0330 or so and I then slept very heavily.
This morning I drove back to the library, mostly to continue reading books in the Florida Room at the Naples library. I got back into 'Cry of the Panther' and then browsed through 'Weird Florida' and 'Florida Off the Beaten Path' for touring info. I also found a great book about plans to re-establish the Florida panther and panther habitat. I loved seeing overlay maps showing plots of panther-radio-collar triangulations. These plots did indeed show significant hot-spots in the area of Royal Palm and Hidden Pond as the ranger had told me during our starlight walk on the Anhinga Trail. It was also remarkable to see all the dots all over the Picayune Strand, Fakahatchee Strand and Big Cypress.
Later in the day I drove to the Picayune Strand State Forest. I planned to camp at what I call the 'horse-campground' at the northern end of the park. It's called 'Belle Meade' and serves as a trailhead for a network of horse trails, has corrals for the horses and has plenty of room for camping. It doesn't have defined campsites (which to my mind is a great plus!) but is rather a large grassy area, about half of it under beautiful, massive pines. It lies alongside the state forest offices and this year there was something new – an office trailer for the Army Corps of Engineers.
I stopped in the state forest office to see what's happening in the Picayune but it was near the end of the work day and I was only able to talk briefly with a forest-service guy. As has always been the case with these guys, he was very friendly and helpful ; we just didn't have much time to talk since he was just leaving on an assignment.
I spent the rest of the day cruising the state forest roads. In this case the 'state forest' is the network of streets and canals installed by the Gulf American Corporation in the failed Golden Gate South development. The streets and canals interrupted water flow to the Everglades but today the Picauyune Strand State Forest is now a cornerstone project of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
So I was interested in both seeing wildlife and in seeing how the restoration project is doing. As to wildlife, I had my best day ever in the Picayune. Even as I crossed the bridge into the state forest, I sighted wildlife-- in this case a bald eagle at eye level (as I topped the bridge). As I cruised the state forest 'streets' I came upon two cottonmouths, one crossing the road, the other in a short canal section. I also saw five turkeys, four deer, five red-shouldered hawks, and the largest black bear I've ever seen! The black bear was a fantastic sighting. As I eased along Everglades Boulevard a block north of Lynch I saw the bear off to my right, less than 30 yards away. It had not seen me coming because of roadside growth. It was a massive female (I could clearly see its teats and they, in fact, appeared oddly distended) and, luckily for me, it didn't immediately know what I was. It stood up on hind feet, clearly squinting and sniffing to try to figure out what I was. It then went back down on all fours and started walking toward me. It came close enough that I reached for my power-window switch to put the passenger window up. But before I pushed it I saw from the bear's face that it suddenly recognized what I am. I also noticed that the wind had changed and was now blowing toward the bear. In any case, once she recognized what I was, she made a bee-line (bear-line?) into the nearby heavy growth. And it was at that moment that I resolved to find new batteries for my video camera! (In other words, no, I didn't get it on video!)
Shortly after sighting the bear I came upon a photographer. He was shooting sunset photos over a particularly scenic clump of trees. His name is David Bosworth and told me he has spent hundreds of days shooting (photos) in the Picayune. He gave me his business card and I noticed its background is a photo of this same clump of trees.
I got back to the campground well after dark, paid the 'iron ranger' ($10 this year) and spent the evening relaxing and watching 'In Treatment' and 'The Mentalist' episodes.
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Tuesday, 1 March-
Last night an interesting thing happened. I'm still not exactly sure what the story is but I had awakened shortly before midnight and was lying there solving the problems of the world. After ten minutes or so, I saw a a flash of light out the side window. I thought a car must be coming down the road and I was just seeing the flash from the headlights. But the car never showed up.
But then I heard a sound behind the van-- it was someone talking. And now I could see an LED-type flashlight-- probably a headlamp-- pointed down at the campfire ring. Someone was talking to himself while leaned over the fire ring. I had noticed several burnt-over logs in the fire-ring as I had come in.
The fire-ring was only about 25 feet behind the van but I couldn't see through my dusty rear windows. In any case, the guy seemed to have an argument with himself over which of the three logs to take, finally decided on one, picked it up, and went off. The logs were completely charred so he must have made a mess of his clothes as he wrestled the unwieldy log into his arms and against his chest as he left. I had no reason to challenge him about taking the log and given what I could hear of him talking to himself, I was doubly sure to not try. I lay awake another half hour or so, thinking he might come back, but that was the end of it. Why someone would pull a stunt like that escapes me. Perhaps he had been camped there the day before and was just retrieving his favorite log from yesterday's fire-- I don't know.
This morning as I drove out I looked at nearby campers but couldn't tell which it had been.
I awoke to heavy fog and dew today and thought I'd go ahead out the Turner River Road.
I drove slowly, enjoying the morning fog lifting. By the time I made it to the Tamiami Trail the fog was gone. It was still cool so I only saw a few gators though I did have a cotton-mouth cross the road in front of me.
As I drove west on US 41 I came upon a new-to-me visitor center. The Big Cypress visitor center is all brand new since my last visit in the spring of 2009. I took a quick walk through the inside and went out to the boardwalk. I noticed a ranger walking along the canal in front of the building and realized it was okay to walk there despite the fact that there are no signs or walkways leading to it. I at first thought it was too close to US41 but soon saw something to change my mind. A large gator lay close along the bank. I looked twice because at first it appeared to be a very-well-executed bronze.
I walked away to look at birds in the nearby trees and at that point heard a mysterious sound. The gator was making a 'motor-boating' sound. It sounded like someone had started up a small outboard, revved it a bit, and then shut down. And as my gaze switched back to the gator, I saw water dancing on its back as it made the motor sound. VERY cool! Up to this point I had only seen that in nature films.
Continuing my tour, I drove into Collier-Seminole State Park for a quick drive-through. I was dismayed to hear that the cost of camping there has now risen to $28, even if all you need is a place to put up a tent or to park the van for the night.
I then drove in to Marco Island and took a break at Caxambas Park. I had a slow wi-fi connection there but got frustrated with it so I went to the local Starbucks and had a nice, long chat with Labashi.
I then continued on to Naples and its library as skies clouded up. I stumbled upon a book called 'Cry of the Panther' and spent the rest of the afternoon reading most of it, though I did end up just scanning the last few chapters.
I had intended to drive out to the State Forest for the night but since it was raining I decided I'd get a movie and stay in a Wal-mart parking lot. I watched episodes of 'In Treatment' and 'The Mentalist'.
*********** END OF POST ***********
(posted from home)
(This post covers 1 – 14 March, 2011)
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Monday, 14 March-
This morning Labashi made the chicken pot-pie we had bought at Monicas for us. These are fantastic comfort food but we can only have them occasionally. We weren't in any hurry since we had had a light snow during the night. The roads didn't look dangerous but still, there was no reason to hurry. But around 1100 we decided it was time to go so we'd be home well before dark.
Our trip home went quite well and the weather improved along the way. We had left new snow and a cloudy, spitty day in New York and arrived home in sunshine and near-50 temperatures. The weekend's time change meant we still had several hours of daylight.
We unpacked the van and settled in for the evening and watched a modern-art documentary called 'The Cool School'.
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Sunday, 13 March -
We spent the morning and early afternoon sitting around the kitchen table talking with Orat and Taro. Around 1500 we drove to a nearby park and its community center room rented for the party. As the adults arrived, things were very subdued. But when the kids showed up, things started happening ; nothing dramatic, just kids being kids... and it was a hoot! The dramatic moment of the day, though, happened when the birthday girl got her big present-- a kid's John Deere Gator. The drama was the birthday girl's reaction to it. She was clearly awed by the present but she wasn't ready for the attention of everyone in the room to fall on her. She burst into tears and ran away! When it was clear she wasn't about to come back, her Dad took the Gator out into the parking lot and only a few close friends watched as the little one assumed control of her new toy. The giggles soon came.
We had a big meal at the party and afterwards returned to the house. We had brought along a bottle of Limoncello. Given the big meal, that's just what we needed. We spent the rest of the evening sitting around sipping and telling stories.
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Saturday, 12 March -
Labashi and I loaded up Mocha Joe and drove the 250 miles north to Orat's house, stopping along the way at Monica's Pies (near Naples) for some goodies.
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Friday, 11 March -
Today Orat called to ask if I was coming up for my grand-niece's 3rd birthday party. I had forgotten about it since I had intended to be away another week or two. But it was an easy decision-- heck, yeah!
That afternoon we went shopping for a birthday present and that evening had supper at an Indian restaurant in Mechanicsburg.
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Thursday, 10 March -
I spent most of today on the web, catching up and re-charging. I did make a trip into town to return my last batch of Blockbuster DVDs and make a quickie stop at Starbucks. But other than that, I was glued to my laptop at home.
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Wednesday, 9 March -
Ah, it's nice to be home!!!
My Florida trip this year added 4600 miles to Mocha Joe's odometer-- now around 178K total. I had one 'breakdown' but it was my own fault. While spending a rainy first week in Jacksonville I spent much more time than normal using my laptop. It's powered by an inverter running off the van's battery. So because I wasn't driving nearly as much, the battery was being drained down.
I did get a warning but didn't recognize what it was. The inverter's 'Overload' LED would light and I'd get an audible alarm. I thought this meant the laptop was drawing power in excess of the inverter's capacity. But that didn't make sense. I've used this setup quite a lot without a problem.
I thought my inverter must be going bad. I even went so far as to look up the local West Marine in hopes of finding a direct replacement. Think of the irony of it. There I was using power to search for a replacement inverter for the inverter that was telling me (if only I'd listen) I should be shutting down because my battery voltage was too low.
I finally shut down and decided to leave. Imagine my surprise when I heard nothing but a click when I turned the key. But, as I described earlier, I got lucky. When I opened the hood two guys at a car-wash across the street noticed and came over to help. They gave me a jump and I was on my way only ten minutes after discovering the problem.
Though I may have been able to charge up my existing battery and continue on, I knew that my battery was aging and was nearing the end of its life. Given my desire for reliability, I drove to a nearby Pep Boys and bought an Optima yellow-top. I've been monitoring battery voltage since to try to get a feel for 'normal'.
Gas mileage ran about normal. I get 14 – 16, depending on how much interstate driving I get.
As far as gas prices, my best this trip was $2.84 a gallon in South Carolina the first week of February. Prices back home were in the $3.12 to $3.15 range at the time. But of course with the uncertainty in Egypt and Libya, gas prices were rising the entire trip. The highest I saw this time was $3.89 but that same day I bought gas for $3.65 not far away. On the way home gas was $3.35 in South Carolina and $3.45 and $3.55 the rest of the way up I-95. Strangely, I saw gas for $3.29 that evening in Manchester, only five miles from home.
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Tuesday, 8 March -
I left Manning shortly after 0700 this morning, determined to get around Washington before rush hour. I did pretty well, arriving there by mid-afternoon. But I was surprised to find the going pretty slow around the beltway, apparently because of all the construction south of I-66. Things seemed to open up but then slowed down again on I-270. It was only 1530 but already traffic was only running at 25 miles per hour. Looking back on it, that was only about a half-hour of my time but of course once I'm in my 'headed for the barn' mode, any delays seem never-ending.
I arrived home by 1730 and spent an hour unloading and 'arriving'. It was GREAT to see my sweetie again.
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Monday, 7 March-
This morning I woke and almost immediately knew it was time to go home. This has happened several times now. I just suddenly know I've played enough and it's time to go home.
I thought I'd first go see the 'Fantasy of Flight' attraction along I-4. I drove over there and waited for them to open at 1000. But once inside I lost my interest in touring the facility. It seemed too contrived. A walk through the gift shop and a look at the schedule confirmed my gut feel--- “nothing to see here, move on”.
I spent the rest of the day headed north. I decided to go up Route 41 to get a look at the countryside and did enjoy that. By evening I was in Waycross, Georgia and soon got back on I-95 around Savannah.
I drove through to Manning, South Carolina where I stayed at a relatively quiet Wal-mart. That would put me within striking distance of home the next day.
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Sunday, 6 March-
My night at Wimauma Wal-mart was a fairly noisy one so I slept in a bit. By mid-morning I had driven to Alafia (Ala-FI-ah) River State Park. This park has an extensive network of mountain-biking trails. I first walked a short loop trail through the spoil-banks of the old phosphate mine, then got out the folding bike and rode the River Trail-- the easy-level mountain-biking trail. That one turned out to be a bit more challenging than expected, mostly because of large roots across the trail and narrow clearances (and tight turns) between trees. I also zoomed up on an armadillo (“EEEK!!!!”, said the armadillo) and a small family of wild hogs (“EEEEEEKK!!!!”, said the wild hogs) at the far reaches of the trail.
The riding really wiped me out so I took a bit of a nap and read for an hour that afternoon. I then headed for the nearest Wal-mart. Along the way I came upon a Panera so dropped in there to pick up a wi-fi signal and had Skype-video chats with Labashi and Maypo.
I spent the night at the Zephyrills Wal-mart. It had a Chili's nearby so I enjoyed a Presidente margarita and a quesadilla. And there I saw a 'cowboy', a local guy in cowboy hat and cut-off tee shirt hanging around the bar, talking with everyone and teasing the kids. I asked my server about him and she described him as a lonely guy who lives nearby, has no family and spends a lot of his spare time entertaining the guests.
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Saturday, 5 March-
This morning I drove on to Lake Manatee State Park. I walked two and a half miles on the Bobcat Trail and around the campground that morning. I then drove on to Little Manatee River State Park. I had extra-terrific weather and after lunch decided I needed a break. I read a few chapters of 'The Swamp' and napped a bit to recharge my batteries.
I then drove to the other side of the river for what I intended to be an hour's walk. But once there I saw the trail was a 6.2 mile loop. I couldn't resist seeing the entire trail, even though I had to keep up a fast pace to finish the trail before dark.
That evening I drove to the Wal-mart at Wimauma. I picked up 'The Girl Who Played With Fire' from the Redbox and settled in for the evening.
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Friday, 4 March-
This morning I left the Cracker Barrel and drove to Myakka State Park. I had heard this one is very nice and it was indeed very scenic. The main road goes through trees heavily hung with epihytes and this makes for a wonderful 'green tunnel'.
After checking out the park I opted for a hike recommended by a ranger. I parked at Fox's Lower Road and walked to Mossy Hammock, then returned via the Florida Trail segment, totaling six miles.
As the day ended I drove on to another Cracker Barrel, this one at Bradenton. I loved the back roads from the north side of Myakka River State Park to Bradenton-- it's very nice ranching country.
That evening I decided I should return DVDs to Blockbuster and ran into a problem. I went to the nearest Blockbuster and found it out of business. I then started calling each Blockbuster on the GPS. I had to call five of them before finding one still in business. When I finally talked to a Blockbuster in Sarasota I learned all the Blockbusters in Bradenton had been owned by a franchisor who ended up closing them all when times got tough. I was less than happy to have to drive what I considered an 'extra' 15 miles to return the videos. But then I realized it was actually about the same distance I have to drive at home to my nearest Blockbuster. No big deal!
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Thursday, 3 March-
I woke very early (around 0600) and decided I'd take an early-morning drive to look for panthers (you never know!). It was still dark as I left but soon the skies lightened up enough for me to turn off my headlights. I cruised several roads I hadn't been down before and in the process came upon a herd of turkeys (okay, a 'flock' or 'rafter' of turkeys). I couldn't see them well as the entire flock was walking rapidly down the road ahead of me. I saw at least eight, two of them toms. The highlight of the morning, though, was seeing the 'grandfather' cypress. The photographer I met last night had told me about it and gave me basic directions ('off Miller and 116th '). Once close, I could see it towering above the other trees in the area. It was absolutely spectacular. It's a very large cypress with a huge (at least 3 feet in diameter) hole in the trunk. And nearby was a mystery. It was a small green box with what looked like a t-shaped antenna on top. Someone had scratched words on it- something like “I can hear you!” on it and I saw the logo 'SongMeter'. I subsequently learned it's a bird-sound digital recorder (see http://www.wildlifeacoustics.com/sm2_platform.php ). Sounds are recorded on a chip over many days, even months and they're time-stamped. Researchers can then use special bird-sound software to determine what species had visited and when they were there. Cool!
I cruised around until 1030 or so and headed back to the campground to relax. I spent an hour or so reading 'The Swamp', a history of south Florida and the Everglades. I then cleaned out the cooler and re-stowed gear.
I spent the afternoon driving to Fort Myers. Along the way I passed a Batteries Plus and was finally able to find replacement batteries for my video camera (at $35 each!).
I then drove to Sanibel Island, arriving only two hours before dark. I spent the time cruising the island and the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge. I also cruised on through to Captiva Island but only had time for a quick drive-through before dark. I stopped at “Doc Ford's Sanibel Rum Bar and Grille”, a restaurant owned by novelist Randy Wayne White. I've long been a fan of his Doc Ford novels. I didn't stay, though. The restaurant was quite busy and I still had to find a place to park for the night.
I then drove to the Fort Myers Bass Pro, hopefully for the night. According to my overnightrvparking.com list, I could stay there with the manager's permission. I had my doubts when I saw the parking area was part of a large mall and that indeed turned out to be a problem. The manager explained that the parking lot was owned by the mall and it had a strict no-overnighting policy. It happens.
I moved on to a nearby Cracker Barrel (also on the list) and the manager there welcomed me. I had dinner there and then spent a few hours with my friends on 'The Mentalist' in the van.
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Wednesday, 2 March-
I had stayed at this Wal-mart before and it had always been very quiet. But last night I was awakened at 0130 by a noisy vehicle and a loud radio. The rain had stopped and now a work-crew was working on landscaping the 'islands' in the parking lot. The noisy vehicle was a backhoe/loader running back and forth with loads of mulch for the workers. The radio was theirs.
I quickly realized that I wouldn't be able to sleep through the noise so my choices were to wait it out or move. I decided to stay and read. The noise tailed off by 0330 or so and I then slept very heavily.
This morning I drove back to the library, mostly to continue reading books in the Florida Room at the Naples library. I got back into 'Cry of the Panther' and then browsed through 'Weird Florida' and 'Florida Off the Beaten Path' for touring info. I also found a great book about plans to re-establish the Florida panther and panther habitat. I loved seeing overlay maps showing plots of panther-radio-collar triangulations. These plots did indeed show significant hot-spots in the area of Royal Palm and Hidden Pond as the ranger had told me during our starlight walk on the Anhinga Trail. It was also remarkable to see all the dots all over the Picayune Strand, Fakahatchee Strand and Big Cypress.
Later in the day I drove to the Picayune Strand State Forest. I planned to camp at what I call the 'horse-campground' at the northern end of the park. It's called 'Belle Meade' and serves as a trailhead for a network of horse trails, has corrals for the horses and has plenty of room for camping. It doesn't have defined campsites (which to my mind is a great plus!) but is rather a large grassy area, about half of it under beautiful, massive pines. It lies alongside the state forest offices and this year there was something new – an office trailer for the Army Corps of Engineers.
I stopped in the state forest office to see what's happening in the Picayune but it was near the end of the work day and I was only able to talk briefly with a forest-service guy. As has always been the case with these guys, he was very friendly and helpful ; we just didn't have much time to talk since he was just leaving on an assignment.
I spent the rest of the day cruising the state forest roads. In this case the 'state forest' is the network of streets and canals installed by the Gulf American Corporation in the failed Golden Gate South development. The streets and canals interrupted water flow to the Everglades but today the Picauyune Strand State Forest is now a cornerstone project of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
So I was interested in both seeing wildlife and in seeing how the restoration project is doing. As to wildlife, I had my best day ever in the Picayune. Even as I crossed the bridge into the state forest, I sighted wildlife-- in this case a bald eagle at eye level (as I topped the bridge). As I cruised the state forest 'streets' I came upon two cottonmouths, one crossing the road, the other in a short canal section. I also saw five turkeys, four deer, five red-shouldered hawks, and the largest black bear I've ever seen! The black bear was a fantastic sighting. As I eased along Everglades Boulevard a block north of Lynch I saw the bear off to my right, less than 30 yards away. It had not seen me coming because of roadside growth. It was a massive female (I could clearly see its teats and they, in fact, appeared oddly distended) and, luckily for me, it didn't immediately know what I was. It stood up on hind feet, clearly squinting and sniffing to try to figure out what I was. It then went back down on all fours and started walking toward me. It came close enough that I reached for my power-window switch to put the passenger window up. But before I pushed it I saw from the bear's face that it suddenly recognized what I am. I also noticed that the wind had changed and was now blowing toward the bear. In any case, once she recognized what I was, she made a bee-line (bear-line?) into the nearby heavy growth. And it was at that moment that I resolved to find new batteries for my video camera! (In other words, no, I didn't get it on video!)
Shortly after sighting the bear I came upon a photographer. He was shooting sunset photos over a particularly scenic clump of trees. His name is David Bosworth and told me he has spent hundreds of days shooting (photos) in the Picayune. He gave me his business card and I noticed its background is a photo of this same clump of trees.
I got back to the campground well after dark, paid the 'iron ranger' ($10 this year) and spent the evening relaxing and watching 'In Treatment' and 'The Mentalist' episodes.
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Tuesday, 1 March-
Last night an interesting thing happened. I'm still not exactly sure what the story is but I had awakened shortly before midnight and was lying there solving the problems of the world. After ten minutes or so, I saw a a flash of light out the side window. I thought a car must be coming down the road and I was just seeing the flash from the headlights. But the car never showed up.
But then I heard a sound behind the van-- it was someone talking. And now I could see an LED-type flashlight-- probably a headlamp-- pointed down at the campfire ring. Someone was talking to himself while leaned over the fire ring. I had noticed several burnt-over logs in the fire-ring as I had come in.
The fire-ring was only about 25 feet behind the van but I couldn't see through my dusty rear windows. In any case, the guy seemed to have an argument with himself over which of the three logs to take, finally decided on one, picked it up, and went off. The logs were completely charred so he must have made a mess of his clothes as he wrestled the unwieldy log into his arms and against his chest as he left. I had no reason to challenge him about taking the log and given what I could hear of him talking to himself, I was doubly sure to not try. I lay awake another half hour or so, thinking he might come back, but that was the end of it. Why someone would pull a stunt like that escapes me. Perhaps he had been camped there the day before and was just retrieving his favorite log from yesterday's fire-- I don't know.
This morning as I drove out I looked at nearby campers but couldn't tell which it had been.
I awoke to heavy fog and dew today and thought I'd go ahead out the Turner River Road.
I drove slowly, enjoying the morning fog lifting. By the time I made it to the Tamiami Trail the fog was gone. It was still cool so I only saw a few gators though I did have a cotton-mouth cross the road in front of me.
As I drove west on US 41 I came upon a new-to-me visitor center. The Big Cypress visitor center is all brand new since my last visit in the spring of 2009. I took a quick walk through the inside and went out to the boardwalk. I noticed a ranger walking along the canal in front of the building and realized it was okay to walk there despite the fact that there are no signs or walkways leading to it. I at first thought it was too close to US41 but soon saw something to change my mind. A large gator lay close along the bank. I looked twice because at first it appeared to be a very-well-executed bronze.
I walked away to look at birds in the nearby trees and at that point heard a mysterious sound. The gator was making a 'motor-boating' sound. It sounded like someone had started up a small outboard, revved it a bit, and then shut down. And as my gaze switched back to the gator, I saw water dancing on its back as it made the motor sound. VERY cool! Up to this point I had only seen that in nature films.
Continuing my tour, I drove into Collier-Seminole State Park for a quick drive-through. I was dismayed to hear that the cost of camping there has now risen to $28, even if all you need is a place to put up a tent or to park the van for the night.
I then drove in to Marco Island and took a break at Caxambas Park. I had a slow wi-fi connection there but got frustrated with it so I went to the local Starbucks and had a nice, long chat with Labashi.
I then continued on to Naples and its library as skies clouded up. I stumbled upon a book called 'Cry of the Panther' and spent the rest of the afternoon reading most of it, though I did end up just scanning the last few chapters.
I had intended to drive out to the State Forest for the night but since it was raining I decided I'd get a movie and stay in a Wal-mart parking lot. I watched episodes of 'In Treatment' and 'The Mentalist'.
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posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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