Wednesday October 21st 2020

Today was the third straight rainy day. Unlike the previous two days, today began cloudy, but dry. It was also very windy. So windy that a dead tree fell behind my RV home overnight. The tree only missed the motorhome by less than ten feet. The bulk of the rain came in the afternoon. As the sunset the clouds were starting to breakup, but not enough to create an impressive sunset.

I got a walk in during the morning before the rains arrived. At the Backwater River I was rewarded by a manatee sighting. The slow moving sea mammal was in the near the kayak launch. I was only a few feet away as it poked around on the bottom for food and occasionally poked its nose above the water for air. Despite several attempts I didn’t get any decent pictures. A brown oval in the water was the best picture I took.

Around noon I headed out in the car along the Tamiami highway east toward the Big Cypress National Preserve. A few miles after leaving the state park, I ran into the rain. It wasn’t bad at first. I was able to stop at one of the roadside areas and view an accumulation of alligators. It is amazing how close you can get from the safety of the boardwalk without the gators even showing any sign of concern. Today there were about six alligators visible. In March a couple of years ago there were many more.

As the rain got heavier outside exploring became impractical. I turned back toward my RV home. Overall I was out for only two hours, but I managed to get back before the really heavy rain arrived. For about three hours it rained very hard. Most of the campground became covered in standing water. It looked like the swamp was overflowing its banks. About an hour after the rain stopped the water level was back down so I could once again walk on the roads and high ground. My evening walk to the Backwater river didn’t produce any new wildlife sightings.

This pattern of rainy days is forecast to continue through the week. Tomorrow’s forecast reads like it will be a little drier, but I will believe it when it happens. The continued cloudy and rainy conditions are having an impact on my attitude. I’m feeling gloomy, lethargic and slightly depressed. I’m not sure what I’ll do if its a sunny day, but I need to find something fun and interesting.