Friday March 18th 2022

I was up early this morning to get ready for travel. I should have slept a little longer. I was ready to travel by 9:30AM, but to time my arrival closer to the 3PM check in time I needed to leave close to the noon checkout time. Waiting around once you ready to go is very hard. I hooked up the car and moved to the dump station at 11AM and was on the road around 11:30AM.

My route took me down the main streets of Homestead Florida and Florida City. I think I could have avoided one or both with a little more study, but it worked out OK. It would have been better if the power wasn’t out at several intersections. Crossing four way intersections in heavy traffic when the traffic lights are dark is a little bit of a challenge. Luckily this is one time that being bigger than the average car seems to have a positive impact on the decision process the other drivers go through. When I was ready to proceed through the intersection everybody let me.

The trip west across Everglades National Park on the main park road to the Flamingo area on the Florida Bay was interesting. It has been about twenty five years since I’ve been this deep into the park. I visited the eastern area about four years ago on my Rambling Road Trip. The combination of grass land, trees and water holes is not what I remember. It deserves some exploring over the next few days.

The Flamingo area of the park is still in a rebuilding phase after hurricane IRMA in 2017. The visitors center is in a temporary facility and the lodge is undergoing a complete re construction. The campground is also under repair, but not because of the long past hurricane. The T-Loop of the Flamingo campground that I’m staying in is getting repaved. My understanding is it started earlier in the week on the fifteenth and continues until June. The campground sent an email about three weeks ago warning people with reservations and attempting to scare them off. I don’t consider three weeks enough warning during Spring Break in Florida so I didn’t even attempt to change my reservations. Other people must have taken the warning. This section of the campground, which is the only one with electric hookups, is only about a third occupied. I don’t know what kind of torture the paving work will represent during my stay. So far it looks like they have just set up a lot orange cones. I live with it for the ten days I am here.

There is no Verizon cell service and Over the Air TV is non existent. I have satellite TV and the AT&T prepaid mobile hot spot I bought last week is working to get me on the internet. The big thing is there are plenty of trails and natures creatures to keep me entertained during the day.