Friday April 1st 2022

The weather trend toward more hot and humid weather continues in this area. The temperature peaked around 90 degrees. Outside there was enough wind that it was tolerable, but the temperature inside my RV home, even with the windows open and the fans blowing was very uncomfortable.

This is my last day in South Florida this winter. I’ve been in the Big Cypress Preserve or Everglades National Park since the fourteenth of the month. I’ve seen plenty of alligators and birds. Tomorrow I’m moving north about one hundred and seventy miles to the Sarasota area. I’ll be at Myakka River State Park for the next two weeks. There should be plenty of alligators and birds there as well.

The weather conditions in the central and northern part of the state haven’t been as nice as I’ve experienced in South Florida. The various cold fronts that have passed west to east have dropped a lot more rain from central Florida north. There was a tornado warning this morning in the greater Orlando area and a tornado touched down the day before in the panhandle. I hope things have cleared out a little as I move into those areas.

I’ll be back in this area again next winter. That wasn’t part of my original plan, but as I struggled to find reservations in Florida State Parks, I found more success as I moved further south. This area has a lot to offer in the way of interesting terrain and wildlife. The only down side is the need to drive to the different areas. Not a lot is in walking distance of any of the places to stay.

Today I drove back to the Oasis Visitors Center. There are a very large number of alligators in the canal in front of the visitors center. I don’t think they stocked the canal with gators, but they did make the habitat very attractive. There is a combination of deep water, shallow water and side banks for taking in the sun. I counted more than twenty alligators this afternoon, but some were moving so my count might be off.

I plan to get on the road around 11AM, so I don’t get to my destination before checkout time for the current occupants. The expected challenges along the way include finding a stop for gas and the possibility of running into a thunderstorm or two. I need to do my Google Maps investigation on gas station access before I got to bed tonight.