Sunday April 17th 2022

I went through today at a slower pace than I’ve been following the last few days. It was a very slow and steady start to the day during which I had to remind myself it was a Sunday. Moving on a Saturday is unusual and really has me out of sync. I have one more Saturday move coming up at the end of this week before I get back to moving on week days.

It was a hot and humid summer like day with thunderstorms in the forecast for the late afternoon into the evening. As of the early evening the storms have crossed the area to the north and the south of here. Only a few drops of rain have landed on my RV home. The forecast influenced my plans for the day and I decided to stay at home and get settled.

I walked around the campground a couple of times. Nothing much has changed since I left the park at the end of January. This was a big turnover day in the campground. At the 1PM checkout time more than half the sites were empty. They all seem to be full tonight. The one of the big changes from my January visit was all of the water lilies in bloom in the lakes. I got mildly obsessed with taking pictures of the lilies and have included too many in this blog post.

Just because I decided to take it easy today doesn’t mean I didn’t get anything accomplished. In addition to cooking a nice steak with baked potato for Easter Dinner, I got an accumulation of laundry washed and dried. I kept the washer and dryer at the bathhouse busy for close to three hours.

Saturday April 16th 2022

I was up early this morning to prepare for my travel day. A sink half full of dirty dishes necessitated the early start. It was a very warm and humid day so I tried to take my time getting ready to travel. I pulled out of Myakka River State Park at about 12:15PM.

Traffic was very heavy all the way. It took extra time to get through the Sarasota and Bradenton area. The road can barely handle the volume of traffic under normal conditions and the few construction zones thrown in for good measure probably doubled the usual travel time through the area. The pace picked up to speed limit speeds until I was approaching the Orlando area. In the usual area traffic came to a halt. It took almost half an hour to go two miles to the US 27 exit.

I arrived at Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont between two thirty and three in the afternoon. It was at least an hour later when I set the microwave clock at 3:57PM. The state park was busy with many day use visitors, but the campground seems quiet. I was surprised to see a couple of empty sites nearby this evening.

The traffic wasn’t the only issue on the trip. About halfway to my destination I spotted a green blob on the drivers side window. A couple of glances between watching the traffic identified it as a green toad two or three inches long. I started to wonder why the wind wasn’t blowing it away. Another glance resulted in the realization that it was on the inside of the window. After a few seconds of wondering how it got in and how do I get it out, it launched itself from the window to the top of my head. Trying not to panic in traffic I shook my head violently back and forth to get it to move on. It did, but onto my back. The next question in my mind during the few seconds from hell was: “Is it inside my shirt or outside?”. It must have been outside, but I have no idea where it is now. There is a hitchhiking toad loose in my RV home and I still don’t know how it got in. My only guess is it came in on top of the main living room slide out room.

Friday April 15th 2022

The weather trend of the last few days continued today. The overnight clouds cleared shortly after daybreak to be replaced by bright sunny and fluffy clouds most of the day. As sunset approached the clouds increased. Some of the clouds were threatening, but no rain or heavy wind resulted from the threat. The temperature peaked a few degrees above yesterday around ninety degrees.

This is my last full day at Myakka River State Park for this season. I have reservations to return in December and I am still trying to get another set of reservations for next March. This visit has been a fun visit. Most days the alligators have been around in large numbers. Some days they are out on the river banks and others they are pretending to be logs in the river. The second most common wildlife I’ve observed is the Limkins. These screeching birds really know how to make there presence known. Surprisingly I haven’t seen many egrets on this visit and the herons were less plentiful as well.

On my second walk of the day I came across one Great Blue Heron that didn’t seem to mind me getting fairly close. He was busy preening and allowed me to move slowly and quietly move along the river bank taking pictures from many angles. The setting sun got in the way of some of the pictures, but I got a few good ones too.

I’ve completed most of my outside preparation tasks for tomorrows move. I am targeting a departure between noon and the 1PM checkout time. My stop for the next week is back at Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont Florida. It is about one hundred and twenty five miles away. Unfortunately, the route is one of the worst traffic wise that I experience in Florida. Interstate 75 in the Sarasota and Bradenton area is the first hurdle followed by 75 in the suburbs of Tampa. Then I have to cross half the state on Interstate 4. The Lakeland area is the first problem on that route followed by the slowdown as you approach Orlando. Needless to say I’m not looking forward to the journey. At least the construction should be a non issue on a holiday weekend.

Thursday April 14th 2022

It was a mostly sunny day with the peak temperature in the upper eighties. Overall the weather was very similar to Wednesday. Why were the alligators behaving so differently?

On Wednesday the alligators were staying in the water with only their heads above water. Today they were lining the banks of the Myakka River, but not in their usual spots. Most of the alligators were on the downriver side of the bridge and were on the opposite bank from their normal hang out. The few that were left on the upriver side of the bridge were also on the opposite bank. Do they know a full moon is coming?

Wednesday April 13th 2022

The temperature and humidity continue to climb. The day started with bright sunshine which transitioned into high clouds as the day went by. The result was a high temperature in the upper eighties, that might have been even higher if the clouds didn’t move in.

There weren’t as many alligators out of the river this morning. Only a couple were fully out of the water. A state park volunteer was at the bridge over the river providing information about the alligators. He had quite a few people listening to his commentary. In the group was one little girl that was very disappointed that the creatures were not crocodiles. The park volunteer proceeded to convince the little girl the alligators were so much better than crocodiles. I think it was the personal attention that convinced her rather than his “facts”. He could have just as easily claimed the crocodiles narrow pointed snout was better than the broad stubby snout on the alligator. The point is the guy was good with people particularly children.

While the gators were staying in the water today, the turtles seem to be out on the logs taking the sun. I have to be careful walking along the river bank not to disturb the turtles before I get a picture. Turtles seem to be very concerned about activity on the bank and often slip into the water before you even see them. Alligators on the other hand aren’t as concerned about land activity, but will sink into the water at the approach of a kayak or canoe. The turtles just let the water based intruders paddle by.

The alligators were out on the bank more during my second walk of the day. Unfortunately there didn’t seem to be much other activity in the early evening.

Tuesday April 12th 2022

The temperature and humidity continued a slow climb. Today was on the upper side of the middle eighties and the humidity was a little muggier than Monday. The wind moved from the east to the southeast and south.

I had a very lazy start to the day. Breakfast and my morning internet reading dragged into the lunch hour. The remainder of the day was spent away from my RV home getting frustrated with traffic and other tasks. I don’t have much to write about this evening.

Monday April 11th 2022

The wind has moved from the north to the east, but a clear sunny sky remained the dominant feature of today’s weather. The temperature climbed from the overnight low around sixty to a high in the mid eighties with a little more humidity than the weekend days.

I drove up to the concession area on Upper Lake Myakka to start my adventures today. The group of Rosetta Spoonbills are still huddled in the tree near were the old weir was recently removed. A few vultures, an egret or two and a tricolor heron were also hanging around with the spoonbills. This area looks so different with the weir removed. It will be interesting to see what it looks like when the water level is higher.

My second walk of the day was along the river near the park entrance off route 70. There were quite a few alligators taking the sun on the bank. As the water level get lower the alligators start to congregate near the deeper water. Based on one of the water level gauges in the park the water level has gone down almost a foot in the last week. Typically the dry season ends in June, so there is likely to be lower levels to come.