Saturday October 24th 2020

Today was my last full day at Collier-Seminole State Park. Tomorrow I move on another 170 miles or so to the Florida Keys. Other than my regular thrice daily walks, most of my activities today were focused on getting ready to travel.

My biggest preparation tasks was a grocery run. I suspect that grocery stores in the keys may be small and widely separated. After today’s trip to Walmart, I should be all set for the two weeks I’ll be there. It has been over twenty years since I visited the Keys, so I could be all wrong about the shopping. Either way, it’s better to be prepared than in need.

The weather tomorrow could be much better. A tropical depression is forming into a tropical storm just west of Cuba. Bands of thunderstorms associated with the system are already impacting south Florida. Most of the storms missed this area today, but tomorrow is likely to be different. The worst of the weather is heading into the Gulf of Mexico well to the west of the Florida peninsula, but I expect tomorrow’s travel to be a rainy mess.

I’m really still learning about hurricane seasons. I thought south Florida was safer late in October. It turns out this is the most likely time for storms to impact south Florida. Last month I was up in the panhandle of Florida during the peak vulnerability for that area. My guess is the only hurricane safe place is north of Georgia and west of the Appellation until the middle of November. Of course, some of that area is getting an early snow storm this weekend.

As I predicted the campground is almost full this weekend. This campground is located just the right distance from the Miami and Fort Lauderdale metro area for a weekend family outing. There are a lot of tents and small RVs in the park this weekend. Perfect size units for the occasional weekend camping outing. With the weekend campers come the bicycles, scooters, kayaks, and canoes. Saturday is a very busy day at the campground.

Friday October 23rd 2020

I was on the edge of my seat all day waiting for rain, but it never came. This is the second day in a row without rain. Once again it went by to the south and the north. I don’t know if this is the random nature of the weather pattern or my reading the forecast wrong, but I’m glad it didn’t rain. Tomorrow has a similar forecast. I hope it has a similar outcome.

I took several walks to the Backwater River today separated by one drive into Naples. I didn’t see much in the way of wildlife or wildflowers on most of my excursions. There was something about today’s weather conditions that kept the birds away from the area. I usually see several egrets and an ibis or two in the marsh. Today I didn’t see them on any of the walks to the area.

On my last walk to the Backwater River kayak and canoe launch of the day the native alligator made an appearance. As night approaches the gator will leave the confines of the mangroves in search of food. A couple of nights ago it came out in response to some splashing in the water. Tonight it took an interest in a white dog that was getting walked out on the floating docks. In both cases it was the same drill swim rapidly into the vicinity of the noise than hover in the water with just its head out of the water watching. The dog’s people realized the risk they were putting their dog in and retreated to shore. The gator watched them all the way.

The campground filled up steadily as the afternoon progressed. For the first time since I arrived almost two weeks ago I have neighbors on both sides and across the street. It looks like the campground will be close to full this weekend. Departing Sunday morning may be a real competition for the dumping station.

Thursday October 22nd 2020

I woke up this morning to sunshine. It looked promising that the streak of three days of rain was broken. The sun hung around for two thirds of the daylight hours before clouds started moving in from the east. So far, the precipitation that goes with the clouds has missed this area to the north and south.

Today was laundry day. This park has a washer and dryer at each restroom building. They even take credit cards. In this day of coin shortages it is nice not to have that concern. The down side is the washers only have cold water connections. You can select a warm or hot setting on the machine, but you’ll still only get a cold water cycle. It’s not a big deal for most of my laundry. Three hours later I was on to my next chore.

Since I was in a household chores mood, I followed the laundry with a little vacuuming and general cleaning. The last couple of days of dishes also got washed and put away. Everything is clean, but the place still looks lived in (cluttered).

The campground is starting to fill up for the weekend. It has been a lot quieter around here this week than last. The last couple of nights the park has been particularly empty. This afternoon about a dozen new residents have arrived. I suspect the park will be near full this weekend like it was last week. Since this is an older park without a lot of separation between sites it gets crowded and noisy fast.

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.

Tuesday October 20th 2020

Today was the second consecutive rainy day. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as predictable as Monday. After misty start to the day, it appear to be clearing. I took advantage of the opportunity and headed out on my morning walk. It didn’t clear and I got caught in the heaviest rain of the day to that point. The little cloud burst only lasted long enough for me to get wet heading back to my RV home. A few more heavy showers followed. Some were short and others lingered for up to an hour.

I still managed to get in two walks to the Backwater River canoe and kayak launch. The first was a quick visit between storms and the second was at sunset. The photography opportunities during the first walk were limited, but during the sunset walk I had a little more success. The gator was back in the lagoon just before sunset. It responded to noise in the water it came out of hiding in the overhanging mangroves for the middle of the open water. About the same time the sunset found a hole in the clouds to display a bright red sky. Other than the color it was only a so so sunset.

In between the walks it was just a reading and watching TV kind of day. Tomorrow’s weather sounds like a repeat of today. I’ll need to find something else out of the rain to keep me occupied.

Monday October 19th 2020

At breakfast time this morning it began to rain. A steady to heavy rain continued until the lunch hour. It became intermittent during the afternoon and seems to have ended completely as I start to write this blog entry. I guess rain was in the forecast, but I only expected afternoon thunderstorms.

Outside activity wasn’t in the cards for this morning. I suffered through a few obscure TV programs while trying to deal with limited access to the internet. I suspect I’m at the limit of reasonable reception distance from the nearest cell tower. The phone usually shows only a single bar and the data connection speed seems to go up and down. Not having access to the normal network morning shows on the over the air TV networks combined with difficulty surfing the internet made for a challenging and boring morning.

About the time the rain started to let up, I drove into town to restock on a few groceries. I was out of milk, OJ, unfrozen meat and worst of all sweet deserts. Two hours later I was home again with a lot more than those few things. The nearest Walmart is about eight miles away. It was well stocked for a pandemic era store. My complaint about this store was the checkouts. They had about thirty self serve checkouts and only two open human staffed checkouts. My curmudgeon self wants the checkout service I’m paying for.

During the late afternoon I managed to get out for a walk in the state park. It was an exercise in creativity dodging many of the large puddles in and around the roads. Down by the Backwater river boat launching there was a little wildlife activity. The birds were sheltering in the trees and for some reason the mullet were jumping out of the water. It was almost like the fish were having a jumping contest.

I just edited my first paragraph to read “ended completely as I start to write this blog entry”. As I’m finishing writing the blog the rain has returned. The sound on the roof of my RV home is equivalent to a dull roar. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Sunday October 18th 2020

My day started lazy and relaxed surrounded by the bustling chaos of weekend campers packing up and leaving the state park. Next Sunday I’ll be part of the chaos, so I was interested in how the line at the dump station formed and other logistics of leaving. It is going to be tricky getting the car hooked up in the tight confines of the campground.

After all the weekenders departed I took a drive toward Naples and found more chaos on the road. A group of motorcyclists filled the road for near a quarter of a mile. They were two and three abreast in the lain approaching my direction of travel. It was loud, long and confusing as it approached. I guess this club didn’t make the three hundred mile run to Daytona Beach for Biketoberfest this weekend.

Most of the day I spent waiting for the weather to change. It started as a nice sunny day with a good breeze and a few fluffy clouds. Based on the internet and weather channel forecast, I expected thunderstorms during the afternoon. They never came. The day ended the way it started as a nice day with a few fluffy clouds. Since I don’t receive any local television stations, I don’t know if that was in the local forecast or not. As much as I complain about the quality of local TV weather forecasts, I feel a little out of touch without them.

Saturday October 17th 2020

When I woke up this morning the sleepy campground I got used to during the week was gone. All of the weekend residents were hopping with activity. They weren’t letting a minute of their precious weekend go to wast. Kids were riding bicycles, skateboards and scooters. Parents were loading up cars with the big kid toys like canoes and kayaks. Soon the cars were loaded with all the necessary items for a day of play.

When I walked over to the kayak and canoe launch on the Backwater river. I found the destination for several of the campers. Today was the first day I saw a significant number of boats in the water and people fishing from the dock. Everybody was taking advantage of the nice weather. Later in the day I spotted a couple of other kayak laden cars from the campground at one of the other kayak launches along the Tamiami trail. It is times like this that I’d like to have a kayak to explore with. Usually they rent them here and at other places in the area, but the combination of the season and the pandemic have limited those opportunities.

I walked another marsh trail for exercise today. The high water trend continues. At least I saw a couple of ducks taking advantage of the high water. After a week in the area, I’m running out of nearby places to hike. I’ll probably be driving further toward Miami to find more opportunities in the coming week.

Friday October 16th 2020

One of the historic displays at the Collier-Seminole State Park is a piece of equipment used in the 1920s to build the Tamiami trail across the Everglades. The Tamiami trail is the name of the first road from Tampa to Miami. The section across the Cyprus strands and water flowing grasslands of the Everglades was particularly difficult. To assist the laborers in the task was a Bay City Walking Dredge.

The dredge is an early twentieth century engineering marvel. A set of metal beams and cables along with a thirty horse power engine and a one cubic yard bucket dug the mud off of the limestone built up from the oceans. After the limestone was blasted loose the dredge brought it out of the depths to be broken into pieces for the road bed. The canals that line the side of the road as it crosses the Everglades were largely produced by the work of the dredge. The behemoth is truly an engineering marvel.

Today was one of those waiting for the weather kind of days. The day started with a little bit of sun and a lot of big puffy clouds. Most of the weather overnight remained to the east, but you could see it getting closer as the day went by. It didn’t disappoint. The slow moving storm front arrived overhead shortly after 2PM. By 2:30 the wind was blowing. It was pouring. Lightening and thunder were all around. It continued unabated for a good two hours. The campground was a soggy mess with massive puddles by the time the storm passed. It hasn’t rained since, but more is in the forecast for the overnight hours.

The campground started filling up for the weekend shortly before the storm arrived. A few unlucky people arrived during the storm. The smart ones just waited for the rain to stop, but a few pushed to get setup in the storm. The people arriving after the storm have been dealing with the mud. Anyone that misses the gravel sinks into the soft grass. All of people arriving for the weekend are once again changing the character of the campground. Hopefully it doesn’t get to to much of a party.

Thursday October 15th 2020

Today I walked the marsh trail in the Ten Thousand Island National Wildlife Refuge. The high water level was in play once again. The marsh looked more like shallow lakes than a marsh.

The area was interesting. An observation tower in the middle of the marsh affords a great view. If the water level was lower, I’m sure more birds and a few gators would be visible. Today I saw a few ducks a few bigger birds overflying the area and one brave Great Blue Heron walking belly deep through the water. I don’t think Herons swim and I not sure it could take off it had to fly. Eventually, it climbed into a bush to get out of the water. It flew out of the bush a few minutes later.

I might have walked deeper into the marsh on the trail, but the darn flies were a major annoyance. They didn’t bite, but every fly and its siblings had to land on me to verify I wasn’t a food source before continuing on their swarming way. Strangely if I stood still they didn’t bother me. It was only as I walked through there hovering area that they became royal pests.

When I got back to the state park this afternoon I found many of my neighbors had moved on. The place was emptier than it has been since I arrived on Sunday. I wondered, just for a moment, if I’d missed an evacuation order. A couple of new arrivals came in later in the afternoon, but I imagine a lot more will arrived tomorrow for the weekend.

I didn’t get a chance to visit the alligator in the Backwater River just before sunset tonight. I finished supper and was getting ready to go when a big dark cloud magically developed to the east. A quick check of the weather radar on my phone showed a storm approaching. A very loud and wet storm hovered overhead for about an hour. Consequently, I didn’t get any pictures of the sunset tonight.