Wednesday March 13th 2019

The day began with sunshine occasionally obscured by a cloud. It ended with scattered clouds, but that doesn’t really tell today’s weather tail. During the middle of the day the sun was mostly blocked by clouds and the wind howled hard from the north east. The temperature peaked in the low eighties.

Today I visited the Shark Valley unit of the Everglades National Park. The chief feature of this unit is an observation tower in the middle of the Shark River Slough. The parking lot for the Shark Valley unit is along the Tamiami trail and the observation tower is located seven miles south of the parking area. There are three ways to get to the tower. You can walk, take a tram or ride a bicycle. Most people choose the tram. I decided to ride my bicycle.

The tram takes a clockwise trip to the tower and back. It has a narrator and slows down at various points along the fifteen mile loop. The only stop is at the observation tower. The bicycle and walking route takes the same loop road counter clockwise. By riding my bike I can stop anywhere along the way to take pictures and watch the wildlife.

The seven mile ride out to the observation tower was easy. I was early enough that there weren’t many other riders on the road. A deeper water area runs along the west side of the road all the way out to the tower. It is home to alligators, lots of fish and wading birds. I stopped often to take pictures. Eventually I got saturated with picture taking and only stopped for something special.

The observation tower has a gradual curving concrete ramp to climb above tree level. The view beyond the small hammock of trees is of the huge grass filled slow moving river that is the Everglades. When I first arrived at the observation tower I had it to myself. After about five minutes a couple of bicyclists joined me on the tower. A few minutes after that the next tram arrived to deposit a load of people which was my signal to get moving.

The return ride on the eight mile section of the road through the open grass area was much harder than the trip out. The wind had picked up and there was nothing to block its full force. Most of the way back I had a head wind. The last two or three miles were torture. I stopped several times to drink and eat a snack. Many of the people that were well behind me on the way out passed me on the way back to the parking lot. I was in a hurry to get started this morning and didn’t eat a big breakfast. I paid the price on the ride back to the parking lot.

End of Post

Tuesday March 12th 2019

This was a little more kind of day. A little more humidity, a few more degrees and a little less wind resulted in being a little more uncomfortable outside. I’m not complaining, I’m observing.

While I’ve been here things have brighten up a lot. When I got here at the beginning of the month the Cypress trees were mostly gray and the saw grass areas in the swamp were mostly brown. The Cypress trees seem to be getting greener and the ground cover has a multitude of white and purple blossoms. This is supposed to be the last month or so of the dry season. While there hasn’t been much rain in this area, enough is falling in central Florida and north that the slow flow across the glades continues. I’ve only been in this area in the dry season, so I can only imagine what it looks like in the wet season. There is plenty of water around now.

One of the places I walked today was the Kirby Storter boardwalk. The first part of the walk is across a dry area of grass that looks like a prairie. Closer examination shows that it is underwater a good portion of the year. As the boardwalk moves into the Cypress strand the vegetation gets thicker and water can be found in pools across the ground. The big Cypress trunk bases and knees are all exposed for inspection. Deeper in the strand the boardwalk ends over the slow moving center of the water. A few birds, gators and turtles were visible when I walked this trail last week. Today none of the wildlife was visible, but the plant life along the whole path was much more alive and colorful.

Back at the campground this evening there are actually empty sites. The vacancy sign for single night stays is hanging. The system encourages prepaid reservations, so very few people are going to take the chance and check for a site on the fly. The reservation window for Federal campgrounds is six months. There were only a couple of sites available for the entire two weeks when I booked this site five plus months out. Booking and prepaying six months, eleven months or a year out is one of my biggest dislikes about this lifestyle.

Monday March 11th 2019

One day is just blending in with the next. The temperature got into the high eighties today, but otherwise was a clone of the previous few.

A couple of days ago one of my neighbors was extolling the beauty and wildlife along one of the loop roads in the Big Cypress National Preserve. Today I checked it out for myself. The road loops through the Preserve south of the Tamiami trail for twenty four miles. More than sixteen of the miles are on a gravel road. The swamp comes up to the road on both sides. At regular intervals a large culvert allows water under the road. Stopping at each of these crossings gives you an opportunity to see alligators, turtles and possible snakes. I saw lots of alligators and a couple of turtles, but no snakes. I wanted to see birds, but they were not visible.

It is necessary to stop almost in the middle of the road. The road drops off into the swamp without any real shoulder. Traffic was light, but when a car did go by it kicked up a dust storm. My car was covered in a fine white dust when I got back to my RV home. Overall, I wasn’t that impressed with the loop drive. Most of the road was in good condition, but you needed to watch out for the occasional pot hole and washboard area. It wasn’t really possible to pause and watch for wildlife at your leisure. There are walking trails in the Preserve that have better opportunity with less effort. Stopping at the Oasis Visitors center gives you better access to gators in a single place. There were over fifteen this afternoon. Stopping at or driving by all the culverts on the loop road didn’t produce as clear a view of that many gators.

Back at the Midway Campground during the afternoon, I watched the park fill up for the night. It was more than half empty this morning. It has been full every night I’ve been here.

Sunday March 10th 2019

Today’s weather continued the streak of good days. It was a little cloudier than yesterday, but the temperature still managed to get into the low eighties. The switch to daylight savings time was the biggest change today.

When I looked at the clock beside my bed this morning it read 8:50. My sleep clouded brain added an hour for daylight savings and concluded I was going to be late getting the day started at 10AM. Once I was up I read the microwave clock at 8:02. The bedroom clock is “smart” it added the hour automatically. That was the most exciting thing to happen today. Since I managed to post my blog entry last night, I didn’t need to jump in the car and travel east or west in search of a cell phone signal. My day was spent at home reading and watching TV.

I walked around the campground pond a few times for exercise. I’m always on the lookout for the campground alligator or other interesting wildlife. On my last walk of the day I saw the gator taking a nap on the side of the pond. He had been out long enough that the campground hosts had moved one of the orange warning signs into the area. Every time the gator pops out of the pond they move one of several “Beware of Alligator” signs into the area. There are already permanently mounted warning signs around the pond. These seem to be a form of proactive anti lawsuit signs. I don’t think they are very useful.

Saturday March 9th 2019

Today was a weather clone of yesterday. The temperature was in the low eighties with a moderate wind out of the east south east. An occasional cloud blocked the sun for a moment or two.

I took a drive to the west this morning to find a cell phone signal strong enough to post yesterday’s blog entry. While I was out I stopped in at the Everglades City branch of the Everglades National Park. My timing was off for catching one of the boat rides into the Thousand Island area. I would have had to wait over two hours for the next available boat. It probably wouldn’t have been as good as I remember from 2013.

During the afternoon I caught up on a few chores around my RV home and grilled a couple of sausages for dinner. I took a couple of walks around the campground for exercise. On the second walk just before sunset, the campground resident alligator made an appearance. I spotted it swimming across the pond toward the bank I was standing on. It paralleled the shore for a short distance then turned and climbed the bank. Watching how quickly it moved onto land and headed in my general direction was a little frightening. I had plenty of space and it stopped well short of my location, but I did back up. It drew a small army of fellow campers taking pictures.

So far tonight the atmospheric conditions have allowed me to stay online. With a little luck I will get this blog entry posted before it goes away.

Friday March 8th 2019

The weather roller coaster is climbing toward another peak. Today was warmer and a little less windy than Thursday. The temperature peaked in the low eighties.

I continue have issues with internet connectivity. During my first four days here it wasn’t great but there were long periods of solid connectivity. The last three plus days it has been no signal with an occasional brief connection that sends my cell phone into a notification frenzy. To find out if any of the notifications required action and to publish yesterday’s blog entry, I drove west to the outskirts of Naples FL this morning. Naples is a little further away but the drive is less congested than the trip east to the Miami suburbs. I found my Internet connectivity in a Walmart parking lot.

The drive back along the Tamiami trail was an opportunity to stop at various places and check out Mother Natures wonders. It’s not the easiest road to play tourist along. The road is straight and level for long stretches. The speed limit is sixty in the western section and fifty five in the eastern section. You are either traveling along at the speed limit watching for oncoming traffic that may be in your lane to pass or you’re stuck behind slower moving traffic. Waiting for you turn to pass is an exercise in patience followed by a short period of exhilaration as you speed by the slow moving traffic. The problem the road presents to stopping at the road side sights is finding the places to stop. The road sign installers give you a quarter mile warning of a possible place to stop. Then they set the sign back from the road far enough that the foliage makes it impossible to see from a distance. Deciding to stop, slowing from sixty to turning speed and not getting hit from behind is the challenge to accomplish in a quarter of a mile. It’s a lot easier once you know where everything is located.

This evening at the campground there was a ranger lead presentation on the history of logging in the Big Cypress National Preserve. It was held at an amphitheater back in the woods from the campsites that I didn’t even know was there. The mosquito were out in strength, but so was an owl. Before the presentation began an owl landed in a tree beside the amphitheater area to check out the ruckus. I tried to get a picture, but it didn’t come out great in the low light. The ranger presentation was informative, but very disorganized.

End of Post

Thursday March 7th 2019

Today was a little warmer than yesterday with a few more clouds. The strong wind from the north continued, but the temperature managed to make it into the mid seventies.

I wasn’t successful uploading my blog entry yesterday, so after breakfast this morning I headed off to the east to find a cell data signal or an internet connection. In the Miami suburbs I found a parking lot with a little shade that I could establish a WiFi hotspot with my phone. The only problem was the computer I brought with me didn’t have everything I needed to publish the post. I finally got it posted when I got back to my RV home in the afternoon. The atmospheric conditions or the tower congestion weren’t a problem this time. I had a good connection.

Once in the Miami region I decided to continue south to the main area of the Everglades National Park. The traffic and road construction were terrible. The average speed was around twenty miles an hour. About an hour after turning south I was headed out through farm land to the National Park. You’d think the approach to the park was supposed to be a secret with all the twists and turns with minimal signage required. I finally arrived at the park, but it was later in the day than one would normally started exploring the park and I wasn’t well prepared. I didn’t have extra water or binoculars.

I toured the main visitors center and then spent a couple of hours on the Anhinga Trail near the eastern edge of the park. I took the following pictures as I walked the trail. There were lots of visitors, lots of scenery and lots of wildlife.

End of Post

Wednesday March 6th 2019

What a difference a day makes. The last few days were humid with the high temperature in the upper eighties. Today the temperature barely made it to seventy degrees and a strong north wind made it feel even colder. On the positive side of things, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

I continued exploring the Big Cypress National Preserve. Today I drove to the west side of the Preserve to the main visitors center. It has some nice exhibits about the history of the Preserve and the wildlife that inhabits it. Behind the building is a short boardwalk along a canal.

The cool temperature kept the number of alligators I saw down. Between the three stops I made I only say two gators. Included in that was stop I made on Sunday that had many alligators to see. There are still plenty of things to see like birds in flight and random plant life. It is hard to catch pictures of the flying birds. I saw one rather unique black and white bird with a split tail that turned out to be a Swallow-Tailed Kite. At least that’s what my internet search concluded.

Internet and cell phone are really a puzzle at the this campground. The number of bars for the voice connectivity seem to be one or two most of the time. The data connectivity goes from great to zero. It can be fine for a few hours then non existent for the next few. So far I’ve been able to post a blog entry every night, but tonight may be the exception. As I’ve been writing this entry, I have had no connectivity. I don’t know when I’ll get the pictures and text uploaded.

This blog entry was uploaded on Thursday afternoon. I didn’t have internet access on Wednesday evening.

Tuesday March 5th 2019

I expected to get rained on today, but it didn’t happen. The day started sunny and warm. The temperature eventually made it into the low to mid eighties. Shortly after noon the expected front arrived with some wind and lots of clouds. It didn’t take long for the wind direction to change and the sun to return. Tomorrow is forecast to be ten degrees or more cooler.

The resident campground alligator has been hard to find. To get my gator fix I drove up to the Oasis Visitors Center. There are always plenty of alligators to be found in the deep water canal along the road in front of the visitors center. I was not disappointed. Along with plenty of tourists from all over the world judging by languages, I found big gators, little gators and all the sizes in between. The big reptiles are fascinating to observe.

End of Post

Monday March 4th 2019

Today’s high temperature was a near record high for the area. It got up to near 90 under bright sunny skies, lots of humidity and a gentle breeze. Tomorrow is forecast to be the start of the transition to cooler temperatures with cloudy skies and the threat of rain. By Wednesday the temperature is forecast to be a little below normal in the low to mid seventies.

Late this morning I drove east from the campground. My plan was to visit the Shark Valley, the northern most unit of the Everglades National Park. On the drive east I noticed that I had less than half a tank of gas. Staying in the middle of nowhere that could be an issue, so I continued by the park another twenty miles or so to the outskirts of the Miami metro area. I found gas after only getting lost in one housing subdivision. The transition from Everglades to suburbs then retail to housing was rapid and dramatic. I really wasn’t prepared for navigating in the congestion. I only had to turn around twice and I saw some interesting homes in the process.

After filling the tank I reversed course back into the Everglades. The road seems to serve as a dike. There is plenty of water to the north of the road complete with a canal that parallels the road. At regular intervals there are gates that control the flow of water in canals under the road to the south. Three area a few tourist attractions offering air boat rides and other tours. In general there is far more commerce on the eastern side of the Tamiami trail across the state than on the western end.

When I got back to the Shark Valley Park entrance my plan for the day was foiled. The parking lot was full. The overflow seemed to be along the road with a lot of walking required. I had only planned a short visit that didn’t involve taking the Tram ride. Later in the week when the weather is cooler I plan to take my bicycle to the park and ride the Tram road at my own pace rather than taking the tram to the observation tower. I turned around at the full parking lot sign and returned to my RV home. My adventure for the day was a long round trip to fill the gas tank.

The campground was filling back up for the night when I arrived. During the weekend there were many Florida RVs in the park. Last night and tonight the mix has turned in favor of the travelers. My guess is they are here for a couple to three nights to see the Big Cypress National Preserve and the northern part of the Everglades. I don’t thing there are many people that are staying here for two weeks like I am. It’s a long drive to just about everything.