Last Day in Marco & the Everglades, and then off to Key West

We spent our last day (12/22) in Collier State Park at the beach in Marco. It was a picture perfect day --- lots of sunshine and warmth! We just couldn’t get over all of the shells that wash up on this beach.
There were so many that one guy made a lounge chair out of them.




We packed up our RIG and took the Tamiami Trail across the bottom of the state through the Everglade Nat’l Park --- roughly 90 miles to Miami. I took this trail for a drive earlier in the week and didn’t have my camera.

This time we did, saw lots of alligators and took a few shots. Isn't this one a beaut! Roughly 10 ft. long.

It’s cool to watch them swim along the ditch water and also slide down into the water from the bank. Jeff even has some on video.



After boon-docking at a casino outside of Miami on the 22nd, we drove down Hwy. A1A to the Keys on the 23rd. What a beautiful drive! We haven’t been down here for 22 years and haven’t lived down here for 33 years. It was fun to let all of the nostalgia flow through us as we looked across the broad expanses of pale blue-green water.

We got to our campground in Grassy Key (roughly a mile north of Marathon) and settled in for the day. After dealing with a bit more car trouble late that day and early the next, we finally made our way down to Key West to spend Christmas Eve. Now, we know that some people say it has really changed and that we just may not recognize it anymore. NOT!

Yah --- there are a few more tourist attractions and a few more tourists, but it’s the same ol’ Key West. We parked the car, got on our bikes and went to a bunch of our old haunts --- up Elizabeth St. and down Catherine St. and all around ‘ol town. We eventually ended up on Duval Street --- as we always did --- and then to Mallory Square for a Pino Colada while we watched the sun set. The fire-eaters were still at the square along with the spectacular jugglers and mime artists. Like I said, a few more tourists, but the same ‘ol Key West.

Christmas Day was another day in Key West --- this time we spent it primarily at two beaches --- Smathers first and then Fort Zachary Taylor. Smathers was where we would park our camper all day long back in 1975-76. We basically lived there during the day. So, that’s where we started our day. Jeff set up his video camera and basically just let it record on the tri-pod while we goofed around for a couple of hours on the beach. It’s pretty good footage if you like being a fly on a wall at the beach.

Then, to get some good swimming in, we went to Fort Zackary Taylor beach where the water is very clear, deep enough to do some good swimming and just the right amount of wave movement to bounce around.

I got a chance to try out my Christmas present --- a new wet suit. It worked great! I decided to have a honeymoon special to celebrate!

Christmas on Duval Street was a kick. It’s a bit strange to see palm trees lit for Christmas, but they pulled it off pretty well. There was lots of energy, but everybody seemed to be in a very good mood and had lots of patience for each other. This was so true on Duval street where everybody had the right-of-way --- bikes, pedestrians, cars, golf carts designed to look like ’57 Chevy’s, bike taxi’s and even a rooster or two. I’m talking LIVE roosters. See – Key West hasn’t changed that much!

After a day at the beach, we went out to the Truman Naval Annex to watch the sunset. This is right around the corner from Mallory Square. We could see all of the ships that strut their stuff in front of Mallory Square as they came down to turn around down by us.

It was a spectacular sunset.

We will be leaving the Keys on Sunday, the 28th and headed for Fort Myers for the month of January. We are staying in one spot for that entire time. That should be interesting!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a safe and fruitful New Year. Speaking of fruitful --- congratulations to my nephew Zackary and his wife Susan on their Christmas Baby Helena Clare. She was born at 10:00 am on Chirstmas Day. What a Christmas gift!

Until later --- Wendy

In the Florida Tropics (the Everglades)

We’ve been at the Collier State Park (near Marco Island) for the past 2 weeks. Our first impression has really stuck with us --- this place is beautiful! It has some of the pristine beauty and wildness of the Boundary Waters and some of the colors and feeling of the Caribbean. One of the first mornings we were here, we took a long walk at sunrise. There was a slight mist in the air and the palms looked just beautiful against the morning sky. This picture only captured a small part of the beauty, but it’s at least a representation of what we saw.

That night we took a walk at sunset and saw more beauty. The Royal Palm is just spectacular! I can see why Barron Collier decided to do what he could to preserve this tree.

I celebrated my birthday here on Dec. 8th and got a wonderful surprise from Sarah Kinney. She sent me a big bouquet of flowers --- right here at the campground! Not sure how she got that worked out, but it sure was a great surprise! I also got birthday phone calls and e-mails from family and friends and even got a couple of birthday cards in the mail. Yes --- our mail service even delivers to state parks. It was so nice to be remembered! It was also nice to turn 57 in December wearing flip-flops and shorts.

The first beach we went to here was on the north side of Marco Island. When we first stepped out on the beach we were a bit surprised. The beach had actually been dragged with a tractor (like a horse arena). These folks are serious about having a groomed beach!

We decided to walk south to the beaches that were quite a bit more natural. The south beaches have tons of shells that wash up on the shore and is a great place for beach-combing. The water was a bit chilly --- but warmer than further north --- so Jeff went in and did his “fish thing”. He said that the body gets used to the cold water pretty fast. I cooled off by just doing some wading. Actually, just hangin out on the beach was pretty darn nice.

The homes in Marco are incredible --- big, beautiful and they are all the colors of the insides of the various shells here --- pink, turquoise, salmon, pale blue and shad

es of yellow. Most are very large homes with screened in back yards! Seriously --- they don’t just screen in their back porches --- they screen in the entire back yard. Check this out!

Jeff had fun the beach birds. You can tell these birds are used to people --- -they let you walk right up to them. Jeff and this bird walked the beach together for a quite along ways.

We have taken lots of hikes through the everglades, Jeff took his kayak into one of the tidal rivers for a day and I drove the Tamiami trail to Miami one day to see what that was all about. This trail cuts right across the Everglades from Marco to Miami. It is completely natural out there. There are tons of big birds and I saw about a dozen alligators in the wild --- in the big ditches along side the rode I was traveling. I got out a few times and just stood there and watched in amazement. Sorry I don’t have any pictures --- I didn’t have my camera with me that day. Jeff didn’t have the still camera with him on his kayak trip, but he does have his entire voyage on video. He figured out how to mount the camera on a tri-pod on the front of the kayak and filmed the whole thing.

In closing, I just want to add a picture of something you don’t have up in Minnesota that we have down here --- yellow rat snakes. Snow doesn’t seem so bad now, right? We had to stop the car to let this snake cross the road on our way out of the park one day.

Cheers!

Wendy

CAPTAINS LOG 12.11.08

Getting Started.

In the weeks and months before this trip, as Wendy and I were planning and outfitting the Cruise Master I wondered what we would find. Would this “lifestyle” satisfy my desire to “get away” yet not put us in a position of isolation from other people? Would we find nice places to stay? Would people be friendly? And of course, how would Wendy and I get along living in close quarters again after living in our own spaces?

We traveled south toward warmer air mixed with cool breezes. Our rig was new to us, and we made some mistakes—namely towing our chase car in such a way as to burn up the front tires and brakes. We also were stopped by the sheriff and told our running lights weren’t on. We hit a deer and some orange highway cones (separate incidents). But we arrived in central Florida eventually in one piece.

My Truckin Hero.

We traveled through Iowa…cold, cow, corn and soybean country. We pulled off the freeway at dusk and refueled gas ($112) and LP ($51) at a Flying J Truck stop. Our first time driving a big rig in a facility like this was actually very exciting. Because we were towing a car (Chevy Tracker), we were unable to back up.

I thought about my brother Steve who has been driving semi’s for years, the trip he took me on to New York City, and some of the other incredible experiences he has told me about make him a truckin hero to me.

Between the mega truck stops lie the miles of highway cut through the countryside. These highways are incredible. Not only are they engineering marvels, but the ease and speed they enable people and goods to move is astounding.

Steve lives in this world, on the road, between destinations. He is part of the high-energy world of interstate trucking and I am most proud of him.

After our first overnight in a Walmart parking lot in Troy, Missouri, we continued down through red neck country, listening alternately to country music and religious stations. Every couple of miles was billboard advertising a XXX Superstore at the next exit. What a world!

Friendliest State, So Far.

We were fortunate to get a little flavor of the people we met in several states as we passed through. We agree that Mississippi wins for the friendliest, most helpful and hardest accent to understand. What a treat it was to meet folks on such a temporary basis and come away feeling they would do anything to make you happy.

Our stay there consisted of getting the Tracker fixed, grocery shopping, going out to dinner and trying to get our technology to work. We were invited to park at a tennis club, and they even offered to get us electricity for the RV.

Walmart.

We have now stayed at Walmart stores several times. With only slight variations, the stores are all the same. Friendly, clean, well lite and patrolled. We always pull in very tired. Sometimes we would make something to eat and watch a little satellite TV before climbing under the covers. We always do a little shopping and are always completely blown away by that first impression of walking a couple hundred feet from our house into a billion acre store filled with every “convenience” available on the planet.

National Politics.

Admittedly, we didn’t listen to any news broadcasts for the first couple of weeks. It’s not that we didn’t have access; it was more of a conscious choice. After devoting hundreds of hours the last several months to CNN, MSNBC, and others, we just had to take a break.

Have you ever seen a dog continue to lick his dish long after the bowl is empty? Scrape, scrape across the floor. That was us after this last election. We finally had to say that we really enjoyed that, but we’re going to take a break. I’m sure we’ll become active news hounds once Obama’s in the White House. We really look forward to working with our new president.

Global Positioning System.

We use a Garmin Nuvi GPS whenever we are on the go. First Wendy types in an address that she has picked off the Internet. It might be to a particular campground, RV park, restaurant, bar or store of some kind. Then a map comes up on the GPS display showing our vehicle traveling down the road. When the directions require us to turn, we hear a pleasant woman named Samantha tell us to prepare to turn, “Turn left on Collier Blvd. ”, we turn, and she immediately tells us to continue on the next segment “Drive 7.2 miles on US 75, then turn right”.

If we don’t make the turn for some reason, Samantha recalculates “Recalculating” she says. Then she offers an amended route to return us to our original destination. This has saved us many times.

Once when I was driving across what Wendy calls the “Florida Armpit”, a mostly swampy land filled with scrubby trees, snakes and alligators, I missed a turn. What happened next made me realize that I shouldn’t underestimate anybody.

We went on for about a mile and then Samantha told us to turn right. I turned quickly onto a muddy pothole filled road. After driving about one hundred feet I realized Samantha was trying to kill us. Up ahead were gray ribbons of mud converging together to form what was supposed to be the road. The ribbons disappeared into the encroaching swamp.

I stopped in my tracks. To the left was a simple building; I thought it might be a church. It had a “driveway” that I reasoned I could turn on, but not much evidence that it would provide enough room to turn the rig around without backing up. I turned in said a quick prayer and then turned onto the lawn. Thank God it was firm enough to drive on.

I thought I could hear Samantha cursing under her breath when we finally returned to the black top. Other than this incident, the GPS has been an indispensable tool that has really improved our quality of travel.

Wendy.

Speaking of “quality of travel”… my traveling partner has been incredible. Oh sure, we have always gotten along pretty good, but so far this trip has been a tribute to harmony, peace and cooperation.

My dad used to say “If you really want know what a girl is like, take her camping”.

Wendy is an excellent camper. I think she is an exceptional person and I am so thankful to have her with me. We have lots of fun. She takes me with her when she goes exploring and includes me in all kinds of things. She loves to make fantastic meals. She is interesting and interested. How could I be so lucky?

Sunday, Dec 7, 2008 in southwest Florida

We spent 4 days in Palm Harbor (just no. of Clearwater) at a private RV Park (11/30 - 12/3). It was a very nice park and we scored a great camping spot right on the pond.


We had a nice little deck on the pond and there were great grasses for natural habitat.

There is evidence that Jeff has been on this deck --- notice the orange pop can?

There were a pair of black swans that lived in the pond and they had 6 babies just 2 weeks before we got there --- very fun to watch. The male was incredibly protective of his brood. He didn’t like anyone getting too close. I’d say he was a good guard-swan! His name is Jack.

Mama swan and her 6 babies...





This park is right on a 50 mile paved biking trail that goes from Tarpon Springs to St. Petersburg. I believe it was an old railroad bed, just like the trail in Lanesboro. We took advantage of the trail and did some riding. Here’s Jeff doing a trick:)

This park also had a very cool open air “wash-house”. It was fun doing clothes here because you were actually looking out in the park and the little pond when folding clothes.

After spending 4 days in Palm Harbor, we decided it was time to leave and go further south to get into even warmer weather --- the kind where you are looking for shade, mid-day, because it is too hot in the sun. We found it at Collier Seminole State Park --- just 10 miles inland from Marco Island. We pulled in on Friday, 12/5 and decided to stay here for 2 full weeks – it is gorgeous here! The park was founded by Barron Collier, an advertising tycoon back in the 20’s. He loved the big natural stand of Royal Palms and decided to buy up a million acres. That ended up being Collier County and 7200 acres of it is this state park. This is the one of the 3 largest, natural stands of Royal Palms in the country. Yesterday I went biking through a “palm forest”. What a trip that was! The floor of the forest was mostly palmetto plants (that stand about 3 – 4 ft. high) and tall bunch grass (that looks like long, skinny palm leaves in 4 ft. bunches). The next layer up was palm trees that ranged from 20 – 30 ft. trees. The very top of the canopy is a very tall pine (over the 30 ft. palms) that only has branches on the top 25% of the tree. What an interesting forest! I also saw many Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets and Belted Kingfishers on my ride. Really cool!

We have a great campsite here at Collier.... amongst the Royal Palm

Today (Sunday) Jeff and I had a big southern breakfast of eggs & grits, bacon & toast and sliced, fresh picked oranges. Yum!! Since the internet connection at the state park isn't good (almost non-existant) I'm currently sitting in the parking lot at Walgreens (in Marco Island) posting this blog. I couldn't find an open coffee shop here on the island. They don't seem to have them on every other block like they do in St. Paul. Probably not enough Scandivanians down here demanding their coffee! Anyway, I'm in my Tracker, with my laptop on my lap, and I have a camouflouge raincoat over the computer so I can see the screen. I bet I look a little weird --- oh well:)

Time to get out of the Walgreens' parking lot! I think my computer battery is just about spent. So adios until next time. I think I'll enjoy spending my birthday tomorrow on the beach on Marco Island. It costs $8 to park and get in, but hey, I think I can splurge a little:)

Wendy

Quick re-cap and some photos

I tried to figure out a way to archive our other blog entries on this site, but it doesn’t really work the way I want it to, so I’ll just put in a quick re-cap and we’ll move on from there. There are some folks that haven’t gotten into our blog yet and I just wanted to bring them up-to-date.

After arriving in Florida, we set up in our first camp at the Big Lagoon State Park (south of Pensacola and next door to Perdido Key). This was on a picturesque bay (lagoon) loaded with birds and filled with pines and palms --- and lots of aligators. Good thing it was too cold to even think about going swimming...

After 3 days, we went further east to Grayton St. Park (half way between Pensacola and Panama City). We loved this park --- all 2200 acres of it! Because the state parks don’t allow buildings on the beaches, they are completely natural and incredibly pristine!

The bay we were on was great, but the beach (just a short walk from our camp) was just spectacular! We saw the most beautiful sunset there on Nov. 25th!

That was the day we actually celebrated Jeff’s birthday. ..

with Jeff & Wendy's special drink call The Honeymoon Special.

After 3 days there, we moved on to St. Andrew’s St. Park (just outside of Panama City). The rain moved in on us here and, but at least it was warm rain and our view of the bay was, again, very lovely. That camp site was the first picture we posted on this new blog site.

After 3 days, we moved further east and much further south. We drove for about 8 hours yesterday and are now camped at an RV park in Palm Harbor, FL. The location is just north of Clearwater Beach (which is just north of St. Petersburg). We love it here! The residential part of this little town reminds me a lot of what Key West was like when we lived down there 33 years ago ---- before it went commercial. It’s the “old Florida”.

We plan to spend some time at Clearwater Beach and Honeymoon Island today and tomorrow. Both are supposed to be incredible beaches. There’s not a cloud in the sky, it’s about 72 degrees, it’s 2:30 in the afternoon and if I can just wake Jeff up --- we’ll be on our way. The boy does need his afternoon naps:)