We left the Keys and headed for the north west corner of the Everglades to camp four days at Collier-Seminole State Park.They groomed these campsites of the underbrush, I imagine to keep people safer from the alligators.
The camp is situated on the north end of the Everglades so we had easy access to wildlife viewing and activities in the Everglades. It was fully booked as all the state parks have been.
http://www.floridastateparks.org/collierseminole/
Collier- Seminole State Park trail The camp is situated on the north end of the Everglades so we had easy access to wildlife viewing and activities in the Everglades. It was fully booked as all the state parks have been.
http://www.floridastateparks.org/collierseminole/
The park had a nice boat dock and a walking trail with a boardwalk that went over some of the Everglades. It even looked to be wheelchair accessible. The trail was well maintained and had various markers to point out plants and their historical significance.
The trail was dog friendly so we were able to take a 45 minute walking loop with the dogs each day to keep them sane.
At the beginning of the trip I had some ankle problems and had to wear an ankle support so it was great to be walking freely again!
We took an airboat ride at Everglades Safari Park http://www.evergladessafaripark.com/ which is in the middle of the Everglades.
It was quite beautiful and fun to some extent, but I must admit that afterwards I felt it was disruptive to zoom over the plants and disturb the wildlife.
I am sure that there are many necessary uses for airboats and I’ve read about the accessibility they provide people to the Everglades as being positive.
Alligatore behind second tree on left It was quite beautiful and fun to some extent, but I must admit that afterwards I felt it was disruptive to zoom over the plants and disturb the wildlife.
I am sure that there are many necessary uses for airboats and I’ve read about the accessibility they provide people to the Everglades as being positive.
At Everglades Safari Park where we had our airboat ride, there was a lawn next to the ticket office/restaurant that opened to the Everglades behind the buildings. The alligators came up on the lawn to bask in the sun and were all around the area. They had a little 3 foot fence in only one area in the front to keep gators from the people waiting in lines and the parking lot but that was the only fence. The gators where right on the other side of the fence while you were in line though. They created quite a beautiful park that you could walk through after your boat ride, and there were big gators everywhere without any fences anywhere since it was open to the Everglades. They cautioned us to be careful and not get too close since we saw several very large gators warming themselves near the path. A park attendant yelled at one man who wanted his photo next to one and again he screamed at a woman who let a toddler walk next to the water. He said that they are known to lunge out of the water at something at the edge of the water.
This alligator is the same alligator that you can barely see behind the second tree in the beautiful photo scene above.
From his belly it looks like he ate something large recently.
At the restaurant we shared what was called “On The Wildside” which consisted of fried alligator, huge frog legs and fish. Next time I will stick to the key lime pie. It wasn’t bad, but not up my alley.
Roseate Spoonbill From his belly it looks like he ate something large recently.
At the restaurant we shared what was called “On The Wildside” which consisted of fried alligator, huge frog legs and fish. Next time I will stick to the key lime pie. It wasn’t bad, but not up my alley.
We were standing on the side of the road watching a flock of wonderful large pink birds called Roseate Spoonbills (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roseate_Spoonbill) when we heard the unmistakable roar of an airboat. We looked up to see the boat head directly for the flock of birds feeding in the water. The boat then did a few full spins and gunned the engine to zoom off. I doubt that it was even legal to do that in a National Park and it certainly was disruptive to the wildlife.
Airboats are very shallow flat bottom boats that are propelled by a giant aircraft-type propeller enclosed in wire housing at the back of the boat. This propeller is completely out of the water since a submerged propeller would be impractical in so much thick vegetation. They zoom on the top of the water over plants and are quite loud. We were all given ear plugs and it was still very loud.
From reading True Tales of the Everglades by Stuart McIver, I get the impression that Florida was quite a wild place in the 1800 and 1900’s. It often mentions about people running away from a past life and going south until they could not go any further and ended up in lower Florida. If you are interested in stories of early Florida history this had good ones about the early lawless plume hunters, the building of the railroad, early Key West history including it’s Cuban ancestry and the cigar, and sponge trades in the Keys.
South Florida has the Indian reservations of the Seminole and Miccosukee in the Everglades. The settlements are marked with a road sign saying “Indian Village” just before each site. They are all surrounded by tall fences. Through open gates and over the fences you can catch a glimpse of some large thatched roofs and perhaps an equal number of modern buildings.
I could see some thatched roofs were over open spaces that created large outdoor shady areas. From the enclosures it seemed obvious that they wanted their privacy. They Indians still do gator wrestling for entertainment and they operate air boat tours, gift shops and restaurants in the Everglades.
The Seminoles and the United States fought three times, the longest being seven long years. Many Indians were deported to Arkansas. The Seminoles were finally driven to the Everglades and dwindled from a nation of 5,000 to only 100, but they never surrendered. Today’s Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes came from these last 100 people. They each have their own government and tribal organizations but they do intermarry and share some customs. According to The Tales of the Everglades they remain “an independent, unconquered people, proud of their Indian culture and heritage.”
The Seminoles and the United States fought three times, the longest being seven long years. Many Indians were deported to Arkansas. The Seminoles were finally driven to the Everglades and dwindled from a nation of 5,000 to only 100, but they never surrendered. Today’s Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes came from these last 100 people. They each have their own government and tribal organizations but they do intermarry and share some customs. According to The Tales of the Everglades they remain “an independent, unconquered people, proud of their Indian culture and heritage.”
From our camp at Collier-Seminole State Park we drove about 15 minutes to Marco Island. The island has large sand bars that trap the shells so that it is listed as one of the 10 best beaches to find shells in the country. We went to Tigertail Beach and waded in shallow water to a beautiful beach filled with shells. We went in the middle of the day and there were many people already walking the beach.... all with their heads down looking for shells. We still gathered a great shell collection and loved the gentle waves and the warm aqua ocean. The sand in Florida is not at all like the sand in California. It is very fine white soft sand that is almost a powder in comparison. It packs down so that walking on the soft sand is much easier than sand at home where you feet sink down and you have to work to walk. Plus you can easily go barefoot since the sand is not a hot being very white. It is very soft and what a delight to walk on! When the waves washed around your ankles you don’t get that cold bite that you do in the Pacific Ocean. The currents are such that the Gulf water is very warm along the coast of Florida. It is much warmer than the Keys.
I found that both Marco Island and the development around Naples to be upscale and very controlled so that I had the impression the entire Marco Island was under a restrictive Home Owners Association. Marco Island was effected by the depression and was not developed until 1962 with a master plan for the entire island. I found it odd that there was not any residential street parking! Everyone including delivery trucks had to park in their driveways or garage since there was only the curb next to a busy road. I don’t know what people would do if they had more guests that would fit into their driveway. Perhaps they wanted to keep people from camping on their streets overnight. Everything was so tidy and similar that it lacked character to me. It was beautifully landscaped and I am sure that many people loved it. I found Naples to be beautifully landscaped as well, and it had the same feeling of planned development that felt artificial to me. I realize that this appeals to many people and that is why they choose property here. Perhaps I am not used to it but I like more diversity of architecture, landscape as well as poeple since this area gave me the impression of being a huge rather sterile retirement community. I also find that the style of architecture in the South often strives for a look of grandeur which includes such thing as large columns at the entrance. It seems to be reminiscent of a style of old Plantation homes.
Flat horizon seem from bridge elevation For those who have not experienced Florida I have to tell you that it is FLAT. The highest point is 334 feet and that is a little peak near Alabama where there are also some small rolling hills. In St Pete they have Thrill HIll which is a little bump in the road that people like to drive over fast and fly up in the air. I looked at an elevation map of Florida and in the south there are no natural hills. Chokoloskee Island standing tall at 20 feet was getting a lot of attention but it isn't natural. In a book called The Story of Chokoloskee County Bay County by Charlton W. Tebeau, he stated that in its early history the island was piled high with shells by the Calusa Indians to shelter it during hurricanes. Marco Island was once all sand dunes which gave it some elevation but that was due to vegetation and blowing sand and only slightly elevated due to the dunes. Apparently the large high rise buildings in Miami are the highest point in the state. When we went over a bridge in southern Florida we had an opportunity to see the horizon line in all directions so we truly got an idea of how flat it is. The only change in the horizon anywhere was due to some taller trees.
I keep wondering how the Floridians feel about global warming since so much of the state is very close to sea level. The Keys, the Everglades and lower Florida are particularly vulnerable. I found an interactive website that shows the areas that will be under water at http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/florida.shtml Since they seem so vulnerable to climate change, I would think that Floridians would be at the forefront pushing for green policies to hopefully change the current trend, however, from my limited experience I have seen the opposite. I found a denial of rising water to be a threat from locals. We spent some time in Key West with a realtor on two occasions because we needed to have some home loan refinancing papers notarized. The relator’s home was only 10 feet above sea level as so many houses are and she had little concern. She was also selling property at sea level. Our house in California is 50 feet above sea level and there is talk in our town about it not being wise to develop the waterfront due to the rising sea level.
Floral City with moss in trees Here’s my experience with alligators in Florida so far. If you don’t want to read anymore about gators skip the next three paragraphs. My grandparents and other relatives lived in the St Pete/Tampa area so as a child I used to visit them during the winter. My father grew up in St Pete as well. My favorite uncle Jack had a cabin in Floral City, Florida that was situated by a dredged out channel connecting to a lake behind the cabin. We had great fun jumping into the lake while holding on a rope tied to a large tree we would run fast and swing out far out as far as we could fly and then we’d let go and drop into the water... it was the same water that we went alligator hunting in at night. I recall one night we went out in a very little outboard boat looking for gators by shinning a flashlight around us so we could tell how large gators were by the spacing between the red eyes. I was terrified and recall holding my arms very close to my sides as told so the gators could not bite my hands. As I recall the boat was so small that I could reach out and touch both sides at the same time. We captured a small gator which later ended up in a wildlife habitat area. My uncle was also a hunter. At some point my uncle said they all stopped swimming in the water after the gators kept coming up on the lawn by the house.
Alligators beside the road Hunting alligators is no longer legal because it almost eliminated the species, however, they have made a strong comeback and are no longer endangered. I can testify to the abundance of them in Florida. The ranger at the Oasis Visitor Center in the Everglades said there is not a shortage of them now and laughed that there are so many now. She was talking about one guide boat operator who had his hand bitten off last July and then was fined $500 in court for feeding the alligators. The ranger said that he should have known better since he was an experienced guide, and she had little sympathy, because they had to kill the alligator once he attacked a human.
Since we first camped at the Suwannee River in northern Florida we saw signs to warn us of alligators in every public body of fresh water. In just one day while traveling across the Everglades on a highway called The Tamiami Trail we probably saw around 50 gators long the road in the water or sunning themselves. The Tamiami Trail completed in 1928 spanned the Everglades for the first time. It was grueling difficult 13 year task with 264 miles of road to build. The name Tamiami comes from the fact that is connected Tampa to Miami. Oddly they began building at each end with hopes of meeting in the middle only to be off six miles so there is memorable jag in the middle of the highway. The builders dug a ditch in the muck to use the dirt to build a road so today the road is next to a ditch filled with water and wildlife. the birds were incredible and there were numerous gators. I suppose you get used to living in the presence of gators, but it is unusual for me to have something so large and potentially menacing close by and everywhere. We are currently camped about 40 feet from a lake that has gators. They mowed the area from us to the lake and only left the last two feet in 1 ft pussy willow type plants. There is a paved path about 10 feet from the water and we never go there at night and stay on the the path during the day. We were told that they can lunge out of the water and grab little animals so we keep dogs away from any water. A fellow camper said she saw a 10 ft gator recently and we needed to be careful of Paco. There were also big signs at the camp entrance warning us that gators were in the lake.
OK, enough of the gator talk.
OK, enough of the gator talk.
This was a typical view along the side of the Tamiami Trail which spans the Everglades.
It was filled with wildlife!
It was filled with wildlife!
We left Collier-Seminole Park in the Everglades and drove through Miami on our way to Lake Okeechobee. We admit it was a long drive but we planned it when we didn’t know we would both be ill. I heard great things about the Art Deco buildings in Miami so we decided at least do a drive through instead of walking tour and day of exploration.
Miami had a completely different look and feel that was quite interesting and lively. We were not feeling well enough to take the walk we had planned but I easily drove our Roadtrek down busy crowded streets in an unfamiliar metropolitan area. It was so easy to drive, navigate it and PARK. I parallel parked it on Ocean Drive, a hot spot right on the main drag that has a row of historical Art Deco buildings. Miami has more Art Deco buildings than any other city in the world and was worth the effort to see. One one side of Ocean Drive are the great Art Deco buildings side by side and in front of each one there are large square umbrellas connecting to each other to form a completely shady sidewalk. I can see that this area is a great place to socialize, eat and drink. My friend, Asandra, who lived in Miami for 14 years told me that I should see Ocean Drive in particular. On the other side of the street there is a shady park with large trees, a walkway, some muscle equipment, a volley ball courts and then the ocean. It was full of people milling around and enjoying the street life in the middle of the week. There were more people with baby strollers than seniors. The clothing was scant and the bodies were buff and tan. We saw many young people with incredible muscles working out on the gym bars by the ocean or just strolling around with their muscled bodies glistening.
We walked for one block and ate lunch in camper. Due to illness that was the extent of being out of the RT in Maimi. We did see quite a bit on our drive by though.
As we drove north along the ocean we saw miles and miles of very tall apartment buildings. From my experience only Tokyo rivals the number and height of apartment buildings. Miami is the southernmost major metropolitan city in the Continental US and makes San Francisco look like a village in comparison. We made a large loop through and around the city so were able to get a feel for the size of it’s size. So many of the buildings were pink or a pale terra cotta which is close to pink. In true Art Deco style there were pastels everywhere.
After leaving Miami we drove to Lake Okeechobee to stay a few days at South Bay RV Park. This is HUGE lake that actually feeds the entire Everglades in water. It is so large that it appears to be an ocean and is the larges fresh water lake in Florida. Due to flooding years ago it is now surrounded by a dam and is accessible to in limited areas. A large portion of land below the lake used to be Everglades, but they drained the water to enable farming in the area. Two days at 6:40 am we heard the crop dusters zoom over our camp and we had two days of ash falling onto the camper from burning crops. I found a lot big ash pieces drifted in an open window once.
The park was run by the Park and Recreation Department of West Pam Beach and was very well run and maintained.
http://www.co.palm-beach.fl.us/parks/camping/southbay/#.URR6nlqjePc
The park was run by the Park and Recreation Department of West Pam Beach and was very well run and maintained.
http://www.co.palm-beach.fl.us/parks/camping/southbay/#.URR6nlqjePc
We went into the local town of Bell Glade and found it reminded us of small towns in the Sacramento Valley years ago only being Florida it, off course, it had more palm trees. The local hardware store, Lake Hardware, looked like it had not changed in 100 years with row after row of aged shelves that were floor to ceiling dark unpainted wood. The clerk said his grandfather owned the store and when I asked him about living in Belle Glade, he grumbled about living in Bell Glade with crazies so it was clear it wasn’t to his liking. In 2003 it had record violent crime rate of 298 per 10,000 in a town of 17,000.... near the size of my home town.
Both Tom and I noticed at the Winn-Dixie supermarket that everyone had a very slow sauntering walk. I suppose it is so hot most of the time you don’t want to move quickly and why speed up when it’s cool just a few months? We also saw this pace of walk in Barcelona, Spain years ago when on an 8 week driving trip through Europe. We had some good friends living in Barcelona and we all joked about it. They felt that we were missing something in life by walking too fast. Our friend kept telling us to slow down and savor life, but we weren’t used to the slow walking pace.
Reflection in lake just before big gust of wind Both Tom and I noticed at the Winn-Dixie supermarket that everyone had a very slow sauntering walk. I suppose it is so hot most of the time you don’t want to move quickly and why speed up when it’s cool just a few months? We also saw this pace of walk in Barcelona, Spain years ago when on an 8 week driving trip through Europe. We had some good friends living in Barcelona and we all joked about it. They felt that we were missing something in life by walking too fast. Our friend kept telling us to slow down and savor life, but we weren’t used to the slow walking pace.
Everything doesn’t always go according to plan. I woke up with a migraine and Tom was getting sick so we decided to hang around the camp, rest and do laundry. The sky was dark with the crop burning to the south; the air was windless so we commented on the incredible mirror reflection in the lake 40 feet away and took some photos. It got warm so we put up the awning attached to the side of the camper for shade. We were both tired and also not feeling well; clearly not thinking well either since we didn’t attach the awning securely. Can you see where this is going? We bought this camper used in “as is” condition and we knew that the awning clamps were defective since the dealer tried to get it secure for perhaps an hour and was not able to. We tied it down securely before, but since it was so windless we had not done so ... yet. This was clearly operator error. I took Paco out for needed walk and was 100 feet away with my back turned when I felt as huge gust of wind and heard a loud noise. When I turned around I saw that the awning had pulled loose from the clamps and I watched as it elevated up into the air. The loose end went over the top of the camper and I saw it flap a few times before it completely detached from the camper with a loud noise (rivets broke off) and it’s final resting place was on top of the camper upside down and completely detached. Wow! What a show! Many other campers rushed to our site and helped us get it down off the roof. They offered tools, ideas and were quite helpful and supportive. There were awning stories passed around and then most people went back to their rigs to roll in their awnings and consider themselves lucky. We were fortunate since no one was injured.
We lost our awning since it was bent in the middle in two places and the factory said to ditch it. The camp is run by the local Park and Recreation Department and they recycled it for us. We imagine that someone will use it for shade in their home instead of our camper since it still cranked up fairly well. Then within the hour for the first time on our trip it rained so we had to scramble to cover the holes from the lost awning with duct tape. Duct tape is not meant to be used in the rain in case you get the idea as well. We now have caulking to fill the holes until we get home and repairs are made. The insurance will allow us to get a new awning installed after our $250 deductible. The new awning Mwill be latched down as a sailor would do to an immovable object.
Paco pilled everything he had and nested We lost our awning since it was bent in the middle in two places and the factory said to ditch it. The camp is run by the local Park and Recreation Department and they recycled it for us. We imagine that someone will use it for shade in their home instead of our camper since it still cranked up fairly well. Then within the hour for the first time on our trip it rained so we had to scramble to cover the holes from the lost awning with duct tape. Duct tape is not meant to be used in the rain in case you get the idea as well. We now have caulking to fill the holes until we get home and repairs are made. The insurance will allow us to get a new awning installed after our $250 deductible. The new awning Mwill be latched down as a sailor would do to an immovable object.
For those fellow Roadtrek owners reading this I wanted to mention how well the RT is doing for keeping us all cool in the heat. I cut out pieces of insulation to snuggly fit into each of the windows that were a great help. We found that we could keep the inside temperature within 2 degrees of the outside temperature while parked in the full sun at 80 degrees for over an hour. I would not even do this for 5 minutes in a car. We tried it without the dogs and then increased time slowly over an hour and a half. We would close everything up tight with insulation including the top three windows, but we would leave one window open in the back on the shady side of the rig. We left the top vent open that has a Fantastic fan that is temperature sensitive to turn on when hot. We set the temp to be just above the current temp so it was triggered easily to vent. The dogs always had water and were never hot so we were able to leave them securely and see places that were not dog friendly.
Next we are heading back to the beautiful warm Gulf Coast waters for a few more weeks.