To Everglades NP - #71-08

February 19, 2007 (Mon) Ochopee, FL to Flamingo, FL (184/2260 miles) - Off at 8:40 (42° sunny). The loop road is 23 miles of dirt, pot holes and stones through the Big Cypress and Everglades swamps. It was reminiscent of some of the roads we were on in Alaska except that there they were wider, two lanes in most cases. Two small cars might have been able to pass one an other on the Loop Road but not a motor home and a car - one of us would have ended up in the swamp. Fortunately our one encounter took place where an even smaller road turned off into the wild. The trip was well worth the detour though. It was a true tropical swamp environment with lots of birds and post card quality photo ops (if we'd had room to pull off the road).

A strip mall in Homestead, FL provided a laundromat, a supermarket, and a Chinese buffet but no WiFi signal. We found four retail propane stations. We couldn't get Q close enough at one (too small a space). Another was waiting for a license to sell it (new ownership). Another didn't have a fitting that would attach to Q's - or any motor home's - intake port. Then finally success. We tried several places for a WiFi connection. Found none. We arrived in Flamingo campground, at the very southern tip of Florida, at about 5:15pm (76°).

February 20, 2007 (Tue) Flamingo Campground, Everglades National Park - This is a beautiful campground, one of our favorites. Quiet (when neighbors don't have their radio turned up high as they do right now or partying) and peaceful. The campsites are widely spaced on great expanses of mown grass. A scattering of palm trees and other tropical plants gives an air of the exotic. We are faced SSE so that we can see Florida Bay out Q's cab windows. If we had better eyesight we'd be able to see beyond to the causeway out to Key West and to Cuba across the North Atlantic Ocean.

We watched a motor home, shaped not unlike an old bread truck, with a European license plate check in. We'd seen it before somewhere in the last several days - how often do you see a motor home with European license plates? Sometime later we saw him again roaming through the campground. And later, yet again. Then it dawned on us that it wasn't the same motor home. It turns out that there are at least ten (not all "bread trucks") camping down on the other loop. A German tour we've learned. We can't help think about what it must have cost to ship all those motor homes over here. Why not fly over and rent RVs here?

February 21, 2007 (Wed) Flamingo Campground, Everglades National Park - We took a walk this morning along the "beach" where the Florida Bay licks at the Florida mainland. The campground was closed last year because of the damage caused by Katrina so we were eager to see how things have changed. There were signs of the area having been flooded but not as much as we expected. There is a large area between where we are camped and the water that was all mowed grass the last time we were here. Now it's all dried mud. Very little vegetation has come back, probably because of the salt left behind. The amphitheater is gone, benches and all and some buildings nearby are shells with rotted blue tarp roofing. The motel is boarded up and overgrown, the gift shop at the marina is closed and empty and the viewing platform at Eco Pond is gone. And there are many places here where the taller vegetation is missing. Other than these few things there is little evidence that this whole area was covered with at least 3 feet of water during that storm.

It got really hot this afternoon - 91° by our thermometer and the sun found only a few clouds to hide behind. The road in front of Q has been a parade route for scantily clad folks on foot and bicycles. It's hard to think that only a few days ago we were wishing for warmer weather and that at home coats are needed outside.

February 22, 2007 (Thu) Flamingo Campground, Everglades National Park - Our neighbors in the next site, 150 feet or so the the East, mother and son it appears, were away all day yesterday. They came back about 5:30, packed up their small tent and left. Just as it was getting dark and after the gatekeeper had gone home they pulled back into the site but didn't set up a tent. At about 5:30 this morning, before the gatekeeper came on duty, the car started up and they left. That's how one gets to camp free for a night.

Another neighbor, the ones who have been playing their class C motor home cab radio louder than necessary for the last three days, spent the morning under the hood. Just before noon he hauled out the coach battery and jumper cables. Then he disappeared and was gone all afternoon. During all this time the radio was silent. We're guessing that his battery died (from using the radio?) and he hitched a ride into Homestead, FL (45+ miles away).

February 23, 2007 (Shane is 3 today - Happy Birthday Shane!) Flamingo Campground, Everglades National Park - Last night after we'd gone to bed a very large 5th wheel trailer came in accompanied by at least two pickups pulling large boats. They stopped nearby, had a loud discussion and finally decided that they were way too big to be in this part of the campground. On our walk this morning we found the 5th wheel up where it belongs, in the big guy area, but the pickups and boats were nowhere to be seen. We assumed they'd gone fishing already.

The campground has been filling up all afternoon - a lot of the traffic is cars or pickups pulling boats. There is a large group of college aged young people over closer to the bay. One of their cars is parked illegally on what used to be (before Katrina) a grass "lawn". The kids don't seem to be there but the Park Ranger is!

In the late afternoon one of the Park Rangers came by to tell us about their "campfire" program tonight. It would be in the Visitor's Center - so much for a campfire - and would be in the form of the Jeopardy game show with the Everglades as topic themes. Since the Visitor's Center is a mile away and we'd be walking on an unlit shoulder-less road after dark, we chose not to go.

February 24, 2007 (Sat) Flamingo Campground, Everglades National Park - We have a hard time understanding why people have to have their radios on all the time. Every evening we looked for signs that our noisy neighbors were getting ready to leave. There were none - until last night. We rejoiced. But for a long time this morning the motor home sat on it's pad. It was completely ready to go but it just sat there. It's interesting how feelings change. For days we've been thinking unkind thoughts about these people and their radio. Suddenly, as we watched a tow truck back up to the front of their motor home, our hearts went out to them. A stay in a beautiful park was in ruins. Hooked to the back of a wrecker they finally pulled out of the campground bound for civilization 45 miles away and who knows how long in a repair shop parking lot. Bummer!

February 25, 2007 (Sun) Flamingo Campground, Everglades National Park - We have known for some time that the black water holding tank gauge hasn't been working properly - it read 3/4 full when it is, in fact, empty. This is a chronic problem with most motor homes. This morning we learned that the gray water tank gauge lies too! It overflowed into the bathroom/shower when the gauge read only 3/4 full! To be fair to Q we were pushing the envelope, trying to go the whole week here without having to go over to the dump station. We almost made it!

A note now for the record. There is a strong analog cell phone signal here but it is Cingular and apparently Verizon has no network sharing agreement with them so we haven't been able to use our cell phone. Since the signal is analog not digital, email wouldn't have worked anyway but it would have been nice to have been able to be in touch with civilization by voice.

Q035934 Flamingo Campground, Everglades National Park #14 dry $8.00g A- (x7)