The Q Chronicles #81-12

February 18, 2008 (Mon)
Flamingo CG, Everglades NP to Clewiston, FL (186/2232 miles)

Travel day' so we were up early at 6:30 and pulled out of our campsite at about 7:20 (73° partly cloudy). By the time we'd dumped our tanks and taken on needed fresh water it was 8:40. Flamingo is at the very southern tip of Florida 40 miles into the Everglades - one road in, one road out. The TV news this morning said that it was raining in Homestead and we could see the dark clouds with what looked like rain below them off in the distance. We only got sprinkles on the windshield as we drove across the flat landscape highest elevation 3 feet).

In Homestead, while Joy and Pat did laundry, Mark and Bob joined a homeless man on the concrete under the roof overhang in front of the library - closed for President's day - to connect to the internet for email. We sat at one end, he slept at the other. Grocery shopping filled the rest of the morning. Then it was lunch at a Mexican restaurant we'd been threatening to stop at every time we came through Homestead. The food quite good but the atmosphere was very noisy.

Our route north was via US 997 (once we got to it) and US 27 to Clewiston on the west side of Lake Okeechobee. It was a long, flat and, for the most part, uninteresting trip. About the only excitement was a loud bang on Q's port side as an empty flat bed truck passed. Q's performance didn't seem to be effected (no flat tire or thrown rod, etc.) and Mark couldn't see any damage by looking in the mirror so we continued on. We couldn't find any damage after we stopped either.

Yesterday Bob called the Walmart in Clewiston to see if overnight parking in an RV was OK. They said it was. But there were signs all over the parking lot that said "No overnight or extended parking. Violators will be towed away" which made doing so seem a little risky. Marked asked again inside and was told it was OK as long as it was out by the road (where some trucks were parked). We moved up there, pulled the curtains, turned out the lights and went to bed almost expecting to wake up in a strange police storage lot. (Not really!).

Q041966 Camp Walmart, Clewiston, FL
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February 19, 2008 (Tue)
Clewiston, FL to Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park (79/2311 miles)

We heard trucks coming and going all night and in the morning we were surrounded by 18 wheelers who apparently knew how meaningless those signs were. And it was uncomfortably warm - a cotton sheet was almost too much. We got up early, went to the nearby McDonald's for breakfast and were on our way shortly after 7:00am (71°).

We accepted Hildene's suggestion to turn onto the Kissimmee Scenic Trail - which was a shorter, though not faster route - and almost immediately came up on a school bus stopping at every corner to pick up kids. She also directed us onto a back road through the Seminole Indian reservation which turned out to be miles and miles of flat prairie type land with only very few signs of human activity other than the building of the road itself. Joy said she thought we'd taken this route south a year or two ago but Mark had no memory of it. The road to the park, was almost as desolate. It appears to be a part of Florida that unscrupulous land mongers tried to sell of to unsuspecting northerners. Hildene showed intersecting numbered roads every few hundred feet or so where very few actually exist. And once in the park there is the 2 1/2 miles or so of dirt road into the prairie to the campground where we found that we could not stay the week that we'd planned. The sites in the "family" area (with water and electric) are all booked for the next several days. We decided to take site in the primitive "equestrian" (no hookups and a vault toilet) which is also booked full for the weekend.

February 20, 2008 (Wed) Kissimmee Prairie SP (2) - This started out as a day for our Ramapo College sweatshirts (50°) but quickly warmed up to 72° by noon. Today was the day the space shuttle was to return to earth. We calculated that its glide path would be just west of directly overhead so the four of us were out at just before 9:00am looking to the Southwest hoping to get a glimpse of it. We didn't but we did hear the
sonic booms as it passed over - actually several seconds after it had passed over. What a thrill that was!

Later, we took the bicycles, and Sheila (Bob and Pat's younger dog, and rode up the road a mile and a half, then hiked a trail into the prairie a mile or so. Saw lots of water birds, and a fire off in the distance - from the prairie burning that the crew had done the day before? The fires turned out to be stray burnings from an adjacent tract that jumped into the park in several places throughout the day. We had smoke in the air, and little bits of ash floating down all day.

In the evening we watched the lunar eclipse - some of it. Clouds kindly left plenty of open areas for the first forty five minutes or so but moved in to cover it most of the rest of the time. We did get glimpses of it totally in shadow, which was exciting, but only glimpses.

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park #22 dry $13.20 B (x2)
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February 21, 2008 (Thu)
Kissimmee Prairie Preserve SP to Lakeland, FL (117/2428 miles)

Another travel day - too soon because we were really enjoying being in those sites more then we had expected. Not only were we away from the much more congested but the sites were open and sunny.

We left the campground at about 8:00am (61°) and drove out the 2 1/2 mile dirt road to civilization - which meant the road was paved and there was a house now and then. The smell of the fires out on the prairie yesterday still lingered. The trip to Lakeland was routine and mostly uninteresting. Along US 98 we came across 150 to 200 horse and riders - most of the riders in appropriate costume. There were also a couple of horse drawn wagons (living quarters? chuck wagon?) A sign on the following (motorized) support vehicle announced that it was the Annual Florida Cracker Trail Ride.

In Sebring we stopped several places for minor housekeeping chores and
got into Lakeland at about 12:30pm.

Q042162 Ed and Kathy's yard

The Q Chronicles #81-11

February 11, 2008 (Mon)
Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP to Homestead, FL (103/1962 miles)

This is not where we wanted to be tonight nor what we expected to be doing. But we'll get to that. It was the coolest morning in a while (53°) when we got up at about 6:00am and there was no fog for a change. We had a quick breakfast and finished packing up. Our first stop was Midway campground about 8 miles East on US41. There are no dump facilities at Monument Lake but campers there are allowed to use those at Midway. That's what we did.

In Southwest Miami we found a much needed laundromat recommended by the Midway campground host. While there, we took advantage of the Walmart across the street then set out to find a Publix for some groceries. We had planned to eat our lunch in a Mexican restaurant in Homestead but by the time we'd found the West Kendall Regional Library where we could connect to the internet, we were famished. Fortunately the Asian Super Buffet was right there in the same mall. It was excellent!

Finally stocked up and ready for a week in the wild, we headed south for the Everglades National Park. Just as we entered the park Joy noticed that the refrigerator light didn't come on when she opened the door. Nor were any of the indicator lights on. Long nerve wracking story short, we opted out of going down the 38 mile desolate road  to the campground in Flamingo. Instead we came back to Homestead and are now parked in the Walmart parking lot for the night. Our road service provider found an RV repair facility in Miami who agreed to look into the problem for us tomorrow. Maybe! We called them as suggested, got no answer and left a message. We've gotten no callback yet. We'll head up there bright and early in the morning.

Q041596 Camp Walmart, Homestead, FL
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February 12, 2008 (Tue)
Homestead, FL to Flamingo CG, Everglades NP (84/2046 miles)

That was not one of the quietest Walmarts we've stayed in nor the loneliest. The  area of the parking lot assigned to overnight parking was next to greater Miami's designated bus route. Buses roared by every 10 to 20 minutes all night long and trucks came and went continuously. Sleep was scarce! There must have been thirty mobile residents crowded into that relatively small area maybe ten or twelve more scattered around the parking lot.

We took off at about 7:30 and with Hildene's guidance, went in search of Chuck's RV Service. We wanted to be there when it opened at 8:00 (we guessed). We ended up in the middle of a residential neighborhood not far from where we ate lunch yesterday. We could see three class A motor homes packed into what may have been someone's back yard but there was no apparent way to get to them and no sign. The proprietor of an ACE Hardware store in a nearby strip mall had never heard of Chuck's RV Service. He looked it up on the internet for us and found that it was, in deed, located in the middle of the adjacent residential neighborhood. We tried to call them, got no answer, left a message.

K&K Trailer & Recreational Vehicle Supply has a large advertisement in our Trailer Life Campground Guide where they tout all manner of repair and services. It was also one recommended by our road service provider. They are located only a few miles south on the route we'd be taking. When we got there, at about 9:15am, the place was closed and all locked up. A man whose only job appeared to be pumping propane informed us that the mechanic was only there on Mondays and Thursdays. Really? Only Mondays and Thursdays? And it's not a small outfit! He suggested we try a place down the road a bit.

Camp Out Inc. was one of the seediest places we've actually ventured to do business with. There were derelict and demolished RVs of every strip lying all over the place. Our first impression was that it was a junk yard. But it wasn't because scattered here and there and along the drive inside a fenced-in area there were newer units obviously for sale or awaiting repair. With great trepidation, Mark ventured through the disreputable landscape and past a sign that said "Do not enter without authorization from the sales office" (sales office? the only building on the grounds was inside the fence beyond the sign). He found a door into what looked like a dark over crowded parts warehouse with a couple of appropriately cluttered desks. The young woman sweeping the floor informed him that the mechanic would not be in until 11:00. When he explained that we had food spoiling in a dead refrigerator she asked a young fellow who would not have appeared out of place on the back streets of Cairo if he would take a look. It turned out that the young man was, in fact, Egyptian (with very little accent) and he did a great job of tracking down the problem. After working 2 hours checking all the fuses, which we'd done earlier, and tracing voltage through the circuit board and wiring, he found what looked like a resistor hidden under wire sheathing that was blocking current flow. He removed it and spliced the wire. And the refrigerator went on! He had no idea what it was or what it was for. Nor did any of his coworkers. Nor did the refrigerator manufacturer! Several calls to various technical departments of Dometic Corporation yielded the startling information - "If it was there, it must be necessary." We decided to take the chance that maybe it really wasn't and headed for the southern tip of Florida deep in the Everglades.

When Bob and Pat got here yesterday, they were told that since their motor home was longer than 21 feet, they had to select a site in the "T" loop. Q is longer than 21 feet so we expected that we'd be sent there too, although we'd never had to go up there before. But we were told that no, we were too small to go there!That left us nowhere we could go! Actually the yesterday's gatekeeper was wrong. Although the "T" loop is reserved for big really rigs (trailers and motor homes with cars in tow) the rest of the campground is open to any rig that will fit on the short parking pads.

February 13, 2008 (Wed) Flamingo CG, Everglades NP (2) - The campground host came around last night to advise us that the area was under a tornado watch and to take cover in the restroom if one actually came near. It rained heavily during the night but the expected strong winds didn't materialize. This morning was sunny and beautiful. Another storm came through about 1:00pm and this one had some pretty strong gusts of wind - and thunder and lightning. Of the four units in this loop, one is a tent. The residents were away for the early part of the storm but got back before their tent was completely blown down. They moved it to the lee side of the restroom and, for some reason left again. That's when the wind really began to blow. They came back again, this time to a pile of sticks and flapping canvas. They packed everything into their car and left.

February 14, 2008 (Thu) Flamingo CG, Everglades NP (3) - It's been another lazy day. About the only thing we've done is dump our holding tanks and take on fresh water. This was not strictly necessary yet but since we used the trip down here to wash the tanks (with detergent) they were already half full when we pulled in. We wanted to get them rinsed out before the dump stations get busy with weekend traffic.

It's been one of those days when the sun is almost too hot but the shade is a little too cool but we are really enjoying the now beautiful weather.

February 15, 2008 (Fri) Flamingo CG, Everglades NP (4) - This part of the campground - loops "B" and "C" - is a huge grassy area with a few trees scattered here and there. Loop C and half of loop B have been blocked off to limit occupation. This makes sense because after two tenting units left this morning, there are only 3 of us in the more than 100 sites. It's been great having so much space all to ourselves. But the long weekend has begun. About noon the sites around us began to fill up and after a while the barrier was moved back to open up loop B. By late afternoon the whole area was alive with the sounds of kids at play, the boom boom boom of radios and pop of beer bottle caps. We expected the partying to continue well into the wee hours but everyone seemed to respect the 10:00 "quiet hour" rule.

February 16, 2008 (Sat) Flamingo CG, Everglades NP (5) - A Chinook siting report: Yesterday a couple came by on bicycles and stopped to say that they too had a Chinook motor home, an old one. We thought we might have seen it up in the T loop as we came back from hiking the Coastal Prairie Trail along  Florida Bay so this morning, on our way to the marina complex (store, gas station, visitor's center, etc.) on our bikes, we detoured up there for a closer look. It wasn't there. We later saw it parked in the marina parking lot with an empty boat trailer attached. We also saw a Chinook Concourse (like Q1 but with a fancy paint job) occupying a site in A loop. No one was around, so no comparison of notes.

February 17, 2008 (Sun) Flamingo CG, Everglades NP (6) - We had french toast made with french bread for breakfast on this last day in the Everglades. It was truly delicious! And the sun just beginning to come through the trees and a warm breeze off the bay, the weather was perfect.

There are three military families camped in sites next to Bob and Pat. They have been very good neighbors - even to the point if one of the fathers giving a short lecture to all the kids about campground etiquette. They complimented us on our music (guitar and banjo practice) and even invited us to join them to play at their campfire Friday night. But they seem to have a routine that is, at best, curious. Two of the fathers apparently have the duty of taking their daughters to the restrooms - the men's room. At the risk of sounding sexist, it would seem that that should be a woman's job. Mark finds it a bit disconcerting - and distracting - to be in the men's room wondering if at any moment a couple of young girls might pop in. He found it downright annoying tonight to have to wait while an eight year old (approx) girl washed her hands and primped in front of the mirror. Bob called him chicken for not saying anything to the father who did nothing to hurry her along.

Q041780 Flamingo Campground, Everglades National Park #B16 dry $8.00 A (x6)

The Q Chronicles #81-10

February 4, 2008 (Mon)
Englewood, FL to Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress National Preserve (140/1859 miles)

The beautiful weather of the last few day continues. The sun was out and warm, making it unnecessary to wear our new Ramapo College sweatshirts as we walked over to Quail's Run condo book exchange shelves to exchange the last of the paperback books we'd brought south to recycle. We packed Q for the next leg of our trip and at about 9:30 (71°) we said farewell to Joy's mother and sister and started out  - with Q in a snit for having been left alone. He sputtered, bucked, spat and threatened to quit every time Mark pressed down on the accelerator. We stopped in the parking lot before pulling out onto SR 776, shut the engine off and quietly shared with him how important he is to us. That was all he needed. When we started him up again, he settled into a nice smooth quiet purr.

We stopped for groceries in Port Charlotte but decided to wait before getting gas. Big mistake! We could have gotten it for $2.99/gal. We paid $3.17 outside Naples, FL. We pulled into the Monument Lake campground at about 2:00, selected a site and settled in. Bob and Pat got here about 5:00. The sites we'd picked were on a road that sent a cloud of dust wafting our way every time a vehicle went by - not fun. So we moved. We are now at the end of the lake in an area we've not been before. It's really quite nice here with the lake and its resident alligator out Q's cab windows.

February 5, 2008 (Tue) Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP (2) - The fellow from next door stopped by this morning to ask about Mark's guitar playing. He and his wife are from North Carolina and have some interest in playing music while camping - but only enough interest to pack his dulcimer, not enough to take it out. He said he's never taken the time to learn how to play it. I guess it's going to take him a while longer. They were very interested in the Everglades when we told them that was our next stop. They might have gone on down there but for her health.

The rest of the day we just sat around reading and napping - and getting almost too much sun. The sun is good for keeping the battery charged up but not so good for northern winter bleached skin. The wind blew pretty hard all day reminding us of last year when we were blaming the wind for the trouble we were having with Q's refrigerator. It turned out to be the circuit board.

February 6, 2008 (Wed) Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP (3) - Monument Road, on which this campground is located, used to be the way former swamp dwellers got to their homes. Now the homes are gone and the road, blocked to "unauthorized" vehicles, is a twin track crushed coral "service" trail into the swamp. About a mile out, it joins a slightly better maintained road used by National Park Service swamp buggies - gasoline engine propelled platforms on huge wheels - for commuting to work locations and for tourist rides into the swamp. ATVs are also allowed to use it but we've never seen or heard any. We walked out Monument Road this morning and a way down the swamp buggy road. Along the way a hound dog wearing what looked like a radio collar joined us and followed us home. He wasn't much interested in us though. Fifteen minutes later he was gone - back out into the swamp?

We spent the rest of the day following what little shade there was around the campsite. Our sunburns were minimal but we thought a day out of the sun, wise. It was still quite windy today, so much so that we finally pulled the awning in to keep it from being destroyed. The wind calmed toward evening though, just as it had last night.

February 7, 2008 (Thu) Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP (4) - Again we must quote the immortal words of King George III on the day the US Decoration of Independence was signed. "Nothing of importance happened today."  We walked a mile or so out into the swamp in the morning and spent the rest of the day reading. It was quite windy during the day again - refreshing with the temperature hovering around 84° - and again it died down in the evening.

February 8, 2008 (Fri) Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP (5) - There's been increasingly more fog when we wake up each morning. We could barely see across the small lake this morning and by the time we took the second of our three times around the lake walk we couldn't see the other side at all. The sun burned it off very quickly though so that by the time we'd finished breakfast we could again see the distant trees out on the swamp plain.

The campground lost electricity during the night, maybe because of the fatal car crash out on US 41 near Turner road. This was only a miner inconvenience for us as we are completely self contained and would not have even known about it had the restroom not been closed. Apparently electric pumps supply the water and restrooms don't function very well without water! We've been supplementing our water supply all week be adding a gallon of water to our fresh water supply now and then so we are in good shape until we leave on Monday if necessary. We felt bad for the folks in tents though - the nearest water and restroom facility is eight miles East and that may be out too! The power was back on again just after noon.

February 9, 2008 (Sat) Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP (6) - This is a weekend. The campground should be jumping. Last year all the sites were full and there were several units parked in the overflow area. This year about half of the sites are empty. Is this because of the high price of gas? Don't know. Maybe it's normal.

Joy was talking with one of the campground hosts (volunteers) and learned that the park rangers are concerned about the alligators becoming aggressive. Apparently they (the alligators) are hanging out close to where campers are cooking their dinners and sometimes come up on the banks. Some have been captured and taken out of the area. She was told that more may be trapped today and taken away. We looked forward to watching. It didn't happen! Instead, we went to the regular Saturday night ranger campfire program at the amphitheater. It turned out to be a very interesting talk about the problems "invasive" plants and animals have on the ecosystem here in the Big Cypress National Preserve - and across the US. Invasive species are those that were not here prior to 1492 and are now spreading and overwhelming native species. Employing a Bingo type game card the young female ranger talked about several specific species.

February 10, 2008 (Sun) Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP (7) - We combined resources with Bob and Pat and had a special french toast breakfast this morning then spent the rest of the day just "hanging out". The sun was behind clouds a good deal of the day which reduced Q's solar panel's ability to generate electricity. By the time we went to bed the batteries were almost down to the system shutdown point but since we would be on the road tomorrow, we decided not to start up the engine to boost their charge.

Q041593 Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP #16 dry $8.00 A (x7)

The Q Chronicles #81-09

January 30, 2008 (Wed) Lakeland, FL (2) - What a pleasure it is to be able to wake up in the morning and not have to dread getting out of bed into the cold. It was about 60° this morning. There was no need to make a decision about turning the furnace on to take the chill off.

We've been hankering for a Chinese buffet lunch since we left home. Today was the day. Great food, great company. Today was also the day we made our yearly pilgrimage to Book Bazaar, the best paperback book exchange store in the country in our estimation. We now have enough new reading material to keep us busy for several months. Mark and Bob practiced (guitar and banjo) together for a while this afternoon and got rave reviews from their spouses. They all agreed they'd have to do it again sometime.
 
January 31, 2008 (Thu) Lakeland, FL (3) - Ed has a garden scale railroad layout in his yard. The mainline track comes out of his over sized RV garage and makes two overlapping loops before returning to the sheltered "rail yard". Along the way it passes through two villages and a couple of outlying "industries" with appropriate sidings. It's not unusual to see one of his several trains pull out of the huge garage door and begin to make it's way into the "landscape" with Ed at the remote throttle. The mournful wail of the diesel horn in the "distance" is both nostalgic and slightly disconcerting.

Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries make hamburgers the old fashion way - by hand. There are no extruded, sliced and frozen patties there. The choice of several toppings (any or all) is free and a "small" order of french fries is more than enough for two people. Although it's a chain with restaurants almost everywhere east of the Mississippi (Kentucky and New England excepted) we had never heard of them. We had lunch there today. Fabulous!

Q041336 Ed and Kathy's yard (x3)
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February 1, 2008 (Fri)
Lakeland, FL to Englewood, FL (117/1719 miles)

A travel day. Up at 7:15 (61°) off at 10:00. Our first stop was at Camping World in Seffner, FL off I-4 where we picked up a couple of things for Q. The price of gas at the Flying J across the road was $2.87. We filled up. Actually we would have anyway no matter what the price. The tank was about empty! Costco in Brandon, FL off I-75 was our next stop. Then on to Englewood. Traffic on I-75 near Venice was bumper to bump and slow. Accident? We don't know because we jumped off into local bumper to bumper traffic. We're not sure we gained anything by getting off the Interstate!

We got to Englewood at about 2:00 to Frannie's and Bom's warm greetings and banished Q to the parking lot - accompanied by his usual grumblings.

February 2, 2008 (Sat) Englewood, FL - Groundhog Day. Joy and her mother went swimming and played Skip-Bo. Joy and her sister went shopping. Joy and her mother and her sister talked. Mark caught up on a month's worth of mail and played his guitar.

February 3, 2008 (Sun) Englewood, FL - Joy and her mother went swimming and played Skip-Bo. Joy, her mother and her sister talked. Mark payed bills, organized files and played his guitar.

Tomorrow we head for Big Cypress National Preserve just north of the Everglades. Although there is cell phone service, there is no internet access within 40 miles. We are hoping for warm sunny weather and from what we understand, we may well have it.

Q041453 SunTrust Bank parking lot (parked) (x3)