February 19, 2009 (Thu) Flamingo CG, Everglades NP to Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP (119/2087 miles) 64/84° - Pulled out of our campsite at 7:40, dumped, took on water and began the long (38 mile) and beautiful drive north through the Everglades. Robert is Here, shortly north of the National Park boundary, was our first stop. Key lime milkshake for breakfast. It's good to have fruit for breakfast, right? Then began a stressful day. The seven multi-need-patron line at the Florida City post office counter was serviced by one government employee auditioning to be an exhibit in the wax museum. We took a wrong turn on our way to a propane station and ended up in a limited exit shopping mall parking lot - Bob and Pat dutifully following in their 30 foot motor home with car in tow. Getting to the propane hose was problematic, especially for a 30 foot motor home with car in tow. The parking area had to be cleared of other customers. While the men got the propane, Joy and Pat went to do laundry. Joy, dealing with a very nice young woman who spoke little English, found that she barely had enough cash to recharge the card needed to activate the machines. We had been planning all week to eat lunch at one of Miami's 5 Guys Burgers and Fries restaurants but found that the address given on their website was wrong! We ended up eating at El Toro Taco - closed when we came through the other way. It was very good, but noisy. The traffic on northbound SR997 - a two lane road lined with tropical plant nurseries - was very heavy and 10 - 15 mph below the 55 mph speed limit. It was just fast enough to stop at every red light along the way. The traffic on westbound US41 was lighter and well over the 55 mph speed limit. Some thought even that not nearly fast enough - including two Miccosukee Indian police cars.
We got to a relatively empty Monument Lake campground at 3:30 and collapsed.
February 20, 2009 (Fri) Monument Lake CG (2) 53/74° - The view out our back door is a sparse forest of spanish moss decorated dwarf cypress, evergreen and palmetto trees, a mixture of smaller trees, shrubs and saw grass. It's almost like we can expect to see Gazelle and Springbok bounding across the prairie or a lion slinking through the grass. Out front alligators actually do swim lazily across the small lake or bask in the sun along the shore. The picture of exotic living, maybe but with a touch of modern exotic entertainment as well.
In the late morning we went out to where the park service had conducted their controlled burn two weeks ago. We were surprised to see how the prairie was coming back to life again. Instead of the fields of charred black that we'd last seen, there was a haze of green. The grass was again taking over. The boardwalk was open but disappointing in wildlife activities. A few birds, some interesting water bugs and a good sized snake that we think was a Water Moccasin was about it. We tried the Loop Road - a 20 mile dirt road through the swamp - where one stop yielded an alligator, herons, ibis, anhingas and others. Not wanting to press our luck, we turned around at that point and came back.
When we got back there were 3 or 4 pickup trucks with trailers loaded with huge wheeled swamp buggies lining the road between the campsites and the lake. And more come later along later - one hauling a trailer load of much smaller ATVs. The group is camped in the next several sites. The campground host says they have been here before and that they are quiet considerate campers but we couldn't help thinking about the potential for loud partying late into the night. We'll see.
February 21, 2009 (Sat) Monument Lake CG (3) 46/76° - No problems at all with our neighbors. In fact the generator set up a couple of hundred feet away didn't even start up until after 7:00 this morning then only ran for a little over an hour. We expected them to all take off across the prairie in their in their swamp buggies early for a full day of exploring but they hung around until after lunch. Then instead of striking out from here, the pickups left hauling the buggies on their trailers. There was apparently a sizable rally down the road (at Monroe Station?) because we could hear loud music across the prairie all afternoon and well into the evening.
February 22, 2009 (Sun) Monument Lake CG (4) 53/79° - At the risk of overdoing it talking about the group down the way it's worth recording that they packed up and left this morning. While they were a well behaved group, they were a large group and therefore inherently noisy. And then there were all those vehicles coming and going on the dirt road out front, kicking up clouds of dust and, of course, the huge steel frames with seats on grossly over-sized wheels that tended to clutter the scenery. We were glad to see them go.
Late in the afternoon Joy saw the 5 alligators that have been reported to be there. They were all lined up at the shore of the lake near where the tenters used to camp - closed now because of the alligators have learned that there might be good things to eat there - not necessarily human.
February 23, 2009 (Mon) Monument Lake CG (5) 58/77° Happy Birthday Shane - Gorgeous sunrise over the prairie. Soft pink and pale blue sky heralding the bright red sun. And what a treat to lie in bed watching it.
Bob and Pat left at about 9:00 this morning. They plan to check out a Florida State Forest campground and maybe visit an old friend on their way to our next rendezvous an Wednesday. This seems to be the day for everyone to move out. By noon only 5 other campsites were occupied. About 2:00 a van with 4 grungy young (early 20s) men backed into the site next to us - the one Bob and Pat had been in. Why, with the campground virtually empty? They sat there for a couple of minutes without getting out then pulled out onto the road again. They backed back down the road and into the end site. Two of the young men got out, leaving the doors open, went into the back and pulled out a cooler and set it on the ground. They pulled several garbage bags containing something small and heavy - a couple of pounds of meat came to mind - out of the back, and started to transfer whatever it was into the cooler. Meanwhile the other two fellows disappeared into the swamp. After ten minutes of standing around the other two, one continuously hiking up his pants to keep them from falling down, disappeared into the swamp too. While all this was going on Mark was inconspicuously, he hoped, putting things away in case we decided to leave in a hurry. After a while the young men started, one by one, coming back out of the woods carrying arm loads of wood, sticks mostly. The "meat" they were transferring turned out to be fish, they had left a couple flopping on the ground. One of the fellows came over and, though he couldn't speak much English, was able to let us know he needed a match to start a fire. We let them keep the small box we gave him. They seemed harmless at that point but we finished packing and brought the bicycles in close anyway. They left at about 5:00 pm.
Q048070 Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP #23 dry $8.00 B (x5)
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February 24, 2009 (Day) Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP to Fort Pierce, FL (190/2277 miles) - This morning there was a mini-van pulled in two sites down. Joy heard it come in around 3:00 am - and saw the lights. The side was crudely hand painted with various things, one of which was a skull and cross bones - the "scull" being a smiley face. Some of the glamor of Monument Lake has dimmed for us.
We got off at about 8:30 (cloudy 59°) and turned East on US41. Our first stop was the dump station at Midway campground, then we continued on to Margate, FL, north of Miami, and made our way through manicured communities to the condominium where Joy's friend Dorothy lives. We took her to Sweet Tomatoes, a very good salad and soup bar, for lunch. Since she is a quilter, one of Joy's former customers in fact, we took her to her favorite quilt shop. Joy went along kicking and screaming! HA!
Then it was city traffic to I-95, north in commuter traffic to Stuart, FL then north heavy traffic on US1 to Fort Pierce. Arrived Walmart 6:30 and prepared for the night.
Q048260 Camp Walmart, Fort Pierce, FL
QC91-11 Q Monument Lake Revisited
QC91-10 Everglades Forever
February 13, 2009 (Fri) Flamingo CG (5) 63/80° - It was foggy last night and everything was very damp this morning. This campground has two dump stations (or more accurately, two half dump stations). The sewer line in the "T" loop is out of order and they have inexplicably taken out the fresh water tap at the station in the "A" loop. So after breakfast we visited both and availed ourselves of their respective amenities.
The long Presidents Day weekend is bringing in lots of campers. All the sites around us are filling up. Unlike most campgrounds most are tents - ranging in size from barely big enough for one person to sleep to elaborate multi room "palaces". Small trailers are also prevalent. A lot of boats decorate vehicle tops and dedicated trailers - it's going to be a busy weekend on the water. And there are a lot of kids.
February 14, 2009 (Sat) Flamingo CG (6) 60/78° - We woke this morning wondering what was dripping. It turned out to be condensation from the awning dripping on the rug. The air is so humid that it might as well be misting rain.
Two crocodiles (maybe more) live in the channel near the marina. We made it a point to pay them a visit when we rode our bikes over to the camp store for milk. They were in exactly the same position they were in last year leading us to believe what we've long expected - they're statues. Actually they are real. They just don't move much.
February 15, 2009 (Sun) Flamingo CG (7) 61/79° - The campground filled to overflowing last night. Every site around us was occupied when we got up. But almost immediately they began to become available as some of the longer timers packed up and moved on. Of those who came in for the weekend most are families with children - some lots of children. Several groups appear to be pushing site occupancy limits. In one site (the one we vacated for this one in fact) six adults and three older teenage children shared one tent. Some may have slept in one or both of the two cars.
We thought we were in for a "long weekend", especially when the restrooms became nearly unusable for various reasons, but by late afternoon almost everyone had gone home. One very large family (maybe several family) unit left after dark, grossly overstaying the time limit. So much for the three day Presidents Day weekend. Apparently three day weekends are for camping even if you only go for one night. We've got the campground pretty much to ourselves again - except for the semi-professional (read intimidating) guitar player across the road, the slightly more professional guitar/harmonica/keyboard player in the next site - although invited to join them Mark was glad he'd made other plans when they got together in the evening.
February 16, 2009 (Mon) Flamingo CG (8) 58/75° - This campground being so open makes it easy to spot freeloaders - for us anyway. When we got up this morning, there was a small pickup truck (no tent) in a nearby site. He had obviously been there since last night because the windows were cloudy from the overnight fog. He was packed up and gone long before the campground hosts came around to check occupancy.
This has been another windy day making it seem chilly to sit out unless in the sun.
February 17, 2009 (Tue) Flamingo CG (9) 54/74° - Today is the day the government mandated that all television be broadcast in digital - until it said they didn't have to till June 12 "to give the people more time". We expect it was really to give broadcasters more time (angering many who complied in time). Even so, all the Fort Myers, FL stations, and probably many others, are shutting off their analog signal today anyway. We are going to miss the analog signal because it is the best, maybe only, way to accurately aim our antenna. We can usually pick up an analog signal with the antenna in completely the wrong direction then turn it to the best picture. With digital we either get a signal or we don't within a very narrow range. There could be a perfectly good TV station within range and we would never know it!
Several large flights of Pelicans (some may have been Storks) flew over this afternoon. Beautiful! We don't see that much in New Jersey. Down at the marina the other day we watched an Osprey devour his catch. We haven't seen that at home either but, unlike Pelicans, there are Osprey in New Jersey.
February 18, 2009 (Wed) Flamingo CG (10) 54/74° - This has been another windy day. As was yesterday. If we were to describe our trip so far in two words, they would be cold and windy. We don't remember quite so much of either in other years. At least it's been relatively warm while we've been here. It certainly was a beautiful day today in spite of the wind.
This seems to be the music corner of the campground. Besides Bob on banjo and Mark on guitar there have been the fellow with a guitar that was across the road, the fellow with guitar, harmonica, and keyboard next door, a fellow with guitar on the next cross-loop road West and another on the next cross-loop road East. It could have been quite a jam if they'd all gotten together.
Tomorrow we're back to Monument Lake.
Q047947 Flamingo CG, Everglades National Park #B16&9 dry $8.00 A (x10)
QC91-09 On to the Everglades
February 7, 2009 (Sat) Monument Lake CG (6) 53/70° - The big event of today was the wind. It blew all day long (again) making relaxed outside activities like reading unpleasant. 70° should have been marginally comfortable but it was not unless the sun was out. And it was mostly cloudy. The wind did let up some in the late afternoon, though, allowing us to enjoy a shrimp hors d'oeuvre prelude to Bob and Pat's barbecued chicken and pork with squash risotto.
Snakes aren't the form of wildlife we would choose as guests at our campsite but a Black Racer chose to stop by from time to time anyway. He's really quite pretty, a solid dark charcoal color about 4 feet long. Not poisonous, they say, so he's welcome to share our sun as long as he doesn't come too close.
February 8, 2009 (Sun) Monument Lake CG (7) 55/74° - After an in-(motor)home Eucharist, Kaye again treated us to her "Kit Carson Bran Pancakes" - named for her father not the Kit Carson. Although the temperature was a little on the cool side, we sat around the picnic table determined to make it the kind of camping experience it should be. It turned out wonderfully. After brunch, we reluctantly watched Kaye leave for parts east and eventually home. The rest of us enjoyed a day in the sun (albeit a windy one).
In mid afternoon a Prevost motor home (typical price tag approaches $1 million) backed into the site next to Bob and Pat. The young couple (maybe in their late 40s or early 50s) are from Houston and have been full-time (no conventional home to return to) since October. Surprisingly they have no towed vehicle and don't feel they need one. They have bicycles and a motor scooter for auxiliary transportation. Interesting. They have yet to learn about dry camping etiquette, though. They ran their generator, as quiet as it was, all afternoon and evening.
Q047797 Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP #16 dry $8.00 B- (x7)
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February 9, 2009 (Mon) Monument Lake CG to Flamingo CG, Everglades National Park (150/1964 miles) - Moving/laundry/shopping day. We got up early so we'd have time to take showers and pulled out of our campsite at 8:00. The nearest dump station, run by the National Park Service, to the east on US41 is at Midway campground. We stopped there then went on to the Miccosukee Indian gas station (across from their casino at the junction with SR997). The cost was a little high ($2.09/g) but we were on fumes at that point. It turns out that we could have made it to a less expensive place in the outskirts of Miami but with the gauge on "E" we didn't want to take the chance. We did a huge laundry and made an unsuccessful quick stop at the Walmart (not a supercenter) across the street. At a Publix supermarket we stocked up for 2 weeks deep in the Everglades - although we may not stay that long.
Jennifer, our daughter, has been to what is considered the best Mexican restaurant in the area - El Toro Taco in Homestead - and highly recommended it to us. It was closed on Monday! We ended up going to nearby Casita Tejas Mexican - good but probably not as good. At Robert is Here farm market, we stopped for their famous, and delicious, Key lime milkshake - so thick it's more like soft ice cream than a milk shake.
Finding a campsite is an adventure of varying degrees. The "B" loop in Flamingo campground, at the very southern tip of Florida, was sparsely populated allowing us to find the "perfect" spot. It turned out to be already taken by a couple who returned as we (actually Bob and Pat) were getting ready to settle in. We ended up taking the sites we were in last year.
February 10, 2009 (Tue) Flamingo CG (2) 62/76° - Very comfortable sleeping last night - well appreciated after yesterday's fun filled day. After catching up on some computer work and other chores around the camp that we didn't take the time to do yesterday we struck out for a walk around the campground. We found that by circumventing the whole campground and going out the path to the "marina" (where the camp store is) we'd walked about 4 1/4 miles. This was a bit further than we had intended, especially in the hot mid-day sun, and a bit further than we are used to in these sedentary times but it felt good. And we were able to spend the rest of the day doing nothing guilt free.
Q's orientation to the sun in site B16 gave us very little shade - none on the "living" side even with the awning out. Mark had to follow the shadow pressed up against the "back" side as he practiced his guitar in the afternoon. We moved when a better space became available. Now we should have shade in the morning and most of the afternoon.
Although it was a bit breezy, has been all day, we enjoyed a campfire in the late afternoon.
February 11, 2009 (Wed) Flamingo CG (3) 68/79° - We took showers this morning without the need to turn the heat on, or even to close the windows to keep the breeze out. A change we can live with!
The westerly orientation for Q in site B9 works very well. We were able to enjoy the shade of the awning most of the afternoon. At about the time it was gone the shadow of a nearby tree took over.
This morning, or maybe it was yesterday, we watched a flight of pelicans fly over the trees and out toward Florida Bay. Two red tail hawks visited a tree across the road this afternoon and provided entertainment for nearly an hour - looking for prey, scratching in the dirt near the fire ring, and flying here and there. About the time they left for better pickings, a Roseate Spoonbill flew over. What a beautiful bright pink bird - much brighter in flight than on the ground.
Joy fixed a big dish of spaghetti to share and we ate out on the picnic table - only about the third time we've been able to do that. Yellow Jackets are prevalent here - they particularly like splenda sweetened coffee and soda - but they left us pretty much alone.
February 12, 2009 (Thur) Flamingo CG (4) 69/80° - Joy had an interesting experience this morning. When she went to the public restroom, she found the ladies room door locked. After several attempts to get it open, interrupted by checks around to determine whether there might be a reason for the door to be locked, a woman unlocked the door from the inside and told her that she may as well come in, there is plenty of space. Strange!! Might she have wondered what the extra stalls and sinks in her private bathroom were for?
The Snake Bright Trail is 1.6 miles long (3.2 round trip - it seemed longer), flat (a foot or two above sea level) and almost dead straight (but for the overhanging trees one could almost see from on end to the other) through typical Everglades environs (beautiful). The Snake Bright Canal that runs along side the trail was a rusty brown at the beginning but cleared as we approached the bay. There wasn't much to see in the way of animal wildlife (we expected to see some alligators at least) but birds were plentiful - mostly in the form of turkey vultures. At one point we flushed a couple of Roseate Spoonbills, their bright color contrasting sharply with the drab clutter of jungle foliage. A four foot long dark gray snake (not a Black Racer, we think) sat trailside and watched us pass. He had something in his mouth. We saw only what looked like a tail sticking out waving back and forth. In the bay, sand crabs scurried to and fro on the low tide mud and off in the distance a fleet of fishing boats shimmered in the sun.
Flamingo CG, Everglades National Park #B9 dry
QC91-08 Monument Lake in Winter
February 2, 2009 (Mon) Englewood, FL to Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress National Preserve (153/1814 miles) - We woke several times during the night and heard water in the downspouts outside. It was raining and we missed being in Q where we could hear it on the roof. We expected we'd have to dodge rain drops as we repacked for the road but the rain had all but stopped by that time. We got off at about 9:35 (61° cloudy) and turned South on SR776. We'll be seeing Bom again in March on our way north but it will be awhile longer till we see Frannie. We look forward to the possibility of her visiting us at home this summer.
A stop at Publix, on US41 in Port Charlotte, replenished the larder. Then it was on south while trying to deal with one of Hildene's shortcomings. We wanted to stay off the limited access highways so we programmed to avoid "highways". Trouble is, she doesn't know the difference between an interstate and a perfectly good two lane road through local environs so she kept trying to put us on really small roads. So we made our own way to SR29, a really pleasant road through southern Florida with Hildene complaining all the way. To her it was either I-75 or some farm road.
It was 76° when we pulled into Monument Lake campground - a welcome change - but cloudy and very windy. After taking on water, we backed into site #16 (the same site we were in last year) between Bob and Pat, and Kaye who had arrived here yesterday.
February 3, 2009 (Tue) Monument Lake CG (2) - It rained hard as we played dominoes last night but very little during the night. The wind has let up too. The forecast has freeze warnings coming up for Wednesday night but it's hard to believe. We didn't think to look at the thermometer when we got up this morning but it wasn't cold enough to consider turning the furnace on. We started our morning walk wearing sweatshirts but they came off before we got home - combination of exercise and the sun. The rest of the day has been beautiful, warm and sunny, just like what we'd expect down here.
This campground has substantial overflow areas for use when the "official" 28 sites are full. They were well used tonight. We counted 12 units parked in wide grassy areas here and there around the lake. There are probably more. Among them is a Chinook Destiny that looks exactly like Q except for the bicycle rack on the front and the storage pod on top (and the dirt). The couple, from Tennessee, was very interested in the bicycle rack and we had a long talk about it - and Chinooks.
February 4, 2009 (Wed) Monument Lake CG (3) 42°@6 - We did turn the furnace on this morning but the sun warmed things up quickly. We have been wondering how Q's solar panel would affect the need to use the engine or generator to recharge the house batteries now that it will be having full sun exposure most of the day. We ended the day yesterday with a disappointing .5 volts more than we started - not enough to replenish what we'd used. This morning we started out lower (11.7v) than yesterday morning.
The bathroom flooded during our showers again. Tank full already? Couldn't be - not enough usage and the gauge reads 1/4 full. Speculative conclusion; clogged drain. Perfunctory cleaning helped but a more thorough job is needed.
We spent the morning catching up on email and snail mail correspondence. The sun was warm but the wind severely limited outside inactivity (reading, knitting, napping etc.) for most of us. It was OK for walking and puttering though.
February 5, 2009 (Thu) Monument Lake CG (4) 33°@6 - They said on the news this morning that last night was the coldest of the season. Not for us. But then we're further south than we were when we endured 26°. That didn't make 33° feel any warmer. But the furnace warmed things up to a tolerable level so we could get up in relative comfort. The sun on the solar panel kept the battery voltage at constant level yesterday (11.6v at bed time) but running the furnace and watching TV did a job on it. We got a low voltage warning when we closed up the bed this morning and had to take corrective action. We turned the engine on to idle for a while.
We can go weeks without seeing another Chinook and seldom ever see one in a campground. But in the last three days two have come to Monument Lake. A Concourse came in this morning and found an open site across the lake. This couple is from Michigan and have been traveling in Florida since before Christmas. They said Long Pine Key campground in the Everglades has been full for several days. We think that's usually the case with that campground but wonder how the Flamingo campground will be - usually not a problem.
Two guys in a pickup truck stopped by while Mark and Bob were playing This Land Is Your Land together and invited them to jam with them later in the evening in their campsite. They tactfully declined. Another couple stopped by later the say how much they enjoyed the music and suggested they might enjoy going to the annual Bluegrass festival in Yee Haw Junction - just finished for this year. Maybe next year
February 6, 2009 (Fri) Monument Lake CG (5) 39°@6 - Big day at the Kirby Storter Roadside Park. There is a half mile boardwalk into the Big Cypress swamp there and a few picnic tables. When we were there several years ago we were rewarded with seeing and watching many forms of wildlife. It seemed like a fun thing to do on our way back from a preventative dump.
There is no holding tank dump station at Monument Lake but the National Park Service does provide facilities some miles away. Rather than worrying if we were going to make it the whole seven days we'd be here, we decided to go on and do it mid-week - a preventative dump, to paraphrase a friend. When we got to the Kirby Storter Roadside Park for our walk, the parking lot was full of National Park vehicles and employees donning what looked like fire fighting garb. What in the world? We couldn't see any fires burning anywhere. It turned out they were there to do a controlled burn of the prairie. We were not allowed on the boardwalk but we stayed to watch the burn - some of it. The NP folks - there appeared to be about 8 men and 1 woman - started the grass afire next to the parking lot and stood by to watched it spread out into the prairie. They kept it away from the picnic area and boardwalk - we were surprised at the amount of heat that it put out - but let it burn in other directions. Several times we could see huge flames, a half mile or so away, consuming grass, shrubs and even trees. We asked the young woman whose job was to keep people from getting too close why there was no concern about the rapid spread, and it was a very rapid spread, of the fire to the southwest. She said there were natural fire breaks out there. She also said that sometimes the fire will jump the break but not often. Hmmm!
Later, as we spent our afternoon in the campground we could see the heavy smoke, sometimes dark and sometimes white against the sky. It was only a couple of miles away. It was amazing the amount of area the fires covered. In some places it came all the way up to the road. Since it was west of us, it made a spectacular sunset.
Another Chinook (a red Concourse) came into the campground this afternoon. The third!
Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress NP #16 dry
QC91-07 A Touch of Civilization
January 28, 2009 (Wed) Lakeland, FL (2) - An old friend from NJ came by this morning. He is wintering in a campground over near Orlando. We all went out to the 5 Guys Burger and Fries restaurant for lunch and, again, we ate too much. We have got to stop doing that! It was good to see Bob after several years and we all had a good visit.
January 29, 2009 (Thur) Lakeland, FL (3) - Book Bazaar in Lakeland is the best used book store we've found. They have a wide variety of books (mostly paperback) at half price, are not overly picky about what they take in and pay a good price. Today we took in four full plastic grocery bags worth (collected over the year) and came away with a good supply of new reading and only a half bag of rejects. We even have an $18 credit to spend next time. We are well satisfied. We made a stop at Lakeland's Sam's Club on the way home and lunch was at Lings Chinese Buffet restaurant where we've eaten several times in the past.
While Joy and Pat were out shopping for smaller grocery items not available at Sam's, Mark worked on bringing our financial accounts up to date. Just after it started raining in the late afternoon we discovered a blockage in one of Q's holding tanks, probably due to waiting too long to dump after leaving Alexander Springs. The rain made an otherwise unpleasant chore even more so.
Q047532 Ed and Kathy's yard (x3)
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January 30, 2009 (Fri) Lakeland, FL to Englewood, FL (112/1661 miles) - We woke several times during the night to the sound of rain on Q's fiberglass roof - a comforting sound. Although the reports were that a cold front was coming in, it wasn't uncomfortably cool in the morning - we never even thought about turning the furnace on. We did what little needed to be done to break camp between rain showers and got off about 9:55 (54°) leaving Bob and Pat hold down the fort in Ed and Kathy's yard. We will rejoin them in Big Cypress in a few days and maybe see Ed and Kathy again on our way north.
Our first stop was at the Flying J in Seffner, FL for gas ($1.85/g), then we went on to the Costco in Brandon, FL. Brandon is near Tampa where the Superbowl will be played on Sunday. Food merchants, wanting to be major suppliers for tailgate parties, set up sampling stands all over the store. There were opportunities to sample three different kinds of Buffalo Wings, five different kinds of pizza, four kinds of cheese and several crackers, dips, drinks and other snacks. We sampled enough, most quite good, to consider it lunch.
On our way into Englewood we again chuckled at the sign for the 5th/3rd Bank. We wonder what happened to the first four! We pulled into Quail's Run, where Joy's mother lives, at about 1:30, unpacked Q and banished him to the SunTrust Bank parking lot where he'll sulk for the next three days.
January 31, 2009 (Sat) Englewood, FL (2) - This has been one of those days when we wonder where the time went. True, we got a late start by getting up late and dallied through breakfast. Joy found a jigsaw puzzle in her mother's stash that hadn't yet been assembled and set it up on a card table in the front room. She, her sister and her mother worked on it while Mark caught up on some of the mail that had come over our last month on the road. A late lunch was made even later by the decision to order take-out from Food is Love, a nearby restaurant/catering place. Delicious! The afternoon was a repeat of the morning activities. The evening was filled with Skipbo (Joy, Fran and Bom) and guitar (Mark).
February 1, 2009 (Sun) Englewood, FL (3) - We walked over to the Publix supermarket early this morning and picked up a New York Times and some of their wonderful breakfast bread - to freeze and take with us into the Everglades. A cold walk! Frannie fixed a delicious scrambled egg and sausage breakfast. And again time slipped away for us with visiting, (two different neighbors stopped by), reading and jigsaw puzzling. In the evening Mark and Frannie watched the Superbowl while Joy and Bom played Skipbo.
Tomorrow we continue our journey south to Big Cypress National Preserve.
Q047644 SunTrust Bank parking lot, parked (x3)
