QC91-11 Q Monument Lake Revisited

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)
__________________________

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