QC21-09 In the swamp

March 8, 2012 (Thu) La Belle, FL to Big Cypress NP (90/1746 miles) 64/82° - We found one of the parking lots for the La Belle post office was big enough for our small motor home with a car in tow to loop around and park (read wait) - as long as there were very few cars already there and they were out of the way. It helped that the post office wasn't yet open (by a few minutes). Fewer cars. We took advantage, only inconveniencing one delivery truck, and picked up our mail. Then it was south on SR27.

Signs along the road warned of panther crossings (several through the Florida Panther Wildlife Preserve (bisected by SR29) and wild fires. We saw neither. Although we did see smoke off to the SE.

Our neighbor here at Monument Lake camp ground is a large Mercedes Benz truck from Germany (foreign registration plates anyway) that has been converted into a camper/motor home. Since homemade truck conversions often have very loud generators (no electric hook-ups here), we asked the host if this was the case with this one. He said he hadn't heard one and thought the folks had said something about solar panels when they came in. Not sure if that's comforting either. Now we'll have to be careful about running our generator! At least we have a quiet one now.

As I was writing that, said neighbors packed up and moved to another site! We tried not to take it personally. When we took our evening walk around the lake later, we passed their new site. Their generator was running and it was loud. They are several sites away from their closest neighbor up there as they were here before we came. Our guess: They moved so as not to bother us. (Or maybe they just don't like close neighbors.)

March 9, 2012 (Fri) Monument Lake CG (2) 65/77° - What a beautiful morning it was! The sun came up giving the billowing white clouds a brilliant outline. The lake was near mirror smooth due to the lack of wind (for a change). One of the resident campground alligators swam slowly around waiting for unsuspecting prey.

Since we are alone here Mark got our new generator out and started it up. We'll try running it an hour or so each day and see if it keeps the batteries charged.

It rained off and on all day. Usually only just enough to get us to fold the chairs up and move inside for a few minutes because the wind was blowing it in under the awning. Then it would stop and the sun would come out. Finally around 4:00 it began to rain as if it meant it

March 10, 2012 (Sat) Monument Lake CG (3) 64/80° - Last week we were in a quasi-resort campground complete with concrete pads, manicured landscape and guests (all who seem to be old friends) stopping at each others sites to "socialize". There were no club house, golf course or swimming pool but the cost didn't reflect such amenities (whether we wanted to use them or not) either. Here the pads are gravel losing its battle with grass, the landscape is au natural and the guests are strangers who stop by only to comment on the weather. No club house, golf course or swimming pool here either. Nor hot showers for that matter or even cold showers. But there is atmosphere and plenty of wild life - an alligator walked through our site a little while ago.

The rain stopped just before we went to bed last night and today dawned, as it did yesterday, with the sun lighting up the clouds. And it's been a beautiful day. Rigs have been coming in all day, as they usually do on weekends, but this year they go around the lake and go right back out again. We speculate that they didn't want to camp where there are no electric hook-ups, and gas prices being what they are have caused less demand for the full hook-up campground down the road.

March 11, 2012 (Sun) Monument Lake CG (4) 65/83° - The story is that Loop Road was originally an overgrown access to Al Capone's whiskey stills deep in the marshes of the Everglades. (The gas pumps are still there, we've seen them, and apparently a short (unpleasant?) hike will take you to the old stills.) When the National Park Service took over the area, the road was improved to some extent and maintained for a while. Neglect in recent years caused the road to deteriorate to the point where it became little more than a 26 mile single lane pot hole infested track deep into the Everglades. Last year the going was so rough in places that it might have been a challenge for even dedicated off road vehicles. Well maybe not quite that bad but it sure put our poor little CRV to the test. There were places where we'd have bottomed out if we weren't been careful and speeds over 5 MPH invited a broken suspension This year it's a super highway by comparison. It's still a gravel road but we could have easily exceeded the posted 25MPH speed limit - if our intent was not to see the wildlife. Passing on-coming vehicles was no longer a test of wills as it has been widened to two lanes. Unfortunately the wildlife, prevalent last year, was scarce today. Probably because half of south was out there scaring it away. It was a fun excursion though.

When we got back we found that we are no longer along in our little corner of the campground. A class B Roadtrek camper had moved in next door and a short time later a medium sized box truck "XIS AllSafe Medical, Inc." towing a small pickup pulled in across the way.

March 12, 2012 (Mon) Monument Lake CG (5) 67/82° - The owner, the female half of the ownership, of the laundromat in Kendall (West Miami) shared with us how she and her husband had enjoyed their tour to Alaska a few years ago. It was on a cruise ship. She said that they are in the process of trying to sell the laundromat now so they can buy a motor home, a small one, and go back. We talked about how much we enjoyed our trip to Alaska.

March 13, 2012 (Tue) Monument Lake CG (6) 61/80° - When we planned this part of our trip, Mark had a brain malfunction in the geography lobe. He put Ft Myers where Naples is. So we came to Big Cypress so we could easily get over to see Jackie play softball. By the time we discovered that we were too far south, it was too late to do much about it. So our excursion to watch the ball games was over 100 miles further than necessary. But the thrill of being able to see our granddaughter in action was well worth the extra time and miles. Unfortunately the scores favored the wrong teams. But the girls (women?) put up a good fight and seemed to be having fun. We had hoped to take her out for a burger after the games but the coach is keeping them pretty busy. It's really a team building event and it is "spring break" after all.

March 14, 2012 (Wed) Monument Lake CG (7) 60/82° - Today seemed a bit cooler than yesterday although the temperature was higher. It may be that there have been more clouds to block the heat of the sun or that it's been breezier. Or maybe it was just knowing that we could find shade when we needed to. At any rate it has been a pleasant day and we took advantage by doing nothing - nothing, that is, but sit and watch the birds, alligators and curious passers-by. Reading and napping got their share of time too.

We're not ready to leave this beautiful place but leave tomorrow we must. Jonathan Dickinson State Park on the east coast is our next port of call.

Q083829 Monument Lake CG, Big Cypress National Preserve #4 dry $8 B (7)