QC31-07 Kissimmee Prairie

February 6, 2013 (Wed) LeBelle, FL to Kissimmee Prairie Preserve state park (96+70/1824 miles) 55/83° - Up at 6:45, showers, breakfast, dump and off at 8:50. Q behaving himself - started every time! The drive up along the west side of Lake Okeechobee was relatively uneventful. There were only a few very small communities (don't blink as you pass through or you'll miss seeing them) along the whole 96 miles. Except for the sugar cane fields which looked ready to harvest and the endless cattle ranges the land was pretty much undeveloped - not from lack of dreams though. Through the prairie streets and avenues were planned but never constructed. i.e. we'd drive 5 or 6 miles with nothing but an occasional drive to an unseen cattle ranch then we'd come to a high street number, sometimes in the thousands. 197th street turned out to be sharp right turn - no turn to the left, no straight through road. Some of these turns even had stop signs!

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park campground is in a palmetto, palm and Spanish moss draped live oak hammock in the middle of the absolutely flat "Florida dry prairie". The campground is 5 miles (at least) into the preserve on a dusty washboard gravel road. Whereas folks camped at Ortona Locks were mostly retired folks hanging out waiting for warmer weather to develop up north, the residents here seem to be more into birding, photography and hiking. And astronomy - there is a small group of tents and pop-up trailers set up away from the the rest of us to avoid even our light contamination.

February 7, 2013 (Thu) Kissimmee Prairie Preserve SP (2) 66/80° - We don't watch TV in the morning at home but while traveling we often do. We have come to prefer CBS's CBS This Morning with Charlie Rose. Whenever we lite we do a scan with our TV to locate available channels in the area. Our scan last night netted two regular broadcast channels (among many many aimed at more targeted audiences) - both are ABC affiliates which airs our least favorite morning show. We watched for a while this morning and were able glean a little real news amongst all the fluff but we soon got bored and turned it off.

It was pleasant (and refreshing) to have the wind behind us as we biked the 2 mile+ access road back to Q this morning. Usually it's behind us on the way out so we're not aware of how far we're going and struggle to get back - when we are already tired.

February 8, 2013 (Fri) Kissimmee Prairie Preserve SP (3) 63/79° - Moving day - for us and apparently most others in the campground. We moved from site #13 to #11 (across the road). Another unit, a trailer, moved one site east. We think some moved from this, the family area, to the other (the equestrian) area. But most left the campground altogether. And to complete the cycle, outsiders have come in to fill the emptied sites. Other than that it's been a restful day reading and people watching.

February 9, 2013 (Sat) Kissimmee Prairie Preserve SP (4) 55/78° - Get to know your neighbor day - of sorts. A couple of fellows stopped by as we were reading this afternoon. One, the owner of a Chinook Destiny a year older than Q, was curious about our TV antenna. The conversation went on from there. It turns out he is a wildlife photographer, his specialty being moths. When the other fellow learned that Joy is a quilter, he retrieved his wife who is also a quilter, and the two got along quite well.
     In the category of people watching: Late this morning a small pickup, driving the wrong way on the one way road pulled into the site across the road from us. The fellow, single as far as we can tell, set up a small tent then backed quickly out - into a tree! It looked like he hit quite hard but he never bothered to look at the damage he did either to the tree or to his truck, instead he corrected his aim, backed out and drove (the wrong way) out of the campground and was gone for the rest of the day.

Q087674 Kissimmee prairie preserve state park #13&12 w/e $16g