February 1, 2014 (Sat) Moore Haven, FL (13) 68/88° - It's interesting what a difference a quarter mile in the same campground can make. It's not really the landscaping, which varies only slightly, or the rigs, which are virtually the same type, or even the slightly different view of the waterway. It's hard to put a finger on just what it is. The best I can say is that it has something to do with atmosphere and sense of community. But even that seems to be illusive because no one is allowed to stay in the campground any longer than 14 days out of 30 and there is a constant mix if people because, like us, they readily move from one site to another while here. That said, we like it up here a little better.
As you might have guessed, we moved today, from west of the locks to east of them, a distance of about a quarter mile. Only a bridge over a small brook separates the two sections of the campground. We are able to see the waterway better from this site. In the picture between Lamont and the motor home across the road you can see a bit of water that is the eastern approach to the locks. Just to the left of it (behind our car from this viewpoint) is the holding area where boats wait to enter the locks.
The sun has been out almost all day and the thermometer made it up to 88°. Sitting outside, reading and bicycling were again on our agenda.
The sun has been out almost all day and the thermometer made it up to 88°. Sitting outside, reading and bicycling were again on our agenda.
February 2, 2014 (Sun) Moore Haven, FL (14) 66/83° - The motor home directly across the road from us, not the one pictured, left this morning giving us a good wide view of the waterway. OK! Now we can watch all the boat traffic and not miss any. "All the boat traffic" consisted of the large yacht, a couple of small fishing/pleasure outboards this morning and the commercial excursion "stern wheeler" below ate this afternoon.
We saw The Capt JP enter the locks from the west and watched from the comfort of Q's cabin chairs while the water lifted her to the appropriate level to continue east. When we saw her begin to move, we walked across the road and down to the edge of the canal. In the length of time it took us to get there she should have been well out of the locks. But she'd hardy moved. After a while she moved maybe 20 feet and stopped again. She was in some kind of trouble. Had the gate to the walkway across the dam been open (It's only been open one day in the 2 weeks we've been here), we might have walked over to see, or at least hear, what was going on. From where we stood it looked as if the nose was only part way into the gates. When they finally began to move again, very slowly, and had cleared the gates (pictured) the passengers applauded.
These anhingas paid no attention whatsoever. They seemed to be perfectly happy to just stand around in the sun and preen.
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February 3, 2014 (Mon) Moore Haven, FL to Ochopee, FL (90/1666 miles) 67/82° - Up at dawn to dense fog and took showers. By 9:00 the fog had just about burned off and the day showed promise of being sunny and warm. Actually it turned out to be sunny and hot most of the way down US-29. Other than a stop in Labelle at the Winn Dixie to replenish the larder, it was straight through to Monument Lake Camp ground.
This will probably be the last time we'll be camping here! When we pulled up to the welcoming kiosk, a sign informed us that reservations are now required! The host said we could stay here one night but if we wanted to stay longer we needed reservations. Not only that but the price has gone up 75%, from $8 per night to $14 for us senior citizens ($16 to $28 for younger folks) That's crazy! There is no water hook-up, no electric hook-up, no shower facilities and no dump station. Where we are on the east side of the lake there are only pit toilets, albeit nice ones! Ortona South Campground (where we've been the last two weeks) cost $12 a night and we had water and electric hook-ups, hot shower facilities and a dump station. We've been coming here for years and have been willing to put up with the primitive camping conditions because the price was good. Now it's not. We're running out of campgrounds down here. We stopped going to Flamingo deep in the Everglades when restoration brought out hordes of Olympic sized mosquitoes (with appetites to match). The two campgrounds here in Big Cypress have now lost their appeal too.
February 4, 2014 (Tue) Ochopee, FL (2) 68/84° - Now that the shock of the cost increase has warn off (largely), we can say that it is still beautiful here and for the most part quiet. We hear a constant drone of generators in the evening but that's kind of expected when there are no electric hook-ups. We'd prefer the loud ones didn't park nearby, of course, but most are on the quiet side these days anyway.
It rained late yesterday afternoon and we enjoyed sitting under our awning looking out over the lake and watching the sunset - until it began to pour. Today has been sunny and warm. And we took advantage of it. We both got a little more sun than we should have while at Ortona so we spent the day chasing Q's shadow. Better that than shoveling snow as we'd be doing if we were home.
A yacht has a small boat for a dinghy (for short trips not appropriate for larger craft). A motor home tows a smaller vehicle (commonly referred to as a toad). What, then, does a motorcycle have? Well apparently bicycles. That's what looped through the campground this afternoon - a motorcycle, two people aboard, pulling a trailer with two bicycles mounted on top.
Q091481 Big Cypress NP, Monument Lake CG #10 dry $12 B- (x8)
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