QC41-11 Life in the Swamp

February 9, 2014 (Sun) Ochopee, FL (7) 66/79° - Wow! I just noticed as I was setting this post up that my last entry was on February 87. I expect you realize that was a typo.

Great Egret (A.K.A. Great White Heron)

If you ever read the terms of a warranty that sounds like it covers everything, you may well find that it really covers next to nothing. Last year at about this time we stopped at a place near Tampa and had the window in Q's (rear) door replaced because it was almost completely fogged over. The folks at Suncoast Designers did a great job. They even did a good job of matching the tint that reduced the inward visibility during the day. Yesterday afternoon we noticed that the inner pane (of 2) was cracked from top to bottom. We know approximately when it happened and can think of no traumatic reason (uneven "pad" warping door frame, a hard door slam, a bird strike, a stone strike, etc.) for the damage. That leaves inappropriate or faulty glass or less than super workmanship. The warranty that would replace the window 100% free until Feb 27 explicitly excludes post-installation damage, improper installation and cracked glass (among other things). In fact it guarantees only that it won't become foggy again for the next 10 years. Mark will give them a call on Monday but it looks like we're in for another expensive replacement when we're in the area again. In the meantime clear duck tape is holding the glass together.

February 10, 2014 (Mon) Ochopee, FL (8) 61/80° - Late yesterday afternoon a big fifth-wheel pulled into the site behind us. Although it was one of the biggest we've seen (three big slide-outs and a large self supporting awning), there was little of note except that the slides and awning were all controlled with a wireless remote. The fellow said this morning that the jacks and leveling are supposed to be controllable from the remote too but those functions weren't working. They were off today to get those features fixed. As they left we learned that a tool is only as good as its operator. They forgot to push the button that pulled the awning in and a palm tree near where they were parked registered a near-miss.

An Ibis flyover

The wind came up after we went to bed last night. We could hear the awning flapping. Although it was probably OK, it seemed prudent to pull it in. So out we went with crank and flashlight. It was good we had the light. Joy spotted a huge light brown spider preparing to make a web on the awning strut! Mark would have had an interesting handful if she hadn't seen it.

Remember the fellow with the hot tub? He and his thong clad wife were out washing their motor home with a garden hose this afternoon. Talk about extravagant use of water where there is no water supply. It seemed a little less strange later on when we noticed that they appeared to be breaking camp. Getting ready to leave? May as well put the water from the hot tub to good use.

Our friendly neighbor

February 11, 2014 (Mon) Ochopee, FL (9) 58/82° - Another new perspective. We're now at the south end of the lake - for one night because someone is moving into our old site today. We'll be moving on tomorrow.

We tried Everglades City for lunch again. When we told one of our neighbors about our experience at the festival they said, "Oh, we didn't eat there. We went over to the Everglades Seafood Depot across the street. They have a nice salad bar with all you can eat steamed shrimp for $6.95." We thought that sounded good so we gave it a try. It turned out not to be $6.95 but $8.95 (probably price down to attract festival goers) but well worth the drive in to try it. The place actually also had a taco  bar in addition to the salad bar. We sampled them both (although we learned later that we weren't supposed to) and both were good.

The little town is very much cleaned up from the big festivities last weekend. In fact, it's rather difficult to make out where they had put all the vendor's tents - and all the people!

After lunch we took a ride out to the end of the peninsula to the little village of Chokoloskee. The last time we'd been there was before Hurricane Katrina and it was interesting to see the changes. There were some fenced in empty areas, one with a rather well built bulkhead for boat docks, that have yet to be rebuilt and many of the small houses have been lifted up onto tall pillions. One house was perched so high up - it had to be 20 feet or more - on what looked like thin pillars of concrete blocks that it looked as if even a less than gale force wind would blow it over. A scary sight!

The bird pictured is a Brown Pelican.

Q091481 Big Cypress NP, Monument Lake CG #10 & 3 dry $14 B- (x9)