RIVERS OF GRASS

 

 

 

 

 

This is NOT an alligator.....it is a crocodile; and the first and only one we have seen in our swamp visits.  The difference....?   Alligators have more of a U-shaped snout while crocs are more V-shaped....and when the mouth is closed the croc's lower teeth show outside the mouth where an alligators does not.  Also, crocodiles are more indigenous to salt water environments than alligators, given the inclusion of "salt glands" that filter out the salt from their system.   That said, both alligators and crocodiles have valves that allow them to trap large volumes of air, thus allowing them to stay under water for a very long time.   We were within 10 feet or so of this croc, who the Ranger estimated at 1 1/2 to 2 years old.   Crocodiles are much more aggressive than alligators too...so beware!

 This sign explains how the Everglades sustains itself.  In actuality, the system is fed from the Kissimmee River near Orlando....the river flows into Lake Okeechobee, which then drains into the Everglades and Florida Bay.

This map shows the extent of the Everglades....and despite its vastness, it used to be much larger.  The fact that the SE Coast of Florida has grown as much as it has is the primary reason for the Everglades "shrinking".   All these people in SE Florida need water, and that supply comes from Okeechobee, leaving less water to drain into the Glades.   The extensive farming in the Everglades region is another reason as water is siphoned off in the form of massive canals, used to irrigate everything from orange and grapefruit 'plantations' to everything from beans to tomatoes.   As a result, the many interacting eco-systems in the region are constantly under duress and being somewhat compromised.   We can hope that current environmental planning will help lessen the negative impact.

There are several places to stop and explore in the 40 miles from the entrance at the Coe Visitor Center to Flamingo and Florida Bay at the very southern tip of the glades.   Many are nice boardwalks like this one.....this particular one circled what is called "Mahogany Hammock", where the land that has 'risen' out of the ecosystem is concentrated with large, mahogany trees.   This was a very interesting half mile walk.

Here's Pam at the Flamingo Visitor Center....you can see Florida Bay in the background.  This is a great place that includes a campground that offers only electricity....no water or sewer hookups; so it would be good for a few days or a week.  A great place to kayak in the glades and in the bay...but be sure to bring LOTS of bug stuff...the mosquitos here are legendary.  (During our short visit to Flamingo Pam came away loaded with bites!).

Pam and Ali on one of the many boardwalks.

 

 

Like the Okefenokee Swamp, I have always wanted to visit the Everglades....and in the course of a couple of months I have been able to visit both of these "bucket list" places.  Both are fascinating evidences of very delicate ecosystems that need our constant attention if they are to survive.

Here we stopped by one of the many lakes and ponds within the glades for a picnic....yes, lunch treats for Ali were in the cooler too!

Living in an RV

There are many folks who are full time RVers.....or "full timers".   Most of these folks are retired but some travel in their RV's from job to job.  Others are workcampers....folks who move from campground to campground taking various job assignments, usually for a free campsite; but sometimes for a few dollars an hour as well.   Many (most??) of the retired, full timer RVers stay in just a couple of places, depending on the seasons.   They may spend 4 or 5 months in FL or TX or AZ in the winter and then move north to any number of locations for the summer months.   Still others move around the country, typically traveling within the warmer states in winter and away from those same states for summer months.    We fall in this latter category....moving around to see and experience many different places...and we try to avoid temperature extremes!   Example: while spending this week at Big Cypress RV Park on a Seminole Indian Reservation in the north Everglades, today we drove the Mini Cooper over to the town of Immokalee, FL and visited the largest Mexican Open Air Farmer's Market in the States.  HUGE.   We came back with fresh strawberries, oranges, grapefruit, squash, corn, cantaloupe and more corn (Pam loves corn on the cob!!).   It is things like this that we love to experience in our travels.

Here is one of the booths....you can see red and green peppers and LOTs of oranges and lemons.

Here is another with watermelon, corn, limes, grapefruit and mangoes.

There were about 50 such booths stretched in a circuitous line that you drove through in your car....you can see the one way sign telling which direction for cars to go in.   If one booth didn't have what you were looking for no reason to despair....there were all those other booths to choose from.  And prices were ridiculously low.....one fellow gave Pam three or four large hands full of fresh beans in a bag....for $1.00!!   Anyway, it is things like this that make exploring the local areas both educational and fun.

Getting back to RV living....many folks will ask RVers how they can live in such "close quarters" for months (or years in the case of full timers) without problems.   Well, it does help if you like each other a lot...but the fact is you do spend a bunch of time outside your camper, which makes it that much easier.   There are folks who travel in small and medium size travel trailers; some in pickup campers (that would be a bit tight!!); and some who have large, diesel pickups that pull 35-40 foot 5th wheel trailers....and many of these are very nice.   When it comes to motorized campers we have seen folks traveling in B class campers, the size of a large van; and the class C campers (you recognize as part of the living quarters extend out over the truck cab)...and then motorhomes like ours.   And when it comes to motorhomes, they come in all shapes and sizes from 28 feet up to the 45 foot size like ours.  We have seen older models dating to the 1980's and 90's, the vintage RVs....and we have seen multi million dollar Prevost Bus conversions pulling very long trailers with Cadillacs or BMWs or Mercedes inside.   Many of these "spendier" new RVs come with Ipads so when folks get to the campground they pull out a chair and use the tablet to level the coach, open the slide outs, extend the awnings, and turn on the TVs.   While we don't have one of those, our 2003 Travel Supreme Select was one of the top of the line models when it was produced...so we really don't lack too many "creature comforts".   So, while the living space is much smaller than living in a house, let's compare some other things:

Electricity.....like a house we have electricity.  It is provided by "shore power" when we plug into the campground electric.  We do have a few advantages though....if we lose the power we have a backup generator we can use; OR we can simply rely on our inverters to take DC current from our fully charged 8 house batteries and "invert" it to AC current we can use.  And to take it one step further, in our case we have a 1.2KW solar system with 9 panels on our roof...meaning we don't have to rely on the generator when the power goes out.

Plumbing....we do have to be attentive when it comes to plumbing.  If we are hooked up to campground facilities we have constant fresh water coming in through our hose and that is filtered before entering the motorhome.   If we are on the road we draw water from our 100 gallon on board fresh water tank.   In terms of waste, we have two tanks to watch out for...a gray water tank that holds water from sinks and shower and clothes washer; and a black water tank that holds sewage.  These are 75 and 50 gallons respectively...and the key here is to remember to open and release your sewage valve to empty that tank allowing for the cleaner, gray water to help flush the system down the campgrounds septic.  As for incoming Hot water, instead of a hot water holding tank (like most houses and most RVs have) we rely on our Hydro Hot instant hot water system to provide all the hot water we could need.

Heating and Cooling....while houses up north have furnaces and those further south have AC...and many in between have both; we too have both.   If it is only slightly cold we turn on our electric fireplace in the living room to take the chill away.  If it is colder but not down to 45 degrees or so outside, we use any combination of three roof mounted heat pumps; and if we are caught in temps below 40F (we have done something wrong obviously), we turn on our Aqua Hot system that uses diesel fuel to (quite efficiently) provide heated water to circulate to seven vents where fans blow the hot air into the rooms.   As for cooling, these same heat pumps also work in reverse to provide AC when we need  it.  

Propane.....Most RVs have furnaces that are hot air and are powered by propane.  This propane also heats their hot water in a 6 or 10 gallon quick recovery tank, AND it also provides power to the RV refrigerators when the RV is not plugged into shore power or when on the move down the road.  In our case, we are fortunate to be an all electric coach....that is meant to indicate we have no propane on board (making us a bit safer indeed).  Instead of an RV refrigerator we have a residential one.  And because our electric needs are much greater than most RV's we have more batteries on board (8 instead of the usual 4) for house support...and two high capacity starting batteries to start the coach(starting up a 500HP diesel engine with over 1500 foot pounds  of torque needs 2 very large chassis batteries).   In addition to shore power at the campground, our motorhome is wired for generator backup; as well as wired with two 2000 watt pure sine wave inverters; the 8 house batteries; the solar panels and all is managed by a 80AMP charge controller.....the "brains of the outfit".   We have a monitoring panel in our bedroom power closet that allows us to see what is happening and under what conditions and when....and in many cases it allows us to manually over ride the automatic system.

Comforts....we have two wonderful sound systems as we both like our music (and Pam REALLY likes her music)....one in dash system that allows FM and AM bands as well as a weather band and XM Satellite radio; and it is hooked up to a 15 CD changer system so we can play stuff we really like as we head down the road.   Our other system is a 5 CD changer system in the living room that is hooked to a 5 speaker surround sound system....so the place can really rock if we have a mind to!  We also have three LED TV's, all hooked to DVD players and all wired for cable and satellite as well as over the air signal connections.   So, when asked about our comforts and we reply with "all the comforts of home" we mean it!  

I hope this answers some of the questions we get from blog readers who wonder how we manage on the road for long periods of time.   The freedom this lifestyle provides....to see so many different things and meet so many different people and experience so many different cultural offerings...is simply wonderful....and to do so in comfort makes it all the nicer.  We try (and will continue to do so) capture many of the highlights and report them in our blogs....so stay tuned.  

And from Pam's "Pen"......as we say goodbye to 2013 and hello to 2014

Where to begin?!  It has been a whirlwind of days....from James Island and the marvelous light show to Disney World and the hectic but wonderful blur of lights, decorations, rides, crowds, more crowds, and Christmas fun, to the Everglades and the hottest, most humid weather I have experienced in many years....life is amazing!

Christmas has come and gone....we celebrated with my daughter, Amy, while she was with us for about 12 days, and we had all the joys of seeing amazing light shows and going on super Disney rides, seeing all that is wonderful in Epcot, catching the fabulous Christmas Processional show with Sigourney Weaver narrating the Christmas Story with a wonderful choir and orchestra accompanying her.....eating at the German Bavarian Restaurant first.....where half the experience was watching Ken "do" the buffet.  He can sure pack it in!  We also had a lovely meal at a Mexican restaurant ... well, as usual, there we are, recounting our food expeditions!

And one day, we all sat in the motorhome and opened our gifts in our stockings....only this year that would be in our mittens -- yes, during one of our shopping excursions in Indiana , I came upon a crafts booth at an Amish store, and someone had created big wonderfully decorated mittens using old sweaters ... and since we had not thought to bring our usual Xmas stockings with us, I thought how fun these would be...and they were!  The three of us had obviously had waay too much time to think about it....the mittens were stuffed with fun things, yummy things (food again), really nice things....and there were a few other packages lying about to open, too!  Great fun.

Since then, we have been in southern Florida.....my first experience here.  The Everglades....nothing like I had pictured them....they are lovely, have pretty lakes in which you can canoe or kayak....picnic areas, a terrific campground, marina....and oh, the friendly mosquitos!  Seems you can find out how the rangers rate their numbers....from tolerable up to unbelievable!  I am sure they were sorry to see us leave.....I lured all the mosquitos away from anyone else hoping to catch those charmers, and I gave them a real good meal!  How they love me.  Next time, if there is one, I will put on a goopy layer of bug stuff and let them have a good meal of that!  HA!

But, we also discovered a wonderful Cuban restaurant in the area of our campground (or, rather, Ken did), and surprise of all surprises!  The special of the day when we went was lamb shank in rosemary/garlic sauce with roasted potatoes and rice and fried plantains....ahhhhh.  Sigh.  What is one to do?  Of course I had that....shockingly delicious.  (And, P.S. --- I did bring half of it home!)

The campgrounds have been interesting....from Disney's Fort Wilderness - which one would love to go back to and have some down time to investigate the swimming pools, trails, lakes and rivers and kayak....to the nice Larry and Penny Thompson Park Campground near the Everglades....large,  pretty full, sites arranged in "pods" -- some sites spacious and level, some not so much.....a few sites with Xmas decorations....versus Disney where folks go ALL out.  You felt like a Grinch if you didn't at least put up a wreath or a few lights.
The area around south Miami....crazy traffic, lots of people, mostly Spanish spoken.....you take your life in your hands just driving.  There doesn't seem to be anyone adhering to traffic rules!

We said good bye to that area this morning and have driven up to the Big Cypress Rv Park, on the Seminole Indian reservation near Clewiston.....what a change!  We are about 20+ miles away from any highway, no traffic noise, no noise at all other than what a camper may make, or a dog in the area.....where alligators seem to rest nearby, a Florida panther has been spotted .... the sites are really big, really nice...and the campground folks very nice and very friendly.  A dance is being put on at their community center tonight.....just a spontaneous gathering of fun people.  We have been urged to join them.  Ken is still coughing a good bit, so not sure we will go....but we are attending their New Year's Day pot luck tomorrow evening....pulled pork sloppy joe's and lots of dishes to accompany them!  Ken couldn't say yes! fast enough.  Free food and plenty of it....his kind of nirvana!!  I have to scour the pantry to figure out what to make and take.

Would I care to return to the southern end of Florida anytime soon?  I don't think so....saw wonderful things and enjoyed our time there.....was disappointed that Key West is so commercial and crowded -- I mean CROWDED!, but liked Marathon Key and some of the other smaller ones.  Miami area itself...no sirree, not my cup of tea.  And can be waaayyyy too humid.  Glad to have seen the interesting places we saw, such as the gorgeous Deering Estate and Biscayne National Park....but am ready to move on.  2013 has been full -- very full....and we look forward to 2014 and continuing our travel adventures.  Wishing everyone of you a fun, safe New Year's Eve....and most definitely, a healthy, happy 2014.

Meanderings around the South Miami area

The Charles Deering Estate of Cutler Bay.....talk about a gorgeous place!!

The Deering Estate Ballroom

Charles Deering, from South Paris, Maine, was the late 1800's
Co-founder of the International Harvester Company.

The three Wise Men painted on Palm Fronds made us immediately think of our talented
rock-painter friend back home, Debbie Schultz.

The Nikon zoom at its best brings in Miami Beach from Cutler Bay.

Pam and Ali at the Southernmost House in the USA.....at the very "bottom" of
US Route 1 in Key West

 Here is Ali making friends with our cute neighbor camper and
her three guinea pigs!

We came across a large group of migrant workers picking in a huge
planting of beans.  Across the road were hundreds of acres of green
tomatoes....we imagine these would be descended upon by the pickers in
the near future.   Whole families of Mexicans turn out for the picking....they even have
a taco delivery truck that brings in their lunch each day.   These folks are very hard workers.

We have discovered there is much to see in this land "south of Miami".  It is an interesting and very diverse area.   We are glad we visited but would NOT want to live here.....main reasons would be the humidity...it can be relentless; and the fact most people here drive like there will be no tomorrow.  Before we depart for the Big Cypress Preserve a bit north of here, stay tuned for our tour of the Everglades and much of what it has to offer.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas wishes to all our blog friends
for a wonderful and thankful Holiday.

Our wishes come to you from the Larry &
Penny Thompson Campground in South Miami
Heights, FL, where the temperatures have been
way too hot and WAY too humid for our tastes!
But the weather pattern promises to change to
something less oppressive on Christmas Day,
tomorrow; albeit with on and off showers.

Here Ali is lying on her new bed in front of our 
little Christmas Tree.   She joins with us in our
hopes that you and yours are enjoying this holiday season.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night..........!

Biscayne National Park

 

Biscayne National Park is not like most national parks....in most parks land dominates the picture.  Here water and sky overwhelm the scene in every direction, leaving bits of low lying land looking remote...almost insignificant.   Biscayne NP is a paradise for marine life, water birds, boaters, anglers, snorkelers and divers alike.  The water is refreshingly clean and extraordinarily clear. The Caribbean like climate saturates the park with year round warmth, generous sunshine and abundant rainfall.   Tropical life thrives in Biscayne National Park.

 

We visited Biscayne just the other day and made personal note of many of its wonders.  It is a wonderful place to kayak out among the coral reefs, the many and varied types of tropical fish, the manatees and yes, even the alligators.   We are hoping to have a second visit....this time with our kayaks so we can visit in a more up close and personal way.

 

That said, while we were here this time, we spotted a manatee hanging around the dock area....

 

 Here he is just as we found him (or her, as the case may be).  He seemed to surface just in time for the shutter click on the camera....lucky us.

And here he is again, this time lifting his snout above the water line to blow out water and take in fresh air....just like whales do.   He seemed content to hang around for quite awhile, just taking it easy in his tropical paradise.

Also, swimming around the same area with the manatee was this barracuda.   Very colorful and very long!  One of the many types of fish to be found in the Biscayne area.

This sign at the park pretty much sums up Biscayne's story.  Indeed a piece of our country where just south of Miami one can find beauty and serenity in a quiet place.

 

 

Here Pam enjoys the clear water of Biscayne along with the ubiquitous lush palm and mangrove trees.   We left here and drove to the Playa Grill not too far down the same coastline where, overlooking the bay at an outside table, we enjoyed a nice, peaceful lunch.





DISNEY WORLD

Pam & Amy share the Osborne Family Light Show at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

 

What can you say about Disney......(yes, that is a rhetorical question).   None of the adjectives by themselves.....fantastic....great.....wonderful.....enlightening.....just plain fun.....magical....incredible....do it justice, they all fall short of what you experience when you visit.  This is especially true during the Christmas Holiday period when everything is decked out in pure Disney Holiday fashion.   The experience is without adequate description.......





                                                                 So.....as the sign says.....

Here are Pam and Amy just before the Pirates ride.   It was a fun ride with the theme from the Captain Jack movies carrying through the displays.   The animatronics in Disney is just amazing.....the Pirates ride is one of the best to see that in action.   

We also rode through the Haunted Mansion....a really fun ride....Space Mountain, the in-the-dark roller coaster ride that throws you side to side as you zip up, down and around in the DARK!   Yes, Pam did that one too.....but I have to say, it is probably the last time I ride it....not much fun being jostled around to that extent.  It took over an hour before I felt everything in my body was back in its proper place!!

Other rides we enjoyed were Soarin'....a glide over the many scenic highlights of California (much like an interactive IMAX movie); Star Tours, a wild and fast simulated ride in the vein of Star Wars....and Amy and I did Fast Track.....where you design your own fast automobile and then take it for a ride on the test track....we got up to 63 MPH (but it felt like 100mph!!).    We took the Safari Ride through the Animal Kingdom Park, the ride through the ages in the Epcot Globe....and the Land ride also in Epcot.  

We stayed in our wonderful motorhome in Disney's 900+ site Fort Wilderness Campground.  It was tight getting our 45 footer parked in its site, but once there we thoroughly enjoyed the place.....Ali enjoyed the nearby dog park also!!  

Many of the campers went all out when it came to Christmas decorations at their campsite....others (like us) showed the spirit of the season in a more modest fashion....and the "bah humbugs" didn't put up so much as a wreath or a string of lights or hang a red ribbon.   We drove around about half the 20+ circular "pods" of campsites and were "wowed" by many of the displays.

Each day we either took the boat across the lake to the Magic Kingdom or one of the many buses Disney has to transport folks like us all over the place!   At the beginning of each day we would take the Outpost Yellow bus to the campground's offices....and from their one of the many buses to Epcot, the Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios.   At the end of each Disney day....and more than once it was later in the PM....we would take the Fort Wilderness bus back from the park to the campground and then get on the Settlement Yellow bus to get a ride back to the 500 block of campgrounds, whereupon we would walk back to site 522 and be greeted by Ali who invariably had slept a good portion of the day away.

Here we are welcomed to the Magic Kingdom by Cinderella's Castle....as well as several hundred other folks!!   Disney can be crowded, but I think we chose a very good time to visit as it was prior to when kids begin school vacations.   It seemed crowded to me and you always had to "dodge" the hundreds of strollers being pushed by harried parents, but it could have been much more crowded than it was (and my definition of 'crowded' is colored by the fact I simply don't like crowds).

As mentioned, Disney goes all out for the Christmas Season when it comes to decorations.   To the left is just one of the many trees Disney puts up for the season.....this one is at the entrance to Animal Kingdom.

> 1500 trees are used for decoration around the Walt Disney World (WDW) properties;

> 8 million lights are used in the 4 parks during Christmas Season.

> 15 miles of garland and 300,000 yards of ribbon are used throughout WDW at this time of year.

> All in all 150 semi trailer truckloads of decorations are used to adorn the WDW parks during the season.




Aside from the many rides we enjoyed in the park, we also had great fun at a Biergarten Buffet in the Germany Pavilion at Epcot.  It was all you can eat.....so not only was the food scrumptious....we got "our money's worth" too!   ha ha.    We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas concert one night in Epcot...it involved the Disney orchestra, over 400 choir members and readings by celebrity Sigourney Weaver.  It was a top drawer experience.   After the concert we stayed to watch the nightly Illumination Show at Epcot with dancing lights and lots of fireworks set to music.   And to top it all off we experienced the "Osborne Lights" at Hollywood Studios (you can google Osborne lights to get some background) which were simply fantastic and put even the most curmudgeonly among us into the Christmas Spirit!!

Here are a few PM photos of the Osborne Family Lights...........

At dusk this light comes on.....a few minutes later the show really begins!

 

 

The lights you see are also designed so they "dance" to the music.

 

This one Pam took with her phone under the Canopy of Lights with the buildings all lit up in the background (yes, that is yours truly in the blue shirt and the Tilley hat).

 

 

Here we are enjoying the light show.

 

Disney memories will stay with us....it is an unforgettable experience.   Kudos to Mr. Walt whose vision, determination, risk taking and just plain hard work made it all happen....and with a mouse named Mortimer, until his wife suggested to him that Mickey might be a better name....imagine that!