Long Key Day 3

We had a cooked breakfast this morning – biscuits and sausage gravy. Jane baked biscuits in the electric skillet and the sausage gravy came in a can but it was pretty good for a beach breakfast! After breakfast we left on an excursion – we had 4 goals – explore the rest of the park; find a Laundromat and wash clothes; find some shrimp or fish to cook for supper; and find a Wi-Fi location. Well 3 out of 4 was not too bad because we did not find the Wi-Fi. We had to drive back to Islamorada to find the Laundromat and we found shrimp and stone crab claws – that will make a great supper. There is not really much to this park besides the campground, one hiking trail, a canoe trail and a short board walk. We explored all but the canoe trail in a short time. We ate lunch, sat in the sun a little while; Jane read and collected some more shells. Ben explored out in the water with his mask and snorkel reporting fish, coral and more sponges. We took a while cooking supper. Jane had bought a bottle of shrimp scampi sauce and it was easy to prepare with some brown rice and tasted great. The Stone Crab was good with some melted butter. Cleaning up and packing the cooking gear took a few minutes longer than usual since we leave here tomorrow morning.

Ben had been watching the guy next to us fish and fish – he would catch the bait with a throw net and then fish and fish. Ben had brought all his Dad’s salt water fishing gear which I doubt had been in the water in 25 years if not longer. Ben spent some hours working on it all getting it ready to fish and we agreed he could have 1 maybe 2 of my pound of shrimp to use as bait – no more! He was not happy that I had shelled and cleaned up the entire pound (half of which we will eat tomorrow night) but it was all he had for bait! So I watched him walk way out in the surf to cast and then come back in to camp to sit in his chair and wait. Well I had been in the Sprinter maybe 5 minutes putting the cooking gear away when I heard the commotion – out I came with my trusty camera to see him land a bonnethead shark about 2 feet long! What excitement – the guy next door helped him filet it – half for them and half for us. We have it soaking and will eat it tomorrow I guess. Ben was very proud of himself as the photo will show and says this now cinches the deal – he has to come back each March. I have more photos but this one shows the shark best.

A little computer work and reading as well as packing up everything will fill the rest of the evening. We have made reservations for the boat to Dry Tortugas on Thursday and at the same campground where we stayed last year for Wednesday and Thursday nights. Friday we will head back up the coast to somewhere north of Miami – or see how far we get – maybe we will have a surprise and one of the parks will have an opening Friday night – that would be a miracle – everyone has been full every-night.

Long Key Day 2

Long Key State Park, Long Key FL
Jane was up about 8:30 to catch up on the log but Ben slept until well after 9:00. We loafed around camp this morning reading and walking up and down the beach. Jane collected lots of small pieces of what looked like white coral. Ben thinks it is a type of grass that is growing out in the water and becomes covered with salt or something from the water. It is hard and if we can drill small holes in them it will make a pretty unusual necklace. We read books, ate lunch, and walked on the beach some more. We did not move the Sprinter today. Ben took his snorkel and mask and went probably 200 yards out into the water and saw fish, a lobster, and huge sponges. The guy next to us is a big fisherman and finally now that it is 9 PM at night is catching a fish. It was a beautiful lazy day. The accomplishments are entry of probably 30 recipes in Master Cook; gathering the “coral”; cooking a fairly decent dinner – my success was baking, frying egg rolls in the electric skillet; cleaning up the Sprinter; and finishing my Nevada Barr mystery- set on Isle Royale (about as far from here as you could be and be in USA). Ben’s accomplishments were reading, transferring his life history of birds from his old to new bird book and his venture out into the ocean. Most of all we just did nothing and went nowhere. It was interesting to watch the ships at sea. We saw several what we assumed were cruise ships and at least one freighter. Tomorrow we will explore this park and find a place with internet if possible. I plan to buy some shrimp and make scampi.
Well the guy caught a shark that was probably 4 feet long. I did see him but Ben said he let it go. There is a full moon over the ocean and it is beautiful. Now I will download the photos and off to bed to read.

Collier Seminole to Long Key

Collier Seminole State Park, Naples FL to Long Key State Park, Long Key FL

We had an early departure at 8:30 to hopefully have a quick trip to Long Key. The distance was about 190 miles. We were traveling for the first part of the trip on the Tamiami Trail which we heard about last night. The ranger talked using old photographs he had collected from the days when the trail was built (20’s primarily) Reminded us of the stories told on building the Alcan Highway during WW II only the problems were quite different.

Yesterday was the first day I have not done the journal in the evening so I am playing “catch-up” on Monday morning sitting in our shade room looking out over the quietly lapping waves on Long Key. We are about 25 -30 feet from the surf. There are two small mangrove trees maybe 30 feet out in the sea, a small sail boat anchored off to the right, several pelicans playing around and the sun peeking up behind one of the mangrove trees. These mangrove trees will be out of the water when the tide goes out. It is 8:30 AM and the tide is high now. It is very peaceful as people are just beginning to stir in the campsites around us. This campground is long with 60 sites all along the beachfront. We have water and electricity at the site and a nice bath-house about 3 campsites down on the road side of the campground.

Now that the scene is set I continue to report on yesterday. We observed the water much higher in the canal that borders the road than it was on our trip along this road last January. There are alligators and many birds along the way. One new bird we have seen this year is the wood stork and there have been hundreds. As we came close to Miami we took a road directly south to Homestead totally missing the sprawl of the city. There were numerous nurseries and farms along this road. We stopped and purchased a few fresh fruits and veggies at one of the many road side stands. We did need to find a Wal-Mart or Target though since our mattress has sprung a leak. Ben thought he had fixed it but each night along the way it has required attention – the last one we had to add air twice during the night….not good. So as we entered Wal-Mart into the GPS as we entered Homestead and Florida City. We visited what we will dub as the “busiest Wal-Mart in the World” .We found a mattress, the few groceries we wanted and then got in line to pay. There were only 3 lanes not open on a Sunday at 11 AM – we were in line for a good 30 minutes and none of the other lanes were any faster. Two people in our line must have been buying a month’s groceries their carts were so full. One woman bought a 25 pound bag of tortilla flour! It was an interesting hour in that store.

The trip down US1 was about as expected, sunshine, turquoise water, motels, resorts, restaurants, and tourist stops that line the highway. We did notice a lot of “For Sale” signs on properties. We reached Long Key State Park about 1:30 and found our campsite #16 and ate lunch looking out over the beautiful ocean. After lunch we put up our screen room tent. The wind was strong Ben says 15 mph, but we had never put it up in any wind before…it took us a while but it got up and is really a great asset to our camp. We walked on the beach, watched people para-board, and did a good job of playing beach bum-did nothing for the afternoon. About 4 on a trip to the bathroom Jane noticed a sign that said don’t forget to change your clocks for daylight savings time! We had lost an hour!

Last year as we drove down this way Ben saw a Seafood Buffet that he vowed to eat at the next time we were here. So we traveled back about 15 miles to eat one of the most extensive seafood buffets ever. They touted 80 items and I guess that was true although I did not eat all 80! Ben had raw oysters and mussels which Jane skipped. We both worked our way through a huge pile of crab legs. Jane had peel and eat shrimp. Then we had grouper in some type lemon sauce, fried shrimp, another type fish in a mango sauce, several seafood salads, paella and the best seafood chowder I have ever eaten. They also had a stir fry section where you picked out the veggies and seafood and they prepared it with pasta for you. We skipped that. Then they had lots of desserts – we had key lime pie, a lemon-berry bar, and flan. Nothing was bad – everything was good. The place was huge and we saw them carry huge pans of crab legs out at least 3 times while we were there. The Restaurant – Whale Harbor Seafood Buffet - at Mile Post 83.5 was packed for most of the hour we were there. Great choice but – only once a year!

We drove back to camp, figured out how to unlock the gate, and hassled with changing out the new bed. It was fine but not as easy to pump us as our other one. Of course the other one was $150 and this one was $35 – I guess you get what you pay for. I expected the other one to last a lot longer than 2 years so I will hunt out all the papers when we get back home!

Myakka to Collier Seminole

We packed up camp easily after our travel day breakfast of bagels and cream cheese. The tent came down and packed up quickly, neither of us could recall how to do it or how long it took…..but it was simple. The internet was working at the camp store so we spent about an hour downloading mail and posting as needed. The world had been going just fine without us! We were on the road by about 10:30. We got on I 75 and headed south – taking back up where we were 3 days ago on our CD book. Down the road about 50 miles there was a terrible traffic back-up. Several miles over the long bridges in Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte the traffic was backed up 3 lanes deep. When we finally got to the end to find out what was wrong. It appeared a huge metal bridge section had fallen off of a train car right beside the interstate. There were 4 or 5 cranes in one lane of the interstate trying to recover the bridge section. A few miles further down the road we saw one of the huge metal bridge sections installed. I guess their construction schedule is a bit behind!
We ate lunch and stopped for gas and watched the scenery go by. There was nothing very interesting since we did not go over to the coast. When we got to Venice we turned east on the Tamiami Trail (Route 41) which will take us across the state to Miami and Homestead where we turn south to the Keys. As we approached the camp we were behind a large camper. A large hose began falling out the back, the further we drove the more hose that came out. Ben flashed his lights and honked the horn but the guy never caught on. By the time we were at the Campground it was in shreds – I guess he was on his way back to a wal-mart or such to find a replacement!
The campground is full so it was good we got the reservation. We have the campground hosts on one side of us. They are from Indiana and are here from November to April. They mostly keep the bathrooms clean, sell wood, and pick up around the camp. They work 4 days a week. They have a huge bus size motor home. On the other side of us is a Webelos Den of Cub Scouts. They are having a great time but is sure is not quiet. We had read, I entered some recipes in my new Master Cook program, and had dinner. At 7:30 we will go over to hear a ranger talk on building the Tamiami Canal and Road. Ben bought a new “Bird Book – Peterson’s of course and is transferring all his notes from his old one to it. The old one is falling apart – probably 50+ years old and well used. He is complaining because some of the names of the birds have changed! Tomorrow morning we leave fairly early so we can get lots of time on the ocean at Long Key.

Ringling Museum

We had a great breakfast – pancakes and fried spam – hickory smoked no less – left over from our dinner of spam, sweet potatoes, and pineapple in a brown sugar/butter sauce. It is one of our favorite camping-from-a- can recipes. After a relaxed breakfast and cleaning up around camp we headed out to the Mable and John Ringling Museum in Sarasota.

It was about 15 miles to the complex that includes a circus museum, a miniature circus display, an art museum and Ca’d’Zan, the winter home of the Ringlings. Senior entry was $17 but it was well worth the expenditure. We arrived about 10:15 and spent at least an hour in the miniature building. A man by name of Howard Tibbals (from Oneida TN no less) spent 50 years competing this exhibit that contains 8 tents, 152 wagons, over 1,300 performers and workers, 800+ animals and a 59 car train encompasses over 3,800 square feet. It was fascinating and Ben says the buildings were from Knoxville. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. Then we saw a movie about the Ringlings in a reconstructed theater from 15th century Cyprus. It was saved from decay by the first curator of the Ringling Museum in Sarasota. After the movie we toured the circus museum which contained costumes, circus wagons and numerous exhibits. Then thoroughly tired of walking we retreated to the Sprinter for a good picnic lunch before continuing the rest of the venture. The various venues were spaced fairly distant from each other so we took their tram service down through the grounds to Ca’d’Zan (I believe it means House of John) and were transported to the opulence of the late 20’s and 30’s. It is a Venetian Gothic palace constructed on Sarasota Bay. It was indeed grand with numerous treasures the Ringlings had purchased in Europe and New York. After the tour we spent a few minutes resting on the terrace overlooking Sarasota Bay. It was indeed beautiful and we were for the first time HOT! We then hopped on the tram and headed for the last stop – the Museum of Art. John and Mable Ringling had purchased a large number of paintings and before his death he built this museum to hold his collection. Since we could not be considered well informed regarding art we cannot give a factual dialogue regarding the collection. We each liked some; and some we did not. It was certainly impressive and took us more than an hour to view the numerous galleries. The terrace was beautiful and was being staged for a wedding tomorrow.

We left the complex about 3:30 and found our way back to a Super Target we had seen this morning. We bought a few items and now Jane is cooking Macaroni Grill – Basil Chicken for dinner. Ben is exploring the “Prairie across the road from the campground and reports it is a thicket of woven grass (dead right now) with paths through it made by the feral hogs. Once he found the hog paths the hiking was made much easier. Luckily he did not meet up with any of the hogs.Our dinner was good and we have enough for tomorrow night as well! Another beautiful sunset and we will download photos, finish the log and read. Tomorrow morning we will post to the internet hopefully, take down camp and leave. This has been a very nice park. There were several empty campsites when we left this morning but they are all full again this afternoon as people arrive for the weekend. This is a very busy campground. Each day there have been several tour busses that passed by on their way to the airboat and tram tours.

Exploring Myakka

We woke up to much warmer temperatures. No heater needed tonight – it was chilly but a long sleeve shirt was all that was needed for the walk to the bath house. After a leisurely morning of coffee, bagels and cream cheese we walked down to the camp store area to try out the internet only to find out it was not working. We came back to camp read a while and then took off to the canopy trail where some scientists have built a canopy walk for studying the tree top life. It is about 2 miles from the campground. We hiked the ¼ mile to the site and climbed up to the 25 foot high walkway. It was well built and only swayed a little. Ben was right at home and enjoying the close up views of all the bromeliads. Jane made it across the 100 ft. swaying walkway tentatively but pleased she could enjoy it – even if for a much shorter time than Ben. There was a tower available to climb another 75 feet up but Jane passed that by and just took some photos from the ground.

We came back to camp, fixed lunch, read a while and then took off the other way in the park for about 3 miles to a bird walk area. There was a walkway built out into the lake probably 200 feet. From there many birds were visible including a bald eagle. The water in the lake is shallow – it appeared to be only about 4-6 inches in places. The tour that was available on the lake was on an airboat since the water was so shallow – but the birds loved it. The other wildlife we observed was the feral pigs (tame pigs gone wild). We say them in numerous places. We also saw a rabbit in his burrow near the walkway, many wild turkeys and a couple deer.

After the trip to the bird walk we tried the Wi-Fi again but it was still down. We hope for tomorrow as Jane wants to try posting to the travel log. We ate dinner, watched another beautiful sunset, read some, and will get another great night’s sleep. Last night we slept from 9:30PM until 7:30AM – unusual for us but I guess we needed it!

Maykka State Park

We woke up about 8:00 to discover it was 34 degrees. The heater had kept us warm in the sprinter as neither of us had woken up cold during the night. After a quick breakfast we were on our way south. Somewhere between Gainesville and Ocala spring arrived as all the trees had leafed out and the grass was green. We stopped at a rest area just south of Tampa for lunch and arrived at Myakka State Park about 1:30. Checking in with a reservation was easy and we found our campsite quickly. We are in the Big Flats Area – campsite 20. It looks out on the Dry Prairie across the road and the folks say the sunset is beautiful. We set up our screen tent over the table since we plan to be here 3 nights. It makes a nice little living area where we can place the picnic table, our chairs and hopefully if there are any bugs they will stay out. So far there have been no bugs – temperature around 70 and very pleasant. We walked down the road about ¼ mile to the camp store and area where they rent bikes, canoes, and have airboat and tram rides around the park. We are about 10 miles east of Sarasota and will plan for one day at the Ringling Museum, a day here at the park, and one exploring over along the coast. The camp store has a lovely balcony and Wi-Fi so we will be able to check email and hopefully I can post our adventures to the web. Not many adventures yet; but it has been a very pleasant trip.

O'Lean State Park Gainesville FL

It was 24 last night so we were glad we were warm in the Comfort Inn. We left about 9:30 after Ben was able to complete his report from yesterday’s inspection and email the photos and fax the report to his office in Miami. One funny from the inspection yesterday was Ben had asked the woman several times if she had a fax machine so he could send his report since we would not be returning home. The answer was always yes, she had a fax machine. When he was ready to leave yesterday he asked again and she showed it to him – she did have a fax machine but it was not connected! So the report went in today!

We started down I 75 and turned on our Book on CD and listened until we crossed the FL line where we bought gas and stopped at the Welcome Center to fix our lunch. They had WI-FI so Jane tried again to There is much history regarding the early settlers and how the land mass between the two sites was a main road for travel and trade. We took a 1 ½ mile hike along the river to the spot where it goes underground and then back the other side. There is a swinging bridge to cross back to the park. It was built by the CCC in the 30’s and there is a statue to commemorate their work in this area. We saw an alligator and numerous turtles sunning on logs in the river. The most interesting thing was an armadillo who was scratching around in the brush near the trail. We were not sure what it was and walked over very close – maybe 3 feet away and got a great photo.
We got camp all set up. Listened to the ranger who came by to say we were going to have a freeze tonight and wanted us to leave the water dripping. I can believe it might be 32 but freeze the pipes – I doubt it! We will be having lasagna I brought from the freezer at home and garlic bread for supper. Then Ben is going to try out his HDTV antenna that he developed – time will tell if it works. We have books to read if it doesn’t.

Kingsport To Forsyth GA

We left Kingsport at 8AM to drive to Knoxville. Ben had an inspection to do before we could leave for Florida. We arrived at the location at 9:30. The inspection was an interesting and unusual one. Most of the inspections are at a business or industry that is shipping something to another country. This situation was a woman who sends various and assorted items she purchases here to her husband in Liberia. He then resells the items there. They were sending construction materials, clothing, household items, 2 pianos and cases of toilet tissue. It took them 4 hours instead of the 2 expected to load the container so that Ben could seal it and the tractor trailer could depart.

We ate a quick sandwich and were off south to Chattanooga, then Atlanta, and on south to find a place to spend the night. We had planned to camp at a Georgia State Park about 50 miles south of Atlanta. Well, we kept seeing snow along the road. The temperature was 40 and it was beginning to get dark. We decided to stay in a motel and when the local weather showed the temperature expected tonight was to be 23 – we definitely made the right choice! We have a heater in the Sprinter but we feel we made the right choice!

The evening was spent in Forsyth GA at a Comfort Suites. We ate dinner at the nearby Shoney’s and watched two programs of 24 on TV.

Preparations

We are in the midst of buying a few groceries, reviewing the check lists, studying the maps and in general preparing to leave early Monday morning, March 2nd for a 15 - 20 day trip to South Florida. We have very few plans other than to escape the weather in East TN and enjoy what we hope will be sunny warm days in the Sarasota area and then on Long Key which is about half way towards Key West. Depending on the weather we hope to take the boat trip over to the Dry Tortugas. We will come north back up the east coast of FL stopping at unknown locations.