Royal Palm SP - 01/13/13

Sunday – January 13, 2013

This is our last day here at the Long Pine Key Campground at the Everglades National Park. It was a nice sunny day with the temperature in the mid 80’s, so we decided to visit Royal Palm State Park located within the Everglades National Park. This is a beautiful area with an abundance of wildlife. It was officially dedicated as Royal Palm State Park on November 23, 1916, and covers 4,000 acres.

The towering live oaks and royal palms in the middle of this endless prairie are home to a number of ferns, orchids and scores of other plants. Most interesting is how rare and tropical plants exist in this small patch in the Everglades. The slough that surrounds this hammock also provides protection against fires, leaving much of the vegetation well preserved. The establishment of Royal Palm State Park began the greater conservation efforts that would lead to the designation of the Everglades as a National Park.

Royal Palm State Park offers self-guided as well as ranger-guided tours. There are two nature trails: The Anhinga Trail and the Gumbo Limbo Trail. There are elevated walkways provided to view a variety of water birds, turtles, alligators and crocodiles. It is not unusual to see an alligator resting on the footpath blissfully ignoring the humans carefully walking around it. This is one of the few areas in Florida that you will see alligators and crocodiles inhabiting the same environment.

Water birds on the Anhinga Trail include: Egrets, Herons, Cormorants and Anhingas. The Anhinga is an interesting bird in that it completely submerges itself in the water to hunt for fish. It swims very fast underwater using its tail feathers as a rudder to change direction. Oftentimes, it will only raise its head and neck out of the water, keeping its body fully submerged in the water. Their feathers become so saturated with water that they must dry their wings first in order for them to fly. Therefore, you will see numerous Anhingas perched on tree branches or on the ground, with their wings fully extended, to dry their feathers.

As we were leaving the Anhinga Trail, two alligators, about six feet long, got into a violent confrontation with one another. It lasted only about 20 seconds, with one of the alligators receiving a nasty wound on its back. They separated a short distance from one another and then started to circle one another making low growling noises, until one of them swam off, ending the confrontation.

A violent ending to an interesting day at Royal Palm State Park.

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

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Flamingo CG - 01/11/13

Friday – January 11, 2013

We continue our stay here in the Everglades National Park in Homestead, Florida, enjoying sunny days with temperatures in the 80’s. We visited the Flamingo Campground late this afternoon. This campground is located 34 miles southwest of our campsite at the Long Pine Key Campground. The Flamingo campground is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Gulf of Mexico on the west.

The campsites at the Flamingo campground are located in open areas with little to no shade. There is tent camping only allowed on the grass area adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean shoreline. A short distance inland there are additional campsites for tents and RV’s. The restroom facilities have flush toilets and showers. There are no electric or water hookups here except for the Loop "T" campsites which have electric hookups. The rules and regulations on the Flamingo Campground map state the Loop "T" campsites are for use by RV’s that are 24 feet or longer in length. However, during our visit we saw several pop-up and other styles of travel trailers that were much shorter than the 24-foot minimum limit. Loop "T" campsites can be reserved on the Reserve America website.

We met a very nice couple from Las Cruses, New Mexico traveling in a 2008 Casita Travel Trailer, the Freedom Deluxe model. They were camped in Loop "T" and we stopped to say hello. They have traveled extensively and during the husband’s working career, as an electrical engineer with the Raytheon Company, they had lived in Australia for 15 years on company business. They shared with us some of their adventures in their Casita to Alaska and to Mount Hood in Washington.

Darkness had set in during our return trip to our campsite at Long Pine Key. The speed limit on this section of the two-lane paved road is 55 mph. Because it was so dark we were traveling less than 50 mph as a precaution in case we encountered any wildlife on the road. Sure enough! We were traveling along when all of a sudden a large Blue Heron was standing there in the middle of the road. It’s color blended in perfectly with the pavement of the road. We were within a few feet of hitting the bird before I spotted it. Fortunately, there was no other traffic on the road and I was able to swerve toward the side of the road to avoid hitting it. We were relieved to arrive safely back at our campground without injury to any wildlife.

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

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Long Pine Key CG - 01/07/13

Monday – January 7, 2013

Daytime temperatures in the high 70’s, sunny days, cool evenings, what’s not to like! We are totally enjoying this weather at the Long Pine Key Campground in the Everglades National Park.

This past weekend there were a few campers with school-age children that made life kind of noisy around the campground. No big deal, just lasted for two nights. They all left Sunday afternoon; life around here is now very quiet and peaceful.

We are just relaxing and soaking up the sun.

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

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Everglades National Park - 01/04/13

Friday – January 4, 2013

We awoke to another overcast sky, but a much warmer temperature in the high 60’s. We departed the rest area at milepost 238 in Ruskin, Florida at 7:45 a.m. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for a hearty breakfast at the next exit. Refreshed, we continued on our journey to southern Florida.

By the time we reached Fort Meyers, Florida we had finally left the cold rainy weather behind us and were now enjoying a clear blue sky, with warm sunny weather.

We arrived at the Long Pine Key Campground in the Everglades National Park at 2:20 p.m. This is one of our favorite campgrounds and we will spend 10 days here. This campground does not have electric or water hookups, so we must rely on solar power and our generator for electricity. The restrooms have flush toilets and are clean and well maintained.

We selected campsite #16 in Loop D for our stay. This is a very nice site that provides plenty of privacy from other campsites.

We were surprised to see how many campsites were available at this time of the year. When we stayed here in February 2012, there were also a lot of campsites available. We can only surmise that a lot of Snowbirds prefer private campgrounds with full hookups.

It is a bright sunny day with the temperature in the high 70’s. We are happy campers. We have finally arrived in warm weather!

Camping Fee: $8.00 per night with our Golden Age Pass.
Campsite: 16

Total miles traveled today: 287

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

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Cedar Key, FL - 01/03/13

Thursday - January 3, 2013

We departed the Eastbank Campground in Bainbridge, Georgia at 10:00 a.m. It was a cold rainy day with the temperature in the low 50’s. We decided we had enough of cold rainy weather and we would head to southern Florida to find warmer weather and sunshine.

Our first stop was Tony's Seafood Restaurant in Cedar Key, Florida. We arrived there at 3:20 p.m. after traveling 205 miles. This has become one of our favorite stops for Tony’s World Famous Clam Chowder. Our first visit was in January 2012. At that time you could buy fresh or frozen to take home. They also shipped frozen throughout the U.S. In September 2012, they introduced a concentrated 51-ounce canned version that requires the consumer to add cream and half-and-half to the concentrate. In February 2013, Publix will begin selling a smaller canned version of the concentrate.

Our second stop was a Florida Rest Area at milepost 238 in Ruskin, Florida.We arrived there at 7:00 p.m. after traveling another 162 miles. This rest area has nighttime security so we felt comfortable making this our home for the night. The sky was still overcast with a light rain falling. We settled in between a motorhome and a fifth-wheel trailer for a night of rest.

Total miles traveled today: 367

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

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Eastbank COE Campground - 01/02/13

Wednesday – January 2, 2013

We departed the Walmart in Mariana, Florida at 6:00 a.m. and made a quick stop for breakfast at a McDonalds a mile south of the Walmart on FL-71.

We arrived at the Eastbank Campground in Bainbridge, Georgia at 7:45 a.m. The campground host was kind enough to assign us to a lakeside campsite in Loop C. We will spend one night here to check the campground out for a future extended stay at a later date.

Eastbank Campground is located on Lake Seminole, which lies in Southern Georgia and Northern Florida. This is a C.O.E. campground with 63 RV campsites with electric and water hookups at each site. There are two restroom facilities with flush toilets and hot showers. One of the restrooms has four private showers with locking doors. They are located in the rear of the building. Loop A campsites are lakeside and have gravel base parking pads. Loop B campsites are located away from the lake and have paved parking pads. Loop C campsites are lakeside and have paved parking pads.

Argentine Ants are found in this area. They form very large colonies and are very difficult to control. They may try and get into your camper in large numbers. They are not known for painful bites.

Some ways to deter them are:

• Use an approved ant poison around your camper’s tires, jacks and levelers.
• Sprinkle kitchen cleanser around your camper’s tires, jacks and levelers.
• Apply Vaseline on electrical cord, cable TV wire and water hose at their entry point to camper.
• Vary the temperature in your camper.
• Avoid dampness in and around your camper.

Lake Seminole has 37,500 acres of water, 376 miles of shoreline, and over 22,000 acres of surrounding land. It was originally authorized as the Jim Woodruff Lock and Dam Project by the River and Harbor Act of 1946. Jim Woodruff Lock was the first of three locks and dams constructed for navigation, hydro-power and recreation on the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint River systems. Construction of the project began in 1947 and completed in 1957.

The area around Lake Seminole is rich in history, having been occupied by man for at least 10,000 years. Among other Native Americans, the Seminoles lived here until around 1825, and it is they for whom the lake is named. The Spanish and English have also occupied the land and fought battles, as described by the many historic markers throughout the area. Steamboats once kept the ports busy, and the area is still known for its agricultural production.

Camping Fee: $11.00 per night with our Golden Age Passport. Standard fee is $22.00 per night.
Campsite: 32

Total miles traveled today: 34

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

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Happy New Year! - 01/01/13

Tuesday – January 1, 2013

We spent a leisurely day at our campsite on Monday, December 31, 2012. We decided we would have a Poboy sandwich at a local restaurant in the area. A google search led us to Tony's Restaurant in Chalmette, Louisiana, which was located about 10 miles from our campground. Online reviews provided high marks for their Poboy sandwiches. The reviewers were right on the mark with their comments. I had the shrimp Poboy and Sharon had the catfish Poboy. Tony’s really produces a fantastic tasting and large Poboy sandwich. We will definitely return to this restaurant on our next trip to the New Orleans area.

New Year’s eve was quite noisy with the sound of numerous fireworks exploding from nearby communities in close proximity to the campground. They continued on past midnight but did not bother us, since we were up anyway, watching the New Year’s eve celebrations on TV.

We departed St. Bernard State Park in Braithwaite, Louisiana this morning at 10:40 a.m. Our destination today is the Eastbank Campground in Bainbridge, Georgia. We learned about this C.O.E. campground from other campers while we were camping at the Ocean Pond campground in the Osceola National Forest in March 2012. Our plan is to check this campground out for a future extended stay at a later date.

Nightfall was upon us as we pulled into the eastbound rest area on I-10 in Florida at exit 133. They have a nighttime security guard stationed at this rest area; however, this rest area does not allow overnight parking. We did a google search on our Android Smartphone and found a 24-hour Walmart a few miles further east in Mariana, Florida at exit 142. This Walmart allows overnight RV parking. Upon our arrival at 7:10 p.m. there were three other RV’s settled in for the evening, so this would be our home too for the night.

Total miles traveled today: 332

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

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