3/13 Shark Valley Loop by Bike

I drove the 20 miles down the Tamiami Trail today to ride the loop road via tram or bike it.
The loop is paved and 15 miles long. There is a two-hour narrated tram ride you can take, or you can ride a bike (they rent them) or even hike it if you are so inclined.  I have taken the tram in the past, but it is not an impossible bike ride, either.
Since it was already hot, even though it was mid-morning, I thought the tram would be lazier, so I bought a ticket but then found out it would be over an hour wait and the tram would be full of a school group.  So I got my money back and then got my bike out. Luckily I had a full charge on my battery.  So off I went!  As you can see, any stretch is pretty deserted so you have the river of grass pretty much to yourself.

That is, except for the alligators.  It is a dry time of year, so there were not as many birds and wildlife as I had seen in the past, but alligators were hanging around any little pool of water.

I brought two bottles of water and some snacks in the pack on the rear of my bike.

The loop is narrow in some places so you can see people on the opposite side.

There is a tower at the very end with a terrific view and restrooms.

You can see the east side of the loop here.

And this is the west side of the loop.  It is dead straight.

This great blue heron is hiding in the reeds in the creek that is next to the west side loop road.

It's nice to have so much space and peace and quiet to yourself.  (Of course, with my electric bike, I leave everyone else in the dust!)

3/12 More Big Cypress & Midway

The photos below are a combination of the ones I took on a boardwalk yesterday and some from this morning's bike ride.  This first photo shows a typical swamp buggy you see a lot of around here, mostly on weekends since only locals keep these around.

And here are a couple of bikers heading somewhere along the Tamiami Trail.  Looks hard to handle.

And the one-mile long Kirby-Shorter boardwalk.

This is the dry season, so usually these cypress would be standing in water.  Aren't their buttresses impressive?

Just an interesting fern.

And some alligators.  http://youtu.be/c0T_gp3LzxM 

River of Grass.

This is what happens when you sit too long in one place!

The pond at the campground.  Still have not seen the alligator, but the camp host says they have captured three boa constrictors here since Christmas so to be careful walking dogs at night.

3/11 A Lot of Nice People!

One of the very pleasant things about all the traveling I have done is the interesting people I meet.  So how do you meet people “on the road,” so to speak?

Well, the first is through blogs.  There are several popular blogs online, but one in particular that attracts women like myself who have the travel bug and either have or are planning to get RVs.  When I first started to think about selling my condo and taking off to travel the country, I relied on a lot of advice from these very friendly ladies.  And over the past years, I have met quite a few of them at planned get-togethers where a group meets somewhere for a few days of food, friendship, and fun.  Here is Liz, Tina, Carol, and Irmi.

Liz is helping Tina blow up her two kayaks, but one had a leak, so I ended up renting one.  Liz has a 13 pound graphite canoe!

In addition, many of us from the forum meet on twos and threes and even fours occasionally when we happen to be in the same area.  I had a bunch over for lunch last month, and they took me out kayaking.  Obviously, a lot of us congregate in places like Florida and Arizona during the cold weather. 

 

Another way of making friends is taking a walk in the late afternoon or early evening.  Usually mine involves a trip to drop off my garbage and get some exercise.  They are putting the trash dumpsters a long way away from campers in some places to keep the animals away from people.  

Often, people are sitting outside in lawn chairs or walking along doing the same thing you are doing—getting exercise and dumping the trash off for the evening.  Walkers look at license plates and often will start friendly conversations.  (Except in my case they want to know where I am from in Ohio and if I went to Ohio State.  Grrrrr!)  I will ask people from places I plan to visit what I should see there and for recommendations on campgrounds. 

The funniest thing is that after a while, you see a lot of the same RVs, so you are convinced either you are following someone around or they are following you around.  And, lately, because of the number of snowbirds in Florida and the fact that those of us who like state and COE parks have limited places to go, I have several times bumped into the same people! 

So far in this small campground over the past three days, I have met a couple from Australia who owns their motorhome and stores it here while they go back home each year; a couple from North Bay, Ontario, where I am headed in July; a couple from Massachusetts next door who like to travel light even though they own a gorgeous 34’ Class A motorhome; and Diane and Bill from New York and who I met a couple of months ago at Gamble Rogers State Park.  The Aussie guy next door is convinced I need help parking, so he comes running out to direct me each time I come back. Mostly, I thank him and then ignore him.

Most of the above are snow birds and have been waiting to be sure it is going to stay warm up north before they head home.

And don’t let anyone tell you your RV has to have wheels to be a “camper.”  Earlier this afternoon a small cabin cruiser on a trailer pulled into a spot down the way.  Clever idea, right?

      

3/9 Big Cypress Preserve & Midway Campground

I am deep into the Everglades, even if this is not the Everglades National Park.  It is actually the Big Cypress National Preserve which is adjacent, but slightly north and west of the Everglades National Park, and along U.S. 41, or Tamiami Trail.  I came here because I like birds and animals, but also because it is the location of one of my favorite campground--Midway. 

Midway has almost no amenities: no pool, no hot tub, no activities like bingo and potlucks, no bike trails unless you count the main highway, no playground, not even a store and gift shop!  What it does have is peace and quiet and a pond with a couple of alligators in the middle.  (One negative is no cell phone service.)  Because it is a federal facility, it also has the 50% discount "geezer" rate, so it attracts a lot of old people like me--just the way I like it!

Technically, the campground is in the town of Ochopee, although there isn't exactly a town you can see.  Here is the post office, however.

 

The little sign says they are open Monday - Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m, and from Noon to 4:00 p.m.   They also open Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.   I had a letter to drop off, so I left it in the post box in the extremely large parking lot.  In fact, I'll bet this place has the largest parking-to-building ratio of any post office in the world!

This is Midway Campground!  Nice paved roads and paved camping spots. There is electric service at each spot with a central dump station and fresh water spigot.  Or at least they tell me there was one until a few days ago when someone backed over it.  Temporarily, they are running a fresh water hose from the spigot outside the rest rooms.  Very pleasant place.

The Oasis Visitor Center is just a couple of miles down the road, so I came here to get some cell service and internet access.  Could not resist checking out the boardwalk.  No birds right now because it is so hot (86 degrees) but there were a lot of big alligators. Most of these were 10-12 feet long, so the smaller ones were staying far away.

3/3 Six Mile Cypress Slough

This is one of three nature preserves owned by the city of Fort Myers.  It is right next to a busy highway and is surrounded by homes, but it is still a pleasant place to go, full of birds and other animals.  They have guided walks given by volunteers twice a day, and I made it in time for the 9:30 am walk.

This shows how this is almost in the middle of the city.

The preserve has a nice variety of ponds, pine hammocks, and cypress swamps.

While the volunteer was giving her talk on ferns, I saw this fellow fly in down the boardwalk, so I snuck off and took some photos before the many walkers scared him off.  He is a little green heron, and the first I have seen of his kind on this trip.  They tend to be shy and solitary, so they are hard to see.

And, this is a quill-leaf or wild pine air plant in bloom.  We saw a lot that were almost in bloom, but this one was especially large and ahead of the rest.  These air plants do not damage the trees they hang on, by the way.  This one is in the pineapple family, but does not produce anything that looks like an edible pineapple!

3/2 Corkscrew Swamp Santuary - 2nd Visit

I had planned on going out to the more local Six Mile Cypress Slough today, but found out the visitor center was closed on Mondays, so off I went to one of my favorite places in Florida--the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary!  It is well over an hour drive from where I am staying, but well worth it.  Got up early so I could get a good parking place, also. 

I am never bored by what I see here.  This time I joined one of the guided tours and did the 2.25 mile boardwalk backwards.  First, a couple of photos of the boardwalk itself in this incredibly beautiful cypress swamp!  Lots of people enjoying this very warm day.  Every time I come here, it seems to be busier.  I will have to stop telling people about it.

 

But there is always a quiet section or a side area you can find where it is peaceful and quiet.

 

A lot of plants like to stay a little dry, so they grow on logs or on other plants.

Here is a very large bromeliad growing on a dead cypress tree.

It rained earlier this week, so the resurrection fern was resurrected.  This fern grows on vertical tree branches and look dead.  About 30 minutes after a heavy rain, it comes alive, hence its name.  

 

 

On the left is a royal fern and on the right is a strap fern.  Both are growing on the base of a cypress tree.

 

Almost always an alligator or two can be seen.  Did not see the really big one I saw last time, but this one was moving around slowly looking for a sunnier location.  He was about five feet long.

This one was about the same size.

My, what an ugly head you have!

Now, some birds.  This is a little blue heron.

 
 And a bunch of ibises looking for food.  They are social birds and tend to scurry around in small flocks.

This ugly bird is a wood stork  They are very endangered and are seldom nesting in Florida any more.  Luckily their numbers are increasing in the Carolina coasts, but that is still not good news for Florida. 

 

 

Click on this link to see their very interesting fishing techniques.  They put their open beak in the water and then swish a foot around to stir up small fish and crayfish.  When something touches their beak, it snaps shut, catching a meal.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BfWgTqzTHo&feature=youtu.be

 



 

 This is a great egret in breeding plumage.  They used to hunt these birds to use their long, fringy-looking plumes for ladies hats.  You can tell a great white egret from a great white heron by their legs.  The egrets have dark or black legs, while the herons have yellow legs.

And a little blue heron. 

 

 This is a yellow-crowned night heron. Hard to see the yellow on his head, but it is there.  Mostly you can identify this bird by the white cheek stripes.

This is a common grey squirrel, but he and I stared at each other for quite a while.  He was right next to the boardwalk, eating lichen off of trees.  No acorns here, so you have to make do.