Keeping Warm in Florida!

Friday, December 20, 2013

Greetings from one of our favorite places, Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, north of Lake Okeechobee in Florida. We discovered it last December when we were searching for a campsite away from the coasts, which we were finding impossible to get into due to the large number of Florida “snowbirds” that fill the coastal parks. The small campground sits in a hammock or grove of trees, surrounded by 54,000 acres of flat grass and palmetto filled dry prairie.


After leaving the county park in Sopchoppy in north Florida, we drove to the western side of the state to Manattee Springs State Park along the Suwannee River. The warm spell and warm water kept the manatees down river and away from the warm spring. If it's not cold, they don't need the refuge of the spring, so we didn't see any. Last winter we saw a pod of them, but only saw and enjoyed the wintering over turkey vultures and black vultures again this time.

Manatee Spring Outflow, sans manatee

Sunset over the Suwannee

The boardwalk through the cypress swamp

The trees where the vultures like to roost over the warm water

One night was enough to take us up to our six night reservation at Silver Springs State Park in Ocala. Normally we do not make reservations, but Florida is crowded in the winter, and we needed to be near a settlement office and good connections in order to close on the sale of our condo. The campground is fairly small and quiet with really nice facilities, including showers. Nice to have access to them after boondocking in the desert this fall. We had one night of heavy rain, but otherwise we had typical warm, sunny Florida weather. Isn't that why people winter over here? Greg spent time biking the wooded trails and looking for wildlife. He also rode up to the old Silver Springs resort which is now part of the state park. It is in disrepair, but the glass bottom boat tours are running again.

Luxurious Silver Spring Campsite

Decorative tree lichens

This is the first 3-dimensional armadillo that I have ever seen. He walked right up to me on a quiet trail. The rest were 2-dimensional road kill.

Wild hog rooting damage - looks like rototilling over many acres.

This episode's fierce wildlife - an armadillo-eating spider.

Our real estate transaction hasn't gone as planned and as of today is still not settled, but I can't comment on it until it is finished. We had planned to be done and ready to head for a remote area before we go to the hustle and bustle of Naples for Christmas. We are loving being back here in Kissimmee Prairie again, but it is being tainted by unpleasantness.
 

Our Kissimmee Prairie camp had the only shade for miles.

Greg hopped his bike yesterday morning and scouted out the trails and wildlife. In the afternoon we rode together down the flat straight roads to a hammock several miles away. Prime alligator and bird watching! The park was conducting a controlled burn a few miles away. We were downwind of it, so there were some smoke, ashes, and agitated wildlife. The burns are necessary every few years to keep the vegetation and wildlife healthy. After a long visit observing the gators and various herons, egrets, and an endangered woodstork, we rode around the equestrian campsites. Yes, you can go camping with your horse!

Prescribed Burns started by the Natural Resources staff.

The deepest pool, where the big gators hang out

Cooling off, or smiling!

Egrets, Herons, Ibis, Wood Stork

For some reason, swimming never occurred to us

Female Wild Turkeys in the camp

Saw Palmetto on the Dry Prairie

Tomorrow we have reserved a spot on a guided swamp buggy tour. We are looking forward to getting off the roads and out into the prairie. We missed the astronomy time last night, so hopefully we'll make it tonight. A retired astronomer spends December here, we met him last year, and he sets up his telescope each night. The preserve is located in a dark sky area, hard to find in the East, due to the population and light pollution of the cities.

Little Blue Heron

Saying goodbye to the big guy on our last bike ride to Gator Heaven

We will be here until Monday when we move over to Rock Creek RV Park in Naples for the holidays. I doubt that I will post again until our visit there is over, so, we wish everyone a wonderful holiday time with family and friends, and love and blessings for the new year!

12/29 Update- We were unable to post this before we left Kissimmee due to low connectivity at the remote location. Our Naples visit was hectic, too. I'll add a bit about our swamp buggy tour and catch up on the next post.

 Saturday we took the 2 pm swamp buggy tour of the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve. Our ranger, Frank, drove six of us out into the preserve and explained the ecosystem, history, wildlife, birds and even quizzed us on the way back on official Florida state birds, animals, song, etc. Greg and I were kind of proud to know the majority of the answers even with native Floridians on board, who didn't know! The preserve encompasses a small portion of the native prairie that has been destroyed from cultivation and cattle farming. They use practices to encourage the native plants and animals to recover and thrive. Frank told lots of interesting stories about the history of the area and since we sat next to him, we were able to ask lots of questions as he drove. The tour enhanced our appreciation for a wild place that we already love.

Prairie Cadillac

Ranger Frank

Egrets in a Depression Wetland

Lap Gator

Ibis, Egret, Stork

Prairie Grass in seed

East With the Wind!

Monday, December 9, 2013


We had a quick transition from the desert of Big Bend to the warm tropical humidity of Florida! Currently we are camped for two nights in the Sopchoppy County Park in Sopchoppy, Florida, near the Apalachicola National Forest. Since we needed to be in Ocala by Wednesday the 11^th, and the huge storm was heading our way, we left Big Bend a day early.

Our last evening in Big Bend we hiked up the nature trail again to the overlook of the Rio Grande and Mexico, to watch the sun set. It is so quiet and open there in the desert that sounds carry very far. We heard a horse's feet sloshing in the river and spied a man on a horse crossing over to the Mexico side. He had a big bundle of dried grass strapped to the horse. Reaching the other bank, he headed down the river bank toward the town of Bouquillas.

Next we heard goats way up on the rugged cliff on the other side. Shortly afterward a man on a burro came from the direction of the town. His burro picked its way up the cliff to where the goats were. He was singing. We couldn't make out the words, but could hear snatches of melody. As the sun began to slide lower and behind the mountains across the river, we noticed a man dressed in denim, not a park uniform, on a horse below us on our side of the river. He kept coming up the path, but stopped occasionally and seemed to be checking the “stores” along the path. Before the border crossing was reopened, when we were here last winter, we saw at least a dozen arrangements of handmade crafts, mostly wire and bead scorpions and other objects, and walking sticks, lying along the trail, with a jar for money, and a sign listing prices. The park warns that if you buy anything it will be confiscated, and if they catch the person tending the stores, they will be deported to the border crossing at Presidio, 100 miles away. There are several stores on the trail, so it must still be a worthwhile endeavor for the residents of the very small settlement just across the river.
We started down the path from the overlook and hoped not to run into him. Not out of a sense of danger, but more because we didn't want to be subjected to begging. I guess we looked harmless, as he just kept about his mission while we walked down. We hurried away in the other direction.

Historically the Rio Grande has literally and figuratively been a fluid border. The crackdown and border closings in the park after 9/11 took away some of the income from the tourists who frequented the shops and restaurants. This is a very remote area and the people live a subsistence lifestyle. The “stores” are a way to provide some income to the villages. We didn't buy anything, but understand why the Mexican residents are willing to cross the river and take the risk to make a little money.

We drove west to Panther Junction and then due north. It's a huge park, so it takes a long time to drive out of it. The clouds to the north were getting darker by the minute, but the sun was breaking through in big patches around the Chisos Mountains in the center of the park. Behind us over Mexico, blue sky reigned. Just north of Panther Junction the temperature dropped from 74 degrees to 44 degrees within two miles, and we hit a wall of wind! Over the next 15 minutes we were down to 37 degrees. Greg had a death grip on the steering wheel to fight the wind gusts. The rain started, but was intermittent, until we reached Marathon, where if turned briefly to freezing rain. The wind slowed down, but was a constant companion for the next few days.

Leaving Rio Grande Village in the warm sun

Still 74 with a few tarantulas warming themselves on the road

Turning north into the wall of wind, dust, and rain

Cold wind and rain

Okay, Marathon, time to drive east. We managed to avoid any more frozen precipitation and stayed out in front of the worst of the weather. We were thankful that the worst for us was the wild weather as we drove out of the park. We scheduled extra travel time to get to Florida, so if the bad weather caught up with us overnight, we could hunker down in an RV park for another day.

At dusk we pulled into the Broke Mill RV Park in Del Rio, Texas. In the office was a woman from the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area who had moved permanently to Del Rio. After many years as “Winter Texans” they made a permanent change, to get away from the cold and snow. She informed us that it had been 88 degrees the day before. It was now close to freezing. We had hoped to stay at the nearby Amistad National Recreation area for $4 a night, but with no hook-ups there and below freezing temperatures coming, we returned to Broke Mill where we stayed on our way west last winter. We plugged in the electric space heater, and the cable TV. Wow! TV and choices besides! But, their wifi was on the fritz and we couldn't get a Verizon signal to use our MiFi. Anyway, we spent the night, warm, dry, and entertained!

The next morning, the wind was still rocking the rig, but the freezing rain hadn't materialized, so we left to continue east. We had no more rain, just wind as we traversed the road to San Antonio and I-10. Once on I-10, we stayed on it until we reached Florida. The bad weather was still following us, and we wanted to stay away from it.

Crossing Texas we decided that we wanted a chance to have some Texas BBQ, so we found a great local spot in Luling, Texas only two miles off the interstate. Yummy beef brisket, pork chops, potato salad and cole slaw. Busy little place and good food!

They did not even offer fish & chips!

After reading on the internet that Texas allows you to overnight in their rest areas, we stayed all night at a nice, new rest area just inside the Texas border. Parked with the big trucks in a well lit parking lot, we felt safe to grab dinner and a good nights sleep in the rig.

Saturday morning found us in fog and drizzle as we crossed Louisiana and the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge. More internet research told us that there was a great Mississippi Welcome Station just over the border, with a separate area for overnighting RV's away from the trucks. It also had a dump and 24 hour security. We pushed on as it was getting dark. Pulling in we spotted the sign, “No Overnight Parking”. After asking the security guard if we could stay, he told us, only a few hours and not overnight. So, we drove on in the dark and 20 some miles later pulled into a Flying J truck stop. After driving through the truck parking area and encountering gridlock we drove into the travel center parking lot. We guessed that the bad weather had delayed their travel and they were all on the road at once and had to stop for their mandatory rest time.
We spent the night next to the gas station and Denny's restaurant with another RV. Greg got up early and did the Denny's breakfast skillet thing. He was reading his Nook while he ate and the waitress said, “What cha' reading? That looks interesting!” “A book by John McPhee, Annals of The Former World. It's about geology.” “O-kay...”. That was a conversation killer!

The Big River

I woke to Greg asking me if I knew there were cops searching a pick-up truck next to us in the parking lot. They didn't find anything, but we decided it was time to leave, so we topped off the diesel and made a quick exit. Life in the fast lane! We cruised through the fog across the rest of Mississippi, Alabama, and into Florida, where we finally left the interstate. Driving through Pensacola, we reached the beaches and as we traveled east along the coast, the fog got thicker. Scrapping our plans to camp near the beach and have a nice walk along the water, we gave up and drove back across the bay at Destin. Amazing, no fog! The sun was out and we drove east through the countryside. We found a small town park in Sopchoppy, Florida, (great name!) right next to the Apalachicola National Forest. With the rig backed up to the black swampy waters of the Sopchoppy River, we watched the pileated woodpeckers flit through the woods. Our neighbors are from Michigan and escaping the cold winters for the fifth year. They have a cute Bambi Airstream trailer.

Retired member of 1958 Blue Angels Team

Sopchoppy Camp Site

Beautiful boardwalk along the river

The sun was out, it was 81 degrees and the camp felt peaceful, especially after our cold race across the south, so we stayed two nights. We've had some rain today, but it is warm. Tomorrow we'll drive a short way to Manatee Springs State Park and see if the manatees have come up the river to the warm springs for the winter. Then on to Ocala for six nights at the Silver Springs State Park which has recently acquired the adjoining old amusement park with the glass bottom boat tours.

Back to Big Bend

Wednesday, December 4, 2013


Last Saturday we showered and went into T 'r C to wash a month's worth of clothes. This 3-4 week laundry thing is working out well, and we seem to have enough clothes with us to last that long. Spent two hours doing laundry, and some time listening to a disabled Vietnam Vet talk about his daughter coming soon to visit, his son's tragic death on a motorcycle, and the difficulty getting care and meds from the VA. I gave him an ear and some sympathy. Hope it helped. He's had a tough life. Traveling allows us to meet people whose paths we wouldn't ordinarily cross. I really love that, but sometimes it pushes us out of our comfort zones.


Our reward for getting the laundry done was going to be a great Mexican lunch at Maria's. They were closed! So, we drove back to the town of Elephant Butte next to the park and found a pretty good Mexican place there. Then back to the park. We picked a new spot in Lion's Cove with a closer view of the water and spent a good night there.

Lions Cove Campsite - The shore is about a half mile farther than when the campground was built!

Mission accomplished in T 'r C, we set out Sunday morning for Texas. Driving south on I-25 took us to Las Cruces where we joined I-10 and headed over the border to El Paso, Texas. We could see the smog from miles away! It was hanging in the Rio Grande Valley containing El Paso and Juarez, Mexico. We hurried east and out into the desert. At Van Horn, Texas we left it to head into southwest Texas on US 90. The day was lengthening fast. We realized that to go back to Davis Mountains State Park, where we stayed last winter, was a detour, so we drove towards Alpine and the Lost Alaskan RV P ark, also from last winter, which we would reach after dark. Texas is so big! You think you've got plenty of time to drive from remote town to remote town, but it is deceiving. Plus, the time change got us!

Las Cruces Water Tank Mural

Miles of feed lots heading in to El Paso

Juarez and a border patrol vehicle. The Rio Grande River is the ditch.

On the way to Marfa, flat, flat, flat!

Airforce radar Aerostat on the Mexican Border. We assume it serves the DEA and Border Control more than NORAD.

It was almost dark as we drove through Marfa and passed the Tumble Inn RV Park, where we stayed last year. Almost 30 more miles to go to Alpine and a nicer park. Greg came up with the idea of boondocking at the Marfa Mystery Lights Viewing Platform just outside of town. Another RV was already there, the light was almost gone, and it saved us $32!

Marfa Lights viewing center

We didn't see the Marfa Lights that night, supposedly, unexplainable orbs of light that appear across the valley. But, we did experience many freight trains passing during the night just across the road! The morning drive took us to Alpine and fuel and groceries. Walking into the grocery store I almost freaked out seeing a man with a handgun holstered on his belt. It may be an open carry state, I'm not sure. He finally turned around and I saw a sheriff's patch on his shirt, but he wasn't wearing a uniform like I would expect from a police officer back east.


Straight south from Alpine is Big Bend National Park, so off we went. Three hours later we arrived at Rio Grande Village Campground. We loved our visit here last winter, and we finally found warmth, temps in the low 80's! At sunset we hiked up the trail to the overlook and watched the the sun set over the Rio Grande. There were two horses below us who had wandered over across the river from the Mexican side. Fluid border indeed. The Bouquillas Crossing to Mexico has been re-opened, but we weren't anxious to wade across the river and hike a mile to town.

Not a Walmart!

The road to Big Bend

Greg took two bike rides on old mining roads here, and I finally got back on my bike and rode around the campground and to the store. I am not attempting the mining roads with Greg, oh, no... We have been accessing wifi at the store. No phone service here, and no hook-ups, just a dump and potable water. The roadrunners have been active, and we found out this morning that they have a nest in the bushes behind our rig. We saw some javelinas on the drive down here. Several were on the side of the road, including a dead one, yuck...(This morning Greg discovered some in the bushes across the road from our campsite!)

Lunch Break in the park

Recent rains have encouraged the wildflowers and butterflies

Sierra Del Carmen is a 6,000-foot limestone wall east of our campground

On my ride around the campground while I was stopped to photograph the roadrunners, I met a man from Vermont and got to meet his black and white female cat Heifer, that travels with him. This morning Greg had a talk with the camp host volunteers and checked out the roadrunners behind our rig. They took a look at our rig and exclaimed that they bought theirs at Beckley's RV in Thurmont, too! They're from Winchester, VA and just sold their house in September. We are finding a very interesting sub-culture of snowbirds and fulltimers everywhere we go.

The wetland ponds between our camp and the main channel of the Rio Grande

Duck who knew which way to go from Canada!

Fierce wildlife - a large, blurry Walking Stick insect

Cholla

Prickly Pear

Looking west up the Rio Grande

Sunset over the Rio Grande

Our roommate at the campsite

Looking south across the Rio Grande

Since we have to be in Ocala, Florida by the 11^th, to begin settlement on the condo, we will leave here tomorrow. We want to have plenty of time to get there. The weather forecast is calling for a massive, frigid storm across much of the country, so we will try to avoid it by staying south and driving I-10. This is the storm that caused us to leave New Mexico early. Didn't want to get caught in it. Still don't want to get caught in it!

Marine fossils in the limestone bedrock

Crafts for sale left along the trail by residents across the river

Our campsite in the Mesquites

Our nice, shady shelter with javalena-proof food box. The javelinas lived in the dense brush about 50 feet away.

Borrowing wifi at the camp store 1 mile from the campsite

Paleo-indian grinding pits in the limestone bedrock near the camp