Rev. 01/19/02

Florida Adventure - continued 1/12 - 01/19
The Keys and the Everglades

I spend a couple of days down in the keys, just loafing -- didn't feel like fishing.  It's interesting watching the birds, the people and the sunset.

After seeing Dr. Weiss on Wednesday I decided to go down into the Everglades.  Took I-75 west -- its called Alligator Alley -- but all  I saw were lots of birds.  

About half way across, I turned south on State Hwy. 29.  Twenty miles or so down the road was a sign "WJ Janes Memorial Scenic Drive."  I'm a sucker for scenic drives, so followed the sign -- a muddy road leading ???  Out through a cypress swamp -- water on both sides of the road -- it just went on and on.  

After twenty miles or so of muddy track, it came out to a paved road.  My GPS map showed a grid of roads, and canals -- but no clue how to get out other than back-track (which is not my favorite choice.)  There were no buildings, no houses, just a grid of paved roads.  

I went west, then north, then east -- finally saw a pickup way up ahead -- hoped he wasn't lost.  Then another pickup -- wow, traffic.  The route went over I-25, but no access.  So just drove north and finally west, and then south -- to Naples.  Not my original destination, but it was getting dark and time to find a place for the night.  I'm going to have to get more choosy about scenic drives.

The next morning I went south-east on US-41 to State Hwy. 29 -- six miles south of where I took off on my Scenic Drive the day before.  Drove south. through Everglades City, on down to Chokoloskee Island to spend a couple of days.

Went back to Everglades City to the Oyster House for dinner.  That's where I learned about Hushpuppies.

Tale of the Hushpuppies The tale of the hushpuppies has been handed down from one generation to another and is an enjoyable one to tell. The story goes, once upon a time at a fish fry, the dogs put up such a howl for fish that some of the cornbread batter was dropped into the hot grease in which the fish had been fried and when done, it was thrown to the dogs to quiet them. The dogs gulped the fried batter with relish, they howled for more.  A curious guest tasted them and howled for more, too. From that time on, hushpuppies were a specialty of the house at fish fries.......

The next morning I took a boat tour of Everglades National Park, and part of the Ten Thousand Islands  Our viewing of Manatees was pretty well limited to seeing the ripples left from their coming to the surface and taking a breath.  The area we covered was the mangrove swamps and islands -- salt water.  Birds included bald eagles, ospreys, herons, pelicans, cormorants -- but wasn't able to get close up pictures.

01/19/02

After spending a couple of days at the north-west end of Everglades National Park, made sense to go see what the other end, the south-eastern corner, had to offer.  One thing it didn't have, space for my Roadtrek on a three day long weekend.

I'm used to high mountain passes, such as Bear Tooth Pass east of Yellowstone, which is 10,942 feet high.  Driving west, across The Everglades, I was startled to cross Rock Reef Pass, elevation - 3 feet.

Shortly after, I saw something on the road up ahead.  At first I thought, an otter -- short legs, long tail -- then I realized, no, it was an alligator.  When he saw me coming, he turned around and headed back into the tall grass on the side of the road.  I fumbled for my camera -- by the time I had it on and had stopped -- he was long gone.  But a little further down the road I came upon a turtle.  Now he was slower, more my speed.

At a pond, I did spot an alligator, half concealed and submerged, waiting for lunch.

Also at this pond a blue heron flew by and landed in the shallows close to me -- slowly moving, very slowly, stalking small fish.

I stopped in the shade along side the road to take a break and eat my lunch.  And watch the different birds in the area.

Driving back across the rout I came in on, just before reaching Rock Reef Pass, I saw an alligator crossing the road up ahead -- grabbing my camera, rolling down the window -- I took a number of shots before he eased himself into the tall saw grass and disappeared from sight.  Was it the same alligator?

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