DAY #135
Time to say goodbye to the Everglades-Flamingo camp ground, and the Everglades National Park. My attitude is better today, more on that at a later date.
Down the road, out the park, and along the back roads north I headed. It was another hot and humid day. The traffic and road construction encountered along the way slowed things down, big time. I had rejected googles suggestion of a shorter route and ended up mapping my own, one which would keep me out of the urban areas, and let me stay in the rural areas. The one drawback with my route, it took so much longer, I was on the road for 6 1/2 hours today, almost 2 hours longer than if I would had I taken the freeways and turnpikes (toll roads) google recommended.
Even though it was a lot longer, I really enjoyed the ride. It took me from the produce and nursery farms of South Florida, across the wetlands of the Northern Everglades, through the fields of sugarcane and pasture lands of Central Florida, to the shore of Lake Okeechobee (or at least to the dike surrounding the lake) and finally, the prairie land of Kissimmee Preserve State Park.
The final lap to the park really heightened the feeling of how isolated the park is. Mile after mile of road, where the cattle out numbered the people by at least twenty five to one. A couple of things stood out for me driving along; The palm trees, nothing exudes tropical, like palm trees (love them),
and the biggest surprise; Apparently, a sub-division had been plotted out at one time, and had gotten as far as putting in streets through the prairie. It looked like a ghost town, just like the failed subdivision in Picayune State Forest. There are signs everywhere advertising lots of 1 1/4 acres or larger being offered.
One sign proclaimed; Be a man, buy land. While all I could see looking down the grass covered roads, was empty land, the number of mailboxes along the main (paved) road, indicated people must have bought and are living on their lots. It was just so unexpected to see, especially out here.
A lot of the area west of the State Park is familiar, it wasn’t but a month ago I spent time west of Kissimmee Preserve State Park. This time, I plan on focusing my exploration to the east of the park, and around the Atlantic, which is a little over an hour away (at the closest)
The paved road ended and the dirt road began, I had made it to Kissimmee State Park. It was another three mile drive before getting to the park office.
Checked in and off to the site I went. After finding the site, backing in, and setting up, I was home until the 14th of the month.
It seemed to be a really nice site, kind of an oasis in a sea of prairie. I did have some issues with the power, when I plugged in the 30 amp from the trailer to the junction box, the refrigerator didn’t show that it was running on electricity. After trying a couple of times, I decided that the problem was in the junction box and called the ranger to report it. Meanwhile, I pulled the generator out of the truck and hooked it up. With the generator running, it wasn’t turning the fridge on either, damn, what’s going on? Checked inside the trailer for an electrical code, and it said open circuit. My mind clicked, the generator has to have a plug in the other outlet for it to work (without it you’ll get an open circuit). Plugged it in and yes, the fridge was working. Decided to check the junction box once again and this time, it worked. I unhooked the generator and yea, now had working water and electric, plus there was OTA (not many channels but can’t be greedy), and internet.
More importantly, I passed the test that was put in front of me. I didn’t freak out and make a fool out of myself. Instead, I handled the situation the way it should’ve been.
Life for the moment was good.
The Journey. 