Mon, Dec 1, 2008

W. P. Franklin CG to Sugarloaf Key: Left this morning at 8:45 after stopping at the dump station. Took the route that my brother Ron suggested which turned out really well. Rt. 29 is a good road even though it’s a one lane road. South of Immokalee Rt. 29 went through the Big Cyprus National Preserve and it got really pretty. Big panther habitat. There was even a panther preserve that had a bunch of hiking trails through it. Sure, they probably need a food source for the panthers. It only took us a little over an hour to get on I75 and from there we hit the Floridas Turnpike to Homestead. They’ve been working for years widening Rt. 1 from Homestead to Marathon. Finally, it’s just about done. In some places it’s been four-laned and in others it’s just been widened and they’ve added a cement barrier between lanes so passing is not an option. It is so much better and I’m sure has cut down on fatalities on this stretch of road. They also built a large bridge over the creek separating the mainland from Key Largo. We arrived at Lazy Lakes at 2:30—a 5 ½ hour drive. And there was a whole group there to greet us. Got set up finally and our cable was out. Comcast showed up and fixed ours, but there are several that are still out. Finished up around 7:00 and headed over to the KOA for happy hour. I really needed a couple of drinks. Oh yeah, the new remote was there waiting for me. However, IT WAS THE WRONG REMOTE! Now I’ve got to deal with that. Oh well, it’s beautiful down here. It will work out somehow. Guess Mike is back to being my remote slave.