Fri, Mar 23, Everglades National Park to Lake Panasofkee RV Park, Lake Panasofkee, FL:  I had set the alarm on my phone to wake us up at 6:00 this morning, but the phone died during the night.  Luckily, Mike got up at 6:15 so we got up then.  We were on the road by 7:45.  The traffic on the FL Turnpike was horrible, especially through the Miami area.  Lots of construction going on too.  We stopped at the Service Plaza in West Palm Beach, had some lunch, and then I started driving.  About an hour south of Orlando the traffic came to a complete stop and we were sitting there for at least half an hour.  Stopped at another Service Plaza and Mike took over driving again.  We each drove for about 3 hours.  At any rate, we arrived in Lake Panasofkee at around 3:30 and were set up by 4:00.  A long drive.  Another beautiful day with temps in the mid-70s.

Our last sunset in the Keys.

Our last evening at Lazy Lakes--Mike talking with our neighbor, Larry.

Thu, Mar 22, Everglades National Park:  After breakfast this morning we headed down to Flamingo, which is 34 miles down the road.  Stopped at Mahogany Hammock but didn’t see any owlets.  Probably too late this year.  But we did see a couple of hawks with a poor little mouse they had just caught on their way to their nest.  Also saw a pileated woodpecker.  Continued on and stopped at Poirotis Pond where the wood storks and roseate spoon bills nest every year. We saw a lot of wood storks, but only a couple of spoon bills.  Continued on to Flamingo.  The little café is still closed, and the marina is not up and running yet.  The campground looks okay.  This campground has electric, whereas ours has no electric hookups.  But the Long Pine Key campground where we stay is much prettier.  Had a snack and watched the osprey feeding her chicks.  Drove back, stopping at West Lake and walked the boardwalk.  The mangroves look dead, and the part of the boardwalk that goes over the lake is tore up.  Drove back to our campground and relaxed for a while.  An absolutely beautiful day and the refrigerator/inverter is still okay. Low 70s today.  Really chilly at night.

Mahogany Hammock

 

Bromeliad

Wood Stork tearing off twigs for his nest.

Osprey feeding her chicks--Flamingo

Mangroves along West Lake boardwalk.

Coots

Boardwalk over the lake got demolished.

Wed, Mar 21, Everglades National Park:  Well, the inverter connected to the refrigerator started beeping last night, even though the batteries themselves are showing ¾ full.  So, we just kept turning the inverter off and back on again and that seemed to work.  Was okay all night and the next morning the minute the sun hit those solar panels the batteries started charging.  We plan to spend the afternoon with our Canadian friends but wonder if we should just shut the refrigerator off.  Decided to just let it run and see what happened.  We had a great time with Esther and Gerald.  Talked and talked and talked and played spades for a while.  We walked down the street to where Charlie and Johanne are planning on staying this winter.  Hopefully, they’ll be able to leave their fifth wheel there.  We had dinner at a wonderful pizza place and then went our separate ways.  Driving back to our park, we’re on a rural road with the setting sun in our faces and the car in front of us made a left turn right in front of an SUV coming the other way.  The SUV slammed into the much smaller car and then started careening our way.  Fortunately, Mike saw it coming and pulled off the road at the last minute.  Mike went to see if the guy was okay.  His air bags deployed and he was bleeding around the face.  The air bags can cause a lot of damage though.  The people in the SUV seemed to be okay.  I’m sure the guy that caused the mayhem had to go to the hospital.  Needless to say, we got back and the refrigerator was still running and the inverter was happy.  All is well.  It sure chills down at night.  Think it was upper 70s during the day and low 50s at night.

This refrigerator is the appliance causing all the angst.  However, since we added 2 more batteries it seems to be better.  We lasted 3 days without having to start the generator and probably could have gone more.

Tue, Mar 20, Lazy Lakes RV Park, Sugarloaf Key, FL, to Everglades National Park:  Left this morning shortly after 9:00 and arrived here at the park and were set up by 1:00.  Even though it’s really warm (86), it’s very comfortable in the shade.  Inside though it’s pretty uncomfortable.  It will cool down tonight and we have battery operated fans.  We’ll see how this goes without hook-ups since our residential style refrigerator eats up the battery.  Not sure if the solar panels will be able to keep up.  Guess we’ll see shortly.  Sat outside in the shade dozing and reading all afternoon.  Had a late lunch and then drove down to the Anhinga Trail and walked around for a while.  The water areas seem to be overtaken with water lilies.  Not sure if that’s good or bad.  86 today with a nice breeze.

All set up--Everglades National Park

Great Blue Heron--Everglades National Park