Thu, 3/15/12:
Everglades National Park:  Our last full day in the Everglades.  Weather has been almost perfect—warm days and crisp, cool nights.  A couple pulled in yesterday afternoon in a cab over with a semi chassis pulling a huge, triple-axle cargo trailer.  This cargo trailer has an elevator in it.  Their two-seater convertible was on the bottom and their boat was in the upper compartment.  Not sure what else they had in there.  Pretty impressive though.  I can just imagine the path of destruction I would leave pulling that rig.  Around noon we decided to go get some lunch and then go for an airboat ride.  There’s a little grill just outside the park with picnic tables.  No inside seating to speak of.  We ordered sandwiches and ate them in the truck, since it was starting to rain—with thunder rumbling off in the distance.  So we ate our sandwiches and nixed the airboat ride.  Back to the park and inquired about the Florida panthers.  We see the signs for them around our campground.  They have seen them crossing the road in our vicinity in the wee hours of the morning.  Wish we could see one.  We topped off the water tank for the last time and put the hose away.  Played Aggravation for a while.  Mike actually won for a change.  Tomorrow we leave for Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Jupiter, FL.  

View out our back window

An example of the challenges of an off-trail hike in the Everglades.