Wed, 3/14/12
Everglades National Park:  Started out clear and sunny this morning.  But clouded up by the time we showered and had breakfast.  Topped off the water tank and sat outside looking at the clouds moving in.  But we decided to get the bikes out and go exploring.  We took a back road out of the campground which was really bumpy but came out on the road out to the old Nike missile base.  This is a nice bike route because there’s very little traffic on this road.  Rode down to the missile base, then turned around.  But not before it started raining—well, sprinkling anyway.  Saw a couple of gators on our ride.  Got back and still pretty cloudy, so we decided to head in to do the laundry. Of course as we drove in there it cleared off nicely.  Got that done, picked up a couple of burgers, stopped at the produce stand and bought some more tomatoes, and then headed back.  Glad to get back to the peace and quiet.  Couldn’t wait to get away from the people and the traffic.  And the sky had cleared beautifully.  85 today and mixed sun and clouds.

Cross section of what is under all that saw grass.  These "ditches" were dug--I guess for drainage.   Shows what the off-trail hiker could encounter.  These "ditches" harbor all kinds of wildlife.

Even gators!

This gator was in a little slough.

A crocodile--Flamingo