Sugarloaf Key: Up early again this morning. A pretty, sunny day, but cool. Our DVD player in our TV in the living room is now not working. The door won’t open. This morning we finally got it to open and got so excited we popped in one of the DVDs we rented and now we can’t get it out. Wouldn’t play anyway. We are definitely electronically challenged. Headed into Key West this afternoon and went to our favorite cinema—Tropic Cinema on Eaton St. Saw “How Did This Happen?” with Dinero and Sean Penn. Pretty good. Parked at the old sub base by the eco center and then walked over. After the movie we picked up a chill mat for the laptop. Didn’t even know there was such a thing until I was at my brother’s. It works great! Also picked up some stuff to put down for ants and a plant for our picnic table. Hit 70 today.

Our site

Craig & Debbie's site across from us

The 6-acre lake we're on

Tue, Dec 2, 2008

Sugarloaf Key: Up early this morning and got a bunch of stuff done. After a conversation with customer service, mailed back the remote they sent me to replace the remote that isn’t working because the new one was WRONG. Had to accompany the remote with another letter explaining everything. Can’t wait to see what they send me this time. Mailed Sandy’s book back to her, did some grocery shopping, had some lunch and picked up a couple of videos. Back home and put everything away. Really cool and windy. Hung out inside the rest of the day. Mikey isn't happy because he can't get on the MSN spades site. I told him to quit his bitching--at least he has a remote that works! Supposed to warm up by the weekend. Think it hit 70 today is all.

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.

Two eagles this morning

Fading rainbow

W. P. Franklin Corps Campground: Cloudy and windy this morning. Two eagles showed up and hung out in the tree across from us. Started raining a little and a rainbow formed. A lot of people left this morning and the laundry was empty so we decided to do our laundry and get that out of the way. Got it done just in time and then it got really nasty. Mike put the awning away and then the chairs. Looked very threatening for a while. Rained sideways for a while. Thankfully we didn’t attempt the drive today since we would have been driving right into the wind. We lucked out (or not) and got the Rams game because they’re playing Miami. Started reading my new book (Shadow Mountain) about introducing wolves back into Yellowstone. Very interesting. Tomorrow early we leave for the Keys. Hopefully the weather will be better.

W. P. Franklin Corps Campground: Another pretty day, but windy. Ron and Jan came over for a while. Then we went to the Alva Diner for dinner. We have to decide whether we leave tomorrow or not. I’m for leaving, Mike is for staying and leaving on Monday. We’ll see. Gassed up the truck just in case.

White Ibis

W. P. Franklin Corps Campground: Another beautiful morning—chilly at first. Eagle was out there again. Mike emptied the grey water tank for the last time. After showering and dressing we drove out to Lake Okeechobee—stopping at the cute little Alva Diner for breakfast. We have friends from the Keys staying at Lake Okeechobee for the winter and hoped to get together with them, but they were working today. The lake was not at all what we thought it would be. Almost as far as you can see is grass—and way in the distance is the open water. Looks more like the Everglades. Well, actually it is where the Everglades begin. There are open channels you can take to get out to the open water, but to the naked eye it’s just grassland. You can only see the water with binoculars. On the drive over on Rt. 80 is nothing but orange groves and fields and fields of sugar cane. Didn’t even know they grew sugar cane in Florida. Back to our pretty riverside park and relaxed until about 4:00. Then we cleaned the windows inside and out. After getting that done we put away the ladder and the waste water tote. Had left-overs for dinner.

On the trail at Hickey's Creek Park

W. P. Franklin Corps Campground: After a cool morning it warmed up to about 74 in the afternoon. We decided to check out the park across the river from us. Thought we had last year, but we didn’t. A nice little park with a little sandy beach and swim area. You can also walk out and check out the boats going through the locks. Two went through while we were there. Left there and stopped at Hickey’s Creek Mitigation Park right on Rt. 80. This is a very nice park consisting of 1,124 acres—the largest in Lee County. The park is named after Dixon O. Hickey who homesteaded a parcel of land on this creek in the early 1800s. We walked one of the trails down to the creek. A beautiful hike through palmettos and pines down to Hickey’s Creek. There’s a fishing pier down there and a couple of bridges have been built over the creek as the trail winds around. You can also kayak and canoe the little creek which empties into the Caloosahatchee River. There are over 5 miles of trails. They have a white board at the trail head with a list of critters spotted on the trail. Pretty impressive. Lots of snakes. Back to our site on the beautiful Caloosahatchee and sat outside reading and soaking up the last rays of the sun. The river was like glass.