February 16 through 23rd: Frostproof Florida

After thirty days on site 804 in Florida City we traveled north on US 27 running parallel to the Miami Canal, passing by wetlands and along the shores of Lake Okeechobee. It was interesting to see the change of landscape as we continued past cane fields owned by Domino Sugar and by sprawling cattle ranches. The familiarity of vast acres of citrus groves welcomed our return to central Florida. We are now residents on site 453 at Rainbow RV Resort in Frostproof.

Unfortunately, Dave was sick for the first four days of our stay so we laid low while he recuperated. By Wednesday Dave began to once again feel better and we drove to Lake Wales and Frostproof to check out these little towns and visit the grocery store.

Tampa Bay on horizon

Avis and Jim Brown

 On Thursday we joined the Brown’s on a drive through the countryside to Balm, Florida, where Goodson’s Farm Market, in business since 1988, serves up flavorful Cuban sandwiches and titanic-portioned strawberry shortcakes. The strawberries are as fresh as walking thirty feet to the acres and acres of strawberries. Once sated we continued our drive westward. Along the way we passed through small towns including Fort Meade, Wimauma and mammoth cranes mining for phosphate. 

Manatee tailfin

We stopped at the Florida Power Plant just north of Apollo Beach where manatees, enjoying the warm water outflow, looked like stepping stones throughout the canal. Another check-off on our ‘life list’; seeing these homely looking animals so agile in the waterway as they move unhurriedly using their paddle-like flippers to navigate to their next lunch counter. The manatees act as lawnmowers in the canals where they keep the weeds cleared and the tourists clicking cameras hoping for a good picture. We continued to Apollo Beach where we could see the horizon cityscape views of Tampa and St. Petersburg. The Brown’s were our guests at site 453 for a dinner of shrimp scampi and strawberry shortcake

Airboat on Lake Kissimmee

Alley-gator

Grazing in the river

.

Baby Gators

We had an invasion of sugar ants into the motorhome. They followed their scouts into the most minuscule pathway under the kitchen slideout and made themselves welcome in the cupboards above the kitchen. The Brown’s had some insect killer spray we borrowed and after nearly three hours of removing all the contents from the cupboards and washing everything off we were confident that these little buggers were squashed. NOT! The motorhome exterior was covered. We feel that we have pitched our tent on the mothership of ant hills. A trip to Lowe’s is scheduled for the morning.

Bald Eagle Perched above marshland

On Friday Dave went to Lowe’s and came back with the tools to make sure would not be visiting again. We also had the motorhome washed and waxed and now looks real spiffy.  We joined the Brown’s for a drive eastward to Lake Kissimmee to Grape Hammock Fish Camp and Gator Country Airboat Tours, where we boarded a small airboat to see the "Real Florida". This was a great experience. Our captain, a native of Lake Kissimmee, seated us and we took off on a one-hour tour of the marshlands hugging the lake shore. There were a number of fishermen looking for ‘the one that got away’. We floated over lily pads, hydrilla, sea grasses and were again up close to snoozing alligators, deer, hogs, and many species of birds.

Alligator Snoozing

Friday night we began humming “the ants go marching….” as they returned enmass again. This time we were prepared with insecticide and have now put as much as possible into Ziploc bags. We really enjoy Florida, but when the bugs outnumber humans it is not the place to live.

Wednesday, February 13: Florida City; Our Last Week

This is our last Monday in Florida City and we have checked off another experience on our “life list”. A group of others in our RV Club gathered for a picnic lunch at Biscayne National Park here in Homestead and then boarded a catamaran to glide across the bay to Boca Chita Key.

 This 25-mile ride was relaxing and unhurried. Our captain was knowledgeable about the area and its ecosystem.  On the horizon Miami and Key Biscayne cityscapes were always in view.

 We learned Boca Chita Key was previously owned by Mark Honeywell, who founded the Honeywell Corporation and one of the first structures we see on the island is the beautiful lighthouse. There is an old cannon, circa 1800s, that was salvaged from one of the many sunken ships that was on the bottom of Biscayne Bay.


 We climbed the circular stairway to the observation deck of the lighthouse, where we were able to see other Keys, the Bay and Atlantic Ocean and an overview of Boca Chita.


 Sometime in the 1930s Honeywell built the lighthouse so that he would have a landmark to aim for when boating across the bay, but it was never used as a “lighthouse” because it was built on the wrong side of the island and would have confused other boaters.

Urban legend has it that Honeywell pushed his wife from the observation platform around the top of the lighthouse, and then he sold the island. Historians say she died of an “accidental fall”, whether from the lighthouse or not is unknown.  We had an hour to spend on the island so we strolled the grounds to the white sandy beach that was covered with perfect shells-some of which were inhabited, and beautiful pieces of coral.

The palm trees on the island were damaged during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and now grow askew toward the sun.  We highly recommend taking this tranquil and serene ‘3-hour’ tour (sans Gilligan) to Boca Chita Key, which is often confused in spelling and location with Boca Chica Key, that is down near Key West.

Today, Wednesday the 13th of February we drove to Key Largo and spent most of the day at John Pennekamp State Park. This is the first undersea park created in the United States and has miles of coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangrove swamps. 

We had a very friendly (and hungry) white Ibis visit our picnic spot.

Thursday, February 7; Florida City, Everglades

Today we begin our fifth week on the road and marked off another first; we boarded an airboat at Everglades Safari Park.  The Everglades Safari Park is one of several airboat tour companies located along the northern border of the Everglades National Park. We had booked our reservations online, where you are able to save additional money on admission.  We arrived to a parking lot that was filled with school busses and cars and we found ourselves apprehensive about hours of wait time. 

We checked in at the ticket booth and found that we were just in time for the next airboat tour and waited just a few minutes for boarding.  While waiting near the docks we saw yet more alligators floating among the lily pads.  The airboat we boarded was piloted by a young man who was personable and knowledgeable of the Everglades and its environment.

 

  As we skimmed across the glassy waters through the river of grasses and water lilies we enjoyed warm sunshine and blue skies. We were introduced to the residents of this area of the Everglades including alligators, great whites and blue herons, and snowy egrets. 

   The boat ride was exhilarating and it was incredible to glide across the water and vegetation as we felt the wisps of waves.  After the airboat ride we were entertained by an alligator wildlife show and we strolled the park that was double-fenced with alligator and crocodile exhibits.

On Saturday, we visited the Homestead-Miami Speedway. While there we watched various level drivers of sports cars including Porsche, Mustangs, Corvettes and BMWs in a non-competition track event sponsored by Chin Motorsports.

   HMS, which opened 1995, is a 1.5 mile oval with an 18-20 degree variable banking and has the newest state-of-the art scoring tower that stands 158 feet above sea level and has tilted video panels that shows high-resolution stats and track re-plays

. The speedway reflects the Floridian area with its creamy yellow exteriors and over 1000 palm trees.

After the speed of the track we relaxed and picnicked at Biscayne National Park, which is just a few miles down the road. Across the bay we could see the cityscape of Miami and lots of kayakers paddling along.