#38 - Saturday, 25 March 2017 - Brighton RV Resort/Seminole Indian Reservation, near Okeechobee, Florida

I woke early to the sounds of birds and cattle. I went to bed last night to the sound of good ole boys with big trucks and air boats returning to their cabins and some noisy late RV arrivals. It was the worst night of sleep I have had since I finished recovering from jet lag earlier in March. I can't blame that all on the noise I guess. I just didn't feel that tired and ended up tossing and turning.

I am in a new RV Resort that is owned by the Seminole tribe. Located on the northwest side of Lake Okeechobee, Brighton RV Resort is much more than I had expected based on the moderate price. After setting up camp I had a swim in the nice pool and had it completely to myself. The resort has a gift shop with handmade Native American items, a large "trading post" that has an attached Subway sandwich shop, fuel pumps and beautiful paved sites with patios and full electrical, water and sewer hookups. With my Good Sam Club discount, the nightly price is just a bit more than it was in Everglades National Park. Sunday morning I am headed back to Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park for yet another visit. Yes, I love it there. It's a good location to spend five more nights before I start heading out of Florida. It is just over an hour north of here. The town of Okeechobee lies to the east of the path from here to the state park about half way between.

The cattle sounds are coming from across the road. I expect I didn't notice a road side pasture as I looked for the Brighton entrance sign along Reservation Road. The birds noises were largely coming from the river that runs alongside the park. Signs posted near the water warn of alligators and snakes in the area. Why else would I be here? 

As I drove north on a secondary highway (U.S. Hwy. 27), after taking the turnpike north from the Everglades and then Interstate 75,  a canal ran on the east side of the road and I saw launch ramps full of the redneck jet ski – the Florida air boat. It has to be remembered that the "river of grass" that is the everglades isn't limited to the expanse of Everglades National Park. Okeechobee is the largest freshwater lake in Florida and the seventh largest in the United States. It is second only to Lake Michigan in terms of lakes located entirely within the 48 contiguous states and the largest contained within one state. As huge as it is, the average depth is actually less than 9 feet and the maximum is 12 feet. The Kissimmee River is a broad floodplain that empties directly into Lake Okeechobee and is one of the four central Florida rivers that feeds the Everglades. Air boats are popular throughout southern Florida. I'm not sure I want to know what these yahoos are doing on them*. They don't seem like fishing boats, and the only ones I've been a passenger on were larger tour boats in the everglades.

The reason I am at an RV "resort" is that the ratings and price were right and I couldn't get back into the state park until Sunday. RV resorts are not usually on my radar. Many are expensive places that cost more than a nice chain hotel. They offer clubhouses with social activities and many amenities that are attractive to sunbirds and retired couples. Those that are more moderately priced can be a little scary. Most of those I saw on my drive here to Brighton are fairly typical of the cheaper RV parks. That is, many "campers" are actually residents so the parks are more like seedy mobile home parks. Very often you will see sedentary old travel trailers up on blocks that have had screen porches built around them. I saw one park where the space between units was less than six feet and the run down old recreational vehicles were falling apart and had shacks attached patchwork-style around rusting old campers. My goal is to visit 30 national parks in 2017 and as many state parks as possible so these will be secondary choices for places to camp. My primary choice once I am out west will be boondocking sites on public land that are completely free. Of course, these won't have the sweet little swimming pool I have here, nor even the electricity, water and sewer. That's when I will be completely off the grid and focused completely on solitude and nature.

Happy Weekend! M

* I'm adding this a couple hours after I made this post. I am even more intrigued by this air boat thing now. By using generalizing slurs like "yahoo" and "redneck" and "good ole boys" I expect some of you may picture the stereotype these terms conjure. You might expect some guy in his twenties with a Florida Gators ball cap on backward and a can of Bud light in his hand and questionable bumper stickers on his lifted off road truck. My campsite neighbors arrived after I did in a brand new Ford F350 dually and a brand new large fifth-wheel Grand Design travel trailer. They appear to be late 50s to early 60s and "clean cut", whatever that means. They set up camp and barbequed dinner just about any similar couple I've encountered. The difference is that I discovered this morning that they are with the younger guy whose air boat I photographed (see above). For some reason the guy felt the need to run the air boat for ten minutes right on the drive between our two campsites. Now that they've pulled away I am intrigued by what they are going to be doing on that boat all day. They had a cooler. Just drinking? The opposite neighbor pulled in late last night in a large and twenty years old or so bus style RV. Their noise outside my open bedroom window is one of the reasons I didn't fall asleep under the cool breeze and eventually had to shut my window. This morning I discovered that they were a forty something couple with a boy about seven or eight years old and a large mastiff puppy. It turns out that the small red air boat parked with a black truck in the adjacent grass is theirs and running that boat (maybe they just like engine sounds?) at 10 pm seemed like a good idea to them. They left earlier this morning in the truck and I am now wondering if they left the mastiff pup in the RV. I would have walked him for them ...

#32 - Tuesday, 14 March 2017 | Okeechobee, Florida

Still loving this location. Not Okeechobee city limits so much, but the south central prairies of Florida and Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. I write this from dinner at Applebee's and on the way here I saw several red-shouldered hawks, a huge osprey, several kites, a caracara, white-tailed deer, sandhill cranes, numerous egrets, black and turkey vultures and ravens. I came into town on impulse. I had been plagued by a headache all day and got a little stir-crazy and felt like taking a ride and having a restaurant dinner. 

Tomorrow will be my last day at KPPSP. Thursday morning I will leave as early as possible to make my way south to Everglades National Park. I have a reservation for the Flamingo Campground at the southern tip of the park, but it isn't a site-specific booking and campsites are allotted first come, first serve after arrival. I've begun to take a look at where to head after the Everglades, but Florida is well booked with snowbirds. The season ends mid-April and then most state parks don't take reservations anymore and everything becomes "walk-in". I've been watching the temperatures in Texas and I really want to be heading that direction by April.

All the best, M

#20 - Wednesday, 1 February 2017 | Okeechobee, Florida

Hello February from Okeechobee, Florida where it is currently 78ºF/26ºC. I type this during my second visit to Applebee's since my arrival to the area (the first was the first night's dinner). Tonight will be night three of five at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. Not only is there no wi-fi, but my cell signal is almost non-existent. The park is situated far from cities and cell towers and my beautiful campsite is shaded by amazing old trees covered with epiphytes and Spanish moss. I hope to wean myself of my Internet dependency as the year progresses, but I will always seek out free wi-fi when I can. Starbucks is the most dependable source of both the finest espresso and high speed inter webs, but there isn't one anywhere near here. The drive from my campsite to Okeechobee is about 50 minutes, 15 of which is spent driving the white sand and gravel road leading out of the park. The remoteness of Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park (KPPSP) lends itself to many things. It is known to be the finest place in Florida for stargazing and one of my campsite neighbors has two huge telescopes set up next to his equally huge and impressive RV coach.

Site 27, Equestrian Campground, Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park

My favorite part of the drive 33 miles southeast to Okeechobee (and back) is the huge flocks of Sandhill Cranes I see each time. I so enjoyed photographing these magnificent birds in northern Illinois last year and I wonder if any of those that frequented Huntley are feeding in the south central Florida warmth. The first evening I saw one pasture that held at least fifty cranes, perhaps closer to 75. Today I saw groups ranging from several to dozens and many were near water-filled oases. I also saw many in flight. Sandhill cranes 

The state park is beautiful and this morning I hiked almost four hours. The park is expansive (54,000 acres) and there are many trails. As it is prairie filled with palmetto scrub, there is little tree cover, but many of the trails lead from the sweeping grassland vistas in out of shady hammocks. In one island of trees I watched a pair of flickers (woodpeckers) for some time and photographed them. Vultures soared overhead and small birds flitted among the palmetto. They were far too fast to view for long much less photograph, but I believe that many were the endangered Florida grasshopper sparrow. The sun was strong and my liter of water began to disappear quicker than I would have liked. My eyes scanned everywhere for reptiles and I had hoped that they would be warming after a comparatively cool early year night. I startled a couple of grouse hidden in the scrub. Actually, my heart jumped and it would be fairer to say that they startled me. Further along a raptor rosefrom the trailside ground ahead and flew across the prairie. Although it quickly distanced itself from me, the beak shape revealed its identity and I may have cursed at having missed the chance to get a good view, and perhaps a photograph, of a Crested Caracara. These falcon relatives are very different in shape and habits, and are known to often feed on carrion. They are known from central Florida, central and southern Texas and south-central Arizona south into Mexico. I continued along the trail and was surprised that what seemed like mostly a dry area became increasingly wetland. I hoped this might mean snakes and I searched around accumulated water. Out of water and my the ball of my right foot becoming very pained I picked up speed after consulting my trail map and finding the right trail to lead me back towards camp. The white sand trail became wide enough for my truck and I observed tracks from the ranger's ATVs and some paw prints that had me wondering if panthers were found in the park. A blue heron and a couple of great white egrets spooked as I approached and I knew that the sides of the trail must be marshy. Soon the water reached both sides of the trail. Where one culvert passed beneath the trail I paused and saw both baby and juvenile alligators in the water. I photographed them for some time and began to wonder if mother might be nearby. The marshy grass showed clear signs of alligator trails. There were banded neonate alligators, but also yearlings and they varied in size based on feeding and growth. I started looking more closely for an adult. I walked to the other side of the trail (the other end of the culvert pipe) and I don't know if mom or I were more startled. She was about seven feet long and was laying in the grass sunning herself. At sight of the big tattooed primate she dove into the water and sought cover inside the mouth of the pipe. I moved along and picked up pace to return to camp for much needed water and a cold shower.

Once I was refreshed and wearing t-shirt, shorts and sandals, I headed into town. As I drove out of KPPSP, I saw a raptor ahead on the road. I slowed my truck and noticed that it was feeding. As I got closer I knew that it was a crested caracara. Perhaps I would have another chance to capture an image or three. I pulled over. Whenever I am driving I have two cameras on the passenger seat. One body has my 300mm f4 super telephoto with 1.4x teleconverter and the other has my amazing 70-200mm f2.8 wildlife workhorse. The first is equivalent to 630mm on my APC (cropped sensor) bodies and I pointed it at the bird. I was able to snap a couple of exposures, but it took to flight before I had a chance to do what I hoped. I jumped back into the truck and chased after it. It was flying parallel to the road on the right side perhaps 50 feet above the ground and moving at a good clip. I drove faster in pursuit watching for it to land. Ahead it landed on a elevated wood platform. I am not sure what the purpose of the structure is, but it sort of looks like an osprey nesting platform only about ten times as large. I'll have to investigate it later when I return to camp. The caracara landed and I was able to drive just past and pull off the road. It seemed much more comfortable sitting high above the ground and I spent about five minutes firing off maybe 100 exposures. I can't wait to review my photos later. Hopefully at least one will make it to Instagram along with some gator shots. I won't be able to post until I have wi-fi again though ...

My plan for the evening is to finish tidying the Wheelhouse. Almost everything is put away now and I will then relax with a movie. Tomorrow morning I plan to film a tour of the campsite and the interior of the Wheelhouse. I'll post it to YouTube and share here.

All the best, M