We arrived home today after seven days on the road from Fort Lauderdale.  We made the decision to drive home rather than leave the van in storage over the winter.  A long but beautiful drive, from heat in Florida, to cooler weather and late fall colours in Georgia-Tennessee-Kentucky-Illinois, to snow-covered hills in Wyoming and Montana.  Roads were dry all the way.

Now the winter hibernation begins.  We will make our decision at some point as to when and how we will complete our US circumnavigation. 

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Total mileage (2010):  9725 miles

The storm that we saw on the horizon last night did hit during the night with lightning, thunder, torrential rain and a howling wind.  This morning it is still overcast and showers come and go.  Although the rain torrential, it is warm and the showers seem to move through very quickly.

We drove into Key West this morning.  Our plan was to spend a couple of nights, but we were surprised by how crowded and claustrophobic the island felt to us.  We had a look around - Ernest Hemingway's home, mile 0, the southernmost point in the United States, and then headed back to the mainland.

We are in Fort Lauderdale for a couple of nights while we consider our options for the final stage of our trip.

Trip Mileage:  6540 miles

It rained a bit during the night which helped to cool the air to the mid 70's.  There was a shower again this morning, but it soon cleared off and warmed up again.  We moved camp spots again today.  The new spot is right on the water with a nice view of the bay and the bridges.  Luckily, there is not much of a tide here, as our camper is only about 20' from the water.  It is nice to hear the waves lapping on the shore.

We set out to try and capture the green colours in the ocean this afternoon.  Bob took the camera in the waterproof case and we waded the length of the island on the Atlantic side.  

This evening we did our bridge walk to photograph the sun set, then we sat by the water and star gazed before bed.  We could see lightning flashing to the west, so it seems another storm front is making its way towards us.

Our plan it to go to Key West tomorrow, and perhaps spend a couple of nights.

The temperature is still hot (88 F), and it did not cool down much during the night.  We had only been able to book our camp spot for one night, so today we had to move "across the street" to a new spot for tonight.  As soon as we were settled we headed to the beach to relax and stay cool.  We headed out to the railway bridge again this evening to watch the sun set

We left before first light this morning, so we didn't see much scenery until we turned east on the I-75, which is known as Alligator Alley.  It is an expressway that cuts straight across Florida through the Everglades.  The first stretch was what we had expected:  dense pine and mangrove forest growing out of swampland.  Towards Fort Lauderdale, the forest gave way to grassy marshlands.  

The drive across the Keys was interesting and scenic.  The keys are narrow, flat islands.  They range in width from about 200' to a mile.  The Atlantic Ocean is on one side, the Gulf of Mexico is on the other.  The keys were accessible only by boat until 1912, when Henry Flagler constructed a railway to connect the keys to the mainland.  The railroad was destroyed by a hurricane in 1935, but the remaining structures were used to build the highway.  

Bahia Honda State Park occupies the entire little island.  The beaches here are the nicest on the keys.  The water is shallow, warm and an incredible green. 

The weather continues to be hot (high 80's F) and very humid.  By the time we had our camp set up we were ready to head to the beach.  The off shore breezes are a relief, and we managed to cool our core temperatures down in the water.

This evening we walked out to the end of the old railway bridge (Flagler's Folly) to watch the sunset.  It was a spectacular view.

There is some interesting "wildlife" here on the keys.  We saw a big iguana on the grass.  There are also raccoons.  We are wondering how they would make their way from the mainland as in some places the bridges span the water for several miles.  

Trip Mileage:  6306 miles

This has been a relaxing day for us.  We spent a couple of hours at Fort Myers beach this afternoon.  It is a colourful scene.  There were lots of people on the beach, perhaps because it is a weekend.  It is the first busy beach that we have seen.

Trip mileage:  6037 miles

Dave and Linda suggested that we come to the Fort De Soto County Park in Saint Petersburg, and we are glad they did.  This is one of the nicest places we have stayed.  The park is located on a chain of five interconnected keys in Tampa Bay.  Our camp spot, which is surrounded by palm trees, is on the end of one of the keys and we look out over the water.  

There is an interesting variety of wildlife here as well.  We have a pair of pileated woodpeckers near us as well as a family of raccoons and countless little geckos.  There are also tree frogs which make a tremendous noise when they get going.  The raccoons were over investigating our campsite as soon as it got dark.  We had been warned about them and had everything well secured.

It is very hot and humid so we are keeping to the shade and enjoying every breath of breeze that comes our way.  Tomorrow the weather is supposed to break and we are looking forward to cooler temperatures, especially at night.

We have decided to stay here Friday night as well.

Trip Mileage:  5906 miles

Florida is experiencing unseasonably hot, humid weather  and unlike Alabama, it hasn’t been cooling down at night.  We were glad to be able to leave the van open to sleep. It took us awhile to get accustomed to the sounds of the forest.  There were a couple of owls hooting back and forth to each other and the armadillo was active in the bush.  Eventually our imaginations settled down and we were able to sleep.

Today, Dave and Linda very graciously hosted us to a spectacular tour of the River on their pontoon boat.  The Chassahowitzka River is fed by fresh water springs that bubble up from the river bed.  The river is shallow, with a limestone bottom and the water is crystal clear.  Linda has a great eye for spotting wildlife along the shore.  There were countless water birds including egrets and herons all along the shoreline.  Linda pointed out a large turtle, sunning itself on a log as well as two alligators.  One of the alligators was a good size, perhaps six or seven feet long.  Dave and Linda said it was the biggest they’ve seen in a while.  Bob sat on the edge of the boat to try to get a photo, but as we got close it jumped into the water and Bob missed getting the shot.   It is amazing how quickly such a large animal can move.

The river meanders along through the forest past fishing cabins and then opens up into vast salt grass flats where the river goes into the Gulf.  We stopped for lunch on Dog Island, which is in the middle of the flats.  The community of Chassahowitzka has built a dock and boardwalk to a covered picnic area which is for public use.   

On the way back we saw dolphins.  We looked for manatee, which frequent the river.  Although we saw the distinctive ripple that they make on the surface of the water, they were too deep for us to actually see them.

Dave took us to the local swimming hole down one of the many side branches of the river.  The water was warm and clear.  At that spot there are several openings in the limestone river bottom where the springs break through to the surface.  Two of these are connected by an underwater cave that is big enough to swim through.  Although we didn’t attempt that, there was a couple there who were swimming from one to the other.  It was a beautiful spot.

Chassahowitzka is a small town with a big sense of community.  On Tuesdays, the locals gather at the small hotel (Chassahowitzka River Lodge) across the street from Dave and Linda’s for a meal and fellowship.  Dave and Linda invited us to join them this evening.  We enjoyed meeting their neighbours and hearing the news and conversation.  Afterwards, we sat around a campfire in Dave and Linda’s back yard.  

Thanks Dave and Linda for showing us Chass!!

We slept with the back of our camper open last night so that we could take advantage of the breeze to cool us.  Early this morning the breeze picked up to a gusty wind and  raindrops on our faces compelled us to get an earlier start on our day than we had planned.  We broke camp quickly in the dark and were on the road before 7:00 a.m.  The rain didn’t amount to more than a slight shower and we were treated to a fiery sunrise that was enhanced by the clouds.  Although the area is very rural with very little sign of habitation, we were surprised by the amount of traffic on the road.  There was a stream of cars and school buses all headed to a large school located at what seemed to be the intersection of the two main roads in the area.  It was much darker at 8:00 a.m. for the students arriving at school here in October, than for our students in December.

The drive today wasn’t very scenic as we continued to travel through the pine forest.  Logging seems to be a major industry here.  It looked as though the area has been logged and re-forested several times. 

This afternoon we arrived at Chassahowitzka, where we are camped at the Chassahowitzka River County Park. The campground fronts on the Chassahowitzka River and is surrounded on the other sides by tropical forest.  Our campsite backs onto the forest and we look out to palm trees, rubber trees, oak and palmettos.  We have the campground pretty much to ourselves.

Our friends, Dave and Linda Blatt, live here. This evening they took us to one of their favourite spots, the Freezer, which is an old fish processing plant on a marina that has been converted to a restaurant.  Bob came here with them a couple of years ago when he was visiting and has been raving about it ever since.  We enjoyed a meal of clam chowder, smoked mullet and steamed shrimp fresh from the Gulf.

Back at our campsite this evening we sat out in the dark and listened to the many strange sounds coming from the forest.  The squirrels jump into the dry leaves of the palm trees which makes a very loud crashing sound that is quite startling until you get used to it.  We heard some underbrush snapping and an armadillo came wandering out to the open.  This was the first live armadillo we have seen.  Add in the sound of the tree frogs and the owls and it all seemed very tropically exotic.

Trip Mileage:  5817 miles