Chokoloskee

Today was another travel day. We spent the morning moving slowly around camp, sitting under the awning eating breakfast and watching all of the vintage RV crew hitting the highway after a successful club rally. The campground pretty much emptied out and we could see Mike and Debbie, the top notch camp hosts, zipping about in their golf carts putting everything back where it belongs.

We had a knock on the door and it was a burly looking kayaker who had floated up to the boat ramp earlier this morning in a custom long distance kayak then promptly fell asleep blissfully snoring in a chaise under the palapa. Rich was on a year long trek covering waterways from Canada through the Mississippi and now he was only a few days away from his finish in Key West. He was needing a drink of water, but we did him one better and set him up with a sandwich and an energy drink. We checked out his rig and talked about his travels. He works with kids and does motivational speaking along the way. You can check him out here.

Our goal today was Chokoloskee on the western edge of the Everglades. We said goodbye to the beautiful green waters of the keys as we passed through the upper islands on our way into Homestead. We crawled through traffic stuck behind a line of smoking school buses bumping along some potholed roads through some seedy looking neighborhoods. Once we worked our way through town, we found ourselves on rural alligator alley, one of two southern roads that cross Florida east to west.

Travel was easy and the traffic was light. We drove by numerous outfits trying to lure tourists onto their airboats for excursions through the marshlands. We used one of their parking lots for a bathroom break and to let Cali stretch her bony little legs. There was no need for airboats to see alligators, they were out along the highway sunning themselves. You could also spot their telltale snouts peeking out from the water in the canals lining the road. It was an amazing ride crossing hours of Everglades with nothing but marshes, mangroves and grasslands surrounding us on all sides. The elevation here is two feet and the road is at three feet so we were right in the thick of it.

It was late afternoon when we were finally set up in our little spot in Chokoloskee. It’s an RV resort where people own their own lots and set them up how they want. The season has passed and the place is a ghost town. Our site is awesome. A large pie shaped corner on the bay with a lawn area, docks and tons of privacy. It’s deceiving walking around because most of the owners have left behind their trailers, RVs, boats and toys so it looks occupied but as you wander around the quiet gets a little eerie and I was glad to see one or two other spots actually had signs of life. I went over to the main pool area and found the gym upstairs and did a little workout. In the evening, the wind kept the bugs at bay and we enjoyed sitting out on the dock as the day wound to a close.

Curly tail lizards rule the empty park