Day 11, the drive through Florida to The Glades




 Ahh Florida; palm trees, airboats, Spanish moss, screamin' humidity, and 80 degree sunshine, the first sunshine we've seen since leaving Arkansas.  That nasty storm definitely did not make it to southern Florida.  Was a long day of driving but we reached our quiet amenity-free camp spot in The Everglades. Pictures forthcoming tomorrow.  Of note, the Tamiami Trail (aka Hwy 41) cuts directly across The Everglades from Naples on the west to Miami on the east.  From the book I devoured all about The Everglades (a completely unique biosphere in the world), the Tamiami Trail was built in the early part of the century as man developed this inhospitably wild area but had the dreadfully detrimental effect of impeding the flow of water from north and central Florida as it ever so slowly drains into the Atlantic and the Gulf.  We saw much evidence of this impediment; waterways were ever present and full on the north side of the road while the south side remained starkly dry.  

The mosquitoes are voracious.

Three amazing things:  1- How can one single state hold so many vast numbers of humans, at least half of which don't speak English, I ponder.  2- How many people does the fire marshall allow inside of the Fort Meyers Costco?  I'm confident we exceeded it.  3- Our campsite inside the national park is exquisite!  It has no amenities other than a concrete slab on which to park, but the sites are set quite far from each other so that I see and hear nobody.  All evening with my windows open I hear only the creatures of the night, but not one single human.  4- Miami-Dade County has a huge Cuban population who have set up fair-like markets on countless corners.  These markets remind me of those in Thailand:  they offer fresh produce, any number of food trucks, and even pony rides for the kids, and all are bedecked in colorful banners.  What a lovely cultural tradition.

Good deed:  Aaron and I are loathe to admit that we almost failed in making any opportunities to serve anybody.  It was a long and tiresome drive through heavy traffic all day broken up only by grocery shopping in crowded markets, but we did manage to at least leave our host from last night some money for the electricity along with a sack of wicked-good chocolates.  Kinda lame, especially compared to the good deed which was extended to us.  We pulled in to refuel only to discover that one must be a member of BJ's Wholesale Clubs to purchase their super low-cost gas. Tired, hungry and disappointed, we prepared to leave when the guy next to us who witnessed our confusion and dejection offered to allow us to fill using his BJ's member card.  He even hung around to rescan it multiple times as our credit cards kept getting rejected.  (Not being BJ members must have triggered fraud alerts.)  We were most definitely served more than we supplied to the world today.  We won't disappoint tomorrow, though.

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