Day 10, Tuesday March 10th - No farther south

Tuesday we departed the Everglades about 9:30 AM, it was cloudy and still breezy but the wind had let up considerably.

As we departed the park we turned into West Lake, a short hike we missed Monday. West Lake is a huge lake, the hike is all on boardwalks that originally had a loop out into the lake. Apparently there was a hurricane, I think it was Irma that destroyed the part of the boardwalk that goes out into the lake. It was still a nice walk through the dense jungle, but put on bug spray.

I have heard others say the drive to Key West is boring with lots of traffic. I agree with the latter, but we found the expansive views and turquoise water beautiful.

The road out to the tip of the keys is a modern marvel, the first railway was built in 1912 and after a hurricane it was replaced by the highway in 1938.

We arrived at Boyd's campground around 3PM, it is wall to wall RV's (250 sites) and booked solid, if you don't make a reservation, well in advance, you will not get in.  Everyone gets a slab of concrete and a picnic table, so it really doesn't feel that cramped. Boyd's is on Stock Island, the closest campground to Key West, so it it is very convenient to downtown and the people are very nice.

After getting setup we took the scooter to Key West just to check things out. We cruised the entire length of Duval Street and parked at the far north end. Parking with a scooter is not a problem in Key West, they are everywhere. We walked the northern water front, Mallory Square and about half way down Duval.

We eventually got thirsty, we walked inside Irish Kevin's, and a few others, but went into the Bull and Whistle Bar because it had a second floor balcony view.  The balcony view reminded us of the Sturgis bars, and June had on her Harley shirt, so it worked. Later in the afternoon a couple saw us getting off the scooter and said to June "your shirt doesn't go with that bike",  they were Harley riders.

We lucked out, it was 2 for one Margaritas!

We actually fit in nicely, motorized vehicles of all kinds and even bicycle powered buggies.

We walked a bit more and made our way back to the Scooter and cruised Duval to the southern end where we found the famous marker for the southernmost tip of the continental US.  The line had already started to get a sunset picture, we did not wait in line. Maybe another day.

Parked near the marker was a whole row of expensive Harleys, amazing what they do to these machines..I would be afraid to ride them.











We made our way back to camp, it is only about 10 mins, to have dinner and there was laundry to do.

After dinner we walked the campground, it is actually pretty nice, there are sites on the water, but we did not get one :-(.

They even have a small beach.









Wednesday we plan to go to downtown Key West and be tourists.

Day 9, Monday March 9th – Exploring the Everglades

We got up Monday and took the scooter straight to the visitor center. There we got the bad news, more high winds, small craft advisories, stay off the water.  We did stop at the Marina anyway and they were going to give a boat ride that did not go out into the bay, but we passed on it.

The hiking trails in the Everglades are all pretty much off the 40 mile road that brings you to the Flamingo, but the distances can be pretty far. We almost went back and got the van but decided to take the scooter up to some of the closer hikes.

The first hike we did was called Snake Bight, it is basically a straight flat trail from the road to the ocean. We saw birds, a crab and a few snakes.  Overall it was just a good walk of 3.6 miles.

The walk came out onto the ocean, but it was low tide not much to see.

Along the path I noticed what looked like a soccer ball in the brush, but it was a mushroom, perfectly round.

On the way back June nearly gave me a coronary when she saw a snake in the trail, he did not seem too concerned about us.








After the hike we decided to head back to camp for lunch, but I saw a sign to Bear Pond, so why not take it. It was more like two wheel tracks thru the jungle for 2 miles.  So we took the scooter 4-wheeling…I mean off roading…June loved it (NOT!). When we got to the parking area for the pond it was about a 2 mile hike each way to get to the pond (another couple coming out  did not sound too enthusiastic about it)….we decided to head back to camp.

After lunch we took the Van to some of the hikes way back, 25+ miles, towards the park entrance.

Our first stop was Pa-hay-okee Overlook. This is the high point in the Everglades, they measure elevation in inches, no kidding.  It is basically a boardwalk on stilts that gives you a bit of a view of the park, 0.2 miles.

Our next stop was Mahogany Hammock which is basically another elevated walkway thru the jungle, 0.4 miles.  I now can recognize a Mahogany tree, they are huge and their limbs are huge, no wonder they make such nice furniture.

We got back to camp about 5:30PM and decided to take one more spin on the scooter before we loaded it up. We rode up to the beach north of the campground.

Again, the wind was cranking, June almost got blown away. So instead of walking the beach which is not that nice anyway, we took the Guy Bradley trail thru the underbrush. It was another good walk but not a lot to see, it came out at the visitor center and once again we had to double back, I hate that.









We took a number of short hikes today, nothing that was hard, everything here is flat, but they added up to about 8 miles of walking. When I loaded the scooter, we had put 35 miles on it, not a lot but it was pretty handy for the short trips.

Our overall impressions of the Everglades are that it is a good place to visit for a few days but unless you are into wildlife photography or kayaking, it is just flat land hiking. Our impression may be tainted by the high winds and somewhat poor weather.  It is apparent from touring this place that it has seen better times. Much of the infrastructure is in disrepair, the campground has a section that is not even mowed, it is huge but unused. I am unsure if someone had grand plans and the people never came or at one time it was a “the” place to visit, but it clearly is not now.  That being said, we do not regret in the least coming here, it is a unique part of our country and I doubt we will ever see anything like it again. The campground itself is very nice, large sites and the people were really nice.

We returned to camp for showers and adult beverages before dinner, life is good.

Day 8, Sunday March 8th - Onto the Everglades.

Sunday we drove from Vero Beach to Everglades National Park. It was another easy drive.
We arrived at the Park around 3PM but had another 40 miles inside the park to drive before reaching our campground, the Flamingo.

On the way to the Flamingo we stopped and did a few short hikes. The Anhinga trail is about a mile walk on board walks over the marsh with good viewing of lots of birds and alligators. The Gumba trail is about ½ mile walk in the jungle. 









The temperatures were around 70F with strong winds.

The Flamingo campground is near the visitor center at the southern most tip of the Everglades. The tent sites are near the water and you can even rent an Eco Tent fully furnished for about $100/night. We got an RV site with electric. There is no WiFi or Verizon service in the south part of the park, we are roughing it.







After dumping our tanks and reloading fresh water, we unloaded the scooter and started exploring.  I hate to complain, but it was still chilly.  Unfortunately we arrived at the Visitor Center just after they closed (we assumed they close at 5, not 4:30). Looking around the bulletin boards etc, it was apparent much of the activity for Sunday was canceled due to the high winds we have been experiencing.  We hope this is not the case on Monday.

Before dinner we walked around the campsite and chatted with some of the campers. We even ran into a couple from NY state who just came from KW, he worked for a few years at IBM Charlotte, and when he worked for Mobil Oil he spent time in Westport and Port Henry, NY.  I talked to another couple who said they we trying to get into Boyd’s campground in KW, we are booked there on T-W-T so I guess we were lucky.

Monday we will explore more of the Everglades and if weather permits we might get on a boat and take a tour.

Day 7, Saturday March 7th - Still Chilly

Saturday after a Cracker Barrel breakfast we left Hilton Head for southern Florida and warmer temperatures. Unfortunately, the strong wind continued and the temps hung in the high 50s and low 60s. Not the Florida weather we came south for, but there was no ice to slip on. On the plus side, it was a quartering tail wind (from the Northwest) and on this 300 mile leg we got just short of 20 mpg. It is amazing how much difference the wind direction makes when driving a vehicle with a large wind profile. So far our worst tank has been 17.2mpg and our best 19.9mpg.

On the drive we saw so many motorcycles headed south we finally realized it was Bike Week in Daytona. We attended this event in 2016, yes we did a blog.
https://jaquishdaytona16.blogspot.com/

We considered joining the Daytona Bike week with the scooter but reconsidered.

We drove as far as Vero beach and met up with Michele and Brian.  We then went to Fort Pierce and walked the streets, visited the Sail Fish brewery and had Dinner at the 2nd Street Bistro, another good meal.









It was a nice visit with Michele and Brian and they allowed us to "driveway surf" at their house.

Sunday we plan to move on to the Everglades National Park for a few days. It is my understanding that the Everglades has only AT&T cell coverage and no WiFi in the park, so we will not likely update this blog for a few days.

Day 6, Friday March 6th - An IBM gathering.

Friday Eric prepared a big breakfast for us, even though they don't ever eat breakfast. So we were well fed again!

It had stopped raining in the early morning but everything was soaked, so much for washing the scooter. We said our goodbyes and set off for Hilton Head.

The drive to HH is about 5 hours, it is an easy drive but there was plenty of traffic.

Our friends, the Colbournes, winter in HH. We visited them last year and wanted to drop in again this year. Rich arranged a dinner at the Crazy Crab on HH and included a few other retired IBMers we know who are in the area or visiting.  It was a great evening. Nothing like reminiscing about the old days of IBM with a bunch of guys who went through it with you. I continue to be amazed by the number of IBMers who have left Vermont and settled in the south. 

Included in the picture are Rich and Sandi Colbourne (standing in the back), Kurt and Tanya Carpenter, Michele and Tom Mitchell and Pat O'Connor.












After dinner June and I went just off the island to a Cracker Barrel to park and spend the night.  Saturday we will have breakfast at CB and continue our journey south.

Day 5, Thursday March 5th - A short drive.

Thursday, we had breakfast with the Keys, yes we mooched another meal. Both Ken and Patti had to go to work, poor buggers, and we set off to see June's nephew who lives a bit over an hour away. 

One of our friends who left Vermont about 5 years ago has relocated in the Raleigh area so we gave him a call, he lives on the way to Eric's, so another stop was added.

Ken was home since he works from home, but Victoria was working and the kids were at school.  We still had a nice visit with Ken. Ken runs a business he started when he left IBM, about 10 years ago.  He makes human powered generators. We got a bit of an education of what it takes to run a small business, it is a lot.

Check out his web page, he has some cool products:  https://www.k-tor.com/




After our visit with Ken we moved onto June's nephew's house and arrived about lunch time. It was cool (50s), breezy and cloudy. Not exactly motorcycle weather, but I decided to unload the scooter and give it a rinse anyway.

Eric owns a full bagger Harley and a new Honda Gold Wing, so of course I made him take the scooter for a ride.

He does look a bit like Jim Carrey, name the movie.

Of course I could not resist a ride on the new Gold Wing.  What a machine. Fully automatic, no clutch, rides like a carpet.  I think I should have one.










We spent the afternoon hanging with Eric, we even took his Kubota side by side for a spin.  Another crazy machine, 4x4, diesel engine, AC/heat, radio....it is like driving your car thru the woods.  Eric has the best toys!

Myra got home around 5ish and we decided to go out for Mexican, we went to La Cocina in Smithfield, NC.  It was very good Mexican food.

It was good to catch up with Eric and Myra since we missed them when they trekked north last summer.

Friday we will make our way to Hilton Head to meet up with more friends.

Day 4, Wednesday March 4 - Making old acquaintances

Wednesday we spent the morning with the Malloys, June even went to a Pilates class with Maribeth.

We took our time packing up and set off for Raleigh, NC a bit after mid day.  The drive from the DC area to the Raleigh area is about as easy as they get, great roads.

We travel past Raleigh nearly every spring and often stop to see family, but it never seems like the timing works out to stop and visit friends we have here. This year we decided to take the time to visit friends since they left the Burlington area, over 30 years ago.  So we arranged to meet Ken and Patty Key at their home in Raleigh.

We had a very nice evening catching up over dinner at Farina's, a nice local Italian restaurant. The Keys have a beautiful home and appear to really enjoy the Raleigh area. We even got to meet there youngest daughter, Kristen (she took our picture).














We enjoyed our visit, Christmas cards and occasional correspondence are no substitute for face to face conversation.  We are glad we stopped.

Thursday we will visit June's nephew who also lives in the Raleigh area.