Down to Flamingo and Mosquitos

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Flamingo Campground, Everglades National Park

Yesterday was a driving day, but not a really long one, only about 140 miles. We went east on the Tamiami Highway (US 41), past Shark Valley and across the top of Everglades Park. To the south of the highway is the park with the natural slough trying to do its thing, to the north is a long full canal taking water to Miami and depriving the Everglades of whatever runoff it was supposed to get. I understand there are efforts to restore at least part of the natural flow, and there is a lot of construction going on. Maybe it will be enough to keep the Everglades water machine working, I don't know.

At the northeastern corner of the park you catch a Florida highway and proceed south down through Miami exurbs of Homestead and Florida City. There was a lot of small agricultural stuff between the highway and the park, farmers markets and plenty of fruit stands. On the eastern side there were signs of developments as the Miami suburbs are spilling westward. We saw billboards advertising land for sale at the 'bonus price' of $99,000/acre. I know we won't be buying one of these lots anytime soon.

Stopped at a roadside shack advertising 'Gator Bits'. After seeing the alligators threatening to eat you, I guess this is payback time where we get to actually eat them. Joan had the 'Gater Basket' and I did the 'Gater Stir Fry' which had grilled bits of meat with onions and peppers served over a cumin and turmeric yellow (Cuban?) rice. We each got a serving of grilled plantain on the side. The Alligator meat had a mild flavor but was kind of tough to eat - maybe with a different preparation it would be better, but I'm not sure we'll be doing alligator again. I liked the vegetables and rice, though - very tasty and distinctive.

Once into Florida City, we made a right turn onto another Florida highway and drove back into Everglades National Park. The skies were a little threatening, and it sprinkled rain for a few minutes, but this is still the dry season, so no real deluge yet. We continued on down the highway another 40 miles until it ends which is at Flamingo Campground.

This is a huge campground with over a hundred campsites for RVs (and who knows how many for tenters.). We have a 'premium site', which means it has electricity. But water isn't available at the site and neither is a sewer connection. And neither is much shade. I suspect the electrical connection is required to run air conditioners which you pretty much have to do all night long.

I'm not certain, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Flamingo is the furthest point south on the mainland US. (The southern tip of Texas might beat it). But one thing Flamingo can definitely claim is being the mosquito capital. Located down here in the mangrove forests, we know that there are some 40 species of mosquitos nearby.

In Theodore Roosevelt and Yellowstone, they have posters talking about the dangers of the bison; at Glacier they talk about avoiding contact with bears. Here the posters are all about mosquitoes - they are the local menace. Regardless of how hot it is, you should wear long pants and long sleeves and use plenty of bug spray. The camp ranger who checked us in told us that we will find that this is an 'indoor campground' between dusk and dawn when you will simply be eaten alive if you stay outside. (No warnings about Zika mosquitoes here though, which is moderately comforting). Hence why you keep the A/C running 24 x 7, and hence the need for an electrical connection. We took the dogs for a short walk yesterday and, in just a few minutes, Joan got bit all over everywhere. (I'm not sweet enough, so they don't come after me as much.)

Another goody that comes free with this campground is absolutely no telephone service. That means I won't be making my posts until we can get back to civilization. No phone calls here either, which I kind of like.

This is all important because we are going to be here for a week. We intend to finish our exploration of the Everglades, take a couple of down days to rest up, and also include two visits to another nearby park. So we will just have to learn how to deal with the mosquitoes. (17.1.25)

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Photos

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Lunch spot

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Campsite at Flamingo

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A sea grape tree

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The Girls Just Hanging Out