One Week Out

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Shelly and I celebrated our first week on-the-road yesterday. We toasted our cups to successfully arriving at Big Cypress National Preserve, drinking fresh Florida orange juice of course! We’re staying at Monument Lake campground, which seems to be a well-kept secret as not too many people are here. Winter is south Florida’s busy season so keeping away from crowds isn’t always easy. Today’s high temperature was 81 and the low was 65, YAY!



The van, known to some as the Gypsy Outhouse, gracefully rumbled south toward warmth and good company. First, we visited Lizza and Ian in their nice apartment in North Decatur. They were wonderful hosts and tour guides. We cut daffodils from the yard (blooming in January?, perhaps a global warming perk!). About 2/3s of the way down the Gulf coast in Englewood, we visited Jeanie and Paul and their cute little pup Bonnie. My friend Karen was staying close by so we had fun with her too. We spent an afternoon at the Ringling (as in circus!) complex in nearby Sarasota.



My first night’s campground in Florida was O’Leno State Park. It was a cool spot, one I would go back to and stay in longer. According to my travel guide’s five star rating system it ranked:

Beauty – 3 stars (I would give it a 4)

Privacy – 3 stars

Spaciousness – 3 stars (I had a nice big campsite, so maybe a 4)

Quiet – 3 stars (it was 6 miles from the I-75, but I could still hear it)

Security – 5 stars

Cleanliness 4 stars



My plan is to keep going south, all the way to the lower tip of the Florida peninsula, to Flamingo campground in Everglades National Park. I have almost 2 weeks before I visit Barbara and Randy so I’m hoping to enjoy the outdoors and write. Shelby is hoping to meet a loggerhead turtle. Both of us got really excited when Jeanie introduced us to a gopher tortoise! Shelby keeps practicing his mutant ninja turtle moves to defend me from Burmese pythons in the Everglades (good thing I brought him along!).

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