Everglades!

January 15 – 19, 2020

Sugarcane Burning

As we continue our Florida adventures we head southward, to the furthest point south one go on mainland Florida, The Everglades National Park! On the way we saw quite sight, the area was home to sugarcane fields and after harvesting the cane the fields are burned. We just happened to go through at the right time to catch it. After traveling several hours, we get to the southern entrance (there are three entrances into the park) Ernest F Coe Visitor Center and Park Headquarters. Beautiful visitor center with many displays telling the story of the Everglades, the plants and trees, as well as the multitude of wildlife. We think, ah, we are there... Well, almost, Flamingo Campground is 38 miles further south, southwest, deeper yet in the park. Driving along you can't help but appreciate the diversity of the environments in the Park. From forests of pine, cypress, and trees I have yet to identify, through grasslands, marshes, swamps; ever changing from one to the other. Looking across the “grasslands” with the hammocks of trees is an incredible sight. (A hammock is a stand of trees growing on elevated area surrounded by wetlands).

While staying there the awe we experienced watching the incredible variety of birds we knew and those we had never seen. Incredible. Flocks of Ibis, Egrets of many sizes, Hummingbirds, several different types of Herons, Pelicans, Wood Storks, beautiful Roseate Spoonbills, we even saw one day off in the distance, a flock of Great White Pelicans! Words fail me. Add to that seeing crocodiles, manatees, and even raccoons. The abundance of wildlife, I am in my glory.

Manatee!!

Yes Manatees, I saw manatees, watching them roll and well, play in the shallows of the marina area fascinated us, and yes made me giggle each time one would surface with a snout full of mud.

Mr Crocodile!

Oh bit of interest: The Everglades is the only place in the world you can find both alligators and crocodiles in nature, being a place where fresh water meets and mixing with salt water. Alligators prefer fresh water where as crocodiles exist in both.

It's interesting that ever place we go I get to learn about something new and fall in love. Here was no different, while I was truly awed by so much it was the Mahogany Tree that caught my special attention. So you can look to a bit of a write up on that soon.

Everglades National Park has two campgrounds available to RVs. Long Pine Key and Flamingo. Long Pine Key has no amenities and only cold showers. Flamingo has a combination of some sites with electric and some without. There is a dump station and water available for filling one's fresh tank, no water at the sites. There are several bathhouses with showers though only a couple have hot water heated through solar power. We had a site with no electric, so we got to “Rough it” for the time we were there, that's is if you considering living in an RV with a large fresh water tank, onboard generator, kitchen, and bathroom roughing it, LOL.

While there we had fun hiking, biking and being. While we didn't get to go on an airboat (airboats are only available at the northern entrance which is almost three hours away.), we did do a boat tour that was interesting, educational, and a whole lot of fun. Our tour guides were quite informative and quick to point out things of interest as they told the story of the everglades.

This is one of the many of my “Bucket List” places. I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to experience this wondrous place as well as all the many others I have seen and will be seeing as we travel. The beauty to be found in this great country of ours is so incredibly diverse and amazing, I will never be able to fully express the feelings and emotions, just seeing it, invokes in me.

The Everglades is a fragile environment found no where else. It depends on fresh water to survive and periods of severe drought can cause upset that could take years to rebalance. The Tribes that became the Seminoles called it Pahokee or Pa-hai-okee, Grassy Water, Early Surveyors called it River Glades, which later became Ever Glades. To see it, you understand both. When looking across it's vastness one might think of the great prairie lands with acres upon acres of Saw Grass, That is until one gets close and starts walking through it and find that grass is living in the water. We almost lost the Everglades to the ignorance of people wanting to develop more and more space for agricultural use as the area was considered wasteland, nothing but “abominable pestilence-ridden swamp”, good for nothing. UGH. As it is, with the draining that did occur thousands of acres have been lost. Fortunately, Nature has it's own ideas, and two catastrophic hurricanes caused the levees and dikes built around Lake Okeechobee at the north end of the Glades to go down, flooding the area once again. It was then that flood control became the focus, instead of drainage. In return, the freshwaters once again flowed into the Glades and slowly, nature was able to begin to restore the damage done. Of course, man once again decided they know best and built a dam to “Control” the waters of the great Lake Okeechobee. When a devastating drought hit in the 1930s, the Everglades and surrounding areas began to dry up allowing the salt waters in to the wells and waters of towns including Miami. With the Everglades becoming parched, came the fires, a million acres of the glades burned in 1939, causing smoke, ash, and black clouds of soot to cover Florida. It was after this that government started to realize the fragility and importance of this great area. In 1947, it achieved National Park status, though an area much smaller than it had once been. An uphill battle continued and continues as people want to claim more and more space for “progress” ignoring just what the consequences of said progress will bring for the future. Trying to find balance of the needs/wants of people with the needs of nature is a tough and difficult issue, not only in the Everglades but everywhere in the world.

Oh My Unfortunately we
 didn't see any of these!

Female Brewer's Blackbird  and what a noise they make!

Green Heron

Needlefish

Night Heron

Several of our Boat Tour

Great Blue Heron

Crocodile!

Osprey

MANATEES!!

And this is what happens when you don't clean up at night!

I love the tenaciousness of trees

The Perfect View for a Hawk

 A Wonderful Plethora Of  Bromeliads! 

Also Know As AIRPLANTS!

The Joys of Life, HA!

The Joys of Life, HA!

    So thought I'd catch everyone up on the continuing saga of trying to get the RV fixed. This all started back in August. We bought the RV beginning of June and all seemed well except the radio unit in the cab didn't work. Scott RV was to get us a replacement, of course, that particular radio was on backorder, seems we weren't the only unit that had a bad radio. Sometime end in July beginning of August, odd things started happening. The dome light in the cab would come on for no apparent reason, there would be a clicking noise in the cab and one of the messages would appear in the dash: passenger door open, the mileage reading would light up, and the electric locks would reset. These things happened randomly without any reason or rhyme. I keep saying I do believe we have a poltergeist living with us. We tried different things trying to puzzle it out to no avail. We made an appointment with Scott's, (and we all know what it is like getting a service appointment anywhere.) Just so happened the radio finally came in so, oh good, we can have both things taken care at the same time. Yeah No. This is now end of August, beginning of September. So we explain all the weirdnesses and everyone just kind of shakes their head with same puzzled expression. They figure let's install the new radio but for the odd electrical problem the unit will have to be taken to a Certified Chevy Service Center. Oh goody! You see the RV is actually two parts, the coach (Living Space) is under Forest River, Coachmen and the cab/chassis is GM/Chevy. Depending on were the problem is determines where you take it for service. Good Grief!

     Anyway, Scotts starts to replace radio and while this is taking place they notice a burning rubber smell and yes, smoke in the passenger door. YIKES! They open up the door panel to discover one of the wiring harnesses is melting. That doesn't sound right at all! They disconnect it tape it up and now we have to find somewhere to take it. Should be easy right, lots of GM/Chevy Service Centers in the Central Jersey. Well, that's true but very few are able to handle a 30' RV, and remember this is still under warranty so have to go to a Certified Dealership not just any where, After numerous calls to many dealerships, and including calls to Chevy customer service, we finally find Circle Chevy in Shrewsbury to be willing to check it out. Ah yes, let's see when they can fit us in. This brings us to Mid September, now mind you we are scheduled to head out beginning of October, yep we're cutting it close but hey still plenty of time to get it taken care of and we are willing to push back our travels.      Oh let me back up a minute and go back to my losing it at Scotts. You see after they took care of taping up the wiring harness, they proceed to install the new radio. All's well they tell us, all done. We get in the cab and start it up, turn on the radio to check things out and what do we discover No Sound? WHAT?? Just at that moment the service tech comes by and asks Every thing okay? I flashed him a look (yes, to anyone who knows me, That Look) and say. UMM No, the radio isn't working. Oh, yeah, he says, you won't have any sound do to the wiring issue. WHAT? And you didn't think to tell us this?? Rather an important piece of information isn't it? I was not a happy camper. Not because we had no sound but that no one told us and were just going to let us drive off, I guess figuring we wouldn't noticed. Mind you this is after the aggravation of the whole nonsense. Moving on.

     So off to Circle Chevy we go. They open things up and yep, bad wiring harness and it looks like it was installed incorrectly so the wiring was rubbing on the metal door aperture. Meaning each time the door handle was engaged it rubbed a bit more of the plastic off the wires until they shorted out. Oh goody that's just wonderful. No problem, they will replace the harness and rerun the wiring correctly. Sounds easy enough, right. Well, wiring harnesses aren't a part service centers usually have on hand so one will have to be ordered, they can get it the next day, Oh good we can bring it back in the morning and all will be well. Not so fast, Who remembers what happened in the world of GM on September 15? Any guesses? The Great GM Strike, with that all ordering has to be put on hold until???? REALLY??? Our only choices: Leave the RV at the dealership until the end of the strike; Have them disconnect those wires and bring it back when the part comes in. Well obviously, we can't leave it We live in it. So it has to be the second choice. When will they get the part? That is a good question because at this point there is no indication that the strike will be over any time soon. So here is what is decided: They go ahead and order the part, we head out as planned, with the knowledge based on what Circle Chevy tells us that when the part comes in they will ship it to whichever Service Center we can find in whatever area we are in. Ok this sounds like a good plan, the only things affected by the missing part is the speakers, which means no radio(no big deal there), no sound from signals, passenger door lock has to be set manually, and being it has power windows, we can't put down the passenger window. No Problem, we can live with this. So off we go a merrily.

    It is now November, we get the notice the part is in. Great, we will be spending time with family so perfect time to get it fixed. We put in a call to Circle Chevy to see how this can be arranged and also start trying to find a dealership in the area that can take care of it. We wait, and wait, and wait for a call back from either end. ELEVEN DAYS go by after repeated calls to the service tech at Circle Chevy and the Service Manager there. Finally, we get a call back, umm well, umm, we were wrong, that part can't be shipped without some blah blah blah blah. WHAT man it is a good thing we weren't standing in front of him and Paul was the one talking to the guy cause I am ready to flip out. And we never did hear from any of the service center in NC that we called. Not Good. Yeah well you have to go take it in to the service center, they have to write up a blah blah blah blah. Okay, so we decide to move on and take care of this in Florida where we will be for the month of January through February.

    Fast Forward, We are in Florida, we find a dealership, we take it in, no problem, we will order the part, and let you know when it comes in. An hour later, umm, we can't get the part because, blah, blah,blah but Roger Dean Chevy in West Palm Beach has the part in stock. Okay, so we make an appointment there, which means having to leaving the campground we are in and find one near the dealership because you have to be there 7:30 in the morning. Found a nice place, John Prince Park and Campground in Lantana, Fl. (more on that in later post.) Take it in and um, oh, no, we don't, have that part here, WHAT??? We'll order it. HA! Like we haven't heard that before. Again, oh we can't get that part because, Some asinine reason that makes no sense each and every time we hear it. Paul calls GM/Chevy Customer Service and even they can't figure out what is going on but Finally someone is willing to help us out. Manny, at customer service somehow cuts through all the bullshit and gets the wiring harness to Roger Dean's. Let me say, while all this has been and continues to be a total fiasco, we couldn't have found a better dealership/service center to have the work done. Kelly, the Service Manager is great, patience, understanding and has gone out of her way to help us. The tech guy, Phil, knows his stuff and is putting in the time.

     Okay so, Wiring Harness arrives, Phil puts it in, and UH OH, umm there seems to be another issue. The harness starts heating up as soon as connected. So now they have to trance the wiring back and around to find the cause. As they do this they find singed wiring under the mat of the passenger seat. And they continue to rip things out. Yep, looks like we will be here for a while! After many hours, they trance it back to the source (We hope). And now, before all you start saying yep, shouldn't have gotten a Chevy, and believe me, we were both on that bandwagon for a while. NOPE Not Chevy's fault. What was found? Some blooming idiot in the installation of the RV to the Chassis, while it appears having installed the wiring for the backup camera, when replacing the kickpanel on the driver's side just in front of the door, Finding he couldn't get it to fit right. Instead of replacing a damaged clipped, drove a screw through the panel right into that wiring harness!!! and, and painted the screw black so it wouldn't be notice! OMG! You can't make it up!

    So now, another wiring harness has to be ordered, and we are still here. Mind you, we find a comfortable hotel a mile away in which to spend the time. But let's face it, we are in West Palm Beach, they don't come cheap.

      Oh and now, it's not a Chevy warranty issue, so Kelly, wonderful person that she is, has to contact Forest River for approval to pay for this. I am so glad to have her on our side. Okay, so brace yourself, here comes Plot Twist number, umm I've lost count. Because we didn't take it to a Certified Forest River Dealership, they won't directly pay Roger Dean. This means we have to shell out the money and then fight for reimbursement. Goody, And funny note, they ask us at the Chevy dealer how do we want to proceed. HA Like we have any bloody choice, they have our home, with the cab seats, mat and wiring torn apart. What like we can say oh no thank you we'll take it home now?? I know, I know, they have to ask and get our approval to proceed, but Really?!?!

     So here we are yet another day, waiting “patiently?!?” while the new harness is install and all the wiring etc is put back together and here's the biggie, Fingers Crossed, that all is then well. YE GADS

Hopefully, by tomorrow, we will be back on the road. Totally crazy!!

Lake Okeechobee

January 9 - 14, 2020

Leaving Tomoka State Park we headed towards central Florida and Lake Okeechobee to stay at Summer Breeze. This was mostly a stopping point to our destination of the Everglades. The campground (well, if to call it that), is not really worth mentioning much. It has recently been under new management and isn't sure what it wants to be. What it has been is a 55+ Mobile Home Community, that has mostly seen better days. One quickly can tell,it has been around since probably the seventies, originally maybe even longer. It appears as the more permanent trailers are removed the sites become used for RVs, some traveling such as us and spending a month or less, though mostly seasonal stays. The people are friendly, and I would be interested in seeing where the new owners take it.

The highlight of the area is Lake Okeechobee itself. Known as Florida's inland sea, it is a vast freshwater lake over 730 square miles, it is among the largest freshwater lakes in the US. The name Okeechobee comes from the Hitchiti, an extinct tribe related to the Seminoles; Oki (water) and Chubi (big). Having man-made canals one can travel from the Atlantic to the Gulf traversing the lake in the midpoint. There is a 110 miles pathway atop the dike that surrounds the lake perfect for hiking and biking known as the LOST Trail ( Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail) with several mostly primitive camping areas. The wildlife is abundant and it is a birdwatchers paradise.

With this natural wonder right across the street from the campground, naturally, this is where we spent most of our time. Lots of walking and biking got done while we were there. We saw so many different birds, including Wood Storks, White Ibis, Pelicans, Anhinga, Herons,Limpkins; and yes, we even saw several Alligators.

As the wildlife was the high point of this spot, I will leave you with less words and lots of photos.

Till our next spot!

Dexter under the full moon!

Waiting for the fishing boat.

Anhinga drying it's wings

Osprey

Anhinga and Great Blue Heron in the trees

A Limpkin

Cattle Egret getting a ride

Pretty Little Yellow Flowers

Two Vultures just hanging out. 

Heron hiding in the grass

Great Blue Heron

Bike ride sighting

A Community of Birds

Pelicans and Wood Storks

Wood Storks

Red Shouldered Hawk

Some type of small duck

Green Heron

Kildeer

OOPS!! I think they missed

Why you may want to reconsider a place on the water!

Look He's Smiling!!

This last photo is of a Ball Moss. It is of the Bromeliaceae family like Spanish Moss and Air Plants. Having fine hairs that can adhere to anything including as in this case Electrical Wires!