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| A day before: it's coming... |
Maciek got a fever of course in the best place for that - just after we left civilization. Luckily having lots of drugs with us (suppositories for high fever and some patience we've earned over last three years) we managed to cure him in 3 days.
Then in the middle of nowhere (at the campground in Flamingo, Everglades) we chose the primitive site with no hookups. We learned, by the way, that the light in our trailer works on the battery, but the sockets don't. So we couldn't charge our netbok and we couldn't write. It wasn't so bad after all. We just enjoyed Everglades and finally we could sit in the evening watching the sky and the stars.
Everglades National
Park, is third biggest national park in continental part of USA, it’s at the
very end of Florida (except for the Keys, more about them next time). Wikipedia
says it’s the largest area of subtropical wilderness in the United States. From
Flamingo campground to the nearest town it’s about 50 miles (we drove 40 miles
just to send a text message …).
After all the RV resorts we stayed at it was a nice change. First of all there is much more space, RVs are not so close one to another, there is nothing but nature around (campgrounds we stayed at before were usually near a highway), and as the limit of stay is 2 weeks at the time / month during the year there are no permanent residents so there are no lights and lamps which may be pretty but they interfere with beautiful sky full of stars.
Age average is still pretty high and we still see some seniors at wheelchairs but to our amusement we noticed that over those last few weeks our perception changed dramatically: after short look around we agreed that this is a campground for active seniors, not those lazy ones like in RV resorts. Just a short explanation: what we see now as a lazy senior is one that goes for a walk in the morning, swims in the afternoon and plays ping pong or some other easy game in the evening. Active senior goes kayaking among the alligators in the morning and goes for a bike ride afterwards.
After all the RV resorts we stayed at it was a nice change. First of all there is much more space, RVs are not so close one to another, there is nothing but nature around (campgrounds we stayed at before were usually near a highway), and as the limit of stay is 2 weeks at the time / month during the year there are no permanent residents so there are no lights and lamps which may be pretty but they interfere with beautiful sky full of stars.
Age average is still pretty high and we still see some seniors at wheelchairs but to our amusement we noticed that over those last few weeks our perception changed dramatically: after short look around we agreed that this is a campground for active seniors, not those lazy ones like in RV resorts. Just a short explanation: what we see now as a lazy senior is one that goes for a walk in the morning, swims in the afternoon and plays ping pong or some other easy game in the evening. Active senior goes kayaking among the alligators in the morning and goes for a bike ride afterwards.
And finally our Eddie didn’t look
like a poor cousin. We could see all kinds of RVs, from fancy huge buses,
through C-classes like those that we initially planned to buy and even rebuilt
old school buses, to trailers of all shapes and sizes including cosmic
airstreams.
Everglades has a lot
to offer, from wathing birds, alligators and other animals, to motorboat trips,
bike ride and kayaking. A lot to choose from. We just looked around and enjoyed
peace and quiet - with kids, especially with one sick kid, we couldn’t do much.
However we recommend Everglades to everyone, especially to active and nature
loving travellers.
With kids it’s a place to rest from civilization. Everglades is not Dominican Republic, Americans won’t let 3-year-old in a kayak… and winter seems to be the best time to come here, weather was nice and there were just a few mosquitos (there are much more in the summer). It must be noted that there were not too many trees at the campground so in the middle of summer it must be really hot.
And going to Flamingo through the woods at midnight, in a fog, with shadows of animals running across the road every once in a while is unforgettable experience. We don’t really like horror movies but we remembered all that we’ve seen in our life. If our car broke, probably we would find a shed or an old abandoned house close to the road with a basement full of living dead or something would creep out from the fog. This is what civilization does to your head when you don't leave it for too long...
With kids it’s a place to rest from civilization. Everglades is not Dominican Republic, Americans won’t let 3-year-old in a kayak… and winter seems to be the best time to come here, weather was nice and there were just a few mosquitos (there are much more in the summer). It must be noted that there were not too many trees at the campground so in the middle of summer it must be really hot.
And going to Flamingo through the woods at midnight, in a fog, with shadows of animals running across the road every once in a while is unforgettable experience. We don’t really like horror movies but we remembered all that we’ve seen in our life. If our car broke, probably we would find a shed or an old abandoned house close to the road with a basement full of living dead or something would creep out from the fog. This is what civilization does to your head when you don't leave it for too long...
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