Travels with Gunther and Kara

Happy New Year everybody. For New Years Eve; Connie got dressed up fancy and we went down to the pot luck at the park…really good food, a bottle of bubbly, and Connie did a couple of Karaoke numbers (Music of the Night from Phantom and You’re So Vain by Carly Simon). It was amazingly good considering she had never Karaoked before, didn’t have any music, and had never seen the actual words in the song before. The crowd lived it…after dinner we headed home about 2100 and watched the end of the Clemson-LSU bowl game. It was a pretty exciting game with Clemson winning on a last second field goal. LSU’s defense was winning the game pretty handily except that the LSU offense was pretty anemic and gave the defense no help at all. 

We got up about 0530 this morning with plans for a birding trip. Connie verified that her knee was feeling better then we headed off to Shark Valley which is located about 120 miles away from us in Everglades National Park. There is a 15 mile loop park road from the visitor center out to an observation tower and back. There is a tram that you can pay to ride the loop on; or you can hike; or (best idea yet) you can bike it which makes the day turn into essentially a 15 mile birding hike but without the long hike part. 

Warning; this is a pretty photo intensive post…but it’s the first really decent day we had a chance to get out and go birding since we got here.

We had some breakfast from the Golden Arches and a cup of coffee from home on the way over and got to the parking lot and headed out around 0845 or so. At that point the crowds were pretty small so we mounted up and headed out. Within the first couple of hundred yards of the flat, paved tram path we saw a male Anhinga sitting on the nest with a couple of chicks (which you can’t really see in the photo as they were down). Both the female and male share the nest duty.

and a Common Galinule (also knows as a Moore Hen) with it’s characteristic candy corn beak

and the Everglades staple, our first couple of gaters (or allagadah as Troy from the Swamp People TV show would pronounce it).

Notice how both of these guys are about 2 feet from the edge of the 8 foot wide tram path…these were both about 6 feet long or so.

Continuing down the path a bit we saw a couple of nice flowers

a male Anhinga drying his wings after swimming underwater looking for breakfast

and the counterpart female Anhinga (the female is the one with the brownish neck area).

Continuing on down the path we saw another gater

and then a couple of crows arguing over who would kill and eat the snake they had found

Finally the one with it in his beak solved the problem by declaring the meal to be takeout.

We were just about to ride out after taking these photos when Connie spotted a Great Blue Heron across the canal and partially hidden.

then a few hundred yards down the path we saw another Great Blue.

We had a hard time identifying both of these since they lack the characteristic crest behind the head that Great Blues have but after much looking at Petersons decided they were immature specimens lacking the crest.

Connie spotted some nice purple thistles

then we got to the observation tower where we parked our bikes, changed (Neil) out of bike cleats to something easier to walk in and had morning snack. We then headed off to the tower and Neil spotted a Green Heron near the walkway.

He’s a cute, spunky looking little guy.

From the observation tower we spotted a Wood Stork

which is a beautiful bird in flight but has a face only a mother could love and several more larger gaters around the pond.

We then mounted back up on the bikes and headed back towards the visitor center. By this time it had shifted from partly cloudy to a mostly sunny and beautiful day. Here’s another gated…this is a large 12 footer or so and as you can see he’s maybe 3 feet from the narrow tram path.

Continuing along we spotted another Wood Stork near a pond

and then a Great Blue Heron near a little hummock. Neil got a nice 3 picture sequence of it taking off and heading away into the swamp.

Then we saw a Little Blue Heron hunting lunch in a little water hole.

Shortly after that we got back to the visitor center, packed up the bikes and headed out. We were getting pretty hungry by this time (1330 or so) but didn’t see anyplace to eat for 40 miles where we finally saw and stopped at a Subway for a sandwich. Man did it taste good.

Right before we found the Subway we passed the Ochobee, Florida Post Office. This is actually a fully functional post office and serves 3 counties in the southwest Everglades area to this day.

That’s about it for today. I’m going to try and post something almost every day rather than sporadically as I did most of the past several months. The good news is that I’ll try to post every day. The bad news is that some of the posts will be daily life posts if we didn’t happen to do anything really interesting that day. I’m trying to strike a balance between giving our readers something new and posts that talk about having coffee, reading email, and having a siesta in the afternoon. Let me know in a few weeks whether you like the new post idea or the old post idea better.

Cyas.

The day after Xmas we just vegetated since we were still tired…Connie went to water aerobics and we laid in the Zero Gravity Chairs out under the awning in the afternoon…but after our leftover Xmas dinner for dinner we went down to the computer club here in the park. Neil was able to solve about 5 or 6 computer problems that various people were having then we came home and watched bowl games until bedtime.

Thursday we decided to get out of the rig for a bit after lunch. Connie’s knee is still a bit sore and her ear issues are still causing her some vertigo…and Neil still has a pretty bad cold and cant’ breathe very well…so we took a short trip over to the  Florida Manatee Park. Manatees (for those of you who have no idea what they are) are large aquatic mammals shaped sort of like a large seal or a walrus. They’re known as sea cows…they eat vegetation mostly…the live in Florida…and they don’t like cold. So…not liking cold in the winter time they tend to hang out in warmer waters. One such place is nearby us on the Caloosahatchee River. There’s this power plant that sucks in river water to cool the generators and such and pumps warm water back out into a canal that runs back into the river. The manatees hang out in the canal because the water is about 85 degrees year round and keeps them nice and toasty. Here are a couple of pictures we took of them…the ones in these pictures are probably 8 feet long and 1500 pounds or so. They’re big…they’re slow…and they’re not afraid of people.

Along the way Connie took some pictures of the flowers along the trail along the canal.

We also found a nice place we can launch the kayak for a parking fee of $5. It’s an entrance to the Great Calusa Blue Way. There’s another boat ramp on the Blue Way about a mile from our campground…our plan is to drop BAT off at the first one and take the car and the kayak to the one near Manatee Park and launch there. We’ll be able to get a 5-6 mile paddle through the mangroves and canals in the waterway and take out at the second boat ramp near the campground then go back and get the car. This way we can be going down river on the portion when we’re out of the backwater canals and hence not have to paddle upstream. It will cost us another $5 parking fee to drop off BAT…but that’s the way it goes.

Today we drove up to Sarasota to take a tour of the Sun N Fun Florida RV Resort. This is a much larger (1500 sites) resort than Seminole and is much more corporate and “resort-ey” but we’re thinking about staying there for a week when we leave here on the way up to AL to see Neil’s family. It was a nice park but is much more developed with a lot of things to do than Seminole is…and the sites are closer together…but it doe have some nice facilities. We might not want to stay there for an extended time but you never know…perhaps we’ll like a park that is more resort-ey. 

Tomorrow is cleaning day…the rig is getting kinda of dirty so it’s sweep, dust, clean mirrors, polish wood, clean toilets and all that stuff so we’ll have a clean house for New Years. Connie is cantoring at Mass on Sunday and we’ve got to make a fruit salad for the pot luck on New Year’s Eve.

Cyas.

Merry Christmas to all of our family, friends, and readers!!

Midnight Mass was a great success. Connie’s solo was wonderful and her duet was also pretty good. Carols started at around 2330 and Mass was over by about 0130. On the way home we continued a tradition we started in Fairfax a dozen years or so ago and stopped at Denny’s for breakfast. Neil wasn’t interested in anything too heavy so passed on all of their Slam combinations. Instead he ordered an English Muffin and a side of Sausage Patties. Put the two patties on the muffin and…voila, instant breakfast sandwich. He was still feeling pretty poorly with his cold. Connie had some eggs, hash browns, bacon and toast. We got home and into bed about 0200. Neil woke up about 0715 with all his cold meds and Advil having worn off so he felt pretty lousy. He took more drugs and slept in the recliner until 0830 or so when the adults had coffee and opened Xmas presents. There were hiking socks, new Swiss Army Knives, cutting boards, spices, slippers, running shoes, chocolate, cargo shorts, blouses, more hiking socks, earrings and pants. All was stuff we needed. Here’s a picture of Connie, Kara and me sitting in front of our Xmas tree.

We then made cinnamon buns for breakfast (not as ambitious as it seems…start with a package of Grands refrigerated biscuits and them mix butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon; schmear it across the buns and bake until golden brown and delicious. After that we took another nap then Neil went on a short bike ride…he struggled about 7 miles and then took a nap for an hour in the recliner outside under the awning.

For dinner we had marinated and grilled Lamb Chops (marinated in olive oil, rosemary, garlic, and balsamic vinegar) along with some baked sweet potatoes and a cream corn casserole with bacon, onions, peppers, cream, and parmesan cheese. Dinner was really, really scrumptious!! We bought a bottle ($5) of of Fontera Merlot and it was amazingly good for the price. We have enough leftovers for dinner tomorrow. Here’s a picture of our dinner (actually it’s a picture of the leftovers the next day; but the leftovers are the same as the original dinner since I forgot to take one yesterday).

Bryan and Jen called and talked to Connie while Neil was asleep in the recliner outside in the afternoon. He missed talking to them but got all the news from Connie when he woke up.

Dessert later is the date balls we made yesterday with ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream.

Connie’s knee is improving a bit since she stayed off of it today and yesterday pretty much. Hopefully Neil will be on the mend by tomorrow or the next day.

Tomorrow will probably be a lazy day and then we’re planning on heading up to the Sun and Fun Resort near Sarasota for a tour on Thursday or Friday; we’re thinking about stopping there for a week after we leave here just to check out a “resort” experience and see if it’s worth the extra cost for what you get. We have our doubts but until we try it we’ll never know.

Cyas.

You know…for being retired and not going on any hikes this has certainly been a busy month. Friday we spent the day wrapping Xmas presents for each other and in the evening we had the Xmas Pot Luck here at the park. Everybody brought a dish to share…Neil made the same potato casserole he’s taken to the last 3 (4 now) pot lucks since it always disappears. Boiled potatoes mashed just a bit. Mix them with some crispy fried bacon pieces and caramelized onions, add a little cream and cover with cheese and Panko bread crumbs for crunchiness. Quite yummy. Others brought ham, roast beef, salads, pulled pork, and some really yummy meatballs. Here are a couple of snapshots from the party; the last one is of the carolers that came in to serenade us. Patti on the right is a workamper here at the park and the remaining ones are her family who live locally. Connie remarked on the way home that after singing carols many times at the Old Folks Home back before we left Fairfax that she never thought she would be the one getting serenaded!

Saturday was cold (well, cold for Florida)…there were two bowl games on TV…and Connie’s knee hurts so we pretty much stayed home. Sunday morning we got up and her inner ear/vertigo problem flared up pretty badly. She’s been staggering around like a drunk the past 2 days but doubled up on her ear drugs and hopefully it’s getting better. Between that and her knee that she sprained or something a couple of weeks ago going down our stairs she hasn’t been up to much. Neil woke up this morning with a cold and sore throat but we went ahead and did laundry anyway then he went on a run and we had lunch followed by a little nap in the early afternoon. 

We also made some dessert to go with our dinner tomorrow. We had these date nut balls at the pot luck the other night and got the recipe which I’ll put below in case you want to try them. These are really good so Neil decided to make them and we’ll warm them up in the nuker tomorrow and put some caramel ice cream on top of them.

Tonight is midnight Mass at Saint Andrews parish…we need to be there at 2300 for the pre-Mass caroling…Connie is singing both a solo (In the Bleak Mid Winter, one of her favorite Xmas carols) and also a duet with her friend Terri from the choir (Oh Holy Night)…she’s singing the Soprano rather than the Alto part since (a) Terri is the queen bee of the Alto section and (b) can’t sing high enough to hit the notes in the Soprano part anyway.

Tomorrow’s dinner is going to be grilled Rosemary marinated Lamp Chops, baked Sweet Potatoes and a corn casserole that Neil hasn’t invented yet along with a bottle of Merlot we got from Winn Dixie the other day along with dessert as I discussed above.

Anyway; here’s the recipe for the Date Nut Balls…I’ve included both the original recipe as well as the modifications we had to make since we had to wing it a bit on the ingredients.

Date Nut Balls

1 c butter

2 c sugar

1 lb chopped dates

1 c chopped walnuts 

4 c Rice Krispies cereal

Mix all but the cereal in a pan and bring to a boil; cook 2-3 minutes. Stir in cereal. Let cool until it’s tool enough to handle and then roll into balls about 1 inch in diameter. Put on wax paper to cool and when cool roll in confectioner’s sugar then put in an airtight container to store. Yield about 50. Will keep for a week or so as long as it’s cool.

Neil made a couple of modifications. First he cut the amount of each ingredient by a factor of 4 since we only wanted a dozen or so of them. Second; we don’t eat Rice Krispies so (since amounts were quartered) he needed 1 cup of cereal. He used 1/2 cup of granola cereal we keep for mixing with yogurt and 1/2 cup of plain quick cooking oatmeal. The final consistency turned out more like a really dense oatmeal cookie then the original ones; but we all think they taste better. Third; he added a little salt; taste the mix when done cooking and add a little salt if it needs it. Fourth; we don’t generally keep real sugar on hand but we do keep Splenda no cal sweetener on hand. Splenda swaps one for one with sugar and worked fine for us.

Quartering the recipe works just fine; so one could also halve or double it depending on how many of these little balls o’ goodness you need to make. 

The recipe also says to bring to a boil and cook 2-3 minutes; we mixed everything together in the pot and it was way too stiff to boil so perhaps leaving the cereal out until the end will make it boil. Be careful it doesn’t burn.

That’s about it for now; got to go and think about dinner so Connie can have a little nap before she needs to get ready to go to church.

Cyas.

Still not much going on here. We have received all of our various packages for Xmas presents for Connie and Neil except for on; Connie went off to the gold dealer in the park today and bought some earrings and a pinkie ring, and Neil went on a bike ride.

After that we had siesta out under the awning for a couple of hours then went to the Elks Lodge for dinner. We’ve been going there on Tuesday nights for Bingo but went today for Tacos and Beer. Taco Bowls wee 4 bucks each, came out with bowl and meat and you added your own condiments,  and Neil said it was the best 4 buck dinner he’s had in quite awhile. Several patrons at the bar said the fish fry on Friday nights is just as good…we’ve got a RV park pot luck tomorrow but already have Elks Lodge for fish on the calendar for next Friday night.

Weather is pretty tough the past couple of days; highs in the 80’s and lows in the upper 60’s. Tomorrow night it’s going all the way down to a bone chilling high 40’s followed by Saturday daytime temps only in the 60’s. Luckily it’s going back up some starting Sunday.

We got BAT back from the Ford dealer yesterday…turns out the truck itself is OK but the sort of half baked way that New Horizons hooked up the after market electrical stuff was causing the battery drain. It only took $773 to set things right; Neil put it down to that whole “starting up the RV lifestyle” thing and we’ve moved along.

Connie finished working yesterday for 2 weeks. The college is officially closed until the day after New Years so she officially can’t work until then. She’s going to keep track of her email answering and stuff and put it in later…Neil suspects that she’ll have at least 4-5 hours total stored up by then so it’s not like she’s answering email for nothing.

Tomorrow we have to figure out the Xmas dinner menu. Grilled Lamb Chops are already on the menu but the rest of it is up in the air at this point. Neil and Connie will put their noggin’s together tomorrow and figger it out.

I’ll take a couple of pictures the next time we’re at the Elks to put in the blog; it’s a nice lodge with friendly people and cheap beer so how can you go wrong.

Cyas.

Today was supposed to be a fun day rather than a work day but Connie’s knee is still hurting a bit so we decided to forego an actual hike and just scout out some areas for potential hikes and kayaking down the line. So about 1100 after reading the paper, catching up on emails, and the like we headed west on Bayshore Road right outside our campground headed for Little Pine Island and Big Pine Island. It’s about a 10 mile drive over to them and they sit right on the west coast of Florida north and west of Fort Myers itself. LIttle Pine Island is a nature preserve but it looks like the whole island is pretty much some sort of restoration area and it doesn’t look like there is anything really worth seeing there.

Continuing onwards onto Big Pine Island we drove to both the north and south ends of the island. We found a couple of sections of the Florida Birding Trail that look like they’ll make decent hikes and birdwatching and also scouted out a couple of places we can launch the kayak for some paddling.

Besides the Pine Islands there are a whole group of other mangrove islands, narrow waterways, and the like that will provide some really decent paddling…protected from the open Gulf of Mexico so it will be calm but still open enough and large enough to allow decent birdwatching.

The highlight of the day was lunch though. We stopped at this place called the Ragged Ass Saloon and had a couple of beers along with Fish and Chips (Connie) and a Fish Sandwich (Neil). We took advantage of the ability to get cornmeal fried instead of beer battered and fried and it turned out to be a pretty decent lunch. After that we headed home for a siesta; then ate some chicken and potatoes for dinner and Connie headed off to Bingo Nite at the park.

We discovered yesterday morning that the batteries on BAT were completely dead despite only sitting parked for 2 weeks since we last drove it. After a jump start under the Ford Roadside Assistance program we dropped it off at the dealer yesterday afternoon. We got a call back today that the batteries and alternator are fine but that the power connections for our air hitch, camera system, and tire pressure monitoring system were incorrectly hooked up by the people at the New Horizons factory resulting in excessive battery drain. It will all be fixed tomorrow but will cost us most of $500 to get things all back to the way they should be.

Our final bit of news is a bit of a kerfuffle with the New Horizons folks over some warranty items on our rig. Nothing major; but we discovered our gray tank level indicator is faulty and we’ll have to coordinate a repair job at an RV dealer in the area. In addition; we’ve discovered that our mattress is (a) not what we ordered and (b) way too hard. While we think that New Horizons should handle this under warranty as it was their screwup…I can tell already that it’s going to be hard. We’ve already been referred from the Service/Warranty Manager back to our Sales Rep so Neil put in an email to Cole today to see what the deal is. Next step will be a complaint to Phil the owner if no action is forthcoming.

Sorry no pictures today…since it was just a scouting expedition and it was overcast most of the day anyway there just wasn’t anything worthwhile to take a picture of.

Cyas.

Not much going on this week…Connie did some work…Neil did laundry…they went to Mass on Sunday; pretty much a do nothing week here at Seminole Campground.

We did go on a hike yesterday to the Caloosahatchee Creeks State Preserve…not much wildlife but at least it was a nice hike through the woods and on the boardwalk. We heard a Red Shouldered Hawk but couldn’t find it in the trees to take a picture.

We had a nice 2.5 mile hike through the woods and over the boardwalk and through the woods but with the exception of hearing the Red Tailed it was pretty much a bust bird and creature wise.

Neil did get a shot of Connie on the hike.

And he took a couple of pictures at the “Swamp Overlook” but the only thing it really overlooked was the factory in the far distance.

After that we finished the hike and headed home for a shower. Dinner was a simple one of pork and noodles. Saturday we again lazed the day away and had a nice dinner of Cheese Ravioli with Bacon and Garlic. Sunday we (you guessed it) pretty much did nothing again. After Mass Neil went on a bike ride while Connie went to the pool…he joined her after his ride and they snoozed in the shade, worked on her sewing, and read books on the iPad until it was time to come home for dinner which was Mexican Glazed Chicken with Rice and Black Beans. Yum again. In fact; we had pretty good meals ll this week. Tomorrow it’s another work day for Connie and Neil is headed of to Costco to buy some meat and staples they’re out of. He’s also got to get hot on ordering Xmas presents for her.

Cyas.

This post is photo intensive; we went on our first southern FL field trip to see the birds and got carried away. Friday we finally were done with all of our chores around the rig and Connie was done working for the week…so we got up early and after a quick stop at Chik-Fil-A for a breakfast buritto headed off to Immokalee, FL for a visit to the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. We made many a trip over to this sanctuary back during our college days at the University of Miami…but this was the first time we have been here since 1976 or so.

Upon our arrival we discovered that there was a prescribed burn taking place in part of the sanctuary That wouldn’t have been so bad if it was just a burn but as time would tell there were other issues during the first half or so of our 3 hour hike around the 2.5 mile boardwalk in the sanctuary.

After paying our entrance fee we headed out and the walk started pretty quiet and void of bird watchers. Neil got a shot of Connie on the boardwalk right after they started.

and shortly afterwards the spotter plane showed up. He spent most of the next hour and a half circling again and again and again right over the sanctuary; usually at 300 feet altitude or less. Neil was pretty convinced that he was deliberately trying to scare all of the wildlife away. The water was still pretty high though; the waders will be more prevalent in a month or so as the levels drop to the winter and they get into the nesting season.

As a result; the grand total of wildlife for the first half of the hike was a buttterly and this White Ibis that conveniently landed on the boardwalk railing right in front of Neil.

Finally; the spotter plane must have run out of gas so he went away and shortly afterwards the wildlife and our moods started to improve. First up was a Great Egret near the walk

and then they saw this Pie Billed Grebe; it’s really rare to see one of these very close up as they are really a skittish bird.

Right after that there was another Great Egret (also known as a Great White Heron) again conveniently perched on the rail. Neil got some really good shots of the early stages of the mating plumage followed by a shot as it launched itself into the air from about 20 feet away on the railing.

along with a little flower Connie liked near the boardwalk.

Next up was an Anhinga drying his wings after a fishing trip (this bird dives and swims underwater hunting fish for food.

Next up was an open lake area called Lettuce Pond; and they really hit it big here. Although the pictures are pretty far across the pond they saw a Black Crowned Night Heron

and immediately to his left Neil was able to get a Kingfisher and a Yellow Crowned Night Heron in the same frame.

The Kingfisher is center top and the Yellow Crowned is center right in the picture although both are pretty hard to see. Seeing Night Herons in a tree in the daytime is even rarer than seeing a close up Grebe.

They also saw a Blue Gray Gnatcatcher

followed by a Baltimore Oriole

and a Striped Mud Turtle and small gator near the far side of the pond.

Finally, right before they left the Pond a Red Shouldered Hawk landed immediately over their heads, scaring all of the smaller birds off; she then flew off into the woods hunting easier prey I guess.

At this point we were almost 3 hours into the hike so we started back for the parking lot. Unfortunately this group of old ladies power walking and jabbering to beat the band passed us up and pretty much scared all of the wildlife off for the last half mile or so of the walk.  They did see a pair of Red Bellied Woodpeckers

along the way along with what they thought was a Yellow Shafted Flicker but Neil somehow didn’t get a picture of that one.

Getting back to the car we headed the hour or so home for lunch followed by some of Connie’s Something Different Meatloaf recipe (Neil makes it but Connie invented it when she unknowingly thought right after they were married that substituting Graham Cracker crumbs for Cracker Crumbs in a meatloaf recipe would be good. Turns out she was right and it’s the only meatloaf recipe they’ve made for the past 36 years.

We ordered some new stuff for the rig this week…the wheel covers to protect them while we’re parked came in and Neil installed them. They have a new water filter setup and an outside table to set their drinks on coming next week.

Tomorrow it’s off to Mass at St. Andrew Parish for Connie’s first day singing in the choir here in Fort Myers; then we’re off to Marker 92 Waterfront Bar and Bistro for her birthday dinner.

Cyas.