Deep Into The Everglades

We spent twelve days on Chokoloskee Island, deep in the Everglades National Park!  We took daily side trips via bicycle or Silver to closer experience the abundant wildlife and flora. The animals varied in size from ten foot alligators to the tiniest of tree frogs and the waterways and skies were filled with a huge variety of birds. The mangrove and cypress domes were captivating!

One trip was in a 6 person John boat as far into the mangroves as it could take us. Our guide told us about the variety, habits, and nests of the birds above and those standing in the waters, including osprey, heron, pelicans, ibis, egrets, and anhinga.  He described the mechanism the mangrove trees use to stay nourished during periods of high and low water levels.  Because the trees stand on a sandstone base they are not able to withstand hurricane winds so they interlock their roots with that of neighboring trees.....a natural team effort to survive!

While in the mangrove, we felt that we were intruding in the pristine, mysterious world of the wild!To look ahead into a canopy tunnel of trees and see alligators and wading birds scattering was magical!

A bicycle trip took us to a still standing 1800's general store used by the local swamp people and the trading Seminole and Calusa Indians. The store owners slept above the store, situated on the shore, so they would be available day or night, depending on when customers would arrive by canoe or raft. We learned of the school children, then... being picked up via a boat and taken to a school in the swamp.  During swimming in the river for recess, one child had to sit on the bank on "alligator watch!" 

The zebra butterfly, tiny tree frogs, and spiders were especially interesting.  Ty took a half day bike trip along the waterways and was really captivated by the insect world!

We biked into Shark Valley, named after a river, not sharks, during the week after Christmas, There were soooo many families on vacation.  The area is most attracting due to the large number of alligators within five feet of the trail and to watch the stupidity of people trying to get a "close up" of an alligator was frightening!

The special people we met during these two weeks included Jack, a wheelchair-bound man with Parkinsons, celebrating Christmas eve with his family. He stated while looking up at Janet, in a soft spoken, stammering voice "there is nothing better than being with friends and family while eating freshly opened oysters on Christmas eve."  He had a huge smile!

Another was B. Little Eagle, a basket weaver who set up shop near the post office.  She was part Cherokee, Pueblo, and Apache.  She and Janet visited daily during our coffee breaks. She is a teacher in various school settings on the ways of Native Americans.  A most interesting person with a sweet personality!

The last was a guy from Georgia who pulled up in a small 1980 Toyota pickup truck.  I told him I liked his ride and he replied that it got better mileage now that I had cut off the back half of the camper topper that was mounted on it.  "It's got all I need in it."  The side  of the truck advertised "Bear Publishing".  What a character!

We are now on beautiful Sanibel Island near Ft Myers for the New Year Holiday.  We will bring the New Year with Jim and Kathy, friends from Colorado!

Janet has some thoughts of the end of the year and beginning of another..... After watching the Today Show on 2011... So many natural disasters out of our control, too many man made disasters within our control! Remembering special examples of quiet, gentle strength....Ty's Dad and Grandmother, Janet's Mother, Inessa's Grandmother...those lives rooted in seldom heard words.... Respect, Decency, Honesty and Integrity!  Like the cypress anchoring others with interlocked roots... nature's eco-system teaches us daily how to coexist.  Can we learn from this vast school of teachers and the simple lessons of nature and evolve into better people in 2012?

Thought:  Time is the school in which we learn.

Funnies: Ty's brain is so relaxed from not working he asked for carrots and celery for lunch and instead said celrets and cary!

All the photos were taken in the wild!

South Miami, Little Havana!!

One day this week decided to take a scenic route to Miami searching for Little Havana! Little Havana is an area in southwest Miami which was established during the Cuban Revolution in the '50s, populated by Cubans and also South American immigrants. Soaking up the culture as evidenced by the hand-making of Cuban cigars, the historical Domino Park where local men and women play dominoes, checkers, and chess and have since the 50's. Sat at a local cafe sipping on Cuban coffee "much like Expresso" and sampling their special pastries and people watching which was the best! While sitting there Janet noticed a small Cuban or Hispanic man walking towards her with a W.W.II cap on, after taking a good look he was an Army Veteran. He noticed her attention to his cap and he smiled and she properly saluted him. He smiled even bigger! That was special to her and hopefully to him!

We both noticed how the men were taking a daily morning walk with a special friend and while talking and also laughing they would touch each other on the shoulder or back! Ty noticed men carrying large camera equipment and chased them down asking what they were there for! They responded "an upcoming story was being taped for the Travel Channel about Little Havana". They were filming a man who was selling coconuts off the back of his pickup truck. He cracked it with a meat cleaver while holding it in his palm, dug out the top and inserted a straw and handed one to each member of the filming crew! He used great skill with this cleaver!!! You could also tell that this made his day knowing that this would be shown on the Travel Channel!

One of the goals of this blog is to tell of our interactions with people of this great country! While we were trying to parallel park Silver a meter-man assisted us and gave us 2 hours of free parking. Another couple stepped out into heavy traffic just to assist us in backing out of a difficult place!! While driving home some people at a traffic light motioned to us holding up a sign saying that they were Bronco fans and smiling! They asked where we were going and we asked them where the turnpike was and they said, "Just Follow Us!"

For our knowledge about this day, we googled The Bay of Pigs later and about the Cuban Mission Crisis which both occurred during our childhoods and were mentioned in the little park on signs and a statue.

"The Funnies"
To battle insects in Silver, Ty purchased some old fashioned fly tapes which farmers used to hang over their kitchen tables during the 50's to catch flies. The only thing trapped in the tape was Ty's face, arm, and neck on three different entrapments during the middle of the night!! This was a total cost of $2.00 for entertainment and the damn thing went quickly into the trash!

A Poem by Janet!
Closed my eyes thinking about the condition of blindness,
Opened them
in full appreciation!
Looking up into the Mangrove tree branches....
The sun had tinted
each leaf's tip
with silver!

Thought for the day on Ty's 65th Birthday from a birthday card from Janet.

The world is grand, awfully big
and astonishingly beautiful,
frequently thrilling!
D. Kilgallen

After two weeks of rest in Key Largo, Silver has been watered, fed, and groomed and ready to head out again! The next road will take us deep into the Everglades through Christmas.

WHY THIS SABBATICAL

After several trips to Europe we decided it was time to see the USA, as Orville Eaton used to say, the greatest country in the world.  We decided to try our hand at blogging but needed a name.  Cherish The Freedom came to mind as we have the freedom to travel and to celebrate the freedom fought for by our parents and family.  We decided to name our Airstream Sprinter RV "Silver" after the Lone Ranger's horse, not the Silver Bullet beer, recalling our early tv days.

Our first week of travel was from home to Key Largo, Florida.  Our first night camping was totally alone in a canyon in Texas, rather spooky.   The next campsite was also by ourselves.  The second found the spirit of Orville in the form of  an ole yellow lab (maybe Ole Yeller)  lying near the furrnace exhaust of Silver, warming himself and protecting us during the lonely, dark night.

It took three days to cover Texas as we only traveled 300 miles per day.  Louisiana brought out the best of the welcoming party,  Charlie,a  big old bearded  baby boomin boat dock builder in coveralls  greeted us at
a diesel fill up in the parking lot. He introduced himself,  tipped his head to Janet saying, "how ya doin" mam.
Before we left he came over to give us his business card and said to call him anytime if we needed anything
Janet had some qualms about Louisiana but we felt fearless knowing we could call him at anytime if someone decided to mess with us.

Mississippi united  us with our son-in-law, Drew's parents, at a state park. We had dinner together, a special time.

We arrived in Key Largo after 8 days of 2500 miles, only 200 on the interstate, which meant seeing the true USA.

We have been here a week now and  met two more characters.  Steve, a local coffee shop guy, has been quick to share his political thoughts, even though rather extreme, and his dog Bonzi who barks at the site of the UPS truck.  He begins to do his three tricks for a biscuit from the delivery guy.

We have been pretty lazy this week, sleeping late, biking to town daily for supplies, meeting neighbors, and saw our first Christmas parade of decorated boats on the bay.

Thought for the day: "all things great are wild and free" Thoreau

Funny:  Janet now uses bug repellent as her new cologne.

John Pennekamp State Park Key Largo Florida PEARL HARBOR DAY

We are beginning our travel blog and have never done one before so this is sort of a test.   More to follow once we are done experimenting.