Florida

Happy New Year to you all.  I hope you had a great holiday season and will have a great 2017.

Greetings from Florida, where I spent Christmas and saw in the New Year.

After the adventures (on Cumberland Island) that I shared in my last post, I headed south in the direction of where I was going to get my broken van window replaced. As I was hiking at Juniper Springs campground, I heard some scrambling in the trees -- a bobcat chasing after a squirrel. The squirrel took a flying leap into the next tree and the cat was distracted by my presence and started a stare down with me. After a while it got more comfortable, hanging a leg down one side of the branch. As I was watching the cat, the squirrel leaped back into the tree (death wish?) and came along the branch to within 6' of the cat's tail. I figured I had already saved the squirrel's life twice. The first time I passed this tree, earlier in my hike, 2 bobcats ran down the tree at my approach and ran away. I 'thought' it was bob cats but didn't get a very good look. On my way back past the tree one of the cats had returned to try to resume the hunt. I watched for a while longer to see what would happen on round 3 of the battle, but nothing did while I was watching since the cat was distracted by me. So I finished my hike, checking out the beautiful springs, and headed to my next destination.

The water in Juniper Springs was very clear and there were a few areas where water was bubbling up from below, where an extensive karst cave system exists.

From Juniper Springs I headed south to SW corner of Lake Okechobee, where Sherry and Gary spend their winters -- the folks that first put this idea of life on the road into my head, 6 or so years ago during one of my hiking trips in Utah. They spent 2 years exploring, equipped with an RV trailer, bikes, and kayaks. We had a great visit for 2 days; I went biking with Gary and birding with Sherry and we shared many fun stories. Somehow I failed to take pictures of them, but here's a picture of the Christmas parade of decorated golf carts, as they made their way through the RV resort, collecting donations from the residents to donate locally to families in need.

My next stop was Savannah Recreation Area where my campsite was alongside a canal system. I deployed my inflatable kayak to explore, and got a little bike riding too. The sandhill cranes were quite bold. When I first saw them I wondered if they were tame or had their wings clipped, but they could fly. Other pairs of cranes came and went, along with a plethora of other long-legged birds (egrets, ibis, and herons).  Only the cranes (presumably the same pair?) strolled through the campsite, perched on picnic tables, and foraged in the mowed grass of the campground, oblivious of the people. When they were pecking aggressively at acorns, within 5' of my feet, I decided to leave since my bare toes in my sandals might have looked similar to the small, elongated acorns. 

I'm not sure what these eggs are, but globs of them were adorning grass blades along the canal system.

After getting my van's broken window replaced, I headed north to the Daytona Beach area for my "Alaska fix".  I met up with Marc, Geoff, and Tango Larson, and their families for Christmas. It's been many decades since I've been a part of a 4-generation family gathering. I spent just over a week there -- a record-long stay for me since I started my wandering 4 months ago. Thanks to the Larson and Bradley clans for making me feel like part of the family. 

We didn't see manatees (they'd headed for the warm springs already), but we did see dolphins on our kayak outing, including some spinner dolphins that treated us to aerial acrobatic displays.

After leaving the family gatherings, I departed the Atlantic coast of Florida and started my westward migration. Enough of this heat and mugginess (though it did drop to 39 degrees one night).

Sunset on "Ocean Pond" (freshwater) in Osceaola National Forest. I camped here on New Year's Eve and night, and enjoyed a 6 mile hike and 19 mile bike ride around the lake.

I'm now on the Gulf of Mexico side of Florida. Thankfully (!!) the heavy rain and thunderstorms, and potential for tornadoes that are happening tonight, are a short ways to the west of where I am tonight as I write this.

I haven't figured out my route west, or my time frame. It will be partially determined by when/where I can get some minor medical things taken care of.  One of the challenges of life on the road -- figuring out what providers are in my insurance network that are along my way. But once I get those details taken care of (and my van need some doctoring of its propane heating system too), I'll be able to focus solely on fun again. Although I usually try to avoid big cities, I've never been to New Orleans and it's 'on my way'. So I might get brave and tackle that as I make my way toward Texas and Big Bend National Park to get back to more ambitious hiking than I'm finding in Florida. After that, I'll head to New Mexico and Arizona -- there are several sets of friends I hope to catch up with in AZ. Hopefully I'll find good places to land for several weeks at a time for good hiking and biking.