Alligators!

Monday March 17…7:45pm

Had a great sleep last night. We’re thinking that Ruth and I might stop back at this nice little parking spot in Fort Lauderdale on our way back through to see Alex later this week.

But we were up at 5:30am this morning and we took Lindsey and Justin to the airport to send them back north. Ft. Lauderdale airport is really big, and it’s located pretty much right in the city. But the traffic system leading to the airport is really well designed. Had no problems getting in and out of the airport with the motorhome. After dropping them off, Ruth and I went to a nearby grocery store and checked the internet and did some grocery shopping while we waited for morning traffic to clear up.

We decided to head for the Everglades area. The Muccassue Indian Casino West of Miami has free overnight RV parking, so we headed in that direction. But it was still too early in the day to stop in there, so we continued on to an access road at the top of Everglades National Park. They have a paved bike/walking trail that goes a total of 15 miles/24 km’s into the swamp. Or, you could take a tram tour for $16 a person. So we bought a U.S. National Parks Annual Pass for $80 and immediately saved the $10 daily admission fee. Now, we have to keep track of how much we will save at various parks over the next year and see if it was good value or not.

We cycled the entire 24 kms. It took us 2 hours and 40 minutes, but that included a lot of stops to look at the wildlife. We’ve never seen so many alligators! We went on a little hiking trail and there was one blocking the path!  The biggest one we saw was about 10 feet long (the biggest they get is about 12 feet) and we saw a bunch of baby alligators that were about 8 inches long.

A big one

See his teeth?

Lots of babies...these guys are about 8 inches long.

Ruth on the 24 km pathway

More teeth

From the top of the observation deck.

Not going any further down this path!

Gasoline is expensive down this far. We paid $3.599 a gallon here. Only bought $58 worth though because it’s about $3.30 a gallon back in Ft. Lauderdale area.

We’re parked in a “primitive” (no services) campground called Mitchell’s Landing in the Big Cypress National Reserve just north of the Everglades. It’s just off the highway in between Miami and Naples. It’s free, but there’s not much to do here because there aren’t any dogs allowed on the trails.

This is our 150th night sleeping in the motorhome!

Total Nights Sleeping in the RV… 150

March Fuel $ 475.14

March Grocery $ 328.12

March Overnight Costs $ 89.00