Collier-Seminole day 2

This morning we hiked the only real trail in the park. Some of it was an old road bed that allowed cars to go to a ferry and cross a channel over to Marco Island. We saw a River Otter on that road. It's pretty swampy around here so in order to get material for a road bed they had to dig up the muck on both sides of the road and pile it where the road is going to be. There are ditches on both sides of the road that are filled with water. I shudder to think what the bug situation is like in the summer. That hike was 3.5 miles. The Parks namesake, Mr. Collier, owned a lot of the land around here and this part of his property had a significant grove of the Palm Tree that is in the pic. (Cuban Royal Palm)

He deeded it to the state to protect it and here we are. We had lunch near the park and then drove onto Marco Island. It struck us as pretty upscale. We move tomorrow to a boondock campsite in Everglades NP. Cell coverage might be iffy.

Collier-Seminole State Park

This park is near Marco Island and not far from Naples. We are getting very close to the big swamp. Our campsite is right across the street from the bathhouse which has a washer and dryer. We were in need of those appliances. Anyway, that's pretty much all we accomplished. There is only 1 trail in the park and our plan is to hike it tomorrow. We are here for 2 Nights. The high today was 75°.

Lake Manatee day 3

We were visited today by a couple of Mobil RV mechanics. We are fairly confident about what is broken. What we wanted from these guys was for them to tell us what wasn't wrong. They had the equipment to check all of the electrical connections and fuses. All of those were good. We are pretty sure now that we have a bad inverter. Our workaround is working so we are full speed ahead. The scenery is not very interesting around here. A lot of sand, palmettos, pines and oaks. We move tomorrow.

Lake Manatee day 2

Today was our first shorts and T-shirt day. It started out in the mid 50s and was above 70 for most of the day. I got out on my bike for an hour or so this morning. There are some equestrian trails that I somehow ended up on. I had a map but none of those trails were on my map. I was somewhat confused as to my location. I had my trusty GPS and it saved me. I don't mind being lost as long as I'm eventually found. Jenny and I did a hike right before sunset so that she could get her exercise quota in. Not sure what killed those trees. We are having a Mobile RV repair guy coming by tomorrow. We are hoping he can at least diagnose our electrical issue. More tomorrow.

Lake Manatee State Park

We are not too far from Bradenton which is not too far from Tampa. Today was the first day that we have had heavy traffic and confusing roads. That bridge is called "The Sunshine Skyway Bridge". It goes over Tampa Bay. The lithium ion battery charger worked great last night. We woke up to 13.3 volts, which is about as high as it goes. We rode around for about an hour after we got set up and had lunch. The high temperature today was 72°. I took off my sweatshirt and traded it for a T-shirt. We are here 3 nights.

Cedar Key day 2

I need to mention this eventually so I guess now is probably a good time. We have a problem. The house batteries don't charge while plugged into the 30 amp pedestal. The house batteries die at night because the solar panels don't work too well at night. That means no lights and the toilet won't flush. The AC stuff works so we have heat but we have been forced to start the Diesel engine every morning and run it for an hour to get the batteries somewhat charged. I have talked to several people about this and a light bulb came on in my head after a tech I talked to this morning asked me a question. Do you have a battery charger? I do but it won't charge Lithium/ion batteries. I got a new battery charger and we're thinking that workaround is working. It seems to be working. We hope it's working. We'll know tomorrow morning. Those pics were taken in that park during a hike as we tried to close Jenny's exercise rings. The trail was a firebreak road with 6" deep sand. It was a wonderful experience. We move tomorrow.

Cedar Key

We drove around the big bend of Florida pretty much following the coast. We are a few miles out of Cedar Key in a commercial campground. After we got set up we headed into the island for a late lunch. We did notice as we drove here that more and more hurricane damage was evident. Trees down and roofs blown off. Cedar Key was wholloped. Most of the businesses are shuttered and many of the buildings are a tangled mess. We talked some with the waitress that served us lunch and she drew a line on the wall that was head high where the water was in the restaurant during the storm. It's going to be awhile before Cedar Key recovers. I took that pic in the parking lot of a dollar store where we stopped for something. More tomorrow.