We spent three wonderful days in Clewiston with our friends Tom and Debbie. Despite some rain and come chilly weather we had a great time. The RV park left a bit to be desired but when you are with friends nothing like that matters. Tom had an electrical issue with his RV and eventually he got it worked out. We ate one night at a Cuban cafe, ‘Cafe Tropicana’ which I give vey high marks, great little place, so if you are ever driving through Clewiston, be sure to stop and have a cuban sandwich.
We also ate at the tiki bar at the Roland Martin Fish Camp Marina, another excellent experience, for a couple of reasons. The tiki bar was pretty cool, they allowed pets and the food was good. The main reason we liked this place was that we had stopped here back in January of 2000 in our little boat when we circumnavigated the eastern half of the US. The place was exactly as we remembered it.
We stayed at the RV park until Sunday and by midday we were on the road again, with some reprovisioning stops in mind, as we headed toward Royal Palm Beach. We were on our way to visit more old friends. As we drove along route 441/80 we noticed sugar cane growing just off the sides of the road, and distant fires where they were burning off the fields before harvesting the cane. We drove next to canals and headed down this side road and that, just checking things out.
For the next hour or so there was not so much as a gas station, we were in the middle of farm land. Soon though, we were moving back into civilization as houses and businesses began to appear. I found a station that sold diesel ($2.53 per gallon - a great price) and we found a Walmart and a grocery store, had a bite in the Doodle roadside, and walked the dog. We then made our way to Brian and Judy’s house right there in Royal Palm Beach.
They have a great place along a canal and a rather large dog named Ben. Harper was initially very intimated about having a 130 pound playmate but they worked it out and were soon having fun. It was so good visiting with Brian and Judy and their son Brian Keith. The visit was long overdue. Brian and Judy were our neighbors back when we lived in Rehoboth, and quickly became very close friends. We did everything together. Friendships like that can never be tarnished by time or distance, it was so good to visit.
We went out to supper that evening and out to breakfast in the morning before we turned the Doodle south toward the Everglades and Alligator Alley. We rolled down highway 75 (although I wanted to take a different route, this is where we ended up) and finally found our way to Route 41, Alligator Alley.
The scenery changed once again and now we were driving through a swamp jungle. Signs along the road warned us of animals crossing from turtles and alligators to deer and panthers. After another roadside lunch and a dog walk we headed for the ‘Loop Road’, a 24 mile dirt road through the Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve.
We had been told that the speed limit was 25 MPH but we slowed it down taking over three and a half house to make our way along this 24 mile route. We spotted alligators everywhere, and Ibis, and Herons, and Cranes, and Egrets and unusual flowering plants. It was a completely foreign environment, we loved it.
Even Harper loved to explore the roadside and all of the new smells. She travels with her nose to the ground. We did a hike on a nature trail, named Nature Trail, and Harper was very excited to poke in and out of everything. We saw a couple of alligators along the roadside that were absolutely huge, and only a couple of feet away..no barriers, just right there in a place where you could fall into and get eaten! It was awesome.
We had made reservations at the Burns Lake Campground, a part of the National Park Service, and our lifetime Senior Pass got us half price, $12 for the night in a wonderfully secluded campground in the middle of the Big Cypress National Preserve. We cooked up supper at sunset and watched the sky change color and the stars begin to appear. We were very secluded and far from civilization. The stars that night filled the sky like you never see back in New England - out west and far at sea are about the only places you see stars like that. I tried to get some shots but there was also an amazing mosquito issue. . .
Morning came early as we wanted to get to Sanibel Island before the beach crowds got too big. We got camp tidied up and everything back it proper places, had a quick breakfast and underway early. Harper got sick. Threw up all over Carol and the front seat and floor. We pulled over and got it cleaned up, but it was a delay. Harper seemed to feel a little bit better but just not herself as we rolled on down the road.
Then it seemed like one delay, small, but delays nonetheless kept us from getting to Sanibel as early as we thought we would. Sanibel is an island off of Fort Myers accessed by a long bridge, actually a series of bridges, that has a toll booth right at the beginning. It took us an hour to travel the last mile to the toll booth. After paying the toll, it was bumper to bumper, at a snails’ pace going across the bridges.
Once over the bridge we went down to the light house to find that there was no parking, especially for something like the Doodle so we headed back to the bridge and found a great place to park on one of the little island the bridge connects with as it heads out to Sanibel proper. We parked right on the beach, and had the place to ourselves. We spent several hours in the sun, walking the beach, finding shells and playing in the water. Harper was feeling better and played in the water too, well up to her chest anyway.
Since we were parked right there, we used the Doodles’ outside shower to clean up and rinse everything, even Harper got a nice warm bath. We headed back toward Cape Coral toward Van and Andi’s place that we had left a couple of weeks ago and where we are going to be for a few days, moochdocking once again.
As we approached the final toll bridge crossing from Fort Myers to Cape Coral, I couldn’t find my wallet! Panic mode activated! Carol paid the toll and said we needed to find the first ice cream stand and pull over to look for the wallet. She has her priorities. We did actually find an ice cream place, and they had a large parking lot. I looked everywhere. No wallet. I was in a state of complete despair when I found it on the dashboard, where I had put it when I paid the Sanibel bridge toll…all that panic gone to waste. Now it was time to get some ice cream. Harper and Carol shared a cup of vanilla with chocolate sauce. A little while later we rolled into the driveway and reunited with Van and Andi and their son Jeff, his wife Anja and the two cutest redhead kids in the world, Julia and Faye. After a wonderful supper prepared by Jeff, we sat and chatted well into the evening - until we all were about to drop off. We called it a night and turned in.
