On to Flamingo

It was late morning before I left Robbie Kennedy and his alligator friend's and began my crossing of the everglades. In actual fact, at this point, Highway 41 crosses the everglades through Big Cypress National Preserve. However, "Big Cypress" seems like a huge misnomer, the scenery more crossly reflects the Everglades

National Park than it does any "Big" Cypress.

Although, officially the Everglades were still a few miles the south, it was already difficult to discern the point at which the everglades truly begin.

I had been told to look for Krome Avenue and then turn south toward Homestead. Surprisingly, the directions proved good and shortly after making the turn I found myself in Homestead.

It was again decision time, I needed to decide whether to travel south for Key West or turn west once again, and travel the short distance to Flamingo. Actually, although I had been told that there was nothing to see there, I knew that it would be impossible for me to not make the trip to Flamingo.

The rode to Flamingo takes you through the heart of the everglades, where the "River of Grass" (as the Everglades is often called) truly comes into its own.

Perhaps, once again due to the fact that it is in the midst of the slowest tourist season of the year, that the traffic is almost non-existent. There are, however, numerous turnoffs to various ponds and sites along the way. Despite the fact that the area is bounded on both of the two lane highway with the ubiquitous "river of grass" there are also ever-changing stands of dwarf cypress and other areas of dense foliage.

At the information center to the Everglades National Park, I picked up valuable information about the "must see" areas of the park, and also, learn that the park rangers are resentful of any disparaging references to the everglades as a "swampland" (trust me, "River of Grass" is the more respectful term).

With over 360 recorded species of birds in the everglades it is impossible to not be impressed, and is further, quite difficult if not impossible to not try to capture that one great photo.

After taking numerous diversions, I arrived at the Flamingo campground at approximately 5:00 PM, just in time to set up camp for the night.

For the first time I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were more tent campers than RV's, but still, mine was the sole motorcycle.

It was too late to do anything more than just set up tent; and although it was December, the mosquitoes didn't seem to take heed.

Therefore, after a short "evening meal" at the marina (the sole option), I took an early refuge from the mosquitoes, climbed into the sleeping bag and went to sleep out of shear boredom.