Later Gator

My flight and luggage were late, leaving me precious time to get to the Everglades.  This pressure, on top of the complications of driving a car all by my lonesome, kept me awake after what felt like endless travel.

The drive to the Everglades is harmless – or was until I realized I was no longer in Miami, but in the Deep South.  I hadn’t really considered the fact that I was driving into a Southern Swampland.  Appropriately, this realization occurred at a McDonald’s drive through where I was getting a 64 ounce diet coke to keep me company on my drive.  I ended up being sandwiched between a giant pick up and suburban with huge American flags and pictures of guns all over them.  I would have taken photos but I was afraid to.  Instead I laid low, grabbed my drink and went much more cautiously on my way to the River of Grass (Side note:  This would make a great name for a coffee shop in AMS).

It didn’t take too long to get there and my first stop was Shark Valley.  They have a nice 20 mile bike ride through the swamp.  My latest Buddy was a piece of crap but we made it through without being eaten by a gator.  Didn't take me long to figure out that gators are allowed to roam free in this park which was a bit shocking.  So I just kept peddling until the end - no need to stop and get to know the locals!

When I first saw the gators, I thought they were fake.  They didn't move at all and I could walk up and touch them if I wanted to.  Apparently there are signs warning you to avoid touching the live animals, but I missed that.

This park was empty.  Usually I love this!  I hate crowds.  But with wild animals everywhere, I was wishing there was more prey around besides just me.

Lots of big birds around.

I finished that up and tried to find an airboat ride that was still open.  Wasn’t easy, but I settled on this one.  Not because they had a Gator Platter featuring fried alligator, frog legs, and roadkill for only $20, which was tempting.  It was actually a great time to be on the water.

I learned how to wrestle gators which, like meditation, may come in handy some day.

I really didn't want to do this, but it was like a requirement of the tour.

This is Ed, he's my airboat captain.  He was really nice, but reminded me that I needed to leave.

Driving out of the swamp at night was not one of my favorite travel activities.  There have been few, if any, times traveling alone when I have been scared, but being in the Florida swamp with a bunch of big dudes with guns and gators did not make me feel comfortable and I was bummed I had to stop for gas.  It didn’t help that I was missing my family and wishing they had been with me on my Everglades visit.

After more than 36 hours, I made it to my hotel and then slept for 11 hours.  The gators wore me out.