The retired life of Greg and Dona: Flamingo Campground Everglades National Park

Mon Nov 18, 2013
Left Treasure Coast RV Park at 10:30 am. This was a really nice "resort". Too bad we couldn't have stayed longer.... We stopped along the way at a Whole Foods Marketplace and at a Best Buy. We decided to get a Verizon hotspot so we could have internet where ever we go (since we didn't have cell or internet at Ocala National forest). Our ever trusty Garmin GPS routed us on the Florida Turnpike which is a toll road but no toll booths to pay at. They apparently take a picture of the vehicle you are driving and then they send you a bill for your toll fees..... since we haven't gotten the title and license changed to our names AND the license plates we have on the vehicle were expired Greg was pretty adamant about getting off the toll road as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the GPS had an issue with us getting off of it's preferred route and so we wound up driving thru south Miami not around it. While Greg was driving and cussing I opened my new hot spot wifi only to see the map of service areas in the handout which didn't show any area south of Miami or west of Homestead...... we are going to the everglades (west of homestead) and to Key West (south of Miami)....what????? I, then began cussing! I couldn't believe I spent money for something that may not even be useful. I did get wi-fi reception past Homestead so called the campground we were headed to and made sure the gates would not be locked if we arrived after dark. All was good for anytime arrival! We arrived at our camp site at 6pm which sadly to say was too dark to check for alligators or crocodiles before we set up camp. I did NOT walk to the restrooms that night. Dinner was tortillas with hamburger and frozen /microwaved steak taquillos. AND we did not have verizon wi-fi for the 2 days in the Everglades BUT we had excellent GCI cell service! (GCI is our Alaska carrier).

Tues Nov 19
From our campsite to the visitors center/marina was 1.5 miles. We rode our bikes to and from 3 times today. Very hot and muggy. Lots of mosquitoes when there was no breeze. We tried to hike one of the trails but the bugs were so bad we aborted after about 50 yards. We rented canoes and rowed up one of the canals. Saw a couple of crocodiles but nothing else. We did see some kind of snake in the parking lot by the visitors center and a couple of bald eagles on a separate bike ride. It was really disappointing not to be able to do the hikes we wanted but we had a good time camping. Dinner on tuesday night was grilled shrimp kabobs and brown rice with beans and avocado.