Quiet Days at Big Cypress

After Saturday’s adventure, we relaxed on Sunday.  Tom and I cleaned the Jeep after we got home from Church,

and then we gathered at the pool in the afternoon for a couple hours before the Superbowl pizza party in the clubhouse. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a beautiful afternoon at the pool!  Lynn and Dave, since they arrived on Friday, didn’t get signed up for the pizza party, so Tom and I attended with Paul and Cindy, and some of our neighbors.

It was pretty loud in the clubhouse (not the best acoustics in there), so instead of watching the game there, Paul & Cindy invited Tom & I, and Dave & Lynn over to their motorhome to watch the game and enjoy some snacks – a really nice evening with good friends.

The rest of the week fell into a nice routine – Tom would spend most of his days visiting with neighbors and working on little projects, while I was working.  When I have a little free time, we try to get a short walk or bike ride in, and on Tuesday afternoon, I made sure I had enough time to go to the ice cream social with the rest of them!

When I’m done with work for the day, we all gather at the pool for an hour or so before dinner – what a great way to end the day!

We’re in the center of the major agricultural area of Florida – surrounded by orange groves, sugar cane fields, and cattle farms.  One afternoon, the sugar cane fields were being burned, and the smoke was creating the most interesting clouds!

Paul and Cindy were leaving on Wednesday, so Tuesday evening Lynn invited all of us over for apple pie.  Oh, it was really good!  Another great evening with friends!  We said our good-byes to Paul & Cindy, but we’ll see them again in May at the Holiday Rambler/Monaco Maintenance Rally.

We are restricted in where we can go on the reservation, but there is a loop that we can ride bikes on.  At lunchtime today, Tom and I checked it out.  We went left out of the campground, and then followed the gravel road that follows a small canal.

We saw a guy from the campground walking his dog, and he told us about some dead alligators in the canal – apparently somebody had cut off their tails and thrown the bodies in the canal.

We spotted one of them as we rode our bikes past.  Poor guy!

It looked like this vulture was deciding if it should feast on the poor alligator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We reached the large canal and turned right towards town.

To the left was a residential street, but we’re not supposed to go that way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We rode along the large canal, spotting several great blue herons, white egrets, and glossy ibis, until we reached the highway.  There’s a large convenience store on the corner, so we went in to check it out.

They have a good grocery selection, but as usual when you’re the only store in town, the prices were pretty steep.  They also had a lunch counter that was pretty busy, and a small Seminole Gift Shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We crossed the bridge over the canal, and headed back toward town.

Compared to most of the Indian reservations we saw out west, this one looks pretty prosperous – we saw the schools, medical offices, public safety offices, and other government facilities, and all of the buildings looked pretty new and in good shape.

We finished our day at the pool again, and even got rained on for a couple minutes!  That was a result of a cold front that came through late this afternoon, pushing out the humidity. 

It’s supposed to be a little cooler tomorrow (if you can call high 70s cool!), so we’ve got a fun adventure planned – stay tuned!

Ending our day with a beautiful sunset!