After leaving South Florida Everglades, swamps, marshes and mangroves we arrived in Naples, Florida. We are back amongst traffic and people for the first time in 7 days. The weather has been getting cooler as we made our way heading north on Tamiami Trail (41).We spent the day touring Naples with our friend, Greg came down from Fort Myers to visit with us. We had a list of places to see in and around Naples as we headed north to Fort Myers. We had a beautiful sunny day, took in Naples Botanical Garden. Time went by quickly, not realizing we spent 3 hours looking at the massive gardens and exhibits. This truly is a must see when in Naples.
 |
| Phalaenopsis Blume, commonly known as moth orchids, is a genus of about seventy species of plants in the family Orchidaceae. |
 |
| Dwarf Powderpuff |
 |
| Beautiful water features throughout the garden |
 |
| Quail Grass |
 |
| Queen's Wreath |
 |
| Waterlily |
 |
| Orchid |
We drove over to Naples Pier, overcrowded with tourists on the beach and along the pier. Not a favorite ours for Naples. We left the populated area of Naples for Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park where a very large storm formed off the coast and moved directly towards us. We ran to the RV and hunkered down while it passed over head. The temperatures dropped 10 degrees, making it cool and very comfortable. After the storm settled back to the beach we went and watched a windsurfer out on the waves. Captured some really cool photos of the storm and surfer.
 |
View off Naples Pier |
 |
| Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park |
 |
| Vanderbilt Beach storm |
 |
| Windsurfer back out after the rain |
Even though Keith and I had been to Sanibel before is was a nice stop to be on island. First stop J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. The history of the Claus Indians, shell mounds, wildlife, mangrove hammocks, birding, hiking and canoe trails make this space special and a must stop for anyone. We hiked a little over 5 miles within the park.
We took a detour to Captiva after the park, we got lucky that the sun was setting as we got to the beach across from The Lazy Flamingo. The sunset was impressive with the glow of oranges, reds and yellows across the Gulf waters.
 |
| Sanibel Causeway |
 |
| View from Fort Myers to Sanibel on the causeway |
 |
| Indigo Trail 1.72 mile hike |
Easy hike along partially shaded natural trails for biking and hiking. Scattered bird life can be seen in the trees above the water. Really nice preserve, one of our favorite places to go.
 |
| Golden Silk Spider |
 |
| Blue-winged Teal |
Once we finished the Indigo Trail, we returned to the rig and drove to the end of the park as the sun was starting to set. There was an observation tower to look over the water at the birds settling in for the evening.
 |
| J.N. 'Ding' Darling National Wildlife Refuge view from the tower |
 |
| Great White Heron at sunset |
We learned that 5,000 years ago the seas stabilized forming barrier islands. Estuaries, where freshwater mingles with saltwater, devloped between the barrier island and mainland. The Calusa culture developed on the island as a highly sophisticated socitey, organized under a single ruler. It was one of the few societies in North America that reached such an advanced level without agriculture.
There is so much to learn about the people that were here in the U.S. before colonialism. Vast amounts of knowledge can be gained by traveling and seeing the country. We were hiking Calusa Shell Mound when we found the above information, we completed .5 miles.
We had time to drive over and explore Captiva before we drove back over to the mainland. Stopped at The Lazy Flamingo and ran to the beach to grab a photo of a Captiva sunset.
 |
| Sunset on Captiva Island |
On day 3, 21Feb of our Florida Coast, Gulf of Mexico route heading to the Panhandle. We drove to Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve in Fort Myers. (The Six Mile Cypress Slough boardwalk takes you through about 80 acres of the nine-mile long, 3,420-acre slough. About a third-mile wide, the slough is a wide, slow-moving river that eventually empties into Estero Bay.)
This Preserve is really impressive meandering boardwalk through the cypress trees, along ponds and dry areas. Birds, turtles, butterflies and a cottonmouth. This was a fun place to photograph the park and wildlife.
 |
| Osprey nest on top of a parking lot light |
 |
| Cypress Trees |
 |
Six Mile Cypress Slough
|
 |
| Keith on the Boardwalk 1.3 mile walk |
 |
Double-crested Cormorant and turtle
|
 |
| Cypress Slough |
 |
Grackle
|
 |
| Cottonmouth hanging out just under the boardwalk |
 |
| Snow Egret |
 |
| Swallowtail Butterfly |
We made it to Matlacha, very old artsy Florida that has gone touristic. With the wind and sun tourists got in their cars and away from the beaches. The Wild Child, George’s Aunt’s store was closed but he recommended CW Fudge. We bought some fudge.
 |
| This is a very historic rich old Florida area |
 |
| WILDCHILD GALLERY |
 |
| Very colorful with old Florida campy color |
 |
| Cool wall art |
Next place Google decided to have a meltdown and took us too far from the actual point of interest. We instead drove to Manasota Key for the sunset. We slept the night near a Planet Fitness.
Woke the next morning and cruised over to Venice Area Aububon Rookery, a photographers dream of nesting water birds. Spent about 2 hours getting photos while Keith was working.
 |
| Great White Heron |
 |
| Great Blue Heron |
 |
| Fledgling Great Blue Heron chicks |
 |
| Great White Heron |
 |
| Anhinga |
We were making our way north along the coast to see Jeff and Ray in Pinellas Park. Stopping first at The Ringling Museum and Fine Art Museum in Sarasota. This was a remarkable museum on the circus, the gardens are reminiscent of European royal gardens on large estates. The fine arts museum is on par with many of the finest in Europe.
 |
| The Ringling Estate |
 |
| From the moment you step in the door, its the circus |
 |
| Wall art |
 |
| Beautiful display of handmade carved models |
 |
| Ca'd'Zan House of John and Mable Ringling completed in the mid-1920's. The mansion and the John and Mable Ringlig Museum of Art, surrounded gardens were bequeathed to the State of Florida in 1936. |
 |
| The museum grounds are reminiscent of the Getty Museum in Malibu |
 |
| The gardens with Italian statuary |
 |
| Roses just starting to bloom |
We spent 3 days with Jeff and Ray before we went to Glaedr and sailed with J. and Barry for a couple of days. We hiked a lot and were outdoors every day hiking Weedon Island shell mounds and trails. Ray and Jeff had so many places they wanted to show us. Toured Fort De Soto, walked the ruins of Gulf Pier Fort buildings, that housed the soldiers and services for the military. Drove to North Beach and enjoyed the beach.
Everyday we took a hike at Freedom Lake, Jeff would water the community garden box they have there. We watched some older men operate and compete with their remote control sailboats, take photos of the bird life around the lake.
We took a trip to The Narrows at George McGough Nature Park in Largo, where we saw lots of owls, turtles, birds and flora, put in 1 mile hike. We all went to Seaside Seabird Sanctuary, recommended by Debbie Long and Pat Allee, rehab home for many seabirds in Indian Shores. We had a great time with them touring St. Petersburg, good home cooked vegan meals, as well as going to Lemongrass and La V Fusion.
 |
Weedon Island Preserve
|
 |
| Fisherman entering the river |
 |
| Cumberleaf Sunflower |
 |
| North Beach at Fort De Soto |
 |
| Beach near the barracks ruins |
 |
| Snowy Egret |
 |
| Kite surfer off the beach at sunset |
 |
| Beach evening-primrose |
 |
| Remote control sailboats competing on the lake |
 |
| Red Tasselflower taken with telephoto lens |
 |
| Flamingos under the brugmansia in the Sunken Garden |
 |
| Flamingo grooming |
 |
| Bottle brush flower |
 |
| Waterfalls feed the koi pond |
 |
| Butterfly Watercolor |
 |
| White Ibis at Freedom Lake |
 |
| Ray, Jeff and I took a ride and hiked around Dunedin |
 |
| HOB Brewing Co. wall art |
 |
| Jeff, Ray, Keith and Wayne at Lemongrass. Great Thai cuisine |
After we left Jeff and Ray in St. Petersburg we arrived in Orlando, staying for 9 days. We wanted to see the "Floridian Roomies" before we headed west and made some plans for them to join us at some point. It was great to be back with Josh and JP. We walked a lot, we even went to a Car Show, walked downtown Orlando to The Loading Zone Philly Steaks then around Lake Eola and Eola Park. Spent a lot of time chatting and watching some good movies.
 |
| Lake Eola, Orlando |
 |
| Big shiny red car at the Ritz Carlton Auto Show |
 |
| Chrome Jaguar XKE |
We left Josh and JP to get our first COVID shots at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. We got there a half an hour early, went right through got our shots, waited the required 15 minutes then left for Hudson, FL as we start to travel north and westerly to the Panhandle.
 |
| Received our first of 2 shots |
We stopped in New Port Richie and boondocked that night the Planet Fitness there. The following morning we left for Cousin Joyce's and Tia Maria's home in Hudson. Was nice to see them both, we had lunch with them. As usual, Joyce out did herself. She made pork loin, ravioli with broccolini and soup for lunch. Another outstanding feast. We spent most of the day catching up on family and things.
 |
| Lunch at Joyce Nunn's |
We had French Toast with bacon, fresh fruit and coffee for breakfast, saw cousin Doreen, cousin Meghan, Greg and Penelope stopped by to say hello before we left at 16:00 to continue the journey. There is nothing better than visiting with Cousin Joyce and Tia Maria, we really enjoy our visits.
 |
| Breakfast in Hudson |
We started heading north and west towards Cedar Key on 19/98n. We stopped at a couple of iOverlander sites to boondock but the areas are now marked with NO Camping and No Overnight Parking. Updated iOverlander added description to the application that these sites are no longer available for boondocking.
Drove to Cedar Key, underwhelmed with the area. No place we could boondock. Driving in was pretty but not worth trying to stay.
Stopped at Shell Mound County Campground off CR326 at site 22, primitive campsite. First come, first serve.
We woke to boats coming in to use the boat ramp. Had breakfast and coffee then we took a hike along two trails within Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge (Shell Mound and Dennis Creek Loop Trails). Fascinating history of the Indian heritage that took place here and the building of the Shell mounds.
 |
| Cedar Key |
 |
| View from Shell Mound near the boat ramp |
 |
| Hiking Shell Mound nature trail in the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge |
 |
| Shell Mound Hiking trail |
 |
| Dennis Trail |
We left Shell Mound heading north on CR347 then took CR330 to 19/98 in Chiefland. Keith was able to get his hotspot running to do some work before we continued on toward Port St. Joe along the Gulf Coast.
We had a really nice day, we decided to boondock at Bald Point State Park in Panacea, FL after checking out Alligator Point. Really nice State Park with sugar sand beaches, marshes, sea grass and tidal waterways.
Alligator Point is the narrowest part of the barrier island. We could not find a spot there to overnight, so we went to the trail head for Bald Point and stayed the night. Quiet evening the Sheriff’s truck came in, used the port-a-potty then left.
 |
St. James Island, Ochlockonee Bay
|
 |
| Beautiful views from Bald Point State Park's beach |
 |
| White sugar sand dunes and beaches |
 |
| Just walking along the beach with our friends |
 |
| Alligator Point |
 |
| Sunset behind the RV along the trailhead at Bald Point State Park |
It's day 33, 23Mar we wake in Bald Point State Park, Panacea, FL grab our coffee and camera. We walk across the peaceful, quiet road to the beach take a seat and watch the sunrise bringing a new and wonderful day.
 |
| Sunrise on the Gulf of Mexico from St. James Island |
Drove on 98 to Port St Joe passing through Eastpoint, Carrabelle, Apilachacola staying along the coastline. Had breakfast near the lighthouse in Port St Joe. We really enjoy driving the coastal roads and staying off the major interstates to see the countryside and coastline.
After poached eggs for breakfast I walked 3 miles along the beach, pier and Bay Walk. Keith stayed behind working for a little while before we set off to continue our travel.
 |
| Beach Evening-primrose |
 |
| Port Saint Joe Lighthouse |
 |
| Willet and Sandpiper Port Saint Joe Lighthouse walk |
 |
| Laughing Gull |
 |
| False Rosemary |
We set off for St. Andrews State Park, real gem of a park with white sand dunes and beaches, hiking trails and bird rookery at Gator Lake.
 |
| Enjoying the pine cone |
 |
| Pied-billed Gebe |
 |
| St. Andrews State Park beach |
 |
| Keith at the beach |
 |
| You looking at me? |
We parked and had dinner then set our sights on Panama City Beach, there were no spots along the beach but we found Panama City Beach Conservation Park on iOverlander to boondock. They had a place to get filtered water, so we filled our bottles with fresh water. The evening was quiet, no one else around but use and wildlife. Mostly frog croaking all night.
The next morning there was some rain, on and off but I was able to get in a 5 mile walk while Keith worked in the RV all warm and cozy. Hiked at PCB Conservation Park, what an awesome find. Even with drizzle most of the hike it was peaceful and full of life. Took some photos of birds, flora and cypress pond. Crossed two boardwalks through Cypress Pond, some muddy spots and flooded areas but easily to figure out how to cross.
 |
| wet marshy area |
 |
| Walked along the edges |
 |
Spring growth
Baxley Homestead trail
|
 |
| Cypress Swamp |
 |
| Common Gallinule |
 |
| A little rain on the flowers |
 |
| Cypress Pond Trail |
 |
| Cypress Pond in the rain |
 |
| St. John's Wort during the rain shower |
We crossed the rest of Florida to FloraBama then onto Orange Beach, Alabama to see Chuck and Jay. We are so excited to see them, we spent the month of December into January with them. Took us 34 days to go up the west coast of Florida to Alabama.
 |
| 669 Miles approximately with some detours along the way |
