BYE BYE to the FLORIDA KEYS! DEC 3rd, 2013.

As all good things go, it was time to move upward & onward so to speak.

THE PLAN 

Day One: Get up to a casino for an over-night parking lot stay in Immokalee, Florida. To get to this place we had to drive through the Everglades!

Day Two:
Drive up to St. Petersburg (near Tampa), get set up at a County Campground that afternoon and pick up our good friend Kathy at the Tampa Bay Airport at 430pm.

Some days I question whether we leave enough time for our plans to work out properly and this trip proved it again. Each day was only about 3 hours driving time but as you read on you will see time was becoming an issue! It was close... but we made it. Whew!

As we ventured off of the Keys back to the mainland the weather was it's usual hot and humid. The drive was quite peaceful with only moderate traffic. We were looking forward to the sights, wondering what we would see as we ventured into the Everglades!

DID YOU FORGET YOU ARE PART OF THE FOOD CHAIN!
Most of us live our lives modestly and quietly with little or no excitement from predators, murders and so on. After close to 30 years as a First Responder this is quite ok with me!

As we barrelled down the highways and by-ways heading north and then west into the swamps we had no idea what was about to fill our eyes and my camera lens to boot!

I like to stop every couple of hours and do a walk around the motorhome checking the tires and watching for fluid leaks. This also avoids blood clots!

After close to 3 hours I decided to stop in at a Everglades Welcome Center. There were about 4 cars in the parking lot and a couple of Harley's. Not particularly busy by any means. After getting out and having a look at the tires I heard Barb yelling my name to come over to where she was standing. The pictures below will tell you the rest of the story.

This was not a Zoo!
These things (BIG, BIG Alligators) live very wild & free out here!

There a good couple of dozen of them here.
They use the sun to keep their body temperatures
where they need to be. 

These pictures were taken just a few feet away from them!

I think he is wondering about what to have for supper?

Oh... and they like swimming too...

Even though they look like statues at times
They are very aware of what is happening near them!

Some of these guys/girls were well over 6 feet long.

They are predators of opportunity.

So... You don't want to get comfortable...

And you don't want to get too close...

Or they may eat you!!!

After seeing enough of this and being reminded that yes we are part of that so-called food chain it was time to move on.

Oh... I forgot to mention... We were behind a metal frost fence.

ANOTHER MANATEE HUNT!
We headed to another location where we were told a Manatee was surfacing. After our Canoe Trip where the Minnow almost got lost while looking for Manatee's we thought this would be a good place and time to stop for a look!

C'mon Jim... Hurry!

Here... Here Mr. Manatee, come over here!

No where to be found...
The Manatee has escaped my camera again!

So, we hit the road again. Watching the canals and waterways along the sides of the highways as we travelled. Barb was able to see a few more Alligators along the sides of the highway and lots of other wildlife!

We would liked to have taken an Air-Boat Tour into the swamps, maybe next time!

Swamps & Canals along Highways.

People live right next to these canals too!

PANTHERS!
As we continued on we saw a bunch of different areas with signage warning and slowing us down due to the areas being inhabited by the endangered Panther.
Although we never did see one we are told they are much like our Cougars back at home only smaller.
Unfortunately their numbers are getting so low (many due to car accidents) chances of us seeing one were likely very low, but we continued to hope.

Entering Panther Habitat!

One of the many Panther Crossings & areas.

IMMOKALEE, FLORIDA
We made it and that's about all I can say as that just about didn't happen!

As we pulled into town which I believe is east of Naples (inland) the sun was going down and dusk was setting in quickly. Just before stopping to top up the gas tank I noticed my signal light was blinking slower than normal. As I checked the Amp Meter I noted we were running at around 10.5 Amps. Something was wrong!

After pulling up to the gas pumps I decided to turn off the engine in the motor home knowing it likely may not have enough juice to start again. I was right.

I put the gas in hoping the battery would recharge just enough to get the engine to fire but it was not to happen. A nice young man came over, his name was Joel (pronounced Jo-el). He said he heard me trying to start it and offered me a boost. I got my booster cables out and took him up on the offer and it started right up. Joel wouldn't accept any money and even offered further help if I needed it. Thank you Joel!

As it appeared we had a severe charging issue we elected to drive without any lights or accessories turned on. It was getting very, very dark now and I would not recommend doing what we did. We had to reply on the GPS to take us through several side streets. The bad part was we could hardly see any of the pedestrians or people riding their bicycles but we carefully made it without incident. Add salt to the would in this heat and with this humidity, no air conditioning! Yikes!

We parked and spent the night in the Seminole Casino Parking lot. There were 3 other RV's parked there for the night too. Add to that they had free 30 and 50 Amp plug-ins for RV's so we could plug in! They even had a 110 outlet so we plugged in a battery charger for the night as well. Carrying lots of tools, booster cables and a battery charger paid off!

We went into the Casino to have dinner and I must say we both enjoyed it very, very much. It seems that Casino meals haven't been as good as they used to be until we got here. We checked with the Security Department and confirmed we were ok to camp out there for the night and they confirmed the plug-ins were free, on the house! I would certainly recommend this as a RV stop if you are ever down this way!

The next morning we got up and had our coffee. My priority was to check the chassis battery that runs with the motorhome engine. So trying to avoid the heat I got an early start.

Man... That battery isn't very easy to get at!

Once I got the battery out I was hoping to get it bench tested somewhere and I was hoping that it was fried!

I say that because considering the other issues that could have caused this the battery was the easiest to repair/replace.

We found a place and had the battery tested. Guess what!

The battery checked out to be fine!

So... now what to do?

Just before this Barb advised me that our friend Kathy whom we were picking up at the Tampa Bay Airport was actually landing at 430pm not at 630pm as first thought. Oh... oh!

After some heavy thinking and praying I decided it was best to just go!

I put the battery back in and my hope was that charging it all night long would give us enough electrical power to drive the 148 miles (190 kms) to get to the campground we were staying at.

So... No air conditioning, full humidity and heat and using no other accessories was the order of the day. Off we went. 

We landed at our next Campground (Fort DeSoto County Park) with little time to spare. We got set up and hit the road in our little Honda stopping first to get some groceries and then the Tampa Airport to pick up Kathy!

KATHY'S VISIT! (December 5th, 2013).

Seeing our close friend Kathy and having her come spend time with us was so special!

Kathy made it down for a visit and we were so
happy to have her stay with us!

Barb (left) and Kathy (right)
Enjoying some beach time behind our motorhome.

Now you can see our house behind the beach chairs.

The next three days were spent with Jim's first priority being... Fix the motorhome!

To make a long story short...

This was the only way I could reach & remove the Alternator!

With lots of contortions, blind bolt removal & sweat we finally got it out!

After getting the suspected alternator removed from the motorhome it was time to get it tested. Using the process of elimination was the best way to find the charging issue and the alternator was the next best guess.

We took the Alternator in to get it tested at an Automotive Electrical Shop up in Tampa Bay. As it turned out we hit the nail on the head! They had a new rebuilt one in stock and a few minutes later we were on our way. Later on the new one was put back into place and the engine fired up. Checking the gauges it worked! YES!

We also made some time to see some sights and get some quality time in with our close friend (Kathy) and guest from back home in Calgary.

This sure beats -40 back home in Calgary eh!
Clearwater Beach, Florida

Zoom out

Zoom in!

Clearwater has nice big beaches!

I love photos leading on to the beach, can you tell? 

A little "Canadian" in Clearwater Beach!
I wonder what customers they are targeting?

Waiting for our lunch time table at the beach.
"Happy Happy!"

Kathy gets in as much beach time as she can before
heading home to the frozen north!

Ahhh... Another relaxing evening on the patio.

Now the sun blazes its way down. 

These sunsets are as good as they are in Phoenix
Just add some water!

Barb makes some home-made Hamburger Buns!
We BBQ'd some veggie burgers and I dare you to
tell the difference! 

Nothing like another great campfire!
Hmmm... my beard looks white here?

On Kathy's last night we had some visitors show up at our house.

On first site they look cute and bringing their babies along just made it even more of a (on the surface) fun visit.

Now... If you have experienced any of these guys or girls they are not always cute and nice. Sometimes their manners leave a little bit left to be desired. I personally have experienced some of their naughtiness and down right mean behavior in days gone by. So we were on guard!

Here she comes!
I call "her" Roxy. She has been to see me before.
I think she is married to "Rocky Racoon of Beatles fame?"

She quietly wanders in for a visit.

Showing no signs of fear even as I bend down.
Sadly.. I am sure she has been fed by many people.

About the same size as a large domestic house cat.

She keeps coming as the ladies on the patio
start heading indoors!

Now on the patio mat... she shows no fear at all!

Even the camera flash didn't seem to bother her.

Time for a quick scratch!

Now... you may be wondering why I keep calling her... her?

Let's just say the first time that I met her...some of her physical attributes showed me she was a she! 

It also indicated she had pups not too long ago. During the day we have now seen the pups a few times. 

She had two of them with her on this visit however they are hard to see.

One pup is on her left side and the other is under the bush to the left.
You can see their eyes reflecting the flash of the camera.
I am sure her intentions were noble in that she was hoping to feed her family.
Once fed they will keep asking for more as she does.

OVER THREE MONTHS ON THE ROAD.

This Trip's Locations.

Starting Sept 1st in Alberta, 3 hours down to Montana.
Eastbound and then south around Chicago.
Up into New England.
Not shown - New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island & Nova Scotia.
Back south to New York City for a few days.
South to Charlotte NC.
South Carolina, Georgia and
now Florida!

Now it's Monday, December 9th.

Kathy flew back home to Calgary early this morning and we hope she makes it. The Dallas flights were all cancelled so she found another flight.

As per usual we moved camp spots this morning to another one just 12 spots away. We will be here in Fort DeSoto for 4 more nights.

We just saw the dinner time news & weather on TV. Many of the states & provinces are either snow bound, icy or just frozen up. Not unlike Dallas airports like Chicago are also having issues.

We hope you made it back home ok, Kathy!