Spent a few days in Venice and area, found a new park with tennis courts and a boat launch, also some trails. We rode the bikes and played tennis. We found the no yacht, yacht club. They are hoping to turn it into a canoe and kayak club, as it is on the Alligator Creek without deep water access. Spent the afternoon looking at open houses.
Tried to get into Oscar Sherer S.P. however, it was full so we rushed over to Myakka River S.P. The Myakka River is listed in the Great Canoe/Kayak Trails of Florida and is listed as a beginner run. We saw lots of gators and a bald eagle. Finished the ride about 1:00 and had to check out as there was no chance for a second night at this park either. Obviously, we are getting into the busy “March Break” season.
We had lunch on the river bank and headed back into Venice to check out the beach as it was a beautiful day. We walked several miles of the beach and back to the vehicle on the street. Stopped into another open house a block from the beach. However, this one was somewhat large and with a too large price tag at $850,000, for our blood.
Since we were having so much difficulty in finding a camping spot over March break, we decided to head over to Okeechobee and get a camp permit for Hickory Hammock, the horse camp we really enjoy, and chill out for a couple of days. On our way we stopped for lunch by an old aircraft in Acadia and we saw two sand hill cranes.
This year, Hickory Hammock has a camp host, a friendly cowboy from Wyoming with a foot and a half long braided pony tail. We share the compound with him and a tenter on the far side whom we never got to speak with. Weather is great and we finally took out the chairs and BBQ. After all our house hunting of the past few days, we planned a day of R & R. Watched the buzzards scrap over scraps and ownership of a pole perch behind our campsite. Saw two snakes, one dropping out of a tree not far from where I was sitting. It was black and probably the endangered Indigo snake (non-venomous) since the only other candidate is a Black Racer (also non-venomous) which isn’t known for climbing. Doesn’t it seem that whenever you plan a nice, restful day, unexpected company drops in? At least they didn’t ask to be fed!! By late afternoon clouds rolled in and the wind came up with a threat of rain.
Next day our plan for a hike was thwarted due to rain. We played some mini tennis under the covered picnic pavilion. Balls were bouncing off the pillars and we ended up chasing the balls into the fields. It was a giggle and at least we got a bit of exercise. It rained all night and into the next day. We were supposed to leave today, but don’t want to go in the rain. It is quite stormy with high winds again. This is Friday though and the camp has been booked out to a riding club for the weekend. About noon, the horses start to arrive so we decided to take off.
We had about a two hour window of rain stoppage and headed over to the Lock Access Road a mere 6 miles distance on the Kissimmee River. The camping field is very wet. We picked a dryish spot and settled in just in time for the rain again. Had one day of sunshine but high winds and we couldn’t take the canoe out onto the River. On a hike we met a friendly lady named Sherry from Maryland and her black poodle, Pinot Noir. We got talking about our trip among other things and ended up giving her our blog address. Hi Sherry if you are out there. Headed off after two days.
The Caracara
