The last two days have been mild and sunny; beautiful days for hiking and biking. The park literature says there are bears, panthers, and alligators in this park, Being a safe hiker, I read up on what to do if you encounter one of them. The bear and panther directions are the same except for with one you are supposed to make eye contact and the other one you are supposed to avoid eye contact. Unfortunately, I can't seem to remember which is which! So, before we head out, I  read it again and tell Denny, hoping he will remember. Luckily, we have only seen an alligator so far and he was in the water and we were up on a boardwalk! The first day, we weren't thinking and had packed a picnic lunch so couldn't leave our bikes for any of the trails  due to the bear warning. We were smarter the second day and took only water!
The scenery on the boardwalks through the cypress swamps was breathtaking. The water was so calm that everything was reflected. Of course, pictures don't do it justice, but we try anyway :)

Denny and the 1000 year old Live Oak

At times the boardwalk was a little narrow...

This picture is taken into the water. It looks just like the sky if you couldn't see the dead leaves floating!

What do you do all day when it's pouring outside and you are in an RV?

If you are Denny....

If you are Janet...

1/25 Beautiful last day in Myakka River State Park with nice light, shadows and reflections.

1/26 Spent the day and evening with friends Judy and Bob on Anna Maria Island. Great friends, lovely home, great food and music. All in all, a great time...until the rain came and the lights went out! Unfortunately, when I tried to upload some photos, I accidentally erased all them from the camera when I thought I had downloaded  them on the computer and now they won't open. Grrr!
 1/29 I’m so proud of myself; I downloaded a file and got my pictures to open. Feeling like a computer whiz!

Bob, Judy, Denny and Janet

 

1/28 We are now in our new campground, Highland Hammock, and it is still raining and expected to rain all day tomorrow. At least it is not snowing! Sounds like a sewing day for me :)

No, we haven't been missing in action. The reception/WiFi is terrible here and only occasionally strong enough to get on-line. My eyes are finally starting to feel better. We have been walking and biking but most hiking trails are still underwater so we are sticking to the main roads. We did bike one path that seemed dry, and was for the first half mile. We pushed on through puddles and mud though. Denny was able to ride the whole thing but I have street tires and had to walk some of it. We both ended up with muddy pants and I had some very wet shoes. But, on the positive side, trying to ride through mud is a very aerobic exercise!

 There's a canopy walk here that is over a marsh. It is only 25 feet in the air but the 76 foot tower at one end allowed us to look over most of the palm trees for a panoramic view of the park. Of course, getting to the canopy walk also involved some puddles and mud!

Looking up into tower

Canopy walkway

tower

Yesterday, we took an air boat ride on upper Myakka Lake. Although the lake was lovely, there was a dearth of wildlife because of the high water. We saw 3 alligators, a couple of herons, a few osprey and several cormorants. The boat captain suggested a nearby trail with a deck over the water at the end, would make a nice walk and highly recommended it. However, it is under a foot of water in places. He suggested taking off your shoes and wading. After his talk on alligators and snakes...I don't think so!

So, it was the first day warm enough for short sleeves and sandals and what did we do? We spent the day at Urgent Care and getting prescriptions filled! But, after 2 doses of the three different prescriptions for my eye infection, I am finally starting to feel better! Denny was good about driving me all around and then also helping with laundry. Hopefully, tomorrow will be more fun. Sure can't be less fun!

1/18  "Six days on the road and now I'm gonna make it home tonight". Well , maybe not home but to our temporary home at Myakka River State Park near Sarasota, FL. On the way down we stayed one night at a hotel, the second night at my sister and brother-in-laws (Mary Jo and Terry), got de-winterized in Macon and stayed a night at each of 4 campgrounds until we got here. Everyone is complaining about how cold it is here. 50 at night, mid 60's during the day. We think it is fabulous! We'll be here 9 days and then head to another camping spot. While here, we hope to connect with friends, Judy and Bob, who live about an hour from here.
1/19 Hiked 5 miles, Denny's breaking in his new shoes so we need to take it slow! Very wet here, there was a tornado nearby on 1/16 and lots of rain. We were still in northern Florida so only got the rain (but plenty of it)! Most of the hiking and biking trails here are flooded so we will stay mainly on paved roads for now.
1/20 Biked 5 miles so far today. Denny has a new bike which is nice but he needs a more comfortable seat before we can bike longer.