Day 13: Long Pine Key Campground to Royal Palm Visitor Center, and back: The day the world didn't end.

February 15, 2015

The temperature dipped well below 40 F last night, which did not encourage us to leap from our tent until the sun was up a bit. Jim came up with some hot coffee from his camper truck, a big boon. I pushed it one step further, and asked him if he had a toaster in there (for I knew we had brought some bread from Florida City - for a bread lover, a constant diet of oatmeal, referred to by me as "gruel", is harsh). Dodie jumped in quickly, pointing out that the bread was reserved for sandwiches, for tomorrow. However Jim took pity on me and showed up with not only some scrambled eggs, but also a half piece of toast from his own supplies!

Thus fortified, we set off back the way we had come, for the visitor centre at the entrance to the Park. We had not gone far, however, when we came upon a car positioned beside the road and with its engine running. Inside, a young woman sat with her head down on the steering wheel. We tapped on the window, and so roused Julie. She said she had a very bad headache, and coincidentally no water. So we pulled out a folding cup and (after Dodie took a brief medical history) had her take two Ibuprofen. We followed this with some of Jim's coffee, so that would be a perfect stimulant cure. Julie offered us some money for our efforts, but we required our standard reward - the idea that the person would pass on the good deed.

We now decided that in order to catch the ranger program, we would divert to the closer Royal Palm visitor centre. To put you in the picture, the Everglades is a huge grassland, through which flows an immensely wide (40 miles) but extremely shallow sheet of water, from north to south. The water originates with summer rains north of Lake Okeechobee, and heads towards Florida Bay. Very slight differences of elevation create pine forest bits (where its a little higher), submerged grass lands, and where there is a wet depression, Cypress tree islands. The water is deepest and most evident in the rainy (summer) season, and appears to disappear in the dry winter. However, the water table is never too far from the surface.

Whenever something, like a road, is built up in the Everglades, the place where the fill material was dug from fills with water. Such water filled bits are referred to a borrow pits. The canal the parallels Hwy 41, the Tamiami Trail, for example, is such a borrow structure.

The huge wetland has been dramatically drained by canals, and the water flow interfered with, for example by that highway 41. Flooding from Lake Okeechobee has been controlled, and by the way, the Lake then polluted by agricultural runoff.

There remains two huge water channels, or sloughs. One is at Shark Valley, where will be later. The other is right where we are now. It is called the Taylor Slough. The visitor centre called Royal Palms is at a hammock, or high point in this. However, a 1/2 mile trail has been created here, and the resulting borrow bit is a water filled channel. Now, in dry season, that water concentrates the wild life, includes scads of alligators and wading birds. The photos (when uploaded!) will show much of what we saw here.

The ranger program that we attended was a walk along the trail with volunteer ranger Brian. Brian was very enthusiastic about what is here, and very clear about the huge amount that has been destroyed in the last 100 years. The birds, it is said, used to darken the skies. It's a story much like the demise of the buffalo and the carrier pigeon.

Brian also strongly recommended that we go to the sort of nearby Nike Missile site. Not many people know that this site is or was here within the Park. A fast (for us) pedal covered about 10 km in time to not miss the presentation. Our guide, Scott, also a volunteer ranger, was a veteran of several tours in Iraq, and consequently had a good grasp of military matters, including the background politics and the daily conditions of the soldiers.

The presentation began under a (now rare) mahogany tree, in front of the base. The story stems from the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. Fidel Castro had earlier won his struggle in Cuba, and in the face of US opposition and boycott, turned for support to the Soviet Union. By 1962 it was discovered that missiles and troups had been installed in Cuba. The US president, John F Kennedy considered a mass invasion, or as an alternative, a naval blockade. The blockade was chosen, but I think Kruschev threatened to attack if his ships were interfered with. Scott went through the evolution of the crisis day by day, and had kids in the (large) audience read out short descriptive paragraphs on each stage. Scott felt it important to involve the kids, and to pass on the lessons about the danger and futility of military confrontation. He took a very balanced approach, allocating blame to all of the participants.

The whole crowd then got into their cars for a short ride to the actual missile site. We hitchhiked with Scott, and so got to ride in an official government vehicle. We passed through two locked gates, and arrived at some very small and mundane looking garages. Even though the Nike was bulky by present day standards, it was still quite small.

When the garage doors rolled back, even all these years later, it was still scary to see what was inside. In that sense it was like visiting a concentration camp or WW I grave years. There was something even more astounding to this than we had imagined. The Nike is a surface to air system. That is, is was for defence against bombers overhead that would have taken off from Cuba. But the thing is (in slightly later versions) they were nuclear armed. That is, the US was prepared to detonate nuclear devices over their own territory, to knock down enemy planes.

Scott explained some of the meaning of this for the soldiers on duty. First off, this site was a prime target. There was no attempt to hide it - can't really do that in the flat Everglades. But next, soldiers tha fired these missiles would most likely die in the resultant nuclear blasts. And if not them, then their families, possibly in Miami or Fort Myers. Also shocking was the information that given the very short warning time involved in an attack from Cuba, there could be no decision on what to do from a chaiin of higher command. A captain on site - yes, a captain - had authority to push the button that no doubt would have put an end to our present civilisation.

When you look at these humble garages, it is hard to imagine how drastically significant they were.

One other small element of danger was brought home to us by someone in the audience, who had served here when the base was active. The area was guarded by dogs, and he was a dog handler. One day his dog was bitten by a rattle snake and almost died. Scott informed us that he sees rattle snakes here now as well, every week. Consequently we were advised to stay out of the grass!

We were very appreciative of the frank presentation, and Scott did admit that both the park administration and often veterans in the audience would wish him to take what he would see as a less balanced approach. But with his own veteran status, and the fact that he is not being paid, he is doing it his way!

When we got back to the campsite, Jim pulled two ice creams from his freezer for us. Cool!