February 17, 2015
Day 15: Long Pine to Flamingo: Journey to the "End of the World"
Our thrill for the early morning was to see one of those cardinals enthralled with the mirror of the adjacent pickup truck. Most people are putting bags over their mirrors to spoil the fun. We took a pass on the next potential thrill, which was Jim's offer to make some eggs.We did this because we knew it was a long ride down to Flamingo, and the wind was against us. However, do not take the word "thrill" lightly, since we are now deep enough into the trip that the offer of an egg is not to be taken lightly!
The wind did turn out to be a big factor. It can turn a quick 60 km jaunt into an endless slog. So a slog it was. However, it had the spice of knowing that we were penetrating ever deeper into a true wilderness. By now we have come to well understand the ecosystem of shallow water, and differing environments that result when the elevation is an inch or two higher or lower. But we still have a lot to see and learn, and we were mightily impressed when we entered a region of bald cypress. The cypress are the trees with widely spread buttress roots, for standing in water. In winter, they drop their leaves and stand as bare white trunks. It's known as the ghost forest, and can produce some stark and lovely photos. Throughout, and especially at the "Pa-Hay-Okee" overlook, goodly numbers of storks and other wading birds were all about. One photo, with the cypress roots and some egrets looked particularly primordial.
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We were bucking not just wind but also sun along this route, and there really was no shade on offer. Some of the displays or boardwalks that are off tto the side of the main road might offer shelter, but they are typically 2 km (each way) diversions. We just did not have the strength to seek them out. Finally, at mid day, we just chose some miscellaneous shade, to try to eat our lunch of crackers. Dodie put out the one stool we had brought, but the ground was uneven. She managed to go flying off this thing, and twist her knee. Once3 again I was thinking the tour is over and how on earth do we get out of here, but slowly the pain subsided and what do you know, after a while she was pedalling again!
Slowly in the distance we began to make out the familiar profile of the touring cyclist. That is, little legs thrashing up and down in the middle of a pile of luggage. Once the apparition drew closer, we could see it was Tomas and Igna, the transplanted Lithuanians from Chicago, on their tandem. Indeed they had been two or three days in Flamingo, and were now headed to Miami where they would use shipbikes.com to send their bike home. Tomas opened his handlebar bag to produce a slip of paper for recording our blog details. Inside there were Oreo style cookies. Wow! Tomas said the cookies came from the little store in Flamingo, while Igna branded them overpriced. Still, this was the first evidence that there would be supplies for us of any type down there.
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As we drew (ever so slowly) closer to Flamingo, we began to notice new types of vegetation, both native and non-native. One as the red mangrove, with its distinctive aerial roots. But another was roadside papaya. It must be early in its season, since any fruits were small and green. Some plants were just in flower, making for the first time we have seen papaya flowers.
It is always a little disconcerting to enter a new town or area, and to have no idea where everything is and how far apart things may be. Later, of course, you become an expert, and obtain a fine appreciation of how far/long it it is to run over to the little store to deal with a Coke craving, or something. The layout of Flamingo is surprisingly broad and flat. Everything is open fields or huge open parking lots. The camping area is 1 1/2 km from the visitor centre.
At the kiosk for the camping, we told the ranger that we cared less for a spot by the water, and that (being old) we preferred a spot as close to the washroom as possible. "Ok, I'll put you in number 6 then", he said. "Does it also have a picnic table?", I checked, for picnic table is the number two requirement behind washroom. "Sure", he said. So we forked over $32 for two nights in number 6. This if course was very cheap compared to prices we have faced elsewhere.
Number six was situated out in the middle of a twenty acre flat field, dotted with other tents. It featured no table, since clearly the people in number five had scammed it. I walked over and asked them if they would help me steal the table from number seven. The tables are really heavy! I did not directly demand my table back, but just asked for help. They were reluctant, but they did do it. Then they casually mentioned that the washroom was out of service.
Indeed, the darn thing was under construction, and closed up tight. What's more, there was a notice nailed to it that indicated a boil water directive for all of Flamingo. We picked up our stuff in a huff, and flounced on down a few acres, to the only other (and working) washroom. We set our tent by a table there, though there was no site number apparently associated with it. We had no time to discuss with the park staff, for with no water we had to head for "town" to find food or water to buy, or both.
The restaurant was still (barely) open, and we asked if we could also get water there. The answer was - only for sale in expensive small bottles. Grrr. But, the burgers were good.
We returned too our tent, and took a photo of the vultures ripping apart the nearest adjacent campsite. It was an arrangement where people had clustered several tents and several tables, and were clearly having a jolly time, accumulating lots of garbage in the process. Later in the night they sat by a fire and talked loudly, until we went and shouted at them, twice. No washroom, no water, no table, headwind, sun, ... we were crabby all right.
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Today's ride: 68 km (42 miles)
Total: 692 km (430 miles)
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