Up to Ocala

I looks like time has gotten away from me. The Dry Tortugas seem like ancient history to me now. I've done a lot of traveling since then and taken a lot of photos. I stayed in the Homestead area until Sunday when I went to a little church that met at a theater. Then I moved on to the west along the Tamiami Trail. There's a road that runs off that road known as "The Loop Road". I've been down this road many times in the past but never on a Sunday afternoon in March. What a Mad house. It was a mad house. That night I found a free (YES!!) campground on the Loop Road, and tried it again in the morning. What a difference. It was the Loop Road of my memory. I had the whole thing to myself!

This tree is standing in a pond along the Loop Road and it looks like it might actually be a few trees growing together. To me it looks like something out of Lord of The Rings.

This is my "Found On Road Dead" shot. I parked my truck here to get the previous shot and when I came back these Black Vultures were picking at the roof. Sure the truck is giving me problems but it isn't dead yet!

From here I moved up to the Ft Myers area. There I had my beloved truck checked out yet again. It was making a clunking sound when I shifted into reverse. It didn't happen all the time though and of course it wouldn't do it for the mechanic. Also, the front tires were wearing unevenly so I had them check the alignment. I was off by quite a bit more than could be explained by the weight in the back. The guy there suggested that I add some air to my shocks before they align it. I didn't know I had air shocks! Adding the air, realigning the wheels and replacing the front tires (arrg!) made a big difference. Why any of these mechanics I've been talking to didn't suggest air in the shocks is beyond me. It has "clunked" slightly from time to time since then but I'm convincing myself that it's nothing.

Near Ft Meyers is The Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Kind of a neat place. There were only a few places that had water. It's been dry all over South Florida. Where there was water there were a lot of water animals like this little gator.

They also had a feeder that has been attracting Painted Buntings all winter. This is a spectacular bird and it had been eluding me for years. It was great to see it.

Cape Coral is a community near Ft Myers and it is known for it's Burrowing Owls. This guy was about ten feet off the road and right across the street from a house. They had white stakes all around it's burrow to protect it. The community is booming now so the future of it's owls is in question. If you want to see them you better hurry.

The Ding Darling NWR is on nearby Sanibel Island. I got there at just the right time. The sun was still low and it was low tide. This group was having a bit of a feeding frenzy. It was something to see.

This Reddish Egret was fun to watch. They have a crazy looking feeding style. They run around like they're drunk or something. I've got a little video of one and maybe someday I'll figure out how to put that online for y'all.

This Yellow-crowned Night-heron gave me a demonstration of his courtship display.

The next good photo stop I made was at the Venice Rookery. It's really just a little island in a little pond in a little park in the town of Venice. As you can see it's very popular with photographers.

Here are a couple of the Great Blue Heron shots I got. The chicks in the nest shot were trying to convince Mom (or Dad) that it was feeding time.

As I was leaving the park a Bald Eagle came down and snatched a fish off the pond. I was able to get a few shots as it flew off with it's breakfast. This one is cropped down a bit from the original.

From there I went to a small county park that was supposed to have Flavous Whistling-ducks. The water levels were too low for ducks but I was able to get some shots of a family of Sandhill Cranes. They were picking up corn that someone had put out near the parking lot. The young one of the trio would sometimes get too close for me to focus. I could have touched it at one point.

I'm now in a little restaurant in Ocala National Forest. I have some images from here but they aren't processed yet. I'll have to put them in the next post. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going next but it will be north and west of here. I want to be in Texas for April. Thanks for looking. Y'all come back.

Steve

Tortuga Disapointments

To start with, last time I forgot to say that I did meet up with my friend Randy Mulder from back home. He was singing at Coral Ridge Church in Ft. Lauderdale. He and his choir did a great job. He also brought me a piece of camera gear that I had left in Canada a month and a half ago. Thanks Randy.

Now I'm back from the Dry Tortugas and I guess I had a good time there but I had a few disappointments. Before I made my reservation for the trip, I talked to a person who was supposedly in the know on such things, and she said that this was a great time of year for birding on the Island and that you could wade around the part of the island that was a bird sanctuary. I thought I would be able to get a lot of shots from just off shore. It turns out that the land bridge that used to connect the main Island to the bird island had been washed away by Wilma so it's no longer possible to wade over there. It's also off limits because of a new policy change. You can't get within 100 ft of the shore. The number and variety of birds was OK but not great. People kept telling me that I should be there a month from now. Oh Well.

Camping on the island was good but it could have been better. I was told that you could only bring 40 lbs of gear but they may make an exception if I told them that I was a photographer and I needed extra stuff. I packed as light as possible. I took my light tripod instead of my regular one and I left behind some camping gear that would have made my stay much more comfortable. When I got there I saw that this weight limit wasn't exactly enforced very well. People had carried in all kinds of stuff. They even had carts available for people to tote it around in. So I could have camped more comfortably, and I didn't need to struggle with an insufficient tripod. I survived it. It could have been worse. I guess I'll stop my whining now :)

I said the variety of birds could have been better but I was able to add two lifers while I was there and one in Key West on the way home. On the Tortugas I saw Masked Boobies and a Red-billed Tropicbird. When I mentioned the tropicbird to some people on the who were on the island to study bird (count nests, record sounds...) they got very excited. It turns out that this bird hadn't been reported there for many years. Quite a find!

Then on Key West the big bird news is that there has been a Loggerhead Kingbird on the island. Fortunately for me it likes to hang out by the State Park parking lot. I was able to get some shots of that one. You might have trouble finding it in a field guide since all previous records of the bird in North America, north of Mexico, had been thrown out because they didn't have enough evidence to support them. That's two great birds in one day. Not bad!

Having been denied my original goal I had a lot of time on my hands to photograph the fort on the Island, Ft Jefferson. The fort has an interesting history which I'm sure you can read up on online. so I won't go into that here. I makes a great subject for photography too.

Brown Noodies nest on the island that was closed along with Sooty Terns. They are both very hard to find elsewhere.

I spent a lot of time up n top of the fort photographing Magnificent Frigatebird. They could almost always be found soar on the wind currents just in front of the fort. The all black ones are the males. If you look carefully you can see the red throat sacks that they inflate during courtship. These birds have a 90 inch wingspan and they really are magnificent to watch effortlessly hanging there on the breeze.

Finally here's a shot of Loggerhead Key just to the west of the main island (Garden Key) just after sunset.

I plan to go to Life Point Church here in Homestead this morning and then I'm heading west to see the other side of the state. I'll update when I can. Thanks for looking. Keep praying.

Steve

Continuing South

It looks like my optimistic theory turned out to be the right one. At least that's the news I got from the Ford service department. It looks like I can finally put that behind me. Thanks for praying. I don't think I can put my guard down yet though. I'm going to have my eyes and ears open for any new signs of trouble.


In the mean time I haven't been sitting still. After staying one night at Johnathan Dickinson, I spent a night in the local Walmart parking lot. That was a new experience for me and I think it went pretty well. I slept pretty well and the price was great, free! I spent the next night at another Walmart a bit further south in the area of the Loxahatchee NWR. The refuge had some good photo ops as did a couple nearby local preserves. One was called Green Cay and the other one had some strange, hard to remember, Indian name. I gave the paper I had the name written on to a couple of very nice people, David and Mary-Alice, that I met at Loxahatchee. I also met a couple of professional nature photographer/comedian wanabes at Green Cay. We had a good time talking "shop". One guys name was Stan Osolinski and I hope the other guy never reads this because his name just never stuck with me. Ever have that happen to you? Sorry Gary or Mark Mesz.... Whatever.

These are Pied-billed Grebes. The first one was diving and popping up through the floating plants at Green Cay. The other one posed nicely for me at Loxahatchee.

Ttyhis Great Horned Owl chick was in a nest at Loxahatchee. Some guys would stake this nest out for hours. I wanted to get out and shoot a little more variety

This Purple Gallinule was also at Loxahatchee


These Guys, a Black Vulture and an Anhinga, were at the Anhinga Trail in Everglades NP.

And just to prove I can still shoot photos without birds in them, here's an aligator.


I spent about three days in the Everglades. I kept finding more places I wanted to explore. I think it's one of those places that you could spend years at. I guess I'll have to live with that "didn't even scratch the surface of the place" feeling, even though I did take most of the year off. Right now I'm at a painfully expencive campground near Key West. Tomorrow I board a ferry for Dry Tortugas NP. The cost of the ferry almost kept me back but now it doesn't seem so bad compared to what I paid for this stupid camground. Do you get the feeling that I don't like expencive campgrounds? At least they have internet access.


I'm going to stay on the tortugas over night. That wasn't even an option when I was there a few years ago. It costs three dollars to camp there. Much more my speed. If the weather holds out I should have a ton of photos when I get back.


I better get going now so I can get up early enough to catch the ferry. Thanks for reading.

Steve

Truck Trouble Two

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm sitting in a Penera Bread company in Miami, FL. I don't really have a lot of time here so I'll just give you a brief update to let you know that I'm still alive and well. Is the truck alive and well? Maybe and maybe not. Since I got the front brakes fixed on Thursday I haven't heard any noise out of the back brakes. The guys who fixed the brakes claim that they never touched the back. The guys in Titusville, saw grease on my back brake and thought it was fresh. Thus the $600 estimate. They cleaned it off but I thought it didn't do any good since I kept hearing a lot of noise. Maybe the guys who replaced the seal in Atlanta actually did the right thing but they left some grease on the brakes. Between then and the time I had the place in Titusville look at it and clean up the grease, the front brakes started to make noise. I thought the noise was still coming from the back until I eventually discovered it was coming from the front. When the guys silenced the front brakes it became clear that the noise in the back was gone entirely. That's my optimistic theory. Clear as mud? Anyway, the other theory is that the grease is still leaking but it's just not getting on the brakes anymore. Less optimistic but easier to understand. I'm also getting some strange noises from the front but I don't think they're serious. I don't think they are.

I think the best plan of action right now is to try to find another good mechanic, maybe a dealership, have them take a look at the whole thing, and make a call from there. Right now I'm heading for the Everglades. I'll have to fit this in some time or another, but I don't think I need to do it immediately.

I'll try to write more soon. Thanks to everyone who wrote comments emailed. I hope to get back to you soon. Take care till then, and keep praying.

Steve

Truck Trouble in the South

I'm currently sitting in an auto repair shop...again :( This problem is starting to get to me. The grease seal I had replaced in Atlanta is leaking again. It looks like they should have replaced the Axle. I stopped at a place in Titusville and they said they could do it for 600 some odd dollars but they wouldn't be able to get the parts until Monday. I need to be in Miami this Sunday to meet a friend so I told them I would address the problem down there. I'm at a place near Jupiter, FL because I noticed that some of the sound I was hearing was coming from the front. It looks like I didn't catch it soon enough because now I need to replace some rotors and I will cost me over $300. Ouch! I might be able to absorb this but it might also cause me to return home early. Especially if this is the start of a trend. I'm afraid the culprit might be my camper. It's light for a camper but it could still be more than is good for the truck. All I can do at this point is hope the place I find in Miami knows their stuff and that they can give me a good deal. From that point I'll just have to proceed with caution. Pray for me on that.

Apart from the truck, I have been having some fun.

From Atlanta I went to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Cool place. If I had wanted to spend more time there, I could have I could have taken some of their canoe trails to campsites deep in the swamp. That would be fun to do with a friend sometime. I camped near there, got a few photos and moved on. That was my first night in the camper. I stayed in a cheap county park that would have been better if it wasn't near a busy railroad and a kennel or dog pound or something. I did get some sleep in.

From there I went to Merrit Island NWR. That place is loaded with great bird photo opportunities. I got hundreds of shots. I would have spent more time there but that's when it became obvious that my truck problems had not been solved. After spending the night at a fancy shmacy campground and getting more bad news on the truck I decided to just head south. I did have an evening and a morning there and that was enough time to get some really nice shots. I might try to hit the place again on the way back north.

I camped at Johnathan Dickinson State Park last night. That's also when I determined that there was a noise coming from the front brakes. I'm near there now. One thing that park is known for is Florida Scrub Jays. It turns out that they had a fire there a year or two ago and the Jays don't come around like they used to, but the park ranger told me where I could find them. People had been feeding them so they would come right up to you. I got some nice shots.

I'm typing this out on my laptop without internet access in the hopes that I can paste it onto the blog later. If that works it will help me keep up and you will see posts more often. Take care and keep praying.

Steve

Waiting in Atlanta

Here I am, still in at my brother's place near Atlanta Georgia. Originally I planned to be on my way by the first of the month, but I had to wait for some mail to come here for me. That came Yesterday so I decided to go to church here this morning and leave in the afternoon.

Here is a picture of the Renns (back in North Carolina) like I promised in my last post. Jeff should be easy enough to pick out, he's the one with the beard, Gracie is on his right, and his wife Leigh is on his left, along with Lilly, and Isabelle in the front. I left there almost a week ago. In some ways it seems like it was yesterday.

The truck repairs turned out to be much less painful than I thought they would be. The people I talked to in Shelby said I would have to replace my axle. The place I brought it to down here said there was no need to do that and they just replaced some bearings and a seal. It took less than a day and it cost less than half of what the other places said it would. Now I just hope they did everything they should have. I don't want to have to go through this again.



Last night we all went to a Lunar Eclipse party. I got a few shots but they didn't turn out quite like I thought they would. There was a bonfire, a hayride and a lot of kids.

I got a couple shots of the eclipse but I'm afraid they didn't turn out quite like I wanted them to. I though this one looked kind of interesting anyway.

A lot of my time here I spent getting business done, getting caught up on Lost and Heroes, and just spending time with family, so I don't have a lot of photos. Actually it's probably good that I get out of here because I've been getting quite lazy. I've actually been sleeping in some. It's been very comfortable here but we all know that comfort is the enemy of adventure. Adventure awaits! Time to leave comfort behind! This is also the beginning of the solo part of the trip. I will be meeting up with a few people here and there but for the most part I will be on my own. The real adventure part of the trip starts this afternoon.





OK OK OK!! While I was working on this post, the evil people in the photo above talked me into staying one more night. I am such a push-over! I guess I wouldn't have gotten all that far in one afternoon anyway. The evil people pictured are my brother Randy and his family. Randy is in the back with his wife Paige and son Noah. In front we have, from left to right, Caleb, Lydia, and Eli. The hairy one looking on is Chloe.

I hesitate to add this but my nephew Noah, who is also a fine photographer, took a photo of me that's... well.... extraordinary. You might want to be sitting down when you see it. It's at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/356/307212270/in/set-72157594393444068/. I'll have to see if he can take a normal photo of me some time.

Tomorrow morning I will be on my way. Honest! The only thing I can see holding me back are sickness, injury, mechanical issues or excessive laziness. I refuse to let laziness get that excessive. Right now I my next target is the Okefenokee Swamp in southern Georgia. I should have lots of photos for my next post. Thanks for looking and keep praying.