Juggling lemons: February 2017

We then decided we couldn't keep him. But we had to leave the campground by 11:00 am the next morning and it was now too late to do anything. So we got up really early, did as much as we could to get the rig ready to roll and took poor "Chico" (can you believe his name was Chico and we already have a Cheeka?) back to the shelter. But the shelter was closed until noon! The veterinary clinic attached to the shelter was open so I marched in there hoping they could help. They did contact the shelter's manager who suggested we wait till noon but would go out of her way to help us should we decide to return him. Meanwhile the receptionist was saying that since we were allowed one free vet visit with our adoption we might want to use it and see a vet as there might be a chance they could do something for him. One look into his soulful eyes told me we should give him all the care we could afford. So we waited to see the vet. And waited. And waited. As the time was getting closer to 11:00 we called the campground to alert them that we were unable to move our trailer until later due to an emergency. They were very good about it and we promised to get back as soon as we could.
Finally, we saw the vet. He listened to his heart for quite a long time and then announced that Chico suffered from arythmia that could cause the seizures but then again the seizures might be due to epilepsy. To determine the cause in order to treat him, they needed a urine analysis and blood tests along with x-rays that would be sent to a specialist. Even with the free visit and reduced pricing on certain services, our bill would be over $200. Well, there is no way at this time that we could afford that since now we might have to replace our sofa and the dog would remain a sick dog with a bad heart that might not be able to hike with us like we enjoy doing. So we decided to leave him. With heavy hearts we watched him happily go with the shelter's manager who refused to take back the 2 unopened boxes of Heartgard that we had purchased at adoption time.

We raced back to the campground to finish getting ready to leave, said hurried goodbyes to our wonderful neighbours who bought the Heartgard from us for their own dog and left without really knowing how to get to this new place. Our phone data had been working sketchily so we couldn't get any information on the internet and the little bit I had managed to get was wishy washy.
Oh and when Glen cranked the TV antenna back down the whole handle dismantled and fell apart sending a spring flying outside never to be found again. So now our TV antenna will go up and down but we can't turn it.

The entrance is grand. It's the entrance to the Westgate River Ranch which is a wonderful "dude ranch". We knew that we had to go through a gate but didn't expect this. We then get to another unmanned gate that takes us right into the ranch with many buildings including a saloon, main registration office, cabins & Teepees, a small village of shops that include a post office, gym, laundry and a very well stocked general store/small restaurant, further we saw a bar and grill restaurant and a marina. They keep Texas Longhorn cows in a pasture and many, many horses in another. They offer all kinds of activity including a weekly rodeo, skeet shooting, airboat rides, horseback riding and swamp buggy rides. There is a beautiful miniature golf on the property.

Deluxe cabins

Swamp buggy

Let's kiss and make up

The horses of River Ranch

And we get to see another Caracara walking in the field

But where are we supposed to go? We did pass a trailhead entrance but knew from what I had previously read that it wasn't the way to the camping. There was a road called Kicco, right beside the teepees with a sign indicating the South Florida Water Management so we decided to go there. A little further we encountered a locked gate. No problem, we had the lock combination. Wrong! The lock didn't open. There was another woman there that was having the same problem who had called into the office several times and left messages but hadn't gotten any responses. On the gate there was this weird cylinder with several locks on it. Glen decided to try one of the locks and it worked! But now we had to figure out how to unlock the puzzle that held the gate closed. The instructions are on the cylinder but truly, when you've never seen anything like it before, it was a real puzzle! After removing the lock you have to turn a long metal rod that's inside the cylinder until another rod pops up through the hole where the lock was. As it pops up it releases a flat piece of iron that is attached to the gate by a chain which now you can remove. That flat piece has a hole at one end where the rod goes through and locks it in. See what I mean?

This is hanging right at the entrance

Now we're all happy and drive to our destination. The other woman was camping in a tent so was going to a different location called Chuckwagon. As we get to our site we realized that it's a cow field with a few very old picnic tables and mounds of rubble - mostly rock and sand. It is alongside the Kissimmee river but we can't see it as the ground is elevated for the whole length of it. The trees are mostly on that elevation or further where there is a forest (where the cows hang out). So we are in full sun in this desolate, abandoned area and we are all alone except for the cows. There are cow pies all over the place. Luckily Cheeka realized that we didn't want her to roll on them and after a few attempts gave it up. Smart girl!

Our breakfast view

A cattle egret hitching a ride

MeMe watching her domain

If you look closely, that is our trailer way, way out there, all alone.

Our misfortune continued when we set up the trailer. We were unhooking but I guess the ball was too far forward in the socket so when it unhooked the truck shot forward and the trailer tongue fell off the block and sunk deep into the sand. Now what? I thought of getting a jack to lift it back up but do we even have a jack? If so, where is it? Then I decided to try lifting the tongue (it's hydraulic) as far as it would go and yes, it was high enough to rehook to the truck. Now the plate that goes down to the ground is bent upward on the front. Another damage to our trailer. By the time we finish with it, it will be pretty banged up. So we get everything set up and it's all good until one of the 5-gallon sack of water we bring along falls off the kitchen counter and splits open flooding the floor. Wonderful. So after mopping up all that water the floor in the kitchen was very clean but we now have that much less drinking water left. By the time we were finished it was dinner time and we were both too upset and tired to cook anything so we ate chunky soup and I had a glass of wine.

The good thing is that we hear all kinds of bird sounds never heard before but sadly can't identify the birds since we can't see them. We did see a Great Blue Heron and we hear Great Horned owls at night. On one of our walks I saw two creatures running across in the distance which I think were coyotes. On another walk we spotted coyote excrement on the road. Glen knew it was coyote because it contained quite a bit of berries. So yes, there are coyotes but we haven't heard them yet.

American Kestrel

The Kissimmee river

On a drive down further into the park, we stop to take a picture of an alligator (what else is new) and Glen sees this lizard on the bridge. The lizard displayed his colorful throat pouch but we never got him to do it again. He was very cute and interested in us.

Isn't she pretty?

There is always a good breeze and we discovered we can get water at the gate where there is a big game cleaning station with a running hose. We later found out that the water is potable.
Just as we were getting to like this place and really get settled in, we get the visit from the manager telling us that there is a wildfire getting close to us and that we might have to evacuate. Since Glen panics easily, we had to get ready to roll since fires can move fast especially that the wind was quite strong. I wasn't too worried but started to get things ready inside while Glen hurried outside in panic mode. He would bark out commands in a breathless voice and I would just roll my eyes and continue to leisurely put things away. Then the manager came back and told us to leave NOW! We then hurried and Glen panicked even more and we got out of there in record time. There were several cars parked along the main entrance and everyone was looking towards the smoke. We couldn't see any fire but saw that a police car was ahead preventing anyone from driving through. There was by then a long line of trucks and cars waiting to get through. I don't know how long it took or if they ever were allowed on that section of road but we went the other way, over the bridge, on the other side of the river where we would be safe. We were told that there was another free campsite nearby called "Three Lakes" where we decided to go. Three Lakes is a Wildlife Management Area mainly used for hunting. You are allowed to stay there for 6 months. There were numerous old trailers there but no one in sight. Then someone drove in to check on their trailer since they had heard about the large fire going on in this area. They are the ones who told us that hunters might show up on the weekends but since it's small game hunting right now it's not very busy.

Anyway, we found a good spot to park and heard a lot of different bird calls as we were getting set up. We have a nice view of a field and apparently if we go up the road, there is a lot of wildlife to be seen. We will explore more tomorrow.

We wake up to the most melodious sounds, a real symphony of bird calls. There should be an app that lets you record bird calls to identify them. We decide to take a drive up the road from the campsite. The first encounter is extraordinary! A whole flock of Wood Cranes appeared on our right and then took off in a spectacular flash of black and white that filled the sky. Some of them perched on trees where we could photograph them. It was hard to get a really good picture of them flying as there were so many that you didn't know where to aim.

We then drove off and were still talking about how beautiful that was when we got to a cement bridge that divided two swampy ponds. We were photographing egrets and ibises when I thought I saw Spoonbills at a distance. I focused on them with my camera and sure enough: Roseate Spoonbills! They were quite far away and behind some brush but got good enough pics to identify them. They then took off flying showing their pink colour. So pretty! We also saw some Hudsonian Godwits and two little ducks that look like they could be Pied-billed Grebes. Wow! What a great spot! I also thought I saw an alligator head but wasn't sure until I looked at my pictures. It was a big one!

Roseate Spoonbill

Hudsonian Godwit

Pied-billed Grebe in winter plumage

He caught dinner! I can't tell what it is exactly but it's rather large for a little duck.

We went back in the afternoon to see if the alligator would be sunning himself and sure enough, there he was: a large fat alligator on the shore. We decided that if he moved towards us we would run back to the truck as he was big enough to do some serious damage. When we drove past he slowly slipped back in the water and disappeared. If you don't see them you can't tell if they're there. Don't go in the water!

The next day we went to Walmart to pick up a few things and on our way back we could see thick smoke coming from approximately where we are camping. I jokingly said to Glen: "Oh, now our place is burning!" He looked at me all serious and said: "Don't joke about that." As we got closer, I started to worry as it was really close. Turned out they were doing a controlled burn in the field just across the road from the campsite! Luckily the wind was blowing away from our home. Phew!
Sorry for the long winded blog but there was so much to tell you!