Random Thoughts: Eating and other stuff

We've not really talked about eating on the road and the process of cooking with limited space and cooking options. We definitely have not suffered. Between the two campers we have five burners (more than most have at home), we have a microwave/convection oven (used only when we have AC), we have two refrigerators and one freezer. What more could one want? We've been eating well. We take turns cooking meals or both Dee and Marty cook portions of the same meal. Ideas flow freely for seasonings and cooking options. We've had very fancy black beans and rice with sausage, grilled chicken and fish, veggies, even home-baked blueberry pie, blueberry cake, coffee cake and biscuits. Oh yes, we have pancakes too and the occasional grilled cheese sandwich. We do it all. So what then is so special about our cooking on the road? It is that we eat sooooo very well. Our one treat consumed with great gusto has been Key Lime Pie, bought at Publix, the local food store chain! Sometimes we have it every night and sometimes it is a blend of Key Lime and Mango (pretty yummy).

Now, back to the Keys trip of Wednesday. From our campground in the Everglades, it is over 120 miles to Key West; a round trip that we weren't prepared to attempt in one day. We did, though, make it to a skinny key named Lower Matecumbe and a spot called Anne's Beach, which was a strange little beach that really didn't have any beach at all at high tide. It did have a boardwalk, though, with private picnic tables under roofs. Paul saw something amazing that he wanted to share with Dee and Marty in particular: it was a weathered leathery old man who was wearing what Paul described as a homemade g-string out of a transparent plastic. As Paul commented, it looked like it might have been made from an old shower curtain and “everything he had was just there.” Paul wanted Dee and Marty to go with him and get their photo taken with the chap so it could be posted on this blog. We didn't follow though on that, as that it would have made our family-friendly blog quite R-rated.

We drove through some very heavy thunder storms on the way over to Big Cypress. Along US41 we followed along canals and streams that were loaded with several variety of egrets, herons, and lots and lots of anhinga and gators! We stopped at Monument Lake campground which is more primitive in that there is no easy water, no showers, and no flush toilets. We are camped right on the shore within 20' of water with the occasional gator drifting by along with coots and a few other birds. In the late afternoon we had some more thunder storms and then, just in time to grill, outdoors it all cleared up. While we were eating a smaller gator of about 8' or so drifted right up to the shore near us and stayed around the shore while we ate. Only when we were finished did it finally leave. We did expect that it would come ashore (but not really).