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EG Simmons Campground in Ruskin still has all the Osprey platforms lining the roadways and the resident Ospreys were there, watching for us when we pulled in! My “Welcoming Committee”! Soon after we both backed into our side-by-side campsites, a very vocal big black and white bird roosted in the empty branches of the tree at the back corner of our “condo”. Several times during our week’s stay, we watched him enjoying his tasty lunch of fresh fish, obviously caught in the mangrove clogged canal behind us. The sunsets turned the canal and the sky behind our condo a bright coral most evenings. Our bikes finally made it out of the back of the truck and we managed about 5 miles a day, touring the “neighborhood” and seeing which campers had gone and who had moved in. SPFB – really takes hold this time since we’ve camped in this same park many times before and even in the same spot. Same flea market – same Laundromat –same power plant in Apollo Beach! Even the same trolley ride from Ybor City to downtown Tampa. And the same HUGE RV show in Tampa! On our trip out to Anna Marie Island we did learn to ride the FREE trolley instead of fighting traffic to get to the Pier and then back to the white sands of the beach. The bad part about our stay this year was the “No See Ums”. A hot dry spell really drew them out and they were hungry! Our evenings were spent indoors with an exhaust fan on!
Myakka
River State Park had only one spot that was available and only for one
night. We have never been to that park
and our gypsy GPS took us right to it.
Too bad they were out of their bar patch for my jacket. MRSP is one of the older state parks so it
is a bit more rustic than most. It’s a
long narrow park on the Myakka River and is divided between oak/palm hammock
and rare dry prairie lands. The neatest
thing it is known for is the “Canopy Walkway” – the first one erected in
America. The walkway is 25 ft above the
ground and goes 100 ft between 2 tall wooden towers. You can feel the wooden slats sway under your feet as you step
onto and across it! You can reach out
and touch the various air plants and the branches they grow on. Don’t forget to duck for the gnarly live oak
limb that hangs across the walkway at eye level!
The
2nd tower stretches 75 feet high.
Neither of us went all the way to the top of that tower but the trip up
was well worth the long, round, down and around trip back down to terra
firma! Thru the jungle path behind our
campsite was the marina where you could take an airboat tour boat ride along
the river and its lakes with all the alligators and beautiful birds.
On
down the road in Punta Gorda is another PA resort – Alligator Park. It’s a nice park, good sized, with mostly
permanent park models and old trailers.
Once again, we were the smallest unit in the transient section (the
field) of the park. Our first day was
spent out exploring Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte - the neighbor across the
river, and Englewood - on the gulf coast.
Lunch at “Gators” consisted of 25c wings and grilled fish sandwiches –
mine was a Reuben. Fish and
Sauerkraut! That afternoon, as we
wandered, we ended up at a park right on Charlotte Bay where the Spaniards were
reported to have landed and the first white man was killed. H really leaned on every word of the
Spaniard he met – Can’t you tell?? I
was lucky to be able to spend an afternoon with my dear friend Emily who spends
her winters in Port Charlotte. After a
lunch at a spiffy diner called “Lickity Spit” we gathered at the church she
attends with a great group of her women friends for Bible study.
