The Wilderness Waterway (Revisited)

The sun's rays.

I am revisiting a trip that I took this past January. My father and friend Brian were my companions on this journey. The following is a selection from my journal entries. The words and phrases in the following come directly from my journal. Some of the selections are short and brief, while others go into a bit more detail. The Everglades were amazing. They are true Florida. Enjoy.

Saturday 1-12-08

We got lost. Ended up paddling 12+ miles. Stayed at Lopez River Campsite. Food was good. We paddled at night because we got a late start at around 3pm. Started at Gulf Coast Ranger Station. Stars are lit nicely.

Sunday 1-13-08

Paddled to Sweetbay Chickee. Area surrounding this place is the nicest spread of mangroves I’ve ever seen. Early morning was rainy. This afternoon was sunny and allowed us to dry gear + ourselves. All is well. Beautiful surroundings.

Chickee

Monday 1-14-08

Paddled to Lostman’s 5. Today was the best paddle by far. We ventured down narrow paths where air plants flourished amongst red mangroves. To top it off we saw the elusive American Crocodile. We watched him for a while and paddled close enough to where we could see all of his distinguishing features. Later in camp we saw a more familiar site when an alligator swam by before sunset.

Tuesday 1-15-08

Paddled to Roger’s River Bay. Left our company at Lostman’s 5. Crossed large bays with heavy chop. Chickee did not match up on GPS or map. Chickee is in desperate need of repair. Many air plants in mangroves. Very cold this morning b/c of front.

Wednesday 1-16-08

Paddled to Broad River. Trip was on a long continuous wide “broad” stretch. Off the main stretch were mangrove canals. We paddled down one of these before arriving at camp. The prop roots covered us. It was an odd experience. We were visited by cormorants and Ibis and King Fishers. We were met by low tide apon arrival. Strange tides today. Easy paddle.

Thursday 1-17-08

Paddled to Graveyard Canal. Met friendly boaters. Ran into rough surf. It was quite scary on the gulf. Large waves, wind in our face. Arrived at camp early, but very tired. Went for small hike. Cleaned up kayaks.

Friday 1-18-08

Paddled to Joe River. We started before sunrise. Paddled in the Gulf in total darkness and flashing beacons. Watched the sunrise. Paddled into Shark River and saw two Loggerhead seaturtles. Saw numerous dolphins throughout the day. Arrived at camp early. Saw more dolphins at camp. Paddled from camp to explore mangrove cuts. Earlier on Shark River felt like I was in the Amazon.

Saturday 1-19-08

Paddled to Flamingo to end our trip. A big day at 18 miles was hard faught the wind blew hard and the chop was mighty. Arriving at Flamingo filled with happiness at an accomplishment of 99.3 miles, but sadness that trip had come to end.

Washington Oaks

This place is amazing. Not too many places like this in Florida.

Rocks. Water. Beach.

The Magic of Bingo

Bingo is one of those games that I seldom play.

Last month I was in the fine city of Alachua. Alachua is located in Alachua County. Alachua is a small town and this year during the 4th of July it was glowing with patriotism. Every year they hold a grand fireworks display. This year was my first visit, my girlfriend attended a few years back. I did not know what to expect. I figured hmm…this 4th of July Extravaganza could be loads of fun in a Florida Cracker sort of way… The streets were lined with proud American flags. The flags seemed crisp, in the hot summer afternoon, that for some reason would not surrender the slightest breeze. It was a warm and humid summer day. The kind of day that Florida is noted for during our summers.

4th of July

My girly friend and I arrived in the late afternoon. The grounds where the event was to take place seemed to be some sort of county park. There was a giant field for parking cars, a smaller field that contained dozens of vendors and a stage. The parking lot by evening was packed. As the announcer said from the small stage “this is the biggest small town firework show of its kind”. Alright I am sure many try to claim this title, but hey sometimes its the thought that counts. Well the vendors were varied. There were a few local politicians campaigning. I tried to ignore them since, well I am not registered to vote here. There was some guy selling tie-dye shirts. There were quite a number of vendors selling bbq. I am not a huge fan, but for some reason it seemed fitting to have tons of unhealthy food to choose from on the 4th of July. There was also some vendor selling Bayou Billy shaved ice. It was awesome. Can’t explain it really but it was the perfect compliment to a warm summer afternoon. There was even one tent that had environmental stickers. I thought this was funny because they seemed so out of place. I had respect for them showing up and I must admit I agreed completely with some of their sticker slogans. They seemed to have very few customers. I guess people view these type of vendors as downers. Its sad but it is true. I feel that you cannot save the world by making people feel guilty. Environmentalists sometimes are a bit guilty of ‘doom and gloom’ which does not often sell to the general public. I gave no more thought to the previously mentioned observation and I guess it was bingo that changed my day and maybe my overall perspective of America. It was the 4th of July and it does not hurt to give a little thought to what your country is all about.

In the past few years I have grown to be very upset with America. It is all too easy to put blame on polititians, especially the old ‘W’. In the end though all citizens are responsible for our current problems. So what are these problems. Well the problems are many, but for me our country’s stance of global warming has saddened me over the past couple of years. While the president can be blamed for for not signing treaties, the American people should take responsibility for the bulk of the problems we currently face. Granted ‘W’ has the worst environmental record of any American president. At this point anyone would be better for the environment. Take global warming as an example. Scientist have known about global warming for decades. Today in this country there are still many who doubt that global warming exists. Sadly our comfortable lives are mostly responsible. The science is elementary. Think of a small greenhouse in your backyard. The reason it heats up is because the sun light triggers respiration in plants which leads to carbon dioxide being released and some of this Co2 stays in place trapping heat. The scale is different but the principles are the same in our atmosphere. More Co2 means warmer conditions. Global warming is the really sum of many problems we have created for ourselves. Many of us deep down recognize the warnings, yet it is inconvenient to really take that next step. The next step is still unknown.

Global warming and politics aside, let’s get back to bingo. So my girlfriend was really wanting to get out of the sun so she kept hinting that we go inside and play bingo. I was like well ok. It seemed like a bad idea to me at first but I ultimately gave in because I figured it could not hurt. We went inside this old gym. They had tables set up with bingo cards. In the front of the gym they had prizes. Numerous people were already in the gym. So we started playing bingo. I guess bingo ran for a few hours. I grew a little bored with it at times. Sometimes I was barely paying attention. My girlfriend would keep up with my card. I was more interested in watching the crowd. The crowd to me seemed like a small sample of America. There was some religious people. There were minorities. There was some over weight individuals. There was a number of senior citizens. You get the drift. Through bingo I saw a since of community developing in this room. It sounds strange but I swear it was slowly forming in that room. People were talking and a good number were fully entertained by this simple game of bingo. I watched as people interacted and I was like wow this seems like the America you always hear your elders talking about. I think the trick was that community was on display. Today in America I fear that community has been lost. But it seemed alive in well in that small Alachua gym. So this little bingo game gave me a slight bit of hope. It gave me hope that America still has time to change for the better and I think the underlying measures that will get us there are the formation of community. If we are to save the world we need community. If we are to solve global warming we need community. Community is local. Community is global. Believe me if you let it exists it works wonders, but sometimes to see community in action you need some assistance from a fine game like bingo.