On Things Along the Way 8

For Photos:  http://willemcoetzee.blogspot.com/2014/01/fotos-12_20.html

No two campgrounds are the same. This was brought home especially by Topeekeegee Yugnee in Hollywood, Florida.  The setting of this venue was a first for us, being virtually down-town in an urban area (  https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=3300+North+Park+Road,+Hollywood,+FL+33021&aq=2&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=35.219929,86.572266&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=3300+N+Park+Rd,+Hollywood,+Florida+33021&z=16 ) It is really admirable that some 139 acres of prime real estate could be set aside for such recreational use. This place has it all  http://www.broward.org/Parks/TopeekeegeeYugneePark/Pages/Default.aspx  down to  an incredible RV park with 61 full service sites and by far the most impeccably maintained facility we’ve encountered  -- virtually clinically so! This is something to behold because no picture can do justice to it.

When Willem came across Topeekeegee during a web search early in 2012 he called the Brower County Office for reservation information.  Not being a part of the centralized reservation system serving the vast majority of private, state and federal campgrounds, he was advised to call again in December 2012 for a December 2013 spot. By then they would know which sites might be available and not taken by repeat clients from the current season.  It seemed that the demand could be high, so Willem succeeded in securing a spot on December 18, 2012 for December 24, 2013.

When learning that we were staying for only 5 days our Canadian camping neighbor concluded that it was all the time we could get. But the surprise was noticeable when informed that we actually had to shorten our reservation after having secured reservations for a month at various parks in the Keys with the Florida State Park System. That seemed even more astonishing to him. And this reaction was not unique, we found.  We mention this to illustrate what it could take to ascertain that one would steer clear of the winter climate up north. Further to the Brower County argument was the strategy to reserve Florida State Park spots 11 months ahead of time exactly to the day, when reservations opened and the same for California, as indicated before. There is something forbidding about committing to a travel plan far in advance but high season is a thing with a sobering effect on aversion to thinking ahead, be it with respect to winter in Florida or summer in California.

A rather revealing matter at Topeekeegee was where our fellow campers came from.  A very high percentage were from Quebec and by listening to the dominant language on the campground, French, one could imagine being in Canada. So here we had the complement of Camping Allouette by Montreal, where we wondered what happened to all those high end campers during the winter. And high end they certainly were, all around us. Many motor homes were accompanied by very sizable trailers with additional vehicles, be they motor cycles, automobiles or the likes. Also, large six-wheel  toy hauler 5^th wheels were put to interesting use, including extensively equipped workshops for mechanical, wood or metal work, suggesting hobbies were pursued regardless of venue changes! And not all of these folks appeared to be retirees. So, how do they make it work?

Our immediate neighbors were from Montreal, with motor home and trailer en tow; the latter for a sizable Harley Davisson. The fellow is a used car salesman who sporadically commutes by air to Montreal to ‘make a little money’ as he put it, before finally returning home for the summer. They also had their adult children fly in to be with them for Christmas. In addition, this year would be a little different because one day they returned to camp with a newly purchased cargo trailer for the Harley. He and his wife were planning a motorbike roundtrip to Las Vegas for the coming spring! Now, Las Vegas is a very respectable distance from the Florida East Coast, perhaps 3,000 miles, bringing home the old saying: the difference between men and boys is the size of their toys.

Having arrived on Christmas Eve, which was Willem and Susan’s  47^th wedding anniversary and looking at Stella’s birthday the next day, we thought it appropriate to dine out that evening while we might still find a respectable restaurant open. We ended up enjoying very well prepared grouper at a Thai restaurant which sported a tropical fish tank in the background. This presented a learning opportunity for three of us, having Fickie’s expertise around and him expecting to add to it with snorkeling and scuba diving in the Keys just around the corner.

After a slow start the next morning, we got our act together and headed for the beach area at Hollywood, which is also known for a 2+mile board walk. Bathers in the waves suggested the water temperature was agreeable, although sun bathing seemed to be preferred by many more.  We strolled on the board walk where, say 30% of the seemingly oversupply of eating attractions were open and well patronized. Other excursions included sight-seeing, shopping and replenishing supplies in preparation of Herine and her husband, Matt’s, highly anticipated joining us for 5 days. Meanwhile, the 2 ½ mile walking, jogging and cycling path within the campground presented additional enjoyment and photography opportunities for Fickie.

So, on Sunday morning we packed up, hooked the rig and headed for a Walmart parking lot some 3 miles from Miami airport where Matt and Herine would reach us by taxi. We couldn’t figure out a way on the internet to get close to the arrival area with our travel assembly rising well over 12 feet. They arrived shortly after we pulled in and it was really good to see them looking as good as they did. They’ve travelled from Chicago to Hans, Liz and their family close to Philadelphia the day after Christmas for 3 nights. With all six of us comfortably seated, we were finally on our way to Bahia Honda in the Florida Keys. But Topeekeegee will remain fresh in our mind for a long time for its superb campground and unrivaled laundry and rest room facilities, which we felt obligated to document -- even photographically. These were a standard setter for the industry, we thought.

The Florida Keys are an archipelago extending south-west from just south of Miami and eventually westward to end in Key West : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Keys. It consists of islands linked by bridges – one of which is 7 miles long. But it hasn’t always been that way and it took a great deal of sacrifice and human tragedy to render the present access to this semi-tropical escape from invariable winter adversity in the north. From our perspective this feature was exactly met so far and particularly during the extremely cold conditions at the close of 2013. And having placed ourselves over there was no coincidence, although one could argue that considerable luck was in play at the time of reserving the two weeks at Bahia Honda. Willem had studied Florida State Parks for years and this crown jewel of the system was a must http://www.floridastateparks.org/bahiahonda/default.cfm. The conceived strategy of hitting the reservation system with multiple computers at the moment it opened wasn’t successful at first. But with some adjustment we succeeded a day or two later while Fickie followed the action in real time on the internet from South Africa. Thereafter the other reservations fell in place, enabling the six of us to roll into Bahia Honda on December 29 – a dream come true! It exceeded expectations nourished by web cams above and under water when Pennsylvania was covered in snow outside Willem’s office window during winters past:  http://teens4oceans.org/index.php/gallery/webcams/ . 

Although we initially missed out on getting a beach site, our subsequently less ambitious attempt landed a great site from which the bridge traffic was less noticeable. By the time we’ve set up camp, Herine and Matt were rather pleased and it was clear that after unfolding the sofa, the 3 queen size bed feature together with bunk and flattened out dinette really had sleeping capacity for 9, including 3 kids.  Not fully utilized this time, one could reason that our trailer still felt rather roomy. Also in this respect our planning and acquisition appeared satisfactory.

Monday was a day for assembling our boat and exploring the local scenery and offerings, while we got an early start for Key West on New Year’s Eve. The going had been really slow on getting to Bahia Honda two days before and we figured if we could avoid such going further west, we may also succeed with the same by returning in the late afternoon when the party crowd would be migrating in the opposite direction.

Key West is a fascinating place, which attracted the attention of people from all walks of life over the centuries:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_West  For us it was a quick scan starting from a parking lot at the Post Office on Whitehead Street. Heading south one encounters well preserved architecture from over a century ago and gets to the erstwhile residence of Ernest Hemmingway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway_House ). This is preserved as a museum and we joined an already extensive queue of pilgrims so early in the day.  At $13 per person it wasn’t bad and we felt we had to allow a good bit of time to peruse and reduce the cost per minute for the endeavor.   We did so leisurely because of the way visitation was structured, or better stated, the way it was not structured.  Guided tours in groups of perhaps 20 that formed inside the entry gate could be joined, or the on-your-own-option was available. Groups could also be joined or left as pleased underway and that is what we took advantage of.  Plenty of seating in the lush gardens meant one could get off one’s feet and regroup – perhaps with one of the 45 unique five-toed genetic aberration cats on one’s lap.  Then returning to the mansion or other buildings of interest, with or without the input of a knowledgeable docent, more impressions could be gained unrushed.

Such leisurely atmosphere carried over to pervade all of Key West, from strolling down Duval Street toward the harbor, catching lunch at the Café Havana to sizing hats at the Waterfront Playhouse on Wall Street where preparations for night time events on the square were underway.  Back at the truck, some 7 hours after arrival, our feet thanked us most sincerely and we headed back via a drive-by of the western most landmark of the Keys. As expected, incoming traffic was horrible but for us the going was good and with heels kicked up and still digesting our oversized lunch, we settled for  a snack and a night cap before turning in --  well before 2014!

Although familiar with deer hunting in Wisconsin, going boat fishing was a relatively new experience for Matt.  Neither of us landed anything mentionable where we were anchored amidst other boats by the new bridge but Matt came out tops in the category of unusual critters with his eel. Although Willem had landed the same some 40 years ago in South Africa, his experience was to no avail and the result was the same, with the animal having strangled itself with the line. It was a fun day, though, and we were sun-drenched, which is exactly what the Chicagoans came for, with the thermometer hitting record lows back home. Fickie and Willem had enough sun for a while but Matt and Herine took another boating outing the next day. And before we knew it, their time was up and they had to return north.  The idea was for us to return them to Miami Airport but Matt meanwhile had contact with a former flight student of his, who now resides in Fort Lauderdale. He insisted on flying to Marathon Airport, some 20 miles from Bahia to take them to Miami. Perhaps the next time these two aviators meet in a cockpit will be in Matt’s aircraft, which he and his dad are building back in Illinois: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van%27s_Aircraft_RV-7  They made it back, albeit with a 2 hour overall delay, but were grateful that it was so simple amidst hundreds of flights having been cancelled and airports closed due to extreme cold and icy weather conditions all over the North. The prime adversity for them was minus 15F on arrival in Chicago and more of the same the next day, which resulted in the city being shut down. Not too bad for them to have another day off to regroup.

Meanwhile at Bahia Honda we were also impacted somewhat by what transpired way up north and our cold spell was a plunge from 79F to 61F one day and a step-wise rebound over the next two days. Back to normal, we were in our second week at Bahia which followed the same pattern of sight-seeing, cycling, boating, reading and handling administrative matters. The latter included flight reservations for Susan from San Francisco to Chicago on June 17 and rejoining us in Victoria Canada on July 7, after Matt and Herine had welcomed their baby. We trust all will go well and that such a wrinkle in our stride will prove not to be out of bounds with our planning premises. Fickie also fitted in a snorkeling outing by boat on a coral reef, 12 miles off shore.

Willem was up early the last morning at Bahia and cycled to the old bridge to marvel at the scene once more from atop. The view of the tranquil camp and curved beach to the gulf side and the vast expanse of the Atlantic to the other, with an almost mirror calm tidal turn ocean was rewarding. After some 20 minutes of taking it all in and watching fish at the foot of the piling, observing the odd powerful boat slowly heading out, followed by a very large sailboat quietly powered through the channel into the Atlantic, to set sail and gracefully float off, the memories were indelibly etched. This surely was a place to return to, if ever possible.