Blog#27-Inland toward Okeechobee
From Favor Dykes State Park inland to Kissemmee Prairie Preserve State Park-
It rained most of the night. I packed up after drying off my bins as best I could, but my camp chair was soaked through and I put it and my umbrella away wet.
Stopped and reloaded my ice and off to Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. Passed by Daytona and thought of my friends Dan and Pam, both who have a thing for Nascar. Also thought it funny that I passed the home of the WPGA, since I had visited the home of the PGA championship. Golf Hall of Fame is out here, too. I didn’t stop.
Turned off to my prairie campground and was intrigued by the landscape.
Wild Hog dead on the side of the road near the park
On the prairie-Red Shouldered Hawk
Kissemmee Prairie, at 54,000 acres, is the largest public-owned parcel of dry prairie in Florida. It is home to the endangered Grasshopper Sparrow and the Gopher Tortoise.
Found my campsite and put out my chair and umbrella to dry. Turned around and lo and behold, the aforementioned endangered bird hopped out to greet me. He is a tiny fellow, about 1/2 the size of a house sparrow.
Grasshopper Sparrow
This is a dry prairie, currently. Lots of grasses, few trees and no water that I can see. I went down one of the trails-dry grass and a few oaks. I heard something rustle in the grass and saw it moving-and there was the other endangered critter, the Gopher Tortoise.
Binocs intentional to give scale
Off in the distance I noticed low, dark, flat clouds—the kind they tell you to be watchful of due to tornados. The gentle breeze had begun to change to strong wind…My recent experience with dark clouds and wind was not pleasant, so it is possible that I was hypersensitive to such things. The wind became continuous with stronger gusts and the folks in the campground started battening things down or pulling up tents and moving into their trailers. In less than 5 minutes, not another person could be seen. My arms grew goosebumps.
I put my chair and umbrella back into my car, got in it and headed to the nearest town. I wasn’t doing this out on the open plain. I later learned that one year ago, a tornado ripped through this park and destroyed the bathroom in the far campground. The campers here at that time were gathered together with the park staff in the bathroom at this end of the park. Not a wonder that the camp hosts were quick to batten down.
I don’t like it
I went into Okeechobee and hit the grocery store, then picked up a whopper junior at Burger King. Checked the weather for tornado watches on my phone. Ate in the car, then headed back to my camp. The rain had come through, with a great amount of wind, and now it was gone. A few clouds and a decent breeze all that remained. Drove slowly through the countryside heading back. A pair of Sandhill Cranes with 2 young crossed the road in front of me at dusk.
Sandhill Crane with young
It was dark as I drove back down the white sand 5 mile road through the park to camp, and on that drive saw 12-15 snakes in the road, as well as many frogs/toads.
I took photos by flashlight, all from inside the car. Four venomous snakes here, and I don’t know what’s what. Some are pit vipers, but the Cottonmouth, AKA Water Moccasin, is in the cobra family. The giveaway triangular head not present on him. And when young, the venomous snakes resemble the nonvenomous ones.
2-3 feet long
I wished Brian had seen them. It was really pretty neat, but my friend Charlie would not have enjoyed it even from the car. I enjoyed it—until I got to camp and was still seeing frogs on the roads. Where the frogs go,
so go the snakes. And my site was a good ways from the bathroom. Oh well, stick to the white sand road and use my flashlight. Hell, just hold it. I’m a nurse-I know how.
With the storm gone through, the campers were back out. Sitting by campfires, making s’mores. I wondered if any of them had a clue about all those snakes…I thought about mentioning it, especially to the tenters. Figured it would just be mean.
Everything was fine and dandy, except I dreamt about snakes.