Being off the "Grid"

I think that is what they call not having any internet or cell phone service.  Nobody can call me and I can't call out.  But we do have Dish Satellite TV, so I guess we are not completely off.  Ed can still watch his Fox News.  We go 5 miles down the road and have perfect reception.  So here I am sitting in the Jeep writing this blog.  I just had a long conversation with my sister (Bonnie) until I ran my phone battery down.  Than I read all my e-mails.  Ed is probably wondering where I am.

We went to a place called Shark Valley which is in the Everglades National Park on Monday.  It was a good thing we went on Monday because it rained all day Tuesday.  They have a paved 7 mile path (round trip 14 miles)  for walkers and bikers.  So we decided to ride our bikes, I don't think I could walk that far.  But other than riding around the campground, we really haven't been riding our bikes that much either.  Starting out was fine but by the time we got to the observation tower, I was exhausted.  Ed stopped about every 5 minutes to take a picture.  It looks pretty much like our pictures of the trails, but it still was a very nice ride.  Except on the trails we didn't see much wild life.  On this one there were a lot of birds and alligators.

This was Ed being a dumb tourist, seeing how close he could get to the gater.  This one wasn't paying any attention to him.  Later one actually moved toward him and he almost dropped the camera.



These are called solution holes
We found them on a path we decided to walk down, underneath is running water.  I put my foot there so you could see the size of it.  I would not want to be walking there after dark. 



These birds swim under the water and than when they come out they sit with their wings spread out.  When you go down the canal you will see one every few feet.  Neat to see.

These birds were really tall and they would let you get pretty close to them.  I guess I should have down my homework so I could tell you their name.  I will have to give Ed that assignment.

This was one of the bigger alligators we saw. 

This was our destination.  By the time we got there Ed had to pull me up to the first level, that's as far as they would let you go.  All in all it was a very nice bike trip. 
We have really enjoyed our stay here at Cypress Nat'l Preserve.  We leave tomorrow.  It has been 10 day and the time has just flew by. 

 We are going to meet some friends at a Casino in Miami.  We are going to stay in the casino parking lot for the night.  Than we are heading down to a small park called Jolly Roger Travel Park.  Not in the Keys but closer to it than we are right now.  At least we will be close to it.  They normally charge $72 a night but with Passport America we get to stay for $33 a night.  They would only give us 2 nights at that rate.

Happy Trails.    Ed and Lyn