We took our time leaving Long Pine Key campground and stopped on the way out to refill our water tank. We'd last filled it at Ocala National Forest and the water from there was horribly over-chlorinated. Even our two water filters couldn't help the taste. So we drained off what was left before refilling with Long Pine Key water. It tastes much better now.
After a stop at the entrance visitor center to post to the Speedy Journal and download mail (that was the closest WiFi Internet access point and cell service is very weak at the campground), we continued southward the 38 miles to Flamingo and the Flamingo Campground.
The weekend crowd was leaving as we arrived, but there were no free sites along the south edge of the loop, an area we prefer because of the lovely views across a bird-filled field and sometimes more of a breeze. It is along a field with a far tree line and then Florida Bay beyond that. Unfortunately, in the six years since we first camped here, the bushes near the campground have grown enough to block the view to the bay, but the breezes still come through.
We looked around and took a site (#22) on one of the inner loops, then went back to the entry office and asked the ranger if any of the field edge sites would be opening up. It seemed that the earliest was to be on Tuesday. So we settled in, unloading the bikes, setting up the screen house and relaxing.
No sooner than we'd sat back in out chairs enjoying the breeze, we noticed that a couple from Germany, complete with their Germany-registered VW bus and trailer, were packing up. They were at one of the field-edge sites, the one which was our most preferred. I walked over and asked if they were, in fact, leaving and they replied that they were. I walked quickly back to the entrance station again to change our site from 22 to 53. No problem and we are in it until the 19th.
Well, it wasn't quite as easy as it looked. There is large tree along one side of the site, overhanging the paved site pad. (Parking is only allowed on the paved area.) New Speedy is a foot taller than Old Speedy and the tree has grown in the last few years.
Would Speedy fit? Would the solar panels be unshaded?
It was a bit touch and go (the leaves touch the roof), but we managed to align the van along one edge of the pavement and far enough forward to allow the solar panels to have enough sunshine.
Next we needed to move the rest of our gear: bicycles, chairs and table and screen house to the new site. The bicycles and chairs were no problem but then there was the screen house.
The last time we were here we did a similar move including moving the screen house. It is light enough and stiff enough to just pull the stakes, grab it by two corners and walk it from one site to the other. The last time we tried the maneuver we moved the tent, set it down in the new site and the wind immediately picked it up and blew it into the field of deep grass, tumbling like a giant beach ball. We didn't want to repeat that so neither of us took a hand off the house until I hammered in the windward stakes.
With everything set up and the screens attached to the van doors, we collapsed. Actually, Ellen just relaxed; I collapsed as my cold was in full throttle. A nice breeze passed through the van with the back doors facing the coast.
The only disadvantage of our current alignment in the site is that the left side of the van faces due south, taking the brunt of the mid-day sun. Speedy doesn't have an awning on that side, so we can't keep the direct sun off the van. We have a thermometer in a compartment on that side and it read 99° in the afternoon, while the van's built-in thermometer in the front grille area read 75°. The left side is the kitchen side of the van and we have some food storage there. Ellen thought her dinner glass of wine to be a bit on the warm side.
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