Outta this world sites!

 Saturday and Sunday Prairie adventures.   As I was a bachelor for the first night, I went to bed at a reasonable time and slept for 10 hours!  I rarely sleep more than 7-7.5, but it was nice and comfy in the coach, if not a little chilly as is was 65 inside when I finally woke up around 9AM.

Breakfast was the ole' standard Publix Danish (Guava Cheese) and Vietnamese coffee.  I ate outside watching the birds and was surprised that there were no Crested Cara Caras around (maybe I slept right past when they stop by).

As I sipped my coffee it seemed like the Glamping Tent was smiling at me....

I decided to walk over to the ranger station and see if they had any talks or walks for the day.  I didn't go too far when I spotted today's lunch special, BBQ Squirrel.  This little guy was busy eating the leftovers from the Belgin tourists that had stayed in the Glamping tent the night before (I had spoken with them Fri eve).

THere was a fresh char on the local fauna as the ranger said they did a burn about a week earlier.   if you go back to here, they did one back in 2021 in the same area.   I got to drive past that one (video in the link). 

I got to the ranger station and it was closed from 10-1 (was 10:03).  Oh well time for a walk.   I have previously walked from the equestrian campground around to the right and then back up to the Hammock Trail.   This time I went counter clockwise on the Hammock and then down and to the east.  About 2.5 miles total.

360 panorama with the left side of the road facing south.  This was halfway down to the Kilpatrick trail, you can see the Hammock I walked through on the right (north) and left it reached down a bit to the east of where I was.

Saw this very large insect on the Thistle.  Not sure if it was a bee but it was a pollonator.   Have to looke him up.

Hour long walk and all the really cool stuff was right by the campgrounds lol.   Momma and Bambi just off the Military Trail.   There was a second fawn, but it stayed hidden.   Found out later one had been born that morning in the Horse Paddock area!

I didn't know we had dung beetles in Florida!  Turns out there are 7 species!  Who knew?  The poo ball was close to an inch wide and they were busy rolling it across the park road.  I watched them for a good 5 min as I had never seen them before in action.

My walk was rewarded with a cold beer and sammy.   Delicious.   SPent the rest of the afternoon reading a book.

Lucy arrived mid afternoon and we hung out mostly.   Tried to duplicate my hot from the night before, but no dice.....

Enjoying the afterglow of the sunset, we retired to the site and made our dinner.

The Space X launch went off like a Swiss stopwatch.  As soon as the engines lit, you could see the glow in the NE sky and then the rocket about 5 seconds later.   We were twice as close as from our house, and with the low horizon, it is a GREAT place to watch a launch from.

First stage burning bright!

Zoomed in as best my phone camera can do.  It was a great launch, as we were abe to follow it through MECO, then the second stage all the way to SECO, close to 10 min.   Was hoping to see the booster burn back (have seen parts from my home), but we missed it.

Near full moon had most of the sky washed out, we retired to the site and burned a bunch of logs while enjoying a few drinks.

Sunday was pretty lazy as well, slept in, leisure breakfast followed by a short martial arts workout and then pulled stakes and was home by 3 PM

Coach ran like a top, I would tak it cross country tomorrow.   Need to get on the house systems....

Back to the Praire part 2

 The road into the campground is dirt/gravel and becomes washboarded over time.  They are definitely due to get the grader out there again soon! Probably the second worse I have seen the road and the worst in over 10 years there.   It took me almost 45 min to crawl the 4-5 miles from the entrance to the Ranger station.

You can see it in this photo and here it isn't even that bad (took this pic during my Sat hike).  If I had any loose fillings they would have come out.  My 50 year old vehicle was shaking really bad and since I broke a ball joint on this very road a few years ago, I was crawling at idle speed.

As you saw in the last post, I got settled on the campsite before 4PM.   There have been a couple of changes to the campground with the addition of 5 Glamping spots.  2 were Equestrian loop spot, nd the other 3 came at the expense of a few of  the horse paddoks.

View of the glamping tents from our site.

Front view showing the nice porch, fire ring and they also had grilles.  Also AC!  I did like the fact that the lights are red to help with night vision.

Shot through the window.  There was no car but the new guests hadn't arrived yet.  Two queens and bunk beds so 6 people easy!  I heard they were $175 a night so quite a bit more than the $23 I was paying lol.  

Back at the site, I'm all set up for the night.  Even got our flag out.  As you can see I have my pineapple sippy cup on the chair so the cocktail light was on!

I went for a short hike to the south side of the hammock on the trail that leads out to primitive camping.  I only went about 5-10 min just to take a peek.   As the wind was SW it was much more breezy on this side.

Spotted one of the local wild turkeys.   Oddly, the only one I saw all weekend.  Usually, they are all over the place.

The Golden Hour!   Always a highlight of the day.  If you look down and to the right of the sun you see several palms.

I strolled about 150 feet to line them up and got this great shot with one in the middle.  I may make a print of this one if I can sharpen it up a tad in Photoshop.

As I was by myself tonight, I didn't care about flame broiled dinner, so I cooked my Columbian sausage and potatos on the griddle and then lit the fire for sport.

A near full moon (2 days later), the waxing gibbous was reflecting plenty of light.  This was around 9:30PM.

Wide angle shot of our site showing how much light the pineapple LED throws off.  Was neat how it lit up the oak tree.  It was a low key night.  Originally, there was supposed to be a Space X launch, but it got pushed out to the following eve (stay tuned!).   I was in bed by 11ish and slept a whopping 10 hours strait (I rarely do that).

Back to the Prairie !

 Wow, I can't believe it has been over 2 years since our last visit in Nov 2023!.  I honestly think about this park at least once a week.  I absolutely love it out here with the open skies, lack of light pollution, and abundant wildlife.

I took a half day off on Friday, so I could get here early and enjoy the afternoon.   I left the house at noon, stopped for some go-go juice and didn't stop again until I hit the park.   2 hours and a couple min with a delay for some construction work on FL 700.

I took a series of snaps on the way up showing some of the waypoints I use on this now familar trip.

The Boys riding dangerously without a seat belt

Off of I-95 on Blue Heron, heading toward the Beeline to Okechobee.  That's the VA hospital on the right.  You can see it from miles away on the return trip.  In my view, this is where we transition to urban metroplex to more rural driving as soon as you turn onto FL 710 (Beeline Hwy).

Halfway to Okechobee!  Just before the Intercoastal Waterway that runs through Lake O from Stuart to Ft. Meyers.

Coming down off the big bridge into Indiantown.

Made it to Okechobee and there is Sirum's GMC.    I should have stopped, I need the 2025 calendar.  But I was on a mission to just get there.   I NEEDED the decompress time.

US 98 between Okechobee and Basinger, FL.  I rolled pretty hard on this stretch going somewhere a little north of 65 mph. The asphalt was fresh and still black (FL sun fades it to near white in a few months).  Super smooth sailing.  No real traffic and no one had to pass me.  I ran up on a big farm tractor and he pulled off as I had about 5 cars and trucks behind me and traffice was coming from the other way then.  The coach was humming right along turning about 2900-3000 rpm.

Here's my turn off on US 98 onto FL 700.  Not a long road but a little twisty in spots so about 45 mph in the coach.

on FL 700, new high tension poles going in (they were still working on them and had a 5 minute delay for single lane).   I am not a fan as this means more light out by the prairie when they are done and housing developments going in I would guess :(.

The park entrance.  I don't think I have stopped at this sign in 15 years as I know pretty much all the info.

Red shoulder hawk eyeing up Hugo for a snack.   He was about 10 feet away from the coach and while paying attention, was not bothered by my loud noisy machine.

The Pineapple has landed at Tranquility base!   Spot 30 on the Equestrian Loop!