I swear this weekend, I saw more turkeys than I did on the last couple of trips combined. They seemed to be everywhere.
With the rain I slept very well and it was around 8:30 when I rolled down to the shower. When I got back Ian was up and we proceeded to have coffee and pastries for breakfast. We sat in the coach as the chairs were wet from the rain and watched turkeys and small children run around.
After breakfast we pedaled over to the ranger station and officially checked in. We then did the hammock loop trail behind the ranger station. Ian was using my extra bike and we did the trail and then the family camp loop and headed back to camp as it was already lunch time.
After some delish Sammies in the AC of the coach (low 80s and kinda steamy after the rain), we hopped in in his truck and rolled up to the gator hole. We could hear bellowing before we could see. Apparently mating season is starting and there was one big boy declaring his wonton lust for the ladies. He was prob around 11-12 foot and about 60 yards off in front of us
That said, there were about half a dozed MUCH closer ones including a 9-10 footer who seemed to be paying us close mind. As it had recently been cold and drought stricken, the wildlife was concentrated in this area that always has water.
The winds were SW and looking that way I saw a curtain approaching and we had about 150 yards back to the truck so we cut short our gator visitation and hoofed it back the truck. That one kinda slid by and we plunked down in our semi wet chairs. Then the rain came and we jumped into Ian's tent that I think is larger than the inside of my RV.
Shortly after that I headed over to the restroom and Ian bailed for a nap. I figured that was a good idea and napped as well as more rain rolled through.
Rain finally moved off and the sun poked out for a bit.
Did I mention the turkeys? It seemed a rafter of turkeys were rolling through every 15 minutes. This guy was only about 4-5 feet away. In the past I have had them attack their reflection in my wheels.
With the burn ban, we used hardwood charcoal and roasted mini taters (wrapped in foil) and grilled the T-bone and cast iron panned a pound of shrimp in butter and garlic. Super delish.
More drinks were had the low and behold about 20% of the sky opened up for about 15 minutes so Ian got a taste of what is on tap our there in the darkness.
Unfortunately, the moon was near full (4 days before) and even more unfortunately, Ian had the misfortune of parking his flip flopped foot on top of a fire ant hill. They lit him up pretty good and we retreated to the campsite.
Lucy was supposed to join us, but car issues prevented it. We called the eve a little earlier than the night before as I wanted to be out by 10AM to get back and address the car issue
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