COLLIER SEMINOLE STATE PARK, FL 5/2/2011

On Monday, May 2 we drove south headed towards a rendezvous with the Everglades.  Today we drove south on Hwy 17 and 41. We were amazed at how different the Everglades are than we expected.

The roads were good, but, even though we left early in the morning to avoid the "Love Bugs", after one hour....

...we were covered in them.  After he and Ann had spent hours cleaning them off and then applying a thick coat of auto wax, Wayne had affixed a screen to the front of the grill to keep the little buggers from clogging up our radiator.  Thank goodness he had done that!

The front of the trailer.

Another view of the grill!!

Stopping for fuel Naples Park, FL we were surprised at the wild life that was on the dividers of the road next to the filling station.

The two parents and their child were not concerned in the least with our presence.

Driving further south we began to encounter more and more water, much of it over run by man.

We also began to see more and more of these signs.  We thought they meant black panthers, but we later learned that they were cougars or mountain lions.  I questioned a ranger later about it.  Her reply was, "They are the same animal, it's just that we don't have any mountains, so we don't want them to get confused."

We finally reached our goal for the day and pulled in for the night.  It was a very nice park where we spent the night and washed all the bugs off the truck and trailer.  But, the mosquitoes and "No Se'ums" were prevalent and very aggressive!!

A wonderful site for the night.  We had thought of staying at Camp Wal-Mart, but, due to the humidity, heat and bugs, we opted for electricity and air conditioning!!!!