If Joe and Linda were any nicer, we might just have stayed parked in their driveway for a month.  I didn’t want to leave, but knew I would feel that way every morning and might was well get along with it. So, we got underway about 1045. We went south in I-75 and then switched over to US 41 at Naples. Instead of saying Tamiami Trail, Helga the GPS kept saying “Tamiamitrami”.

I wanted to stop at the Big Cypress Visitor Center to look at the alligators and birds.  I was disappointed that we did not see any along the roadway as we have in the past.  I took a few pictures.

It was definitely alligator nap time. Not one of them moved a hair. This one opened its eye for a moment and then went back to sleep. There were not as many of them as we normally see, but I can’t come up with an explanation for that.

Here is a better look at the foot.

There is a very nice boardwalk overlook with chain link fencing at the bottom to keep the alligators from climbing up on the lawn and eating tourists.

This female anhinga was sitting in a tree drying and fluffing her feathers.  (The males have a black chest, neck, and head.) Anhingas swim underwater to catch fish, but then they must dry their feathers before they can fly.  They don’t have the oils like ducks and geese do.

This Great Blue Heron was hunting on the far side of the water.  It did not seem too concerned about being close to the dozing alligator.

I thought this was a Little Blue Heron.

But, after I walked to one end of the boardwalk and back, this Tricolor Heron was standing in the same vicinity as the little blue.  I suspect it was the same bird, misidentified at first.

Of course I bought another book in the gift shop.

We got to Midway Campground at 1520 and had covered 140 miles. There were no camp hosts. There are 26 RV sites and were only seven RVs there for the night. It is a really developed campground for a national park.  There is even electricity, but no water or sewer hookups.  The dump station is near the exit.

We took a walk and then sat next to the pond for a while.  We went inside before any mosquitoes could suck our blood.