Today is Friday. We rode the bikes down to the gator pond and took a few pics. There was a herd of grasshoppers on the trail. Weird! A few gators; a few birds. Pretty much the normal thing.
When we got back toward camp, we noticed that the open area campground was starting to fill up with astronomers, so we went down to check it out. Some were set up for viewing; some for imaging, but all had some pretty impressive gear. One guy said that his mount (not the scope) cost $9,000! Some guys have boats ........
We parked the bikes at the campsite and walked around for a while visiting with other campers. Then we went back and started a fire and cooked burgers and brats over the coals. Good stuff!
After dark, I went down to see what the astronomers were doing. I saw the Orion Nebula and two super novas. Pretty cool stuff!
We left the camper at about 12:20, just after eating lunch. Three hours later we were back after hiking the five-mile Prairie Loop Trail. Most of the trail was through open prairie, but it passed through several small hammocks. Nice scenery and we saw quite a bit of wildlife. All we saw of the wild hogs was the destruction where they rooted op large areas of the landscape.
The sky was overcast with temperatures in the mid 70s, so it was quite comfortable. We relaxed after getting back to the camper. The beer tasted really good.
Wednesday was our second full day at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve. Beautiful place! I was a bit late getting out of bed, but we managed to start on our hike at about 11:15. Before we even got on the trail, we saw a snake. It was a black racer, harmless but very fast.
We started out on the Hammock Trail and switched to the Prairie Trail for our four-mile hike. I like the hammocks. They're prettier and there's more shade. We got back to the campsite about 1:30 and had lunch. Marsha read her book and I took a short nap. Then I went visiting.
This park is a mecca for amateur astronomers because of its distance from any large source of artificial light. The upcoming "dark weekend" (no moon) with clear skies promises to be crowded with astronomers. There is a group of campsites that is out in the open, away from all the trees, where the astronomers gather. More on this as it happens.
We roasted some hotdogs over the fire for dinner and went across the street to do dishes at the shower house where we visited with some folks doing their laundry.
It started raining at about 8:00. The high today was 84 degrees. It's 67 now at 8:50pm. Have a nice night!
We arrived at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park on Monday, 2/24 and will be here for a week. On the way down Rt. 1, we saw the Goodyear Blimp on its way to its next engagement after the Daytona Speed Week. It was about 3:00 when we arrived, so we got set up and relaxed a while before cooking brats over the wood fire.
John & Rebecca, our friends from the Scamp group are here, too. We visited with them for a while during our first evening and again after our morning bike ride on Tuesday. We rode about 5 miles and spent some time at one of the swampy areas where we saw a lot of gators and water birds. We also rode to the camp office where we signed up for the Prairie Buggy Tour next Sunday morning. They only do the tour on weekends and Saturday was already booked. Glad we didn't wait any longer. We've been told by several people, including John and Rebecca who have done it three times, that the tour is a must do, so we're looking forward to it.
Marsha hasn't venture far from the beaten path because we've been told that there are lots of snakes here, including pigmy rattlers and diamondbacks. A couple of days before we arrived, a dog got a bit too curious and was bitten on the nose by a diamondback. He's at a vet hospital somewhere and will be back in the campground tomorrow. I'll bet after that vet bill, his owner will keep him on a 6 foot leash like the camp rules say!
After lunch, I took a nap on top of the picnic table while Marsha read her book. After my nap, I rode to the camp office to get a roll of quarters so we can do laundry sometime before we leave.
Enjoy the pictures.
