Well we won the jackpot. At the end of February last year I started working on a site in the Florida Keys for this winter. One can make reservations for camping at the four state parks in the Keys starting 11 months out. I got up one morning, went online and picked a site that was coming open exactly eleven months away. The message said "Wait until 8:00 AM". OK. So, at exactly 8:00 I clicked away and the message said "Campsite sold out, try again sucker." OK, so that's the way it's going to be. I tried again over the next several mornings, at various parks with the same results. I would open multiple browser tabs on different camp sites at different parks: "Wait until 8:00 AM", "Wait until 8:00 AM", "Wait until 8:00 AM". Then: "Sold out", "Sold out", "Sold out". Dang. I began to believe they were right; it can't be done. But wait a minute, I'm no quitter. Someone is getting those sites, why can't it be me? Let's keep at it!
Perseverance paid off. On February 28 I hit the jackpot. I figured I had as good a chance at the best sites at the best parks as I did with any other campsites. On this day there were more upcoming vacancies than I had seen in the previous days. I assumed it had something to do with it being February 28. Since there was no February 29, 30 or 31, perhaps more sites were available during this eleven month window due to the difference in the length of the months, and perhaps sites for January 28, 29, 30 and 31 were all released on the same day. In any case, I snagged a prime waterfront site at Bahia Honda for two weeks starting January 31. Sweet! In order to complete the reservation I had to pay in advance for the entire stay. I was a little miffed to have to pay $440.86 ($28.50 per night plus taxes) a year in advance. Later, I was glad we had locked in at that price. When we arrived we learned that the price was now $38.50 plus tax per night. Even with the increase it still beats the private resorts that run upwards of $100 per night. Premium sites at Bluewater Key RV Resort, about half way from here to Key West are $185!!!! The state parks are a deal any way you cut it.
There was only one small hitch: our reservation started January 31 and the TREK rally didn't end until January 31. It was about a 9-hour drive from Tampa to Bahia Honda. This meant we had three choices: change our reservation and give up our first day at Bahia Honda, leave the rally early (which meant we would also skip a day at the Crown Club) or drive all the way to the lower Keys in one long haul. We have had long driving days before, so it was an easy choice. We wanted to arrive at our camp as early as possible, certainly before dark. We also wanted to take our time and enjoy a leisurely drive 100 miles down the Keys to our camp. This led us to depart Lazydays at the ungodly hour of 4:00 AM. When we told one TREKer that this is what we intended to do, he remarked that he did not know another 4:00 even existed. I told him to think about when he stayed up all night drinking and 4:00 rolled around. Oh, that one!
The forecast was for cool, overcast and storms, but the storms probably wouldn't hit until the late afternoon or evening. We
enjoyed a leisurely drive south on I-75. About daybreak near Naples, we stopped for a break and bought some groceries. There we exited I-75 and got on US 41, the Tamiami Trail, east towards Miami. The Tamiami Trail is a very pleasant two-lane road that goes through some rural Florida lowlands. We stopped at the Oasis Visitor Center in the Big Cypress National Preserve. There we picked up information on camping and canoeing in the Preserve and in the Everglades National Park, which would be useful to us in a few weeks. We continued towards Miami and turned south towards Homestead, where we picked up US 1. We continued on US 1 to Key Largo and southward until we arrived at Bahia Honda. The trip down US 1 on the Keys was a little disappointing. I don't know what I expected, but I did not expect an endless string of beach stores, motels and liquor stores. We could see that at Myrtle Beach. Th
e bridges between the islands at least were scenic and, all in all, it was a nice drive.We checked in and got parked on Site #16. We found that the site was wide enough that we could park parallel to the water and had a panoramic view of the two bridges and a commanding view of the sunset. Unfortunately, it was beginning to rain, so we couldn't enjoy the sights this evening. That was fine because were whupped from getting up early and driving all day. It ended up storming and rained hard all night long and most of the next day. We later learned that it had rained almost 6" in some places on the island. That is more precipitation than they usually get during the entire winter, the so-called "dry season" in the Keys.
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