Lifestyle of Wandering: Reflections of a Wanderer

Well, it’s Tuesday, and we’re all just getting a chance to post today. I’m sitting in a Super 8 motel room after a good night’s sleep…A great change from the night before! [Before I go into any details, I want to assure everyone that we all made it back OUT of the Everglades in one piece. No snake bites, no alligator bites.] As the title of my post should imply…things have not all gone well in Paradise (a.k.a. our Florida vacation). As many of you know, we had planned for months to include a canoe trip and camping in the Everglades as a part of our vacation. And, before I go into the now somewhat humorous, but at times nightmarish journey, let me preface what I’m about to share with the following: I would certainly go canoeing down here again, BUT [all VWM people will know what that word means :0) without children along for the journey and with something a whole lot stronger than the 100% DEET that we had with us.

We thought we’d done some decent planning for this part of the trip. We’d researched online, bought a book that included a section about the Collier-Seminole Stae Park, and even made phone calls to them. And, other than knowing that we’d need to rent another watercraft once down here, we thought we’d brought the supplies we’d need. Those supplies includedDeep Woods 100% DEET, cans mosquito repellant for our gear [the “lasts 2 weeks” kind], and even had Tiki torches with citronella in them. We also had a 10 x 10 screen room [more about that lifesaving piece of equipment later…]

We arrived in the Naples area early enough in the day that things SHOULD have gone well. But in trying to locate a place that would agree to overnight canoe rentals we ran into a snag. Now, back in the Roanoke area there are places that will rent canoes and kayaks overnight without any question. Not the places in the Naples, FL area though! We finally ended up driving back up I-75 almost to Ft. Myers to the Bass Pro Shop we’d passed to buy a 6-Person Raft. By the time we got to the State Park a storm was rolling through (imagine that in Florida!) and it was getting close to dark. The park officer told us that is was pretty late to be starting out, not only because it was a long (~5 mile) canoe ride, but also that a part of the canoe trail ran through Mud Bay (shudder…) and when the tide when out the bad would dry up into a mud flat. I was feeling sa growing sense of uneasiness as we were loading our canoe and raft. Those of you who know the Lord (and attend VWM) will understand what I mean when I say that I got that “scratchy feeling” inside. And I really felt impressed that we weren’t supposed to head out that night. BUT…there’s that “but” word again! BUT, not being willing to spoil (haaa!) the trip for others, I quietly voiced concern and loaded up into the raft anyway. (Can all VWM Family say, DUH to that brilliant move?!)

Time snuck up on me, it’s time to check out of this haven…more later. Someone else will probably get to this before me, but I’ll finish my account later today.