Enjoying A Beautiful Waterfront Campground - W.P. Franklin COE

Alva, Florida -along the Caloosahatchee River (82 degrees, clear blue skies)

 

Our site #18

Just east of Ft. Myers, Florida is a beautiful Corp of Engineer Park along the Caloosahatchee River called J.P. Franklin.  For $12 a night for a water/electric (50 amp) site this is super deal using a Golden Age or Access Pass.  Even at the full rate of $24 it's a bargain, especially for Florida.  Most of the sites are along the water and reservations are a must.  Even in the off season the campground was full most of the time of our visit.

We decided to stay here so we could participate in the "Ding Days" a special week long festival held at J.N. Ding Darling NWR where we volunteered this summer.  The Wildlife Drive was closed most of the time we were there for a major overhaul and we were looking forward to checking it out.  Luckily the government shut down ended and these parks are back open.  Sanibel is about 1 1/2 hours from the campground.

Our campground overlooked a lock system and we enjoyed watching the boats come in and out.  We even saw a house going down the river.  Check this out...a barge on a barge. 

We attended two of the  "Ding Days" and especially enjoyed the special reception for the Duck Stamp winner. These stamps are sold at Fish and Wildlife refuges for $15 and offer free admission to any refuge for a year.   Hunters also purchase them to hunt migratory waterfowl.  Ninety-eight cents out of every dollar generated by the sale of Federal Duck Stamps go directly to purchase or lease wetland habitat for protection in the system and Ding Darling designed the first stamp in 1934.  The contest, originally established by Franklin Roosevelt, can be entered by anyone 18 or older. It's quite an honor to win and this years stamp was created by Robert Steiner.  He has traveled over 50,000 miles this year talking about the program and it is the second time he has won. He would autograph your stamp upon request. There is also a Junior Duck stamp program for children. This years winner was only six years old.

2013-2014 Federal Duck Stamp

Duck Stamp Winner 2013-2014 Common Goldeneye

Junior Duck Stamp winner Madison Gramm Canvasback Duck

We also went of a photography trolley tour with a few of our friends and saw  the new improvements to the Wildlife Drive.  The road used to be a dusty gravel surface and it's now been paved with asphalt and looks terrific.  Riding a bike will be so much more enjoyable.

I learned some great tips for improving my pictures of birds.  Our guide suggested if possible to shoot your pictures with the wind at your back.  Birds fly into the wind and if you have positioned yourself correctly you might get some great in flight photos.  Another great tip when using a point and shoot camera is to use the  sport setting for moving birds.  It has a higher shutter speed and your pictures are less likely to be blurred with their movement.

Photography Tour

Alligator checking out all the tourist along side the road

We are now on our way to begin what's now been christened The Crazy Christmas Kiosk gig in Port Charlotte with Slippermania. You might remember we did this last year.  It's lots of fun and it pays fairly well.  We are sharing the kiosk this year with our friends Fran and Randy.  I'll tell you more about it in our next post.

Loving The Prairie (In The Middle of Florida)

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park (82 degrees, blue skies, low humidity)
(My cast has been removed and now I'm back in blogging action!  Over the next week or so I'll be posting about our past adventures.  Thanks again to everyone for their kind words and support.)

The best one word description for where we spent the last eight days is – serene. We really relaxed and enjoyed our visit at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. Our location is in central, rural Florida, where the prairie is uninterrupted for 54,000 acres. The sunsets stretch across the grassland vistas and birds twitter and sing everywhere.

Early morning walks down the easy, well marked trails, were our favorite activity. Red-shouldered hawks are common sights and flushed out of the trees chasing and arguing with their mates in flight. Alligators slide down into the water along the culverts. Two of them surprised us with  bellowing choruses as they established who got to stay in the big gator hole. Warblers of unknown types flitted in and out of the oak trees.. What a great way to start the morning and one we feel very blessed to enjoy.

Ibis

Red-shouldered Hawk

In the evening we drove the road from the campground out to the gated entrance and back. We saw lots of birds, a few scary snakes, and grazing deer.

One very big grasshopper

Cottonmouth snake

Deer at sunset

Five birds were added  to our life list: Eastern Meadowlark, Crested Caracara, Burrowing Owl, King Rail, and Snail Kite. Here are a few of our ebird sightings.  (#1, #2, #3)

The adorable Burrowing Owl is only found in a few places in Florida. We were hoping to see some here and the visitor center told us to go out at night and they”d play chicken with your car along the entrance road. Really? A nine inch, five ounce bird is going to take on our big, blue jeep? Well guess what…several of them did. They would stand their ground right in the middle of the road and certainly looked fearsome as they stared down our jeep. It was such a funny experience 

The Crested Caracara are  by far the most unusual  bird we have seen so far. They are usually found on the ground along the road. They are very tall with long rooster like legs and will eat just about anything. We probably took way too many photographs of them. But who could resist such an unusual bird and one seemed to enjoy posing for us.

Crested Caracara

The campground has two sections (regular & equestrian). The sites are well spaced with electricity and water at each site. The equestrian section has 50 amp service and is more remote. However there are is not a bath house in this area. Only a few sites could be satellite friendly, however we managed to find one which worked well. Our site was the only pull through and had a beautiful shade tree over the picnic table. I especially enjoyed sitting outside with a book and appreciated the vastly improved weather and cool breezes. Star gazing is the best and for the first time in quite awhile we enjoyed a nice fire. 

Site #18

Two things to keep in mind if you plan on visiting, is your RV will probably become dust covered. There is a long, gravel road which leads up to the campground.  We unfortunately arrived on a rainy day and our jeep and motorhome almost turned white.  This park is also very remote and the closest town is Okeechobee. It’s a town with very little character and only a few decent restaurants. We stocked up with groceries and mostly ate at home. However, we'd visit again in a heartbeat despite the extra rig cleaning involved.  

This is a place to slow down and enjoy the quiet and peaceful surroundings. Thanks Karen and Al for recommending it to us.. Our next stop is Orlando and a visit to the Disney parks. It is sure to be quite a change of pace.