Gator Aid in The Everglades – Days 9 & 10
Tamiami Corner – HWY 41 – 4:30pm 08/03/2011 I really wish I hadn’t asked Eddie, the guy at the Subway, if he knew anything about Highway 41 going west through the Everglades. “Gators,” was his first word “People tend to carry a stick so that you can push ‘em out of the way.” After much deliberation about where to spend tonight, having discussed several options with various bikers and truckers, called around local hotels called things like the Micosukee Resort I finally decided to try and make a go of crossing the Everglades, with a likely bivouac when it started to get dark.. Last night’s bivouac in Key Largo had been unplanned. I took a sneaky whiff of the local atmospheres and instantly regretted it. I was hoping that Eddie's words would confirm my suspicions about advice you got in Florida. The more confident and knowing the tone, the more likely it was to be a complete pile of fiction. I was in my current predicament for exactly this reason: “Do you think I’ll find many hotels up around Tamiami Corner?” Mexican Chef guy: “Oh yes. Many hotels. Very cheap.” I somehow doubted that by 'many' he meant the Miccosukee Gaming Resort, and by 'cheap' he meant $175 per night. And here was Eddie wanting to know what else to put on my sandwich. “Ummm…Lettuce, please. And some olives. Now, when you say alligators….” “Oh and pythons too. And don’t wear any scent. No cologne or nothing. The insects will eat you alive. Anything else on the sandwhich?” “Emm….nope. That’s it.” I had a brief picture of what it might mean to be the middle bit in an Everglade sandwich; strung up in my hammock, fighting off pythons from above and alligators from below. “Thanks Eddy.” I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach and reminded myself to steal some toilet paper from the bathroom. The Everglades – At…