Bug off

Hmm, this gets frustrating, this here Internet in foreign lands.....

On some pc's I can't access www.pinkicing.co.uk (sorry another shameless plug) I guess it's how they're configured, seems to be a problem for the US. I can however access the Blogspot thing by going in directly. Am just mumbling cos I'm tired and driven loads of miles. Have just booked into a Holiday Inn just somewhere on the beach at Fort Lauderdale. I think. It's dark.....

I didn't go to Naples inthe end, I went in the opposite direction. I visited the Everglades Museum in Everglades City and got chatting to the lady there. Turned out she was sitting next to me in the Library yesterday, small world. Well hardly it's a really really small town, even by US standards..... Anyway she was telling me all sorts of things about the history of the place when the waitress that served me in the Seafood Depot came in waving a long stick. Geez I thought I left a big enough tip..... Turns out she is President of the Everglades City Ladies Guild (the waitress, keep up!) and has just purchased (or I do believe she said acquired) a double 3 tier perspex display unit. I sat down momentarily to fan myself, not wanting to interupt this lady weilding a long stick and curious to know what would occur next. A step ladder appeared and The Waitress/President got up and took a tee shirt down and replaced it with one that was, well, exactly the same. They asked me my opinion. I paused for a drink at the water fountain. What should I say? They looked the same? As I was fumbling to get my heat addled brain into gear, the answer was answered by the LAdies themselves. It was a different size........

After much toing and froing (that doesn't look right!) The Waitress/President left and The Museum Lady started to tell me all about the places in Florida I should visit. As a result I went to a Semole Indian Reservation earlier today, spent ages in a museum there. Oh that visit deserves an entry all of its own. Maybe you'll just have to wait until you read the book (yep you heard right!)

How these indiginous folk survived, well not just survived but lead fabulous happy lives in the Everglade swamplands is truly amazing. Oh that is until the British arrived, then the Americans. Actually they never ever signed the Peace Treaty, the only tribe not to. How could America find them, the land was far too unappealing. Well for a while at least.

Went for a trek through the Everglades, phew it wiped me out. Drank a litre of water, sweated, yep I'm afraid sweated, not perspired, the whole lot out. I have seen alligators, egrets, hawks etc, it's fabulous.

Drove on route 41 then I95 to Spaghetti Junction. No not really, just seemed like it, was a sprawling set of roads that I hit at rush hour. Was trying to get to Fort Lauderdale to get on Highway 1A, was told by Museum Lady that it is lovely and scenic. OMIGOD, just what do these people who live along the waters edge do that they can afford such luxury? No I mean it, it's obscene. They're amazing and all that but1.5 hrs down the road and you see the devastation that the hurricanes have meeted out and the slow, and sometimes zero, help to get them back on track. Only in America eh????!

Decided to stop as getting dark and I wanted to see everything in daylight. That and I was bushed. Ate some sort of Indian chilli bread before I left the reservation, woofed it down as I hadn't eaten since early am. Oh no, just realised I'm in a hotel, hotels have restaurants and room service. They serve pancakes and bacon for breakfast............................

Don't know what I'll do tomorrow, think it's Saturday. Will see what the area is like in the morning and decide then. Til later xxxx

Oh forgot to tell you I have been bitten to buggery by a load of mosquitos and no-see-ums. Think it's the latter, whatever they are, as I haven't seen a mozzie on me. I have horrid big bites. That was in Key West, sprayed myself with insect repellant today for the Everglades. Was hoping the repellant only works on insects.......