We're well into Week II of the Rendezvous

We're entering the wind down mode here at the rendezvous and there seems like so much to do.  Today we had one of the members leave.  I thought he left before telling us where his secret find of grapefruit was.  However, he had told one of the members and so this afternoon, all of us went "grapefruit picking".  It is no easy task, as the grapefruit trees are in a forest and very tall!   I had a 20 foot pole and many of them required the full length of the pole to reach the fruit.  

When we returned to our rigs and eventually sorted the haul, I think all  of us were nearly overwhelmed by how many we had obtained.   Now our only challenge is to eat them.   (We already had 40 grapefruit purchased on Tuesday when we visited the market in Immokalee.)     The site also had an orange tree, with all of the oranges above the 20 foot line.  The reason the citrus trees are so tall is that they are in a tall cypress and palm tree forest.

We are heading to a Florida Conservation park that requires an entry fee or the purchase of a yearly pass.  I've visited their web site a couple  of times and became frustrated trying to find the route to purchase the permit.   Today, we were successful at purchasing the permit with our credit card.  Obviously, we don't have it yet.  However, they give you an online receipt that you print and keep in your vehicle.  The receipt includes a validation number that someone can use to verify that we purchased the permit.

One reason we wanted to get the permit early was so that we can use it to explore another area owned by the same Florida division.  As we explore  various online Florida divisions, I find that they have a number of campgrounds.  There is the Florida Water Management Districts (5 of them),  the Florida Fish and Wildlife Service,  the Florida State Forests and I suspect a couple of others.  Of course there is the over used   Florida State Park system, which is very popular (and VERY expensive).

I suggested to Sandy today that perhaps we ought to go into Immokalee on Monday and get some ice cream and enough strawberries from the market to serve everyone.   Her reaction was that everyone is probably about filled with strawberries after Tuesday.  Tonight we took a brief  count and everyone is still working on the strawberries that they purchased on Tuesday. We still have two days to think about it.

Tonight a cold wave arrives and is supposedly changing our daytime temperatures.. The low tomorrow morning is to be 47 and 45 on Sunday.  The day time temperatures will be in the mid 60s.  But by next week, the temperatures will rise to mid 70s during the day.   We kind of like that, especially after seeing what is happening in the northern snow belt states.  Florida isn't too bad!

Gene