The end of our Journey

A few of the guys wanted to go out fishing again on Staz's boat so we headed down to the Flamingo marina and prepared to go out. While we were in the marina, a mother manatee and her calf visited us at the docks edge. We leaned over the water's edge and watched her just inches from us as she grazed on the weeds growing on the pilings. It was another amazing Everglades experience.

After our encounter, we zipped up the Buttonwood canal to Coot Lake. The fishing started slow but soon picked up as the ladyfish and sea trout started to pound the Clouser Minnows that guys had tied earlier in the week. The tiny teeth of the lady fished had pummeled the coarse deerhair of the clouser minnows, so Staz and I replaced the mutilated flies with fresh bugs. As we looked down at the water we both noticed a set of eyes peering up at us. The eyes of a a loggerhead turtle!


Before we good utter a word, it dived back into the tea color waters of Coot Lake.

We continued to fish well into the darkness. As we cruised back through the Buttonwood, glowing gold/red eyes of resident crocs stared into the spotlamp. The guys said they now understood why we didn't swim in the canal.

We went back to camp and snoozed through our last night at Flamingo. We broke camp and made the hour journey out of the park. We made a quick stop at an unusual fruit stand called, "Robert is Here." The guys picked up fresh citrus and petted the resident goats once last time before our long trip home.

We arrived at Charlotte NC around 11:30 pm. We all enjoyed hot showers and called it a night. Monday morning brought us sunshine and 40 degree temps. YIKES! That's cold when you're use to balmy 80 degree temps.

The rest of the drive was smooth. We were greeted in the Virginia mountains by snow and ice crystalled trees. It was breathtaking but also a view we grew use to as we worked our way north to PA. We arrived back at Frankford around a quarter 'til Four.

It was a trip filled with so many amazing experience that we'll all remember for a long time. Over the next few days, we'll post the entire back-log of photos and videos that we still have to upload. And we'll keep the blog up as a digital momento of our trip.

-Lane