Thoughts...

Yesterday was a good day.

One of the first good days I've had in a long time. I miss having those kind of days.

Getting out on the water in the Everglades is almost indescribable. The wide open space can blow your mind. It really is just wind, water, earth and sky. It's like Mental Floss.. There can be no place better on earth than here to just free your mind, and let it all go.

The smell of the saw grass and water is something I want to capture and take home. There's a sweet freshness to it that can only come from nature. But, then again, maybe that's the magic.

It only exists out here. You can't take it out of the environment. You have to earn it.

I hope that's the case. Somethings need to remain sacred, of the earth.

To way too many people, this is just a place full of grass and water. They don't stop and look at the whole environment. That's sad, there's so much more to this beautiful ecosystem than grass and sky..It really is a world in and of itself.

I launched the boat out at my normal boat ramp. It was deserted except for just a few other folks just headed in from fishing. We made cheerful small talk about what fish were biting out there, etc.. A man warned me that the Game Wardens were " checking everybody out down the canal a ways ", and to be careful..

I chuckled to myself, and thanked him..

I carry more survival equipment than a Coast Guard Cutter... Water purification filter, fire making tools, insect protection, first aid kits, ponchos, flare gun, rope, axes, knives, smoke and dye markers, signal mirrors, and a 12 gauge shotgun with 12 rounds of number 1 buckshot. As well as a myriad of other things to keep this middle aged reprobate alive. You break down, or lose it out there Pal, and your life is in just as much danger as getting lost in the Amazon. Trust me.. It's a nasty place after dark..

I gently backed the boat from the dock, and started out down the canal towards the long grass. It was nice to be underway again. It was about 76 degrees and blue skies, light wind out of the east.. Beautiful..

I rant, and hate on South Florida a lot here on this blog, but days like today are the reason that people want to live and play down here. Simply stunning.. Like something off of a postcard...

I gently idled through the "no wake zone" waving at the old men fishing on the dock by the airboat concession. I turned north up the little "canal" that heads towards "Alligator Alley".

Turning my hat backwards, I pushed the throttle to the full position. The little 18 foot boat sprang to life. The nose tipped up, the wake turned white, the breeze got stronger, and "the little engine that could" spooled up, and howled like a Mashed Cat! I couldn't help but shout!

And off I went.. Grinning like a possum eating a sweet potato...

It hard to describe the first 10 minutes of just "Going Full Throttle" to people who haven't done it.. it's almost like, well, having an orgasm... For 10 minutes...

Really.

I just flew down the canals for a couple of hours. Shouting at the birds, and trying to get some photos of the desperately shy alligators.. And there were MANY of them, trust me...

Then, I went to an island I used to go to with Kim (my ex-girlfriend). It had grown over quite a bit, but was still a place I want to return to in the future. I actually would consider camping out there on the island, but the chance of alligators coming up on the dry ground at night for warmth would make me pretty wary of sleeping in a tent on the ground.. But, who knows? I still just might do it.. I'm sick like that...

I headed back to the dock after my visit to the Island.

It had been a good day.. A time back out in "The Green" that I really needed..

When I returned the boat back to my friend's house where I store it, we sat and talked for an hour or so. He happened to be off also.

It was pure tonic for the soul...

He and I are the closest thing to blood brothers I've ever experienced. Wayne is an incredible human being. I've written about him on the blog before. He was my assistant trapper when we "harvested" two 9 foot alligators from the Everglades. We've hunted together, drank together, and shared some of the most painful things life can swing at you.. He's talked me down from my tree many a time.. I'd risk my life for him..

Due to our schedules we haven't been able to spend a lot of time together in the last year or so. Hopefully that will change.


Well, I've rambled long enough...

Windrider