Dlog: South Florida Loop

Let's try something new for this one. Our previous Dlogs have been in Chronological order as you scroll up, but we're switching that up. Now, you'll read in chronological order down the page. You're Welcome.

This section of the trip, a 10-day escapade looping Southern Florida through Miami and the Everglades, marked a turning point for us in a few ways. 

First, we tried to push our comfort zone on the Boondocking front.

Previously, we had 5-10 days between longer stays and we treated ourselves to campgrounds. Soon, however, we'll be heading out West for an extended period and staying at campgrounds won't be sustainable anymore. We want to figure out how to be self-sufficient on the road and in moderately remote places.

Second, our recent transition from a "vacation" philosophy to a "this is our life now" philosophy had us rethinking the ways we spend our time and money. More on this in future posts.

Third, we're branching out to community outside of current friends and family, which is something we're really excited about. Read on...

[Post is currently WIP, but for now enjoy the parts we have!]

Google Maps view of trip:

   

February 10th:

Picking up where we left off on our VanFest Dlog

We exchanged phone numbers and hugs with our new friends as we all leisurely made our way out of the venue. Finishing up our first proper nomad oriented event, Jesse and I had a newfound confidence in ourselves and our lifestyle, albeit mixed with a healthy dose of confusion about who we are and what we want for ourselves. 

So, we made our way to a local park I had scouted the day before: a potential place to park and spend the night. I was sure there would be pickleball, showers a dog park and maybe even laundry. 

Turns out pickleball was closed and the showers weren't available. Damn. Next. 

But first, we stopped and ate the Subway sandwiches we had picked up on the way. (Thanks Uncle Jeff and Aunt Sue for the gift card!)

We found a state park lagoon to swim in (in lieu of showers) and made a quick dinner by the water. 

The yellow-pink sun begged us to stay and the dolphins put on a show.

So we headed South down A1A, looking for a place to stay. It was a fairly crowded section of barrier islands, interspersed with protected areas and beach access. Many attractive spots were covered in "No Overnight Parking" and "No Camping", but we stumbled upon a nice beach lot that only had a single "park closes at sunset" sign (finding legal spots is a real art; every state, county and landowner have different rules.)
Previously we had been very reserved with our camping spots and wouldn't dare risk staying somewhere we didn't have explicit permission to be. But we're on a conscious mission to push our comfort zones and we're fresh off 4 days at a vanlife festival with countless stories of pushing boondocking limits.
Cool, let's try it.

The parking lot was completely empty, yet notably well-lit. Not by lights, but a nearly full moon and an exceptionally clear night. I convinced Jesse to explore with me a bit and we walked down to the beach where we took this photo:

On our way back to the van, we ran into a man in a white pickup with a reflective vest, clearly working for the park. We knew logically the worst case was he ask us to leave (and we'd already scouted the nearest Cracker-Barrell and Walmart just in case) but we still had pits in our stomachs. 

We talked for a minute and he ended up telling us we could legally park right outside the gate overnight, we just can't be inside the gate for safety evacuation reasons. Apparently fishermen do it all the time. 

So we did, and we slept great under the nearly-full moon.

February 11th:

Our 5:something alarm woke us up with a few minutes to spare before the morning gate-opening county employee came by with the keys. So we headed into the lot, made our coffee and tea, and headed down to the beach for sunrise:

After a gorgeous sunrise and yoga on the beach, we got back in the van and headed out. We stopped in Fort Pierce, FL  for a coffee and went to a restaurant called Havana George Cafe. As soon as we walked in, the guy working the counter asked us where we were from (I guess we didn't look like locals to him). We told him we were from Maine (only a partial lie for the sake of simplicity) and his next question was whether we arrived by boat or car. This was the first time we have been asked that and it was a fun little surprise question! We got some sandwiches and coffee, both of which were absolutely delicious!

Our next stop was the dog park at Vero Beach. Lola made some friends and got some of her energy out. We then moved across the street to the park next to the Vero Beach Fine Art Museum. Max went for a run while Jesse worked on her laptop and hung out with the very sleepy Lola. After Max's run we bought coffee out of a converted airstream and Jesse ate a fantastic passionfruit-creme cruffin. She took this picture just to be able to remember it.

The rest of the evening was dedicated to finding a boondocking spot on A1A. This area was quite crowded and finding a spot that was removed enough for privacy while also being close to the highway was a challenge. Eventually, we found a canoe launch which seemed to be the perfect place. We knew that we were allowed to park overnight there and it was separated from the road by about a quarter mile of thick forest scrub.  Unfortunately, to our dismay, the bugs at this location were as thick as the scrub. The low temperature for the night was a balmy 75 degrees and the mosquito netting on the pop-top could not keep out the No-See-Ums! We tried keeping the poptop down for a bit, but the heat made it impossible to fall alseep. We tried spraying the netting with bug repellant, but the hordes of insects were undeterred. So, we put on as much clothing as we could stand to wear for the night and attempted sleep. It was fitful and itchy. When we woke up, any skin exposed throughout the night had been covered in small red spots. That's a mistake we won't be eager to repeat!

February 12th:

The bugs were a strong motivator to get our day moving. We packed up quickly and made our way to a dog beach. Jesse had been craving some beach time and Lola needed some proper exercise. 

Recently I'd run into two related issues: We had jumbled ideas of future travel plans (i.e. where are we going and when?) and I was tired of re-typing our travel plans to anyone who asked or wanted to coordinate.
The solution? Pen and paper. More on this plan later.

We opted to spend the night at a campground because they had power, laundry and we wanted showers. 

The bike path along the dike was a pleasant surprise as I'd expected to be doing laps around the campground. According to the book of short stories I'm reading, this was about 3 miles of over 1600miles of dikes and canals built in the Everglades region.

Turns out we'd end up driving a good few hundred of those. And tomorrow we were on our way to Lake Okeechobee, the heart and soul of Florida's largest (completed) dike project. 

February 13th:

We drove from the campground to lake Okeechobee and stopped along the lake. At one spot, the man-made shoreline was covered in dead fish and unrecognizable plant growth resembling mold.

Shortly before arriving at our destination, a "Harvest Host" parking lot, we started having trouble engaging into gear, especially first gear. I was worried the transmission or the clutch was failing and spent a solid 30 minutes under the car looking around. After some more time deep in the Vanagon forums, I concluded our problem was a faulty/leaky clutch slave cylinder. Alas, we'll figure it out tomorrow.
I can't remember what Jesse made for dinner, but I was grateful for it. 

Hind-sight Max here. 
Little did we know it, but this mechanical issue was in some ways a rekindling of our love of the Vanagon. Retrospectively, this was the first start of a van work snowball, but we're here for it. 

Stay tuned.

February 14th:

Happy Valentine's Day!

The plan was to start the day by bleeding the clutch slave cylinder. This would end up taking us multiple auto parts stores, a trader joes parking lot, and a very nervous drive to a a VanAlert safe driveway. Let me first explain VanAlert. 

This is a service that recommended to us at Vanfest by some other Volkswagen folks. It is basically a network of Volkswagen enthusiasts (somewhat specific to Vanagons and Bay window busses) who are willing to help you if you are traveling and your old Volkswagen breaks down. This can range from offering a driveway in which to work on your rig, sharing tools and spare parts all the way to hosting travelers and hosts offering their help to fix up someones broken vehicle. Knowing that the slave cylinder job could quickly become a larger issue than a simple bleed, Max put out a "Van Alert" on the app and found a host who was willing to host us in 2 days. However, we were going to try the simple fix first.

We first drove to the hearest auto parts store. I sat in the car with Lola for about 30 minutes waiting for Max to acquire the things he needed for the job. When Max emerged from the store empty handed, it seemed to be a sign that the day would not go as smoothly as we had hoped. Apparently, the store had been swamped and no one was able to help Max check out during that entire 30 minute wait. We headed to the next closest auto parts store. This time the parts were acquired easily! However, as we moved everything around in the van prepping for the bleed-job, we started to get a little nervous about the parking lot. Although in all likelihood we would have been totally fine, out of an abundance of caution, we decided to move on. This time we settled in familiar and comforting territory; the Trader Joes parking lot. This is where we began our slave cylinder brake bleed job. 

I assumed my position in the drivers seat, ready to pump the clutch and Max positioned himself under the rear of the car. Devastatingly, only a few minutes into our procedure, Max sighed, "I just broke off the bleed nipple" My response, as always, to any of Max's declarations about the mechanicals is "What does that mean?" The nipple was very rusted and had basically just cracked off the instant any force was applied to it. We came to a solution of putting a spacer in the actuating arm and about 20 minutes later the spacer was installed and it was time for a test drive. 

The test drive went as well as it could have. The car shifted fine. Now, we just needed to survive until we could get to the VanAlert location (a man named Ian's house). We went to Trader Joes and bought ourselves a self-reward treat. Max bought me valentines flowers.

Our trip took us down Highway A1A right along the coast from West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale. We were expecting to strongly dislike this part of Florida due to the high population, tourism, and affluence. Maybe it was because of Valentines day, maybe it was the Florida coast magic, but we had an incredible drive and actually really liked this area. People were waving at us and complimenting the van constantly and that is a sure-fire way to endear us to a place. 

We stopped at Hugh Taylor Birch state park in Fort Lauderdale which is a place Jesse and her family have visited often. We walked around the park with Lola and then went to the beach for a quick sunset swim. Lola didn't want to swim and we were afraid to leave her by our towels on the beach. We tried to coax her into the water, but instead, to our delight, she simply camped out on our towels and stayed there. She didn't chase the kids running around nearby, she didn't go up to greet passing beach-walkers. She just laid contentedly, guarding our things. If this is a glimpse into the future calm grown dog that we will have, I am very excited indeed. 

Finally, to round out an already packed day, we headed to the Harvest Host was had booked for the night. It was a charming little distillery which unique infused liqueurs. We bought a tasting flight and found out that not only were these liqueurs delicious, but strong! Max ordered a mixed drink called "The S'more" and we were riding high. The local regulars struck up a conversation and, towards closing time, the owner began talking with us as well. The rest of the night was happy and fuzzy and full of valentine's feelings. We ate a late night pizza at the next door Pizza and Pinball restaurant and played pinball until we were out of quarters. 

February 15th:

Careless of our late night, we awoke early. No matter how nice and cozy the interior of our rig feels, sleeping in a parking lot is never comfortable. The world wakes up, cars start, garbage trucks pass, people walk their dogs and, no matter how pleasantly nestled into your vehicular bed you are, the energy of the emerging day will reach you. After rousing, we went just down the road to very cute cafe to get some coffee and pull ourselves out of our grogginess. We ate one of the best slices of key lime pie we've ever had here. Just fantastic. 

Our goal for today was to carefully drive, without disturbing the spacer (a washer unceremoniously shoved into the actuating arm of our slave cylinder), to Ian's house where we could safely do our repair work. Within an hour, we arrived to the house. It was a simple looking white stucco house with a gate leading to a plant obscured backyard. The Toyota Sequoia parked in the driveway had little hand painted florals and the mailbox held a painted ying-yang symbol. These signs were the only context or contact we received from the owner for a good 50 minutes. We knocked several times to no answer and messaged him again on the app. About 30 minutes after our arrival, a man pulled up and helped a teenaged girl move a few bags into the house. He barely glanced in our direction! After a few minutes he returned and we stopped him to ask if he was Ian. He laughed, said he was Ian's son-in-law and was dropping off his daughter. Then, he handed Max and rose and said, "give this to your girl for Valentine's day." and drove away. Slightly bewildered, Max handed me the rose and we kept on waiting. About 20 minutes after that, A man with a long white beard and hair, wearing baggy drop-crotch harem pants and a white tank top opened the gate leading to the backyard. "Why don't you drive on in?"

Ian's backyard was a carefully curated, intensely thick jungle of plants. Fruit bearing coconut trees towered 40 feet above, shrubs and trees sprouted from numerous flower beds, variable wide leafed greenery covered the ground, and vines strung across the yard. This effect was comforting, not suffocating, as one might expect. We were showed a pre-set concrete pad with water and electrical, a barn in the back with an outdoor shower and sink, a workspace, an art studio with AC and a few leather lounge chairs, and many, many hundreds of artful oddities. There were murals, paintings, small drawings taped to the wall, road signs, license plates, sculptures, poems written on napkins, Spanish style tiles, a historical society sign posted in the garden outside, a menagerie of vintage desk fans..the list goes on. I will forget most of the specifics. At first, although not unpleasant, the place felt cluttered and unorganized. Upon further inspection, it became clear there was some sort of order to it. And clearly this person, Ian, had been kept in good company, as many of the pieces were done by friends. It seemed that each person who had ever visited the place left a piece of themselves there. Seeing the passage of so many people through the life and home of Ian seemed to put us at ease. We could see the line of people endorsing this location as a safe haven for travelers. There were a couple signs posted about the barn which read "Ian's Home for Wayward Volkswagens and Wandering Souls" 

Not long after we were invited into the back yard, another Volkwagen pulled up. It was an orange bay-window bus. I was busy talking with Ian about a pile of books he had handed me to read, so I didn't meet the driver of the orange bus until a few moments later. While looking for Max, I ran into the both of them talking in the art studio/hangout zone. Without a moment of hesitation, the stranger asked me, "How much do you love your van?" without thinking, I answered, "Oh, I love it!" Thus began the strange experience of learning, teaching, and mutual evaluation which was our acquaintance with Colin. Colin Kellogg, of Itinerant Air-Cooled, is a professional teacher and air-cooled Volkswagen Vanagon expert. Every year he creates an itinerary of people around the country who want to fix/learn how to fix their air-cooled Volkswagens and he visits them in series. Although he was technically in his "off-season", he rushed to Ian's in order to help us evaluate and fix the slave cylinder issue. I am not one to discuss the following sequence of events which led to the fixing of the slave cylinder, as all I did for the rest of the evening was make dinner and read a book by John Cheever that Ian had given me.  

This was the facebook post that Colin wrote about the encounter and we think that it sums it up quite eloquently:

February 17th:

The nature of Ian's backyard was one of concealment. The jungle was do dense, concealing both sight and sound, that it wasn't until three days of staying there that I realized there was a cottage with a person living in it across the yard from us. He emerged, as well all did, when the coconuts had finished being harvested in the backyard. There were hundreds of them, full of sweet water and thick layers of meat. Max and I spent the better part of the day harvesting as much of it as we could and sharing our bounty with the residents. We planned to leave Ian the next morning.

February 17th:

Breakfast at Ian's.

We are extremely grateful to both Ian and Colin. This visit was truly inspiring to us both— perhaps the closest approximation to a space we hope to create one day: full of memories and experiences, welcoming to travelers, a celebration of uniqueness and individuals. This place was really steeped in its own juices. To copy it would be a folly, but maybe one day we could take some inspiration from Ian, Colin, and Ian's Home for Wayward Vanagons and Wandering Souls. We want to say thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for what you have given us: a hopeful glimpse of a vision of our future. 

February 18th:

Max took a long awaited bike-ride around town. When he got back, we took a ride in NaranjaWesty (Colin's bay window bus). Max got to drive it first, and then I was able to try it out. I am still new to driving stick, so I was pretty nervous to drive someone else's car. Luckily, everything went smoothly and I actually ended up quite enjoying the little bus! 

Finally road worthy again, we said goodbye to Ian and Colin and headed to the Everglades. We quickly arrived at Loop road, which is an area known for alligators. It did not disappoint as we saw 20-30 alligators just on that small stretch of road!

We decided to boondock in this field and had a gorgeous sunset!

While we were making dinner and settling in for the night, we kept seeing cars drive by with spotlights pointed out the windows. Both of us were a little freaked out by it, but eventually we discovered that the way to spot Pythons in the Everglades was by "spotlightling" them next to the road. Naturally, we dropped our dinner plans and cozy evening to go Python hunting.

After about an hour of searching without seeing any snakes, we decided to park on the side of a gravel road and sleep for the night. One truck drove past us in the early morning, but other than that, we were undisturbed.

February 19th:

We woke up in the middle of the everglades parked on the side of the road. Honestly, it was beautiful. The marsh birds were singing, and the sun was blazing its way up into a clear blue sky. Jesse took the opportunity to practice stick driving on the empty roads. 

We made our way to Chokoloskee, FL to see the Smallwood Store. This place had been recommended to us and is a museum/historical site/point of interest. It had been a store when the only way to get to Chololoskee was by boat and had a lot of history with the first western settlers of the area and the native Americans in that area. Definitely a cool place to check out if you are ever near Everglades City or Chokoloskee!

We went back to Everglades City and grabbed an airboat tour. They drove us through the mangrove tunnels. I think I would rather be in a kayak or canoe, far far away from the sounds of the airboats to get the true experience of that place, but the ride was thrilling and we did get to see some alligators and a manatee!

We then went to a loca restaurant to try Stone Crab and Alligator Bites, two local delicacies. The aligator bites were somewhat unremarkable, but the stone crab was delicious and the view was very pretty.

Our ariboat ride came with a free Swamp Buggy Ride so we headed north further away from the coast to ride on the stilted mutant that they call a swamp buggy. It was chill and fun and we got to ask the tour guide some questions about how the habitat has changed over the last 20 years.

To finish off this busy day we drove 22 miles down a rough washboard road to a campground. We arrived just before the sunset and made camp for the night. Max managed to get a quick run in before the bugs caught him. 

February 20th:

We had a good night sleep and awoke peacefully. Max went on a bike ride while Jesse made breakfast. 

We drove out of the everglades to Cape Coral where Max's Aunt Cheryle and Uncle Tony live. They had recieved a very important package for us containing our new refridgerator! Max set that up and washed the van. For dinner, we went to the awesome Pizza place in town and got the peanut butter and jelly pizza. The combination was masterful and unexpected.