Greg & Camille Go Bike

We were stranded in Everglades City without bikes or any public transit options so in the morning, we set out to find a rental car. Camille reserved a rental car from Enterprise in Marcos Island, just over 20 miles away. We were hoping they'd come to pick us up, but the drive was too far. After a few calls, we found a taxi company. Dewan picked us up in a black SUV around 10:30 am and drove us to Marcos Island. We enjoyed some pleasant chatting with him over the 40 minute ride. He seemed really likable and we were really interested to hear him talk about the struggles Marcos Island has had with Airbnb. Apparently most of the properties are now short term rentals and it's really negatively impacted their sense of community.

After picking up the rental car, we drove back to Facahatchee State Park to pick up our bikes. On the way back in, we were happy to pass by Jeff and Nicole. They told us the bikes still seemed to be safely locked up where we'd left them. We said our good byes and continued on to the bikes, dismantling them and loading them into the car. We drove slowly on the way out stopping for pictures periodically along the way. It really is a beautiful state park.

We picked up Route 41 heading east through Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park. At the Big Cypress visitor center, one of the employees was stationed in the entry way to greet everyone. He was giving us advice on places to go and what we might see in the area when another employee ran into the room excited that manatees were nearby. Apparently they've been waiting all season. We quickly followed him out to the observation deck.

Initially, he seemed embarrassed that the manatee didn't appear. We patiently waited while the crowd started to disperse and then we were quietly called over to a another prt of the deck. We could faintly see the manatee just beneath the surface and then it briefly poked its head up. We waited another 5 minutes, patiently watching the bubbles coming up from below for the manatee to appear again and then continued on.

A few miles down the road from the visitor center, we stopped at the local post office. It is apparently the country's smallest post office and basically looks like the size of a shack. We sat in the car finishing up all our remaining post cards (except for 2 from Georgetown) before Camille dropped them off. Continuing on Route 41 it did seem like it would have been a pretty decent bike ride. Traffic was fast, but also pretty sparse.

After maybe 25 miles, we turned off onto Loop Road, also part of our original planned route. Loop Road runs mostly parallel to Route 41 (actually making more of a trapezoid). It's a popular scenic alternate. Traffic ran slowly with people ahead of us constantly stopping to enjoy interesting sights. We stopped periodically too for a nice blend of beautiful landscapes and roughly a dozen gator sightings.

Back on Route 41 for a stretch, this area seemed much less bike friendly, especially along a several mile section with heavy construction. There was no shoulder and traffic was much more congested. This probably would not have been fun to bike.

We ended up booking a hotel for the next two nights in Haileah, stopping at an Aldi's for groceries along the way. At the hotel, we snacked, relaxed and crashed pretty early.