Okeefenokee Swamp

We've been offline in the Okeefenokee Swamp for the past few days but had an amazing time. I'll start getting the feed caught up... 🐊

On Tuesday, we rented a 12’ metal flat bottomed boat with a little 15 hp outboard engine from the “trading post.” Other than giving them our last name, there was no more formality, just a nod around the corner to where we could pick up life jackets, a seat cushion and paddles - you know, just in case.

After proving my manhood by successfully pull-starting the tiny engine and barely letting on to how hard it is to steer an outboard boat in reverse in a tight marina (even for someone who regularly backs a trailer), we headed out the narrow, lily-pad lined channel. Almost immediately, we saw a ripple and a pair of round eyes leading to a knobby snout evaluate us and then descend beneath the water. Our first gator. Soon after, I steered the boat to the side to let a small fishing boat pass that was towing one of the rental boats - filled with an unhappy family of four - with a dead motor. Okay, this could get interesting.

#okeefenokeeswamp #okeefenokeenationalwildliferefuge #childhoodunplugged #travelwithkids #familytravel

A right turn out of the narrow channel from the marina put us in a branch of water about 200 feet wide. The swamp was absolutely beautiful with turtles, egrets and cormorants everywhere, but of course, we were scanning for more alligators and quickly saw another hidden in some vegetation floating on the surface along the right bank. We moved in for a better view, and I mentioned to Ann that I would just follow that coastline closely so we could look for more. Now, they seemed like they were everywhere. Each time we looked closely, a scaly tail could be seen trailing out of some grass, the angle and length at which it expanded from a point forward toward the rest of the body the only clues as to the size of the monster. Beady eyes would spot us and then sink, the vegetation behind them waving as the tail below the surface the propelled their owner forward.

Then THUMP and the boat below Ann’s seat was thrust and held six inches into the air. I gunned the engine, but it wouldn't budge. Threw it into reverse and did the same with no luck. While we were relieved to realize that it was just a submerged stump and not a pissed off prehistoric reptile, we still were in a bit of a situation. Turning the engine sharply and trying forward and reverse only succeeded in pivoting us around our high center point like a pinwheel. I tried one last burst and felt the boat move up and over the lump until the engine briefly tilted forward and then dropped, spitting a rooster tail of soggy wood chips and water behind us. It shouldn't have been too much of a surprise when @advodna_ann asked if she could drive, even if it meant keeping her free hand on the straps of Mae's life jacket.

#seeyalateralligator #okeefenokeeswamp #okeefenokeenationalwildliferefuge #stephencfosterstatepark #adventuremoms

#heylookkidsagator #roadschool #childhoodunplugged #okeefenokeeswamp #okeefenokeenationalwildliferefuge #stephencfosterstatepark

But I know what you really want are gator pics. This guy was one of our favorites, proudly basking on the sunny bank of a narrow canal we took back to "Billy's Island," former location of a complete logging town that's now being reclaimed by the swamp.
#okeefenokeenationalwildliferefuge #okeefenokeeswamp #stephencfosterstatepark #alligator

Okay last #latergram from Okeefenokee Swamp. If you can't tell, we highly recommend this place! And of course, one of our best gator pics ended up being just as we approached the marina. This guy is one of three resident gators that live in the channel, a solo gator and a breeding pair with a number of babies we could see lounging on lily-pads along the side or scrambling around on the grass in front of the row of rental canoes. Every time we went down to the marina, at least one of the big gators could be seen within 20 feet or so of the fisherman poling for catfish.

The ranger assured us there had never been an unprovoked gator attack. When I pressed him on the word "unprovoked," he said, "You know, Boy Scouts thinking it'd be funny to tip each other's canoes." So, not really "provoked" so much as "given an opportunity." #residentgator #stephencfosterstatepark #okeefenokeenationalwildliferefuge #okeefenokeeswamp

Between not having Internet for a few days and taking a week off drinking, I suddenly got a vision for how to tame our "bucket" of spices once and for all. Nothing at the ubiquitous Targets and Walmarts had fit the bill, either being designed to aim spices upward as in a drawer, needing a vertical surface to mount on a wall or needing too much counterspace to spin. And of course, none were designed to rattle down a dirt road (or Louisiana highway).

My solution was a "stadium seating" design that would sit at eye level in the cabinet above our stove. We'd picked up a 24"x24" sheet of 1/4" birch plywood since the prospect of making long, straight cuts with the hand saw I have with me in anything thicker didn't sound like fun. To support the shelves, I drilled out a line of 1/4" holes and chiseled them into a slot where the tabbed ends of each shelf could poke through. Then I could dry fit everything together like a 3D jigsaw puzzle and put my sanding crew to work to make everything look nice(r). #childlabor

The first idea was to cut wood pieces for the fronts of each shelf to keep the spices in place, but I also needed a way to keep the shelves from falling out of their slots. Yes, glue might have done it, but what fun is that? I twisted some wire around a washer and threaded it through a hole in one of the side pieces, across the front of the shelf and through a hole in the opposite one. A few twists on the other end and the shelves were sandwiched in place. Once I had two wires acting as a "fence"'in front of each shelf, it was starting to look a bit like and electrical experiment.

I'd maximized the dimensions to hold as many spices as possible, but of course ended up having to trim it to actually fit through the cabinet opening. A cut with the handsaw in the darkness a few minutes before campground quiet time - of the side pieces and a little of my thumb - and it slid right into place. A few surreptitiously applied coats of a semi gloss Polycrylic spray the next day, and we had a big improvement to the kitchen and a reminder that I'm much less manic with access to beer and Internet.

#airstreamkitchen #airstreamrenovation #spicingthingsup #airganization

One more pic of my offline and sober #airganization bender while in the Swamp, this one of the "tech cabinet." The goal was to make room for the new WeBoost (formerly Wilson) 4G-M we picked up in Gainesville to replace the Wilson Sleek Universal. We were pretty satisfied with this simple cradle we'd used for a couple years, that is, until we realized that @livingistheadventure's more powerful booster was getting a lot more bars through the same antennas we had.

While putting everything back together, I realized I could flip the wire rack everything had been resting on onto its side and use it as a mounting board to be cool like @telegramsam, @boldadventure and @_daveburns. Now, I can see the display on the JetPack at eye level and have easy access to switch between omni and directional roof antennas on the JetPack (upper left), the booster (upper right) and the Pepwave Surf-On-The-Go (lower right, internal network and wifi as WAN). Lower left is the Apple TV and a switched outlet strip in front that lets us select what's powered up when the inverter comes on. The JetPack and booster are powered off the DC splitter. Not super glamorous but a simple, relatively affordable and capable setup!

#airstreamtech #rvtech #rvconnectivity