20150223 - 66 Alligators

I am having a really nice time riding in Florida.  The rest of the country is suffering a terrible winter, except for maybe Southern California and a handful of other southern states.  Weather seems to stop short of the Florida boarder.  This weekend, temps dropped down into the high 30's; but, that's as cold as we've seen it.  That said, I haven't been able to break out of Florida for more riding, so I'm really getting to know Florida pretty well.

My father is staying in Jupiter, and I've ridden there several time this winter already.  I try to take a different route each time, hence the big knot on my map in central Florida.  As it worked out this past weekend, my father had things to do, so I left early on Sunday with the thought that I'd grab a Cuban sandwich in Miami and then head out into the everglades for the trip home.  Initially, I wanted to go all the way down to the Flamingo T loop; but, I didn't have time.  Instead, I planned on heading out Rt. 41.

Rt. 41 is lined with folks selling air boat rides.  It's very pretty; but, I was hoping that I'd see alligators and did not...at least not until I turned NW on 41.  From there until I got to about 15 miles of I-75, I counted 66 alligators of all sizes.  Some were in the water on the side of the road, some were on the bank.  Some of the alligators were very big - 10' and maybe 40" around.  I'm wondering if they are naturally there, of if they were being driven there by the massive forest fire that was going on in Big Cypress National Preserve.  This fire is much bigger than it seems.  Flames could be seen from the road and clouds towered into the sky and could easily be seen 20 miles away.  I realized that I can't take chances anymore.  I need to carry my GoPro everywhere I ride!  Sorry, stills only.

Here's my latest map: