Fire…Or What a Way to Ruin a Hike

 

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, Okeechobee Florida (high 78, low 49)

We didn’t get out hiking yesterday until nearly 11 am.  We decided to go back to a trail just off the main road that leads a couple directions, including back to the campground.

It was a pretty day, warm with a gentle breeze.

 

It was too late in the morning, and even the Meadowlarks were hiding.  We saw very little wildlife and it was getting pretty boring.  We decided to continue for a while longer, and see if we could find anything.

We had gone about a mile and a half when Al noticed a fire off in the distance.  Of course when we notice fire, we immediately check to make sure it’s not coming from the direction of the motor home.

This time it was.

At first this fire had a lot of thick black smoke.  The kind you might see if an Rv was burning?

I have been particularly nervous about fires in Rv’s lately since I have heard of FOUR  the past month of so.  There was one at a Bluegrass festival that we passed on the way here.

These Rv refrigerators have a pretty good history of catching fire.  I read somewhere Norcolds are at about a  2% failure rate.  That’s way too high in my opinion.   We decided to order an automatic fire extinguisher that fits in the outside refrigerator compartment. It’s heat activated.  In fact, we decided for good measure, we’d  order two!   We figure, it could be the best money we ever pay for “insurance.”

But….the fire extinguishers have not arrived yet and the more we looked at the heavy smoke, the more nervous we  became.  It looked very much like it was right in the direction of our campground.  Al even got a bit nervous, which in turn made me really nervous. We knew if it was coming from a campground it was very probably an Rv burning. 

It really  looked like it was coming from the campground.

We decided to head back and see where the fire was.

We walked faster and and faster, and rushed back as quickly as we could.

As we got nearer the main road, we realized the fire was not at the campground, and was either on the far reaches of the prairie, or some nearby land.  As it turned out, it was a prescribed/controlled burn on a neighboring property. 

Phew….   We felt better, but are even more anxious to get our new fire extinguishers installed. 

What a way to ruin a crappy hike!

We went back to our nice “unburned” motor home, ate lunch, started some soup, and took a short nap.

After naptime, we took a drive over to the showers and do a load of laundry.    We saw the same group of deer we’d seen the night before, only this time we saw “Big Daddy.”

You can sure tell they don’t allow hunting here.  I don’t know what happened to his right ear.  It’s floppy.

 

Later on, before sunset, we walked over to the camping area that’s reserved for the star gazers.  We talked to a nice man who  staying there. He had a huge telescope.  He had it plugged it, connected to a computer and camera and was getting ready for darkness.  He told us a lot about the telescope and the stars…most of which I sadly cannot remember. 

We walked until it got too wet and turned around and headed home for happy hour and a marshmallow roasted on the campfire.

 

Is it just me, or have they done something different with marshmallows?  They didn’t taste as good as they used to.