November 6 , 2001 Tuesday , Day 11-It's 7:15am and we are sitting in a grove of Australian Pines in the middle of Osprey . Not many of these evasive species left . I really like them when the wind blows through them. We had a pretty good night last night , and I feel really rested . Skil's has been wanting to play all morning .It was chilly last night and suppose to be worse tonight . Good sleeping weather! The sun is going to shine today , something I haven't seen for 5 days . Might feel good!
9:05am- We just stumbled on a abandoned camp across from a mall type place. It's behind a billboard sign , and in a very good location , except for having to walk out on 41 to go anywhere.For all the world to see . Whoever had this camp didn't drink and was neat enough not to leave a mess. Neat little camp ,though , Has a ceiling made of wild grapes , I seen one of these ceilings before in Naples . At a guys camp (Danny Mizell) on Skillet Lake . There is a water bowl set into the ground and a little 2ft. high fence , made of plywood , around the site . Must of had a little dog they had to leave alone while they worked . Have also noticed the litter along the road is beginning to accumulate more . Must be coming into Sarasota .
11:15am-We found a cemetery to take a break in , not a whole lot of choices along here . All of these stores along here and not one grocery store . It sure seems that graveyards are a popular place . There are people walking all over the place . Lot's of cars too. There are 2 guys riding around on a little cart , picking up limbs and fixing flowers that have blown over .I need to get out of here and get my little dog something to eat. Found a tick on him today , none were found yesterday.
1:15pm-Boy , it looks like I am in a mess now . Millions of stores and not one grocery store . I ended up getting one of those little cans for a buck at the circle K . I sure didn't want too , but grocery stores are as rare as native Floridians . If I could find a place to stop for awhile , I would wait until dark to proceed. Right now , I am behind a strip mall and people are coming and going . I think I have been spotted . Better book!
2:00pm-I found a place to rest by a construction site , only if it is for a short rest . There is a barking dog on the other side of the fence , he is very annoying , giving my location up .This whole town is crazy! I feel like I'm walking down Biscayne Blvd. in Miami . Just business after business , and just as many of them noisy-assed green parrots as Miami .My arms are hurting and Skil's is one little tired dog . I have to find a way around this place and especially Tampa.I don't think I much like this place , just like Naples ,only bigger .
5:00pm-I foI am sitting in some mangroves on a little creek in the middle of Sarasota . I have a few of the free community local papers to read .I think I'm right by the jail or courthouse . This is at the intersection of 301 & 41 , this is where I say good-bye to 41 for a while . I'll hit it again when I get to the Manatee River .Up above Bradenton , I hope.
8:00pm-We found some high grass on 301 , smack-dab in the middle of the black section of town . There are a whole line of Holly trees on the back side of this lot , but when I walked back there ,I could here voices . Must be a bunch of homeless brothers living back in there. I am in a really bad place . As I was digging in the alarm on the building next door went off. It was a long time before someone came and shut it off . I hear people back in the hollies , people fighting across the street and all sorts of folks coming and going , from every direction . If Skil's doesn't bark , they'll never know I'm here. Needless , to say , I am leaving here very early , gone before the action starts all over again .
November 5 , 2001-Monday-7:30am- I'm sitting on a seawall in Nokomis , just drinking a cup of coffee and contemplating our situation . Have no choice , but to keep heading north until we're out of Florida. I try to find some work that I can do with Skil's so I don't have to leave him alone somewhere . Weather is starting to chill down a might , hope it has an adverse effect on the bugs.
3:30pm- Boy!, todays adventure turned into a nightmare . I tried to avoid Sarasota proper and skirt around the edge . I walked down Laurel Rd. for about 5mi. and I delivered myself to a dead-end . This I don't need today and headed back . I came across another road with pretty good traffic heading north . Ah! Says I ! This one looks good . Two miles down that road I find a gated community . Can anything else go south today .Back to square 41. As it stands at this moment , I have walked 9hrs. and am 5mi. from where I started from this morning . No more guessing a route without looking in a phone book at the map.
I had a feeling today would be like no other I have experienced , this morning starting out , after my coffee ,I tried to cross 41 . Skil's is always anxious to get to the other side and this time he bolted and the leash broke . A million cars coming down the road . I dove for him , but missed , landed really hard too. Me hitting the ground so hard was enough for him to come see if I was alright . The cars coming down the road had enough time to see what was happening and braked hard.
5:30pm-We just walked into the woods next to Oscar Schearer State Park , this is it for today. I'm in the town of Osprey . I think Sarasota is next and I sure ain't looking forward to that . I am going to try and get on U.S.301 , if I can find it . Maybe, it will take me around the city part . I am still carrying that unused bar of soap and I am also sitting here with an empty water bottle . So much for planning ahead .
Sure is a lot of traffic trying to get into the park after hours . I saw the ranger lock the gate at 6:00pm . These people park in front of the gate and walk in to get a key , or someone with a key . Only one RV pulled up , but he got in . Be nice to have a tent !
November 4 , 2001_ Sunday Day 9-At our first reststop of the morning , just over the Myacca River .We are sitting in the woods by a tower and I see a lot of hog sign around this area .Skil's seems to be in better spirits this morning . Slowing down , helps the little guy adapt to the rigourus trek we have undertaken . Whatever I thought about my luck changing for the better , sure is taking its time showing up . This sign here reads 80 miles to Tampa and 8 til Venice .
9:10 AM- Somewhere between North Port and Venice , and there isn't a whole lot of life on this road at all.There does happen to be a lot of strange flies , though. I have never seen the likes of these things .They aren't scared at all , I try to brush them off Skil's back and they just jump over my hand and re-land . I almost have to scrape them off. Really strange pests ! I forgot to get water at the Myacca store , hope something comes along soon . Skil's is having a tick problem , but not a catastrophe yet!
11:45 AM-I know how Columbus must have felt when he discovered America . I feel like that being here in the first sign of civilization , I have seen today. I suppose this is S Venice and I found a little spot behind a Hess station . I promised Skil's he could rest awhile and its not a great place , but it will do . I figure we have made 12-14 miles today and the only life (other than the flies) that we encountered were a family of otters , Skil's sure wanted to get 'em too! Gonna leave here at 3:00PM . We have been here 3hrs. now , that's a pretty good rest . We'll see whats on down the road . We may not be in Venice yet , but soon will be .
5:10 PM- Just walked 2hrs. in what I thought was Venice . We stopped behind a Shell station just passed a sign that said "Entering Venice". I wonder how big this town is? I don't think anybody has ever heard of it except fot Danny Rust . If I would have known this , I wouldn't have taken a three hour break .
Another day , I didn't get to wash up , have to do something to get cleaned up before the cold front gets here. As far as today's news goes , there is no war yet , Skil's caught a squirrel (it got away) , my goodluck I'm expecting is running late and been rained on once . The worst rain is yet to come .
6:00 PM- And the rains came! We are sitting under a scaffold at a construction job waiting on the rain to quit . It's a good sized job with a lot of foam work and in a little while I am going to borrow a few sheets of their foam and make a bed out of it . The Motel 6 that me and Laura stayed at once is across the street , at least I kind of know where I am now .
Rain has stopped and we made a bed back in the woods behind the construction job . I got me a quart of beer and Skil's a can of food from the store across the street . Just sitting here watching the world go by. A cop keeps riding up and down the street . Wonder what he's looking for ? Maybe , the big styrofoam bandit , me . About 3:00AM , a cop pulled into the store parking lot next to a van that had parked there fifteen minutes earlier . They talked for a bit , then left together down another side street . Strange going's on around here.
