Alva, FL: Our First Gator Sighting

Saw our first alligator today sunning himself (maybe herself, didn't get close enough to tell) on the large sprinkler head directly in front of our RV; maybe 30 yards away. Looked to be about 5' foot in length but again, I didn't get close enough to exactly measure the durn thing.

Sure, I've seen plenty on TV, many of which were larger than our 5 foot friend, but seeing one "in the wild" without a fence or any other barrier between him and my front door is a whole lot different.

Not sure how long he was on the sprinkler however he was kind enough to stay there for another 20 minutes or so after I first spotted him. Should have seen MLA and I running around to go outside and take a few pictures. We had just started to get ready to go to the pool when I noticed him out the front of the RV. It was like the Keystone Cops, us wanting to gather our pool survival gear and get outside to take the gator's picture.

Gonna have to start packing a emergency pool evacuation kit, loaded with everything you need to get to the pool quickly, and keep it by the door. Who knew retirement could be so demanding.

Not to mention the fact that I had to eat crow with MLA. I had assured her that any alligator would not be too big given the size of the lake and the number of people around. MLA insisted they would be big enough to eat Dobbie. While not huge , at least one of them is a lot bigger than I promised her it would be, and certainly capable of eating a 9lb. miniature Dachshund. Once again, she was right and I was 'less right'.

The folks next door have a brand new Prevost Bus RV. If you've ever seen any of those RV shows that those spectacular RV's that that go for $1.5 - 2.5M you have seen what is parked next to us. In fact, there are probably a dozen of those Prevost Bus RV's in this RV Resort. Many of the other sites are occupied by the high end units from other manufacturers. This is by far the most upscale park we've seen.

And, of course, there are lots of those custom golf carts flying around in here.

There are water restrictions in this part of Florida and tomorrow is the day I am allowed to wash the RV. Spent today just scraping the bugs off of the windshield followed by a good coating of Rain-X. Rain-X causes water to run off your windshield, usually without using the wipers. Took the better part of two hours however you have to subtract some of that time due to the neighbor discussion factor.

Never fails, you end up in conversation with people pretty easily in a campground and of course it takes a while. Interestingly, with RVers the first question is not "What do you do?" or "What did you do before you retired?". The first question is almost always "Where have you been?" or "What have you seen?". Then it's finding out if they stayed at any good campgrounds they would recommend. Always searching for a great campground, preferably with spectacular surroundings/view. And a good price is always welcome.

In any case, the view out the front is much improved without all of the bug splatter. Warm weather locations are a lot of fun as far as insects go. Nothing like trying to identify what type of bug it was before it tried to fly through an invisible wall of glass. Couldn't stop singing (to myself) that song by (I think) Mary Chapin Carpenter with the line (the only lyric I remember) "Sometimes your the windshield, Sometimes your the bug". That's all I remember of the song although I can tell you it's always better to be the windshield than to be the bug.

Coming to you from the land of alligators and exotic bugs, here's to being neither the bug nor gator bait.

See ya!