827 October 23, 2022 Dixie Vodka 400
I had some unusual cheerleaders as I took my morning walk.
A ranger stopped to help this turtle across the road.
This is the first flock of white pelicans that we have seen. They are migratory birds that come here for the winter. The soared on large loopy circles overhead.
Today was the Dixie Vodka 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. This was a NASCAR playoff race. When we knew that we were going to be in Florida and there was a race, it was a no brainer!
I do love the pageantry of a live race; the driver introductions, the invocation, the national anthem, the patriotism, the fireworks, the military jet flyby. Then, there is the thrill as the racecars come around the corner at the beginning of the competition; the thrum of the engines, the smell of racing fuel, the excitement of the crowd.
It was hot. That beautiful Florida sunshine was intense. I went to get us frozen lemonade before the end of stage 1. Every line was ridiculously long. I was in the shade and it was cooler there under the grandstands so I elected to wait behind 50 other people! It took almost an hour and by that time, Tim had joined me. We decided to get hotdogs as well. It was $63.75 for two lemonades and for our sandwiches…WOW! I will say that the hotdogs were exceptionally delicious and that the frozen lemonade saved the day!
Neither of our drivers had a stellar race but we had fun being a part of it!
We didn’t leave the track until almost 7. We decided to stop at the Cracker Barrel in Homestead where we knew that we could get salads for dinner.
We reentered Everglades National Park well after dark. We didn’t stop to look at the first snake we saw but we did stop for the second. Tim thought it might have been a python, but rangers on Monday identified it as a water moccasin or cottonmouth.
We stopped at Nine Mile Pond and got out to look at the stars. There was no moon and the sky was glorious! We could see the milky way as it reached out over the Everglades. At the other end of the white swath, sat Miami with its bright city lights. The stars at that end were obliterated by those lights.
As we went to leave, we saw what looked like a pair of eyes gliding across the lake. As we watched and the “eyes” got closer, we noticed that they looked more like lights. In fact, it looked like a ring of lights around a dome of some sort. What in the world had we seen? I though it looked like a UFO on the lake or more accurately like our dish satellite with a string of lights. Maybe, it was a kayaker with light on his boat. Weirdly, it came to rest in the high grass along the edge of the lake so that it was almost invisible…like it was trying to hide. We drove away then after wondering if it might be someone who did not want to be seen. Maybe it was some kind of research equipment?
By the time we got back to the RV, we were tired but it took me a long time to settle. It was a busy and stimulating day.
