#299 Collier Seminole state park

The next few nights would be going to places we had not been before to check to scout for future stays. Some of these are places that are rarely available in the winter.

In the past when we were in the Naples area we would go to the boondock site that's at the Picayune National Forest. It's fine for a few days but it's about a 45-minute one-way drive to civilization and it's dry camping. I say that but actually, it's non-electric. We can hook up a hose at the horse trough so it’s not dry per se just non-electric.

Collier-Seminole is a state park that was more like 15 minutes from civilization and had a full hookup, less sewer. Collier and the next couple of stops would be more like not overly exciting but just ways to see things we hadn't seen before. Some people would say a little boring but it's still all part of the Florida experience and things we wanted to learn about. At Collier Seminole, they had a preserved big rig on display that was used for dredging the Tamiami Trail. It was called a walking dredge. Here is what the internet said about it.

Bay City Walking Dredge

1924

Last remaining dredge in the United States with unique propulsion system, designed for a wetlands environment

Built by the Bay City Dredge Works of Bay City, Michigan, this dredge was used to construct a portion of US 41 called the Tamiami Trail, which connected Tampa with Miami through the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp. The last remaining display of walking dredges (of some 145 walking machines), it has a unique propulsion design enabling the dredge to cope with drainage problems in a wetland’s environment.

It was a piece of specialized equipment that dug a canal which provided rock fill for roadbed drainage of the completed road. Running on a 50 hp Charter internal combustion engine, the dredge moved over rough, swampy and slippery ground and through close-cut stumps, where other earth excavators had difficulty. The walking mechanism was patented by Vincent G. Anderson, Thief River Falls, Minn., on July 2, 1918 (#1,270,763).

The first walker, according to John Thompson, Michigan Historical Review, fall 1986, is attributed to Albert N. Cross of Grand Rapids, Wis., in 1902. This was modified by Carl F. Wilson at Bay City in 1916 in a form similar to Anderson's patent. The 1916 walker consisted of identical pairs of 30-foot bridge frames and weight-supporting runners along each side of the dredge. The bridge frame was eased forward along the ground with the weight of the frames moving from the corner runners to intermediary runners, using hoists and the motion of the bucket, until the corner pads could be repositioned. Once relieved of its load, the intermediary runners would be drawn forward and repositioned for another step. Each step could cover 5 to 8 feet, in 30 seconds. The machine could be turned and backed. It required one operator and helper, which was one less than dredges on portable tracks.

The dredges would follow the drilling rig, which bored holes into the limestone. The holes were filled with Cypress posts and dynamite, which were then detonated electrically. One construction worker recalled huge boulders being thrown 50 feet in air.

Dredge No. 489 was shipped May 8, 1924, to W.R. Wallace & Co., road subcontractors, Fort Meyers, Fla. In 1927 to 1928, it dug a 10-mile section of the Trail between Black Water River to Belle Meade Crossing (where US 41 and 951 intersect). The Tamiami Trail was the first established route opening southwest Florida to travel.

Walking dredge showing wooden shoes

Naples also had an oasis-type purpose. We had been planning on getting some haircuts and Great Clips wasn't available out there on the keys. India wanted to go to Walmart to look at some picture frames Online it can be so hard to make a decision, we wanted to do it in person.

Other than shopping a little bit that was about all we did. We had decided to stay three days because leaving on a Sunday can be kind of a bear. We typically like to visit the UU wherever we are on Sunday. If checkout time from a campground is 11 or noon it's pretty difficult because that is the time services are being held.

Another reason was Sunday was Mother's Day and India had made a conscious decision that if we traveled on Sunday I would most likely blow a fuse at some point. That tends to happen when we're moving as I am hooking up or unhooking or traveling down the highway. It occurred to me that she was consciously not traveling on Mother's Day as she didn't want anything to ruin that day. I bought her an orchid the night before and snuck it in the house while she was asleep so she would see it when she woke up in the morning.

We went to a UU service in Naples and it was a nice service and lunch.

I am confident that the air out of the keys is as fresh as it can be. The whole 5 weeks we were there the wind never stopped blowing. It was coming from the ocean and there was nothing but ocean between us and the air we were breathing.

I have a pretty tough time with allergies and it was really good for me because I didn't cough or sneeze all time I was there.

As we left the Keys within one day of being on the mainland I came down with a really sore throat. It turned into what was a really bad chest hurting kind of cold. It brought back memories of bronchitis. I just felt awful for about three solid days.

I guess for now I'll just call it the mainland disease.

The mainland has all of its particles and smoke and pollen and stuff in the air and it just hit me like a ton of bricks the second I crossed the bridge.

One of the reasons I mentioned my illness is because I had spoken to India about going to the Naples Botanical Garden after lunch on Mother's Day. After the service, we went to an Asian buffet and as I sat there finishing lunch, I told her I felt so weak and so sick that I might just want to take a nap. I think we were both a little disappointed but I'll just wasn't up for a walk out to the gardens. She mentioned to me that although it looked like a nice thing to do it was being at 94 degrees and hot, sunny and humid. Maybe it wouldn't have been that great for that time of day even if I had felt well. With that, we're moving north.