My daily commute into work consists of busy highways and country roads. The majority of the one hour drive is spent on Alligator Alley, aka I-75. It generally is a quiet drive, without too much traffic. Everyone is heading the opposite direction, into the city.
After about 35 minutes you will see an exit sign for Snake Road and the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation. Snake Road has appropriately been named for its 17 miles of twists and turns through both the Miccosukee and Seminole Reservations. After more than three years of driving this two lane road every morning and every evening, I have memorized it's curves. The scenery and wildlife are always changing though, which I love, and it is also of course very different depending on the time of year you make the drive.
Through the many seasons, here are the things I have learned about this slithering road:
Winter brings the fog. Expect days of thick gray clouds covering the road. Only a few spots on the road will allow the sun to muster through, creating a quiet yellow nebula.
But winter also brings the birds. Oh the birds! Many have come from the north and the trees and vegetation are white with birds.
Trails of green beans cover the road. The giant produce trucks coming from the farm fields north of the reservation pass through on a daily basis during the harvest seasons. I'm amazed there aren't green beans sprouting up everywhere!
Alligators. The summer months make the alligators disappear, far beneath the dark water of the canals. When the temperature cools down, they seek the warmth of the sun in the afternoons, stretched out on the banks and absorbing their energy.
You are a trespasser. Careful...you are driving through the homes of so much wildlife. Otters, bobcats, panthers, alligators, birds, snakes, turtles, boars. Nothing beats a quick glimpse of a shiny black otter jumping gracefully into the water.
This is cowboy land. Cattle as far as the eye can see. Sometimes in the mornings you will catch a glimpse of half a dozen cowboys herding their cattle in the soft misty morning.
Beauty. In its own very special way, the Everglades is a beautiful place, one of the last true frontiers.
