Day 105. November 19, 2013. Gators in the swamp!

We met a lovely couple from Belgium at our campgrounds.  They shipped their custom RV (small like ours) to Canada, and then are traveling USA and Canada for 8 months.  Thry have been doing this camping, around North America, Central America and South America for 9 years.  Seems like  they have been everywhere.  We and they went on a ranger-guided pontoon boat tour of the swamp.  I counted about 60 alligators.  The ranger said you see more  in the summer, and that they estimate the swamp to have about 13,000.  We saw beautiful birds, turtles and vegetation.  Fish jumped all around us.  Beautiful and peaceful.  After the 2-hour tour, we headed for Gainesville, FL where we lived and worked from about 1978 to 1988.  On the way, we stopped at a boat ramp on the Suwanee River for a picnic lunch.

We are camping in Paynes Prairie State Park, just outside of Gainesville.  The city seems to have quadrupled in size.  I didn't recognize a lot of it.  We met up with a couple who had been our neighbors in Gainesviile

 for a nice dinner.