We are heading to Miami to visit our friends Ken and Gary who moved to Coconut Grove 2 years ago. We have not seen them since they moved, other than a surprise trip home for a brief visit. There are 30-40 mile wind gusts blowing terribly and yet the trailer feels planted on the road. Getting used to the feeling is a little unnerving, but it really isn’t going anywhere, just hold the steering wheel tightly and don’t over-correct! We pull into Miami Everglades and Campgrounds around 3:30 pm. We are early enough for an easy setup and rest before heading to their house. Miami Everglades looks like it used to be a KOA campground with the A-frame office/store.
The park is a large one with 2 main sections adjacent the entertainment area. We are escorted to our site by a nice man in a golf cart. He sees to it that we are properly situated, although we still have to align the trailer parallel to the patio. The site is a pull through and the first pull through we’ve had since the Florence KOA.
After some rest, we drive the 40 minutes to Ken and Gary’s house, but I forgot the address. We know the street though so when we get on their street I call Ken, he comes out into the street and says, “is that you with lights on the cab of your truck? That thing is huge!” I feel like such a queen, yet I am driving this really big truck! The 20 inch tires really raise it up. Ken introduces his dogs Kam & Deo, 2 boxers they rescued who are both the sweetest dogs. Sarah and Rosemary instantly go crazy but finally relax into a cozy warmth of new friends. Rosemary’s type A personality causes her to sniff out a safe space and growl each time one of them comes near her.
Ken has prepared a wonderful chicken dish, vegetables and a salad. We catch up on each other’s lives and feel instantly very at home, talking until midnight. On our return to Miami Everglades, Steve and I talk about how “right everything feels!" Spending time with old friends is helping us to determine our destiny. Yes we are doing the right thing for us!
We get to Ken’s Friday at 11:30 AM. We chat and then walk into Coconut Grove. It is certainly one of the most beautiful communities in Florida we’ve been in that isn’t suburbanized, McMansions. It is really a very beautiful area. If you are in the area be sure to visit Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. Vizcaya was built in 1916 as James Deering’s winter residence. James was Vice President of the International Harvester Company, never married, traveled Europe with Paul Chalfin, a young New York painter; selecting antiques and surveying architecture to complete Vizcaya. James left his estate to his nieces. Although, no information exists stating James was gay, everything I have read “all but says” he was! I wonder if he and Paul were lovers? Nearby Vizcaya, James’ brother, Charles Deering also built an estate which is The Deering Estate at Cutler. Vizcaya Village, which was built to support the estate, has also been recently renovated and can also be toured.
It is good to see Ken feels so comfortable in his new home. We return to the house, pile into the car and head to the pet store for dog food and then to Target (not Walmart?) for supplies. Back at the house, Ken offers to let me bathe Sarah and Rosemary. Traveling with 2 white dogs in campgrounds really makes them dirty dogs! They have a deep kitchen sink and soon the dogs are clean and I join Ken and Steve to nap and relax. Ken and I walk Kam and Deo to the store and buy swordfish for dinner. When we get back to the house, Gary is home from work and we enjoy a leisurely meal and conversation until 11 pm.
As we are packing up Saturday morning, Steve is working outside and talking to somebody, when I holler, "are you talking to me honey?" He replies, "no I am talking to John our neighbor from Ohio". I have never filtered well! I step outside and Steve introduces me to John. I am amazed he didn't flinch. We have learned that as 2 gay men camping, usually everybody sees us first as campers, so we are accepted, maybe later they think about us as gay men, but that doesn’t really matter, because we are campers first!
We wander around the park, discover nice, clean bathrooms, good landscaping, and a large well maintained pool. They are building a new fence around the pool area. The rest of the park has all the usual activities like horseshoes, a jogging path, volleyball, basketball, shuffleboard courts, and a rec hall with a huge crowd of people having coffee on the deck. They also have a huge gathering area with a Tiki Hut.
Read the next sequence in our blog: Why would you carry 40 feet of sewer hose?
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