Day 4 - Taylor Creek to Bolts Creek

Woke up before sun up again, made coffee cake to have with my coffee.  Had some trouble making coffee, it was one thing after another. First I put the cold water on my grounds instead of the tea pot to boil!  Then got in a rush and pumped water out of the dish washing tank instead of drinking water.  One swig and I knew my mistake, so tried a third time!  Finally had success but wasted drinking water and coffee in so doing. Coffee cake turned out great and with melted butter and coffee tasted great.

Gators were calling again briefly this morning.

Cloudy and windy to start out, but for me cool is best so I was fine with the clouds and breeze.  Was not sure of my destination today but was aiming to stop for lunch at the Shady Oak Restaurant on the water.  I was tempted to stop ealier since I already cut my trip distance considerably and was ahead of my plan.  But kept trucking.

Stopped at the restaurant for lunch and enjoyed the break of having someone else cook for me. Also dumped my garbage, picked up a couple of waters, and two bags of ice.  Motor did not want to start when I went to leave and a guy was helping to push off.  I think it flooded.

Got it going finally and got down the river a couple miles and decided not to continue onto Hontoon State Park and tried a back water off the river.  Ran up on a large gator sunning in the weeds, even back tracked to take a couple pics but he did not budge.  Another large one maybe 9-10', he would eat all the other little gators I've been seeing for breakfast! And, me too!

Pulled into my slip for the night but remembered I needed some clean water for a shower so backed out and then the motor promptly stopped and would not start.  I finally drifted off to the side of the channel..  I first waited about 5 minutes to let the flooded engine dry out, still no luck, after 3-4 attempts.  Finally set the timer for 30 minutes and called Michael the owner to see if I was missing something.  All the usual things to try.  After 30 minutes, I tried and it fired right up!  So I pulled into the slip again and promptly pulled out a cold beer some cashews and went up on the fore deck to relax in the peace and quiet of my hidey hole #2.

More wildlife pics and the big gator are below, as well as my stop at the bridge for lunch.  Below is the track for the day:

                                                   Day 4 - Taylor Creek to Bolts Creek

Click to enlarge

The Large Gator Laying In The Weeds (9-10')

Osprey Posing

The Osprey Do Occasionally Make Their Own Nests
Instead Of Using Marine Markers

The Highway Bridge And Shady Oak Restaurant

Tied Up To Eat Lunch

My Hidey Hole in Bolts Creek

Well, after all the motor trouble my slip for the night was rather pleasant, although I found myself adrift in a gust of wind that pulled me out of the weeks and sent me to the other side of the channel while I was making my last post. Anyway, got the motor started again and rammed it further up in the weeds to ensure I wasn't going anyplace.

Had chili, fresh corn bread muffins, fruit, and a cold beer for dinner.  Since owner Michael expressed interest in my oven I added some pics below showing the oven, before, during, and after, with all the equipment.  See below:

Silicone cups in the oven base. I never have to 
clean the base since I use silicone muffin or bar cups. 
I pre-cut parchment circles to fit the pan when I do pizza.

On the burner you see the heat pad that keeps 
the oven from the direct flame. To the 
right is the folded oven cover.

The top of the oven has a crude thermometer that 
takes practice to ensure correct temperature. This 
stove was difficult to set the flame accurately. 

The oven cover in place.  
This is the Outback Backpackers 
Oven.  It comes in various sizes, this is the 10".  You 
can see the cover is large enough that the other 
burner cannot be used while the oven is in use so 
coordination of other cooking must be worked out.

The finished corn muffins.  I could have filled the 
cups a little more. But they look good and tasted good too!