We asked the princesses, nestled on their pad enjoying the afternoon winter sun as they lazily guard our bountifully verdant Earth Boxes (due in large part to the expert tutelage of Conchscooter and his wife), if they would like to meet up with their cousin Cheyenne for an afternoon amble on Upper Sugarloaf Key.
It wasn't necessary to repeat the question as they bounded off their pad and headed for the car. We met up with Conchscooter and our goddog Cheyenne at the end of Crane Blvd. This "trail" is actually the northernmost portion of the boulevard closed off to traffic as it enters the Key Deer Refuge on Upper Sugarloaf Key. With the lack of shade this is a brutal dog walk in the summer. But it's a great walk in the winter when the sunshine is abundant and the cool north breeze keeps the bugs at bay.
Cheyenne, leaving her master behind, eagerly hopped out of her car to greet us but was momentarily distracted by an enticing odor.
Off she went happily tracking the smell...
emerging from the shrubs and trees to meet up with Zuzu and Tootie.
This was a first of sorts for Zuzu as we decided later into the walk to let her go off lead. Zuzu and Tootie had never been free to roam and sniff except for the forays on Marvin Key. Cheyenne was an excellent teacher showing Zuzu that she could sniff and explore without straying too far from the pack.
It was a very enjoyable afternoon stroll. The dogs enjoyed getting out on a beautiful December afternoon, and Conchscooter, with arms flailing, enjoyed a lively discussion with Wayne about the failing economy, the fictitious recovery, the mendacious banks, and the duplicitous government.
The next day, Zuzu and Tootie had a sleepover for Cheyenne at the house. Cheyenne loves spending the night with the girls. She knows that her dinner will be a bowl of warm brown rice and chicken with a touch of kibble and she can sprawl out on the rug while gnawing on a rawhide bone. After dinner, we all loaded up in the car to go to the lodge for an evening stroll to the bat tower.
There's plenty of parking at the lodge since the restaurant closed. The tiki bar, which is still open, tends to attract many of the locals for an after work beer. There are no signs or markings pointing the way to the bat tower, just a large sign and an old plane advertising airplane rides and skydiving at the Sugarloaf airport.
We parked under the Australian pines across from the tennis courts and leashed up the girls. Cheyenne caught a scent right out of the starting block.
Zuzu and Tootie were naturally curious to see what the sniffing was all about. Happy dogs jostling to get to the source of the odor.
Cheyenne usually walks sans leash. Conchscooter probably will think we are daft to worry about her walk freely while in our care. And as evidenced in this picture, juggling three leashes as Cheyenne plods forth is no easy task.
Once again the three honed in on another enticing scent. Perhaps from the same source or a new one. If we could read their minds to know what they were thinking!
The sun was sinking quickly towards the horizon. Sunsets seem to be much faster than in the summer...maybe because it hangs lower in the sky this time of year casting long shadows. The landing area for the skydivers is off to the left. The bat tower is further down the road still out of sight.
The road leads to the lonely bat tower standing proudly amidst the mangroves. A failed experiment by Richter Perky, he built this bat tower in 1929 from plans bought from a Texan, Dr. Charles Campbell, who had designed a tower to house bats in order to help control the mosquito population. The bats never came to Sugarloaf Key. The mosquitos flourished. I understand that there were only four bat towers of this design constructed in the U.S. Two in Texas, this one on Sugarloaf Key, and one in Temple Terrace which burned in 1979. The Temple Terrace community is in the process of raising ample funds to rebuild the destroyed tower. It's a shame that this fine example of a Campbell bat tower sits neglected and unnoticed at the end of a county road north of US-1 at mile marker 17.
We made our way around the tower, a ritual for us. We try to visit the tower by foot or car a few times a week. Like an oversized bird house, it is remarkable in its size and presence.
We tried to gather the girls for a group photo...not an easy task.
Finally, they were all in line facing no doubt a scent wafting from the trees.
We headed on back, no-see-ums chasing us to the car as the sun slipped below the horizon. We'll take a quick ride in the car before settling in for the night back home.
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