He wasn’t at home!

Today was such a lovely day today, as are so many here in Central Florida, and after a morning walk, I decided to ride my bike out into my neighbourhood, taking my camera in the hope of seeing something interesting.  I had to battle against fairly brisk winds on the outward journey but it was supposed to be exercise too, wasn’t it!  Well it had better have been exercise, because I ate more than a couple of flapjacks (English style) with coffee right after the walk: recipe can be provided on request, but you need to buy English “Lyle’s Golden Syrup” otherwise it won’t taste right).

I was anticipating seeing the gopher tortoise who lives in a big hole on a fairly deserted road near my house.  But he is a bit camera shy.  As I made my way along the main road, hulking great trucks laden with freshly harvested oranges hurtled past me; luckily I am able to cycle on the sidewalk in this semi-rural area as hardly anyone walks around here.  I passed the derelict-looking Chevron station with no prices for the gas (petrol) they (used) to sell, a large piece of plywood covers one former glass door where they had suffered their latest break-in.  (Why did they take down the iron security gates which covered the whole of the front of the store?  They must have been expensive to instal.)  There is nothing else along the main road except entrances to sub-divisions.  I passed several bodies of water but there was not much activity this morning: no waders or even ducks.

Reaching the Fairly Deserted Road, I stayed on the far side so as not to alarm Mr. Gopher Tortoise.  The occasional vehicle passed me but there was no difficulty in crossing the road as at this point I had decided to turn back.  Mr. Gopher Tortoise was not at home today.  He must have been sleeping late, or already gone out foraging.  Below is a picture of the entrance to his home.  Maybe I’ll have better luck next time.