May 23 (W) - Myakka River State Park
Got up early, broke camp. Despite me knowing Rick must have been up late he really made an effort. I mean seriously. Not the weird I’m-okay-you’re-okay thing he does every once in a while, but a real effort despite there being dark circles under his eyes.
“Rick, I haven’t wanted to pry but … how’s your uncle.”
He looked grateful. “Better. The infection is under control and … look, I obviously owe you an explanation.”
“You don’t owe me anything. No pressure. Remember?” I told him feeling some of my own guilt for the thinks I’ve been thinking after some of the things I’d said.
“I remember. And I still appreciate it even if I’ve acted like an ass.”
“No. You’re under stress and …” I said, not really sure that I wanted to hear any potential confessions.
“And you wouldn’t make any excuses for yourself, and I admire that about you. You are who you are and you don’t apologize for it, but you also don’t rationalize it or make excuses. And … and I wish more people were like that. They just haven’t come out as strong as you even if they’ve had their own rough patches.”
Uh oh.
“Can Benny sit with Lev? Please?” he asked.
All I had to do was look over and Lev gave me a thumbs up where Benny couldn’t see. “All taken care of.”
“Thanks. This is just a little … embarrassing to be honest.”
“Uh …”
“My uncle … look, my Dad will always be my dad but he’s also always going to be my mother’s husband and all that it means. He wants to do the dad thing but … for a long time all he could be was my mother’s husband. And he never resented my uncle stepping up. They … shared me I guess you’d say and it turns out, according to Dad, that Uncle George may have needed me in his own way as much as I needed him. He can’t have children and it turns out Sylvia can’t either so they … yeah, they’ve gravitated that direction but very platonic because they’ve both put their families first in their lives. My uncle me … and Aunt Sylvia, first her caregiving career then her sister’s family. Rosa’s mother … I don’t know what to say about her that doesn’t sound bad but …”
“Hot mess?”
“Actually no. Though I could see where most people might see her that way. She’s just a very … dependent type of person. And anything that threatens her latest dependency … she gets very controlling to manipulative. And Rosa falls for that every time and … frankly she is starting to pick up her mother’s bad habits. Aunt Sylvia has been working with her, trying to break those habits but I don’t think it is going to work without some help because her mother is just always there … managing, nagging, putting ideas in her head, scaring her.”
“Okay … and you’re supposed to fix that how?”
He sighed. “I … can’t. Not from here, maybe not at all. Rosa
is a nice girl. She can be a great woman for someone. But until she is willing to get away from her mother’s influence, I doubt that will happen. But I’ve made promises to Uncle George, and I’ve been walking a real tight rope. I was at the point of taking your advice and simply talking to him about his unrealistic expectations but then the infection and his doctor point blank told me that he’s still too weak and that he’s only allowing Aunt Sylvia access to him, he doesn’t even want Rosa and her mother at the hospital because when they are there somehow word gets to my uncle and … the doctor says the stress is a set back every time.”
“Sounds like your uncle’s doc is on top of it,” I said and really meant it.
“He’s on top of that part. Like an idiot I still obligated myself to helping with the immigration stuff. And it turns out you were correct on a few other points. Rosa’s parents left a bigger mess behind than her mother admitted to, or even Aunt Sylvia was aware of. And Rosa’s half-brothers – who should be helping with this – can’t because they’ve been deported but are in Honduras with their mother’s family, not the US like I was told. And the reason for their deportation wasn’t just federal immigration law, they have some jurisdictional criminal charges in a couple of different states and Rosa’s father … he lied for them and as a result was charged as an accessory.”
“Was Rosa’s mother ever charged?”
“Not … officially,” he said hesitantly. “But technically she is still a person of interest, and it is being held against her. And that is something I cannot fix. She’s finally hired a lawyer – so she says – to help wipe the slate clean. Rosa is clean except … she never was officially divorced from her husband before he died, and he left some outstanding debts, and the laws are different down there. If she wants to leave the country legally, she needs to clean up those debts. And she must leave Costa Rica legally before she can enter the US legally.”
Not knowing if my question was going to be welcome I asked, “I … I don’t mean to stress you out by asking but … is she expecting your uncle to pay those debts for her?”
“She was.”
“Er … was?”
“Yeah. I … I told her absolutely not, that Uncle George’s estate was not going to bankroll her mistakes. Her and her mother got a little … hysterical. They’re claiming that Uncle George promised to help. I told them he is too medical fragile to be making those kinds of financial decisions and that even if he did, I’m the one that has the POA and until Uncle George tells me otherwise … it will not be happening.”
Wow. “I take it that did not go over well.”
“Like I said, they got hysterical. However, I’m hoping this has been a turning point. Rosa has a job. It’s as a waitress but it’s good money. The restaurant belongs to the sister of her Godfather. The woman runs a tight ship, and it also means that Rosa’s son is in a type of preschool set up that is only two doors down from the restaurant. Even Rosa’s mother has a job … she’s cleaning houses for one of her brothers that owns some vacation homes. It’s about as good as I could hope for under the circumstances. Rosa is out from under her mother and both of them no longer really have the time to sit around the hospital trying to get a word with Uncle George.”
“Okay. Sounds like you are pulling things together as much as you are able, to fulfill the promises you made to your uncle. You can’t fix what you can’t fix. But why feel the need to explain all of that to me?”
“Because I’ve been acting like an ass. I still can’t offer … Gus I’ve still got a mess on my hands.”
“We said no pressure.”
“And I appreciate that like you have no idea. And … if possible … and while I know this is unfair … if you could just keep it that way for a while longer. I understand … trust me that I do understand and even if I have been too self-involved to understand, Lev has dumped me on my ass a couple of times to wake me up.”
“What?!”
“He … look. Maybe I needed it. Lev is decent. He could have really screwed me over in a lot of ways and not just professionally. Instead … never mind. Just, like I said, even if I didn’t really have a clue before, I do now. You aren’t free to just wait around and screw around. I … I’m sorry but I just can’t promise that I’ll have everything figured out before the grant is over. If … if I don’t, can … can I still call you until we figure out where we stand?”
What was I suppose to say? Hell to the naw? So I said yes. And while it made him feel better, I’m pretty sure that it’s only made me feel more something … maybe guilt. ‘Cause right here right now I’ll be honest. I’m no longer sure I have the energy or desire to take on someone that is as messed up as I am. Nor do I want to live in some never-ending triangle. Because I’m not too sure that Rosa isn’t already like Rick says her mother is, and she hasn’t retired from the field but merely made a temporary strategic retreat.
I wasn’t particularly hungry after that, so it is a good thing we’d already had our breakfast of egg and bacon sandwiches. We weren’t running late but were also barely running on time to check in at today’s park, Myakka River State Park. As one of the more popular parks, their Junior Ranger program reflected the bigger budget for it. Benny hadn’t really been asking for any of it but I’ve seen him wondering.
We also had a guide today … Rhonda. Older woman, not quite like the Iron Lady but not far off from it. Little less serious and a little more kid-friendly, or at least Benny gave her points for trying and played along which she seemed to appreciate. First, as usual, we were given the history of the park.
Prior to 1850, the Myakka River was the Asternal River on English maps. A Seminole Indian reportedly told a surveyor in the 1850s that the name of the river was Myakka. The translation of the word Myakka is unknown. In all honesty it could have been a bit of a prank as a cultural tit for tat but no one really knows. Between the 1850s and the 1930s, cattle grazed on the dry prairie, a vast land of grasses, forbs, palmetto and other low shrubs with thousands of scattered wetlands. The Florida Cracker was a common sight.
In 1910, Bertha Palmer, a progressive businesswoman from Chicago, came to Sarasota and bought a vast amount of land as an investment and a way to save the money she’d made up north. A few years later, she purchased acreage farther inland than her initial real estate purchases and tried her hand at cattle and swine ranching. Meadow Sweet Pastures was located very near the Myakka River, where she introduced fencing and dip vats to Florida ranching. Then, in 1918 Mrs. Palmer passed away. Shortly after that, the Great Depression struck America. President Roosevelt signed into law the New Deal, a government program intended to boost the economy and spirit of the American population during those dark years. One program funded was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Over 17,000 acres of the Palmer estate were purchased by Florida to develop Myakka River State Park. Myakka is one of eight Florida State Parks developed by the CCC during the 1930s.
The CCC had lasting impacts, nationally and locally. More than 5 million young men were employed to help preserve natural areas across the nation. This employment allowed them to earn money to send home to their families. When the US entered WW2, the CCC provided well-trained and strong soldiers for the armed forces. Myakka River State Park was formally dedicated in 1941 and was officially opened for the public. Many of the CCC structures built in Myakka continue to be used, such as the visitor center, two picnic pavilions, five of the rental log cabins, and many roads and trails.
Rhonda got us space on one of the concessionaire’s boats as she deemed it too hot to do any hiking. I’ll admit that it was more than just a little warm. Every day, flat-bottomed boats take park visitors on a ride around the Upper Myakka Lake, and we got on the 11am tour. I wish we’d been on the 9 am time. It was so warm even the gators and fish had sunk deep into the river to get away from the heat. We did see some birds, but they were quiet and simply trying to stay cool, many of them holding their wings out of their sides. The tour lasted an hour, and I wasn’t the only one that the heat and gentle rocking of the boat put to sleep. Stinker Butt said he would have saved me so no one would have heard me snore. Uh huh.
It was so hot that no one felt like eating so I made banana smoothies as the whole, fresh bananas I had wouldn’t last long in the heat that built up in the van when it was closed up. After that Rhonda helped us to get to our campsite and then gave us time to set up. The park has three campgrounds with 90 campsites total. Each site is equipped with electrical service, water, a fire ring, and picnic table. The sites in Palmetto Ridge also have sewer hook-ups. A dump station is located near Old Prairie Campground. Laundry facilities are available to all campers in Old Prairie and Palmetto Ridge campgrounds. All campsites are located within 40 yards of restroom facilities with hot showers. Sites in Old Prairie and Big Flats are dirt-based. The sites in Palmetto Ridge are gravel-based and has vegetation barriers. Needless to say, I was grateful to have a site in Palmetto Ridge.
For the remainder of the afternoon I helped Benny participate in some Junior Ranger stations and activities that culminated in a fire ring program while Rhonda took Rick and Lev around to get some nature shots and film of some of the other areas of the park. It has been dark a couple of hours and it is still very warm. The solar fans are providing the only relief Rick and Lev have. Not much better here in the van. I think I’ll take another layer off and try to get some sleep.