Florida + Water = Gators

Gator: “No supply chain issues where I’m concerned.”

The trail at Circle B Bar Preserve in Polk County, Florida, meandered through huge, contorted oak trees, shrouded in Spanish moss. Morning mist slowly yielded to the rising sun, then the trail turned away from the woods, past a windmill that revolved intermittently in the fickle breeze. A short distance later the trail turned into a narrow causeway across swamp and a lake filled with birds and gators.

But not all the gators were in the lake, and one completely blocked another trail that we had been going to travel. Fortunately, the trail across the causeway only had gators now and then on the margins. After watching others pass by the staid gators, we felt ok to pass, especially after one traveler frightened two large gators back into the swamp.

In contrast, the last gator we passed reposed with eyes closed appearing to be asleep in the sun. Something, however, told me that it knew exactly where each one of us was, and though it appeared not at all concerned, perhaps we should have been…