Harold Williams Cooney

Wednesday, December 10th, 2025. Plaza Travel Inn, room 119, far side of a king bed. Off m103.7 of the Florida Trail. Wake naturally at about 515am. Perhaps 60°, 90% humidity, no breeze. In the hotel, the AC unit is set to 70, lol. 26.754489,-80.925202

I sleep. So thankful. I’m not the type of person who can get more than 8 hours of sleep, a weakness to my vagabonding game, but I’m comfortable in my bed overnight. I wake feeling rested enough.

The convenience store across the street is 24 hours, I walk over and get a black coffee. Work in the hotel to figure my life out. I desperately need to do laundry. My underwear is a printshop. My socks are stiff and sandy. The options for washing here in town are thin.

A little after six, I walk across the street to Bonafide Bakery. Coffee con leche. Guava and cheese pastry. Breakfast sandwich. I definitely recommend this place. Clean. Obviously loved by owner. Excellent fresh food made with pride. Get in here! Argentina represents!

I decide it’s better to wash my socks and underwear in the hotel shower rather than spend the morning at what looks like one of the worst laundromats in America. It’s a good time. Dancing the dirt away.

By 9 am, I am ready to walk out of town. The water here is so terrible that I decide to stop and buy a gallon from the convenience store, and I convince myself to try and continue this trick for as long as possible here in South Florida.

Impossible to resist the opportunity, I stop at Bonafide Bakery on the way out for another coffee con lache and two pastries. Definitely 3+ out of 5. This is a good place.

I haven’t been carrying or fixing coffee on this trip. The first time ever that my backpack does not have coffee. I have always considered instant coffee to be an absolute necessity, an emergency if I don’t have it. Now, it’s part of the description of town food and I’m happy. Makes for a more simple life. Also, it seems like not having a fixation for caffeine is part of my sober life, which makes sense, I suppose.

It does take a bit to get my life settled down, but about a quarter of ten, I’m on the bike path headed trail north. So thankful. It’s a gorgeous day.

My culinary adventure continues when I reach the town of Moore Haven and the Mexican restaurant Haven Fresh. Tacos! Two el pastor, one chorizo, and one steak. Pretty good! To round out the caloric debauchery, a vanilla conchas, and a cup of toasted coconut ice cream. My life is amazing.

I studied the map and found a campground that offers electricity, showers, and a place to pitch for $25. I can be there by 9 pm, I say. See you then, they say. My life’s amazement continues.

I finish a zombie book (Until the end of the world by Sarah Lyons Fleming) and start a hiker classic (A walk in the woods by Bill Bryson). I can’t decide whether Bill Bryson is flawed by being or not being a zombie.

I make Twin Palms RV Resort Cabins & Camping by 740pm. The manager very kindly meeting me as I walked down from the levy guided by my headlamp. He talks briefly about the hikers they have hosted (Fresh Ground and Pegleg, don’t you know). Shows me the showers and bathrooms. Invites me to cowboy in the almost completely screened gazebo (I immediately agree, it’s hiker trash paradise).

It’s now 850pm, I’m showered and ready to sleep to the sound of crickets and trucks running up the highway. So very grateful.

Milage:

FarOut has it as 28.9 but my math is 28.8, whatever. GREAT DAY! Florida is beautiful, delicious, and friendly. Thrilled.