Thursday, March 28, 2019

1/30/2018 Back on the Road Again

1/30/2018 Back on the Road Again

We enjoyed spending the winter in Ft Myers and out of the snow, but it is time to move on.  We will take up to 15 days to get home.  Planned stops are Orlando (to see our Square D friends, Chuck & Georgine Krummick), Atlanta (to see daughter Andrea), and other unplanned stops.  Will be home for 4 weeks and then on the road this time for a 12 month stint out west.  (Back home May 2021, WOW!!)

Being based out of Ft Myers enabled us to catch up with many friends and family:

Brother-in-laws (Ken Davis, Don Bloom, William Peterson)
Sister-in-laws (Rhonda Davis, Pam Bloom, Kim McHenry, Lori McHenry)
Cousins (Mike and Maggie Masek, Francis O’Connor)
Brothers (Philip and Brian McHenry)
Sister (Peggy Peterson)
Uncle Paul, Aunt Mary, and Aunt Ann
Friends (Barry and Penny Norris, Allan and Carla Brecht, Kevin and Susan Paterak, Jack and Yvonne Rapin, John and Nancy Nin)
New Travel Friends (Dave and Melissa Gerber)


Wow, what a 3 months

3/22/19. Edison and Ford Summer Home in Ft Myers


3/22/19. Edison and Ford Summer Home in Ft Myers

My two brother-in-laws and I toured the Edison and Ford Summer homes just outside of downtown Ft Myers.  Can you believe that Thomas Edison and Henry Ford were personal friends and had winter homes next door to each other? Henry Ford worked for Edison at the beginning of his career and Edison urged Ford to continue his work on the horseless carriage.  

In addition Harvey Firestone, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and families camped together.  The three of them established a lab in Ft Myers to look for an alternative to Rubber so that the United States would not be dependent upon other countries. Harvey Firestone actually made a set of Model T tires from rubber made by Edison in the lab.  Later, Henry Ford was working with soybeans as renewable resource (instead of steel) and actually built steering wheel out of soybeans.  He had the dream of building an entire car out of soybeans, but did not accomplish this before he past away. 

Edsel Ford (Henry’s son), married Harvey Firestone’s daughter in Akron, Ohio.  The Ford’s drove Continental Cars down from Dearborn, Mi to be in the Wedding Procession.  Before the wedding the Firestone’s realized that the cars had Good-Year tires on them.  Harvey Firestone had the Good Year tires removed and Firestone tires put on all the cars before the wedding.  He said, his daughter was not going to ride on Good-Year tires during her wedding day.

Last, Charles Lindbergh was a friend of Henry Ford and worked for Ford during the war helping Ford turn out B-24 Bomber Airplanes.  Wow, all these great men were family friends.

The homes are very interesting especially when you realize the above.























Wednesday, March 6, 2019

3/5/2019. Muscle Car City in Punta Gorda, Fl

Today my brother-in-law Ken Davis and I went over to Muscle Car City in Punta Gorda, FL.  Wow, we spent 2 1/2 hour there looking over the cars.  We grew up with many of these cars and I have owned a few over the years.  The museum has 200+ cars (Corvettes, Camaro’s, GTO’s, El Camino’s, Chevelle’s, Impala’s, etc... etc...).  It is one person’s private collection.  It brought back many memories BK (Before Kids).  OH the stories that I will probably never tell my kids :-)  

If you are into 1950 through current day muscle cars, you have to check this place out.  $13.50/person is a deal.