3/31/2019. Lake Louisa State Park, Clermont FL(just outside of Orlando)

Yesterday while exploring we saw a 3’ rat snake slithering along the same raised walkway that we were on.

This morning I was up and out of the COW around 8:00 AM.  I was sitting just outside the RV when I noticed an Eagle being chased by some smaller birds. 

I stopped at the Ranger Station and inquired as to what other wildlife I may see in the park.  She explained that they have Wild Boars, Cougars (Mountain Lions), Bobcats, many types of Snake.

Late this evening (after dark) as we drove back to the campground from the entrance into the park with Chuck and Georgine Krummick (after an irish dinner) Chuck’s car lights illuminated two large owls (appx 2’ tall) in the middle campground road.  They refused to move until the car came within a couple feet of them.

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.

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.

http://musclecarcity.net/

2/25/2018. Bicycling in the Everglades with Alligators

Today Sandy and I drove down to Shark Valley in Everglades National Park to rent bikes and ride a 15 mile paved path off of Alligator Alley.  

As many of you probably know Sandy and I for years have ridden numerous miles together on a Tandem bicycle.  This is the first time in many, many years that we have ridden separate bikes.  We decided to rent instead of haul our tandem due to the drive time and precarious way we haul the tandem on our bike rack.

First, we had a great time after a little stutter start getting Sandy back up on a bike of her own.  We saw 30 Alligators 5’ or longer, and a group of 18 baby alligators laying in the sun and enjoying the water.  See pictures below.

In addition, we saw some very pretty birds.  Also in the picture below.

What I will say is beware of the wind at your back, as it may come to bite you when you turn around to return to base.  We rode out 7 miles along a canal.  The ride seemed easy, slightly down hill, with a slight breeze at our back.  Well when we started to head back along the loop trail, we headed straight into the wind along a winding trail which was now in an open prairie type swamp with the wind coming straight toward us.  Now it was not gale force type wind, but enough to almost stop us in our tracks.  We fought our way the last 8 miles back, slightly uphill into the wind.  What we expected to take 2 hours, took us 3 1/2 hours to complete.  We later found the wind speed we faced was 10 mph. 

In the end, the trip was well worth the challenge.  The gator and bird sightings were unlike we have ever seen.  Yes, we would do it again!  Maybe next time we will get an earlier start, take more water and snacks, bigger brim hats, and apply sunscreen more often. 

PS.  Thanks to Allen and Carla Brecht for the recommendation

The following is Sandy’s input:

In addition to Shark Valley in Everglades National Park, which allowed us to check off another national park from our to do list, we drove through Everglades City, which had about 2 restaurants, most homes were on stilts, several smaller RV parks of the resort variety (but not much entertainment  in the local area but the National Park and Florida Panther Preserve), and several airboat ride companies. 

Bill was definitely fearless in Shark Valley. All the signage said stay a minimum of 15 feet from the alligators. Riding along the trail, we’d find ourselves biking past alligators hiding in the grass as close as 4 feet from the trail. So what do we do, stop and take a photo of course!  Sandy took hers from the tail end of the closest ones, but Bill went to the snout end to get a face view. Maybe hoping for an action shot!  Yikes!

2/25/2018 They make SPEED BUMPS huge in the Everglades. Dead 8’ Alligator in the middle of the road.

We left Ft Myers at 7:00 AM for the 2 hour drive to Shark Valley to go bike riding.  On our way down Rt 41 (Alligator Alley) a little after 8:30 AM we stumbled onto an Alligator that wasn’t quick enough to make it to the other side of the road.   

In my twisted mind, I couldn’t help but think about the conversation between the Alligator and a chicken prior to the accident.  You know the saying what came first the Chicken or the egg or is it who crossed the road first??  Anyhow I think the conversation went like this:

  “Chicken turns to the Alligator and said “you go first” and the Alligator said No, you go first.  Chicken says well OK, but if I make it, then you have to follow.  After the accident, the chicken thinks to himself, another win for the chickens, another pair of Alligator shoes with matching purse for those crazy humans.  Now maybe those humans will save me from the Chick-filet people  

Well I never expected to see an Alligator in the middle of the road.  Check this one off my bucket list.  I can only imagine what the driver of the vehicle said to himself when his headlights illuminated an 8’ alligator in the middle of the road prior to his vehicle being launched airborne off the back of this alligator :-).   The alligator did not survive and since the vehicle was no where in sight, my only guess is that it had to be a huge truck.  Boy, what a story that driver has to tell.

There were people running out with their cameras  to take a picture, but we decided it did not need to be archived in our photo album.

Later in the day as we returned home the alligator was no longer to be found.  Hmmm, I wonder what happened to it??

PS.  Don’t tell Sandy I posted this, because she gave me the look of “Are you Kidding, You cannot post this on our Blog”.

Oh, Yes I did. :-)  

2/4/19. Pickle Ball injury

Since arriving here in sunny Florida Sandy and I have taken up Pickle Ball.  This game is a combination of Racquet Ball, Ping-pong, and Tennis.  It is played on a court that is roughly 1/4 the size of a regulation Tennis Court.  It requires some running around, but the more I play it the more I realize it requires, quick thinking, quick reaction time, some quick movements, and more strategy with ball control.  It is a huge thing at the Cypress Trail Campground in that it is played Monday through Saturday beginning at 8:00 AM and 30 to 40 people show up each morning.  

Well much to my chagrin, this morning I was playing with two 70+ year olds and one other.  I served the ball from the back court and my opponent dinked (technical name for bopping it just over the net :-)) it over the net into the kitchen (another technical name for the Out of bound in the front court :-)) so I leaped into action doing a fast run to the net and tore the muscles on the back of my calf.  I can’t believe it.  After all these years of football, track, racquetball, snow and water skiing etc... etc... I rip my calf muscle playing a game called pickle ball against some 70 year olds.  I have never ripped a calf muscle before.  

Now I am hobbling around and probably nursing this thing for the next couple of weeks.  Unbelievable!!!

I just have to laugh. I still like to play sports like an 18 year old, but this body hasn’t caught up to my way of thinking

OR

Maybe my thinking hasn’t caught up to my 61 year old body yet!!  :-)

COME ON BODY, GET WITH THE PROGRAM. :-)