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. :-)

1/28/2019. Crap, I pushed/pulled the wrong handles

By now emptying the Black and Gray tanks on the COW should be like getting dressed in the morning.  It should be a no brainer.  At least, YOU WOULD THINK this would be the case!!

  Well yesterday I dumped the Black Water tank without shutting the valve on the Gray water tank.  

So what you say??  What’s the big deal??

Well half the crap went down the tube to the sewer and the other half backed up into the gray tank.  What a mess.  I had to flush the gray tank 5 times with soapy water to get the gray tank clean.  I have read about others doing this, but now I can add it to my list of “What was I thinking”. :-)

Actually this MotorHome living is becoming more and more everyday for us.  We are enjoying it, but I have to laugh at myself when I pull these stunts.  

Check this one off my list of “been there, done that”!!  :-)

Pickle ball friends and fighting the wind

In the early days of our time here at Cypress Trails RV Resort in Fort Myers (we arrived here January 1), we attended a Pickleball session to learn more about playing this game since we have only watched you tube or read online of the rules and played a little on a tennis court with Pickleball court lines painted over top.  We were lucky enough to be 2 of four attendees, so had the instructor all to ourselves.  Dave and Melissa were our partners in the session, and boy was luck on our side.  We not only learned the rules and strategies of the game, but have gained some great friends.  After the instructor’s session, we stayed and put our new learning into action by playing the game with Dave and Melissa.  Then as the weeks have gone by and finding them super fun Pickleball partners (although none of us are taking the game or scoring seriously), we have made more plans for more and more games, and have played with them 3 out of 4 days so far this week.

As we travel, we have found several kinds of people living the RV lifestyle.  People on short vacations which usually just keep to themselves or friends and family they are vacationing with, people who are taking a longer vacations with limited time and are busy with their planned time but will stop to say hello and chat briefly, people who are traveling for extended periods of time but still have a house to return to who may be new to rv living or more experienced and more than willing to compare destination ideas and compare notes on rv equipment and experiences and make a few friends along the way, snowbirds (which we have become this year) who have been doing this seasonally for years, and those who have sold their house and taken the plunge to embrace the entire rv living experience and community and easily form friendships and bonds wherever they travel for as long a period a time as they are at a location and sometimes beyond.

Dave and Melissa fall into the last category.  Bill and I would love to also fall in the last category, constantly debating the merits of cutting ties with our home base of 24 years, but still waiting for it to feel completely ‘right’.  Dave and Melissa have been an inspiration and just downright fun to be with.  We have had such great laughs while playing Pickleball with some shots that would have us winning on America’s Funniest Home Videos if we had been filming.  Fighting the wind, which easily carries the lightweight plastic ball with holes in it (like a whiffle ball) wherever it chooses to take the it has made us all better players as we teamed up with Sandy and Dave playing against Melissa and Bill.  Bill and I both agree that playing with Dave and Melissa have made us better and stronger players.  I’m getting better by trying to hit the great shots like Dave, who has serious tennis skills in his background.

Dave and Melissa have a blog, which includes quotes that inspire them. One of them is:  “When you stop laughing, you stop living”.  Boy, have we been doing a lot of living with Dave and Melissa.

Jan 23, 2019
By Sandy

1/22/19. OH No. Our Home Thermostat Alarmed

Sandy and I both received an email from our Bryant Wireless Thermostat advising that it is calling for HEAT, yet the temperature in the house is still falling.  While we are enjoying 80 degree weather in Florida, our home in Medina Ohio is experiencing 0 to 10 degree weather with an abundance of snow.

THANK GOODNESS WE HAVE GREAT NEIGHBORS

And Thank Goodness I listened to the installing contractor when I had my furnace replaced with a new Energy Efficient furnace about 1 year ago.  He had told me that if the furnace exhaust ever gets covered in snow it will fault out and shut down due to the possibility of carbon monoxide being forced back into the house.  The furnace exhaust is approximately 2’ above the landscaping. When Northern Ohio receives a large snow storm with wind the drift along side my house can easily get above 2’.

  

I reached out to Jay Brown (one of our neighbors) and asked him to check out the furnace exhaust.  Sure enough it was buried.  Jay dug it out.  The furnace restarted.  Thank Goodness.

The balance of the neighbors then continued to snow blow my drive so it looks like someone is home.  This is how it is done in Medina, Ohio

Thank You to all of our neighbors.

12/19/2018. My new favorite Beach Campground.  Gulf Shores, Alabama

In the past two weeks we have stopped at Gulf Shores, Alabama and Henderson Beach State Park, Destin, Florida.

Years ago, my youngest daughter and I took a Father/Daughter trip to Henderson Beach State Park (maybe 20 years ago).  It was the prettiest Beach and Campground I had ever seen.  We had a great time.  

Shifting to my most recent trip I am disappointed.  The Beach is still beautiful and you can still walk from your camper to the Beach, but besides the State Park it is completely built up with Condo’s.  The traffic is crazy and the roads are being modified to handle more volume.  I don’t think I will be back.

On the other hand Sandy and I stopped at Gulf Shores, Alabama.  My new favorite.  Although the Campground is across a 4 lane road from the beach, you can get there by bike or car.  The campground has level/paved sites with full hook-up.  The state park has many paved/biking hiking trails.  You can bike to the beach or the local McDonald’s for lunch.  There are many snowbirds at the campground from Canada, Wisconsin, Michigan, and some from Ohio.  Pictures attached.