Happy Easter Weekend!

This is our site at Wayne's RV Resort, Lake City, FL

Different looking lily pads

We didn’t leave Fort Myers as early as we had hoped mainly because we had such a problem getting diesel fuel. The first station we went to had only one side of the pumps working and two people waiting. The second station said we had to give her an amount of gas we needed before she would activate the pumps (we didn’t know how much we’d need) so we went to a third station which was 299.9/gal and finally got filled up. This took 45 minutes so we didn’t leave Fort Myers Campground till 9:25 a.m.

It was sunny but cooler this morning at 58F (14C)instead of the mid to high 60’s it’s been over the last couple of weeks. Most of the trip was under sunny skies and we only reached a high on our travels of 63F (17C).

We arrived at Wayne’s RV Resort (a Passport America park) at 2:35 p.m. having traveled 306.3 miles and only stopping once. The park is okay but the bath house isn’t open so I guess showers tonight will be in our RV. We haven’t used our shower all winter! The bath houses were much more convenient and we then don’t have to move the water bottles out of the shower where we store them.

Our Easter weekend will be spent traveling. We’re hoping to get through Atlanta tomorrow so we’ll have another 300 mile day tomorrow.

After we got set up we drove around Lake City looking for lakes. We found a couple but only one that we could get access to. There were a few great Egrets and a couple of ducks so we got a few photos there.

Hope everyone has a Happy Easter weekend!

Some Thoughts on Fort Myers

As our last day in Fort Myers comes to an end, I have mixed feelings. Neither Gordon or I liked the amount of traffic they have here, the long wait at stop lights and the number of people however we had the best weather here that we’ve had all winter, the park was nice although more expensive than Texas but it was close to Lakes Regional Park, one of our favorites and also not far from Six Mile Cypress Slough another park that we enjoyed (and the shopping is good). So, I had said earlier this month that we wouldn’t be back so I’ll change that to we might be back but probably wouldn’t stay right in Fort Myers. We didn’t get to see that much of the Everglades as it was quite a drive to be able to see the area and stop and look at things and take photos. Who knows? Things change.

This morning we headed over to Fleamasters as I had a couple of things that I wanted to get, then stopped at Walmart to get some water and a few other items, then home to get my roast in the crockpot and clean out the truck. I also paid our electric bill so we can head out tomorrow hopefully fairly early. The lady in the office here at the park said they had some fires near Punta Gorda just north of us that were jumping I-75 so they had the road closed at some point today. Hope that the fire is under control and we’re able to make good time heading north. We won’t get out of Florida tomorrow but hopefully will make some good headway towards it!

Late this afternoon we dumped the tanks and cleaned up the lawn furniture and put it away so the only things we have to take down in the morning are the satellite dishes. We’re in good shape!

I didn't take any photos today so I'm borrowing Gordon's photo of the armadillo that he saw last week at Barefoot Beach Park.

Six Mile Cypress and A Tour of the Area

Two cormorants and a great egret in Gator Lake at Six Mile Cypress Slough

Sun on the ferns at Six Mile Cypress Slough

Red Bellied Woodpecker at Six Mile Cypress Slough

View of the Gulf from Pine Island

A beautiful hibiscus plant

A downtown street in Fort Myers

We started out the morning at one of our favorite places, Six Mile Cypress Slough where we spent two hours walking around and communing with nature. There seemed to be a lot of people there today with little children. When I was a child, my father taught me to be quiet in the woods and I would see more wildlife but apparently parents aren't teaching their children or maybe the parents weren't taught this themselves. We saw quite a few birds anyway and a couple of small alligators in the distance.

When we left Six Mile Cypress I thought we would be heading for home as I had some groceries to pick up and some things to get ready for our departure on Saturday however we instead ended up going to Cape Coral and then on to Pine Island. We drove the length of Pine Island. This island isn't a beach island as Sanibel and Captiva are therefore the traffic wasn't as bad. There are a lot of palm tree farms and a couple of flower farms on the island that were pretty but not a lot of things to see.

From Pine Island we headed back toward Fort Myers stopping in the downtown area to take some photos of the bridges over the Caloosahatchee River and some of the buildings downtown. On to Publix market where I finally got groceries getting home at around 5:30 p.m.

It was another bright sunny and hot day however the forecast for Saturday is cooler temperatures here with a high of 71F (22C) so will be about 15 degrees cooler than it has been for the past month. I'm looking forward to temperatures being a bit cooler but I think by the time we hit Ohio they will be a lot cooler and much closer to freezing!

Housework and Lakes Park

My favorite bird - this blue heron just stood there and posed for me

A grove of palms in the park

All the white dots are birds roosting for the night

The weather here over the past week or so has been warmer not necessarily temperature wise but with less breeze it feels warmer. We’ll be happy to start heading north come Saturday.

I noticed when we got home last night that I got quite a bit of sun yesterday. Since I was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt my shoulders and arms got quite tanned especially since I had the window open for most of the day.

Today Gordon had an appointment to take the truck in for service. This was an expensive service as the rear synthetic oil had to be changed so $700+ and four hours later he got home. I spent the time doing the laundry, vacuuming, washing floors and cleaning the bathroom.

We still have quite a few places we want to go before we leave on Saturday and I also need to pick up some groceries and make either a stew or roast beef in the crockpot so it’s ready or is easily ready when we stop for the night.

Tonight after dinner we took the bikes over to Lakes Regional Park and biked around the park. I hadn’t seen all of it and we covered more area on the bikes than we would walking but you see more when you’re walking. We did see the birds coming in to roost in one area of trees for the night and lots of great blue herons and a bald eagle as well as the usual anhingas and all kinds of smaller birds but no alligators!

Our Trip to Big Cypress and Everglades

The Strangler Fig is a vine-like tree that begins as an epiphyte, an air plant, when the seed is deposited in the upper part of a host tree. After the seed sprouts, it sends down roots that entwine or strangle and often kill the host tree. When the roots reach the ground, the tree changes to a terrestrial plant. This native fig can reach heights of 60 feet.

A coconut palm - these are becoming obsolete. No one is allowed to plant them anymore due to coconuts falling or becoming missiles during hurricanes.

This is where we had our picnic today

One of the larger alligators we saw at Oasis Visitor Center

This morning we headed south on I-75 – destination Everglades. We got off I-75 just south of Naples and took Hwy 41 to Everglades City and then continued on to Chokoloskee Island where we had a picnic lunch that I had packed.

We then continued east on Hwy 41 towards the Everglades stopping now and then to take pictures, one of our stops was Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk. We did the walk and Gordon got a photo of a Bald Eagle. It was too far away for my camera unfortunately.

Probably our greatest find was at the Oasis Visitor Center where they had a boardwalk and lots and lots of alligators in the water beside the boardwalk, some VERY large. We are not concerned now about not seeing alligators in the wild. We continued east and saw lots of alligators in the water along the road. We also saw quite a few birds. We took a short detour onto a road called Loop Road for about 8 miles and saw more alligators and birds. Most of what we saw was in Big Cypress National Preserve. We only got a short way into Everglades National Park. It’s a long drive even from Fort Myers!

We turned around and came home, only stopping to pick up Gordon’s computer so he could download his photos and then went for dinner at the local Perkins. So now we’re home and very tired!

Since our arrival in Fort Myers nearly four weeks ago, diesel fuel has increased in price by 15 cents as we found out this morning when we went to get fueled up for our trip.

On Our Own

This little alligator was in Myakka River State Park yesterday and very close to the bridge that we were standing on.

After over three weeks of having Betty and Garth around to do things with and then spending the weekend with Bill and Mary, we are, again, on our own at least until we reach Ohio in about 1 1/2 weeks.

Today Gordon went out to make an appointment to get the oil changed on the truck before we start our trek north. We are about 1000 km under but he wanted to get it done before we start towing that distance and also so we don't have to worry about it on our way. So tomorrow the plan is to go to the Everglades and that will reduce the 1000 km a bit.

When he got back, I went out shopping returning to the Tanger Outlet where I bought a pair of sandals that hopefully will be okay for my back. They have a rubber sole higher in the back and have some bounce like running shoes do so I'm hoping this will do the trick. They aren't pretty but neither are running shoes and down here running shoes are very hot! I stopped at another mall but only bought a few small household items at Odd Lots and then on to Walmart for groceries.

After reading for a while I took a bike ride around the park to photograph some of the flowers which are now out in full bloom and so pretty and also to photograph some of the empty sites in the park. Lots of people left this weekend including our neighbors that have a park model right beside us. They headed for Wisconsin yesterday morning about 4:00 a.m. It's looking pretty bare right now.

Here are some of the flowers:



Here are some of the empty spots in the park that are near us:


Here's our neighbor's park model all battened down:

A Great Weekend!

Mary and Bill at Rotten Ralph's

The four of us in Bill and Mary's lanai with the help of Mr. Tripod

Three alligators

Wild pig and babies and a great egret

Betty and Garth were leaving to head back to Toronto today so we left them on their own and headed north on I-75 stopping at the Venice Rookery as had been suggested by friends of Gordon’s that we met up with in Louisiana. There were a lot of birds in the rookery but too far away for my camera. We drove through Venice and took some photos then got back on I-75. We arrived on Anna Maria Island mid afternoon and were greeted by Gordon’s former employer and long time friend, Bill and his significant other, Mary. We had a nice afternoon chatting, then Bill took us for a drive around the islands and then out for dinner at a restaurant called Rotten Ralphs. We all had grouper – Mary and Bill had it fried, I had it blackened and Gordon had it grilled. It was all very good.

This morning Bill again took us out for breakfast at a little restaurant close to him called Minnie’s Beach Café. He also told us that there is no Minnie involved, neither is the café on the beach. It’s a very busy little place and we were lucky we got there when we did as people started to line up just after we arrived.

After we got back to their place, the guys wanted to talk techie stuff so Mary and I walked over to a little flea market they were having very close to the house. One lady had a lot of furniture painted with the one-stroke painting method (which I do but am not very good at). She had some really nice pieces – card tables, little vanities, telephone tables and all sorts of items at really reasonable prices. No room!

We left Bill and Mary shortly before noon and as we were going south on I-75 decided to stop at the Myakka River State Park. I know RVer friends, Linda and Howard of rv-dreams.com stayed there last year and seemed to enjoy it. There are two campgrounds but a lot of trees. There were very few sites that we could get into let alone see the satellites. As far as wildlife, we saw lots of alligators, most of them quite far away, thank goodness. We also saw lots of birds, again mostly far away and a wild pig with three babies. I also saw a water snake of some kind – YUK! After spending about three hours at the park we headed home arriving around 5:00 p.m.

Below are our expenses for March. Overall we did quite well since campgrounds and fuel are more expensive in Florida than in Texas. Since I was with my sister for three weeks the Misc total is rather high as we did some shopping. We’ve also been to quite a few parks and eaten out a bit so our entertainment is probably higher than usual. All in all I’m quite happy with our total for this month.

March Expenses

Campground including electric - $772.35

Groceries/Wine/Spritis - $454.79

Laundry - $15.75

Entertainment/Parking/Restaurants - $143.51

Truck Fuel - $370.02

Propane - $0.00

Repairs RV/Truck - $18.14 (getting RV tire fixed)

Internet/TV/Cell/Insurance (Fixed Expenses) - $372.55

Medical/Dental - $0.00

Gifts - $0.00

Misc - $327.56

Total $2474.67

Last Day in Fort Myers with Betty and Garth

On our way to Betty and Garth's this afternoon we stopped at the Tanger Outlet Mall and I bought a few more things, one being a pair of white slacks. I haven't had white slacks since I quit working. These are very light and cool.

Betty and Garth are flying back to Toronto tomorrow so we went over today and I helped Betty clean out the kitchen bringing some things back with me and tossing others in the garbage. Then we chatted for a while and while we were chatting their resident osprey that sits outside in their pine tree came back with a fish (pictured to the right) which he proceeded to demolish while it was still alive. It was pretty gross to see the fish still moving. YUCK!

When we got back to the RV I did a load of laundry and got some things together as we're heading north to the Bradenton area tomorrow to visit with Gordon's former boss and will be staying overnight there. Hopefully I'll still be able to post my blog but if not, I'll upload when we get back on Sunday.

I Had A Restful Day

I guess I've been on the go too much lately. I was really tired today so I took a day off and just lay around reading and resting. Gordon went to Barefoot Beach Preserve County Park this afternoon and saw an armadillo! If I hadn't been so tired, I'd be upset!

Nothing to report for today. Michelle (Gordon's daughter) has been sending some photos over the past couple of days so all photos are contributed by Michelle.

Gordon's daughter, Michelle and husband, Eric

Gordon's daughter, Michelle and Gordon's sister, Carol

Our grandaughter, Lillian with her father, Gordon's son Ian

Our grandson Caden (son of Ian & Tracy)

Our grandaughter, Grace (first daughter of Michelle & Eric)

Our grandaughter, Faith (second daughter of Michelle & Eric)

Carol and our grandson, Luke (son of Michelle & Eric)

Dinner at the Club

Gordon and I in Betty & Garth's living room at their condo

Betty and Garth on the butterfly chair outside their clubhouse

We didn't do too much today. This morning I coloured my hair (it's a little darker than usual) and went out for an hour or so and got some groceries.

We went to Betty and Garth's for 5:30 p.m. for a drink and over to their clubhouse at Kelly Greens for dinner. They had a turkey buffet but it had a lot more than turkey. They had fish, roast beef, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, vegetables and salad items with ice cream or turtle cheesecake for dessert.

I'm stuffed!

We Shop the Tanger Outlet

We didn't do much this morning, just got ready to go to Betty and Garth's for 1:15 p.m. Betty and I had planned to shop the Tanger Outlet which is near their condo and sit by the pool. Gordon dropped me off and then went to take photos. Betty and I went to Tanger and Garth to hit golf balls.

I had quite good luck at Tanger and bought a few things including a couple of new shirts for Gordon.

We didn't have time to sit by the pool as Gordon was picking me up at 5:00 p.m. We returned to the condo around 4:15 p.m. and had a drink waiting for Gordon.

Garth is getting to know his new camera which you can see in the bottom right corner of the photo. The photo above is of Betty and Garth on their lanai looking out over the lake and golf course.

Housework, Road Trip and Estero Bay State Buffer Preserve

In the Estero Bay State Buffer Preserve - this is what they call "the real Florida". Just a couple of blocks away it's wall to wall vehicles, six lanes of traffic and shoulder to shoulder shopping malls.

I think this is a Red-Shouldered Hawk.

This Gopher Tortoise was just plodding along the pathway in the Preserve. He didn't appear to be afraid of us at all and let us get really close. He didn't even withdraw into his shell.

This morning I got the laundry done and our new mattress cover on the bed. Hope it makes me sleep better. The last couple of nights I've had trouble sleeping. After laundry, I cleaned out our closets and then off to Walmart to pick up some items. On the way back, I dropped our discarded items from our closets at Goodwill.

After unpacking groceries, we headed south to Naples. From Fort Myers to Naples there is barely a break in the cities. Of course, Bonita Springs is in between these two cities. As I said today "if you can't find it on that strip of road, you don't need it". There's everything from dance classes to all kinds of doctors, lawyers and dentists to shopping malls of all kinds and a Publix grocery and a Walgreen's Drugs about every two miles.

We drove south of Naples a ways but since it was late in the day, traffic was getting worse so we took the freeway (I-75) back. On our way back we stopped at the Estero Bay State Buffer Preserve as Gordon needed his picture of the day. We walked around a bit and then I saw the hawk in the tree. Gordon continued on back toward the truck and as I was approaching I saw him squatted down looking at something. At first I thought it was an armadillo as there is a sign saying there are some in the preserve but it turned out to be the tortoise above! It's always interesting to experience new things including seeing new animals.

Today hit 90F (32C) but still with quite a breeze. It was still pretty hot! The last few days have been quite hot except yesterday which wasn't as bad. When Betty and I were at Fleamasters on Friday the thermometer in the car on the way back registered 92F (33C). We're going to have a rude awakening in a couple of weeks when we head north!

A New Shopping Mall

We were tired this morning so lazed around and got ready to meet Betty and Garth at 1:00 p.m. at the Best Buy at a new shopping mall that just opened last weekend. It's a huge place and all outside (which I don't like).

Garth bought a new Canon digital camera. This is his first digital so it will be interesting to see if he likes it. After Garth bought his camera, Gordon decided to go elsewhere as he's not much into shopping but Garth stayed and sat at the bookstore in the coffee shop and read his newspaper and his new camera manual. I managed to get a new mattress cover for a very reasonable price. I've been looking for one since we've been in the southern U.S. but in Texas about the only place that I was shopping was at Walmart and I think theirs were overpriced. Betty got a few things including a shocking pink quilted jacket, a t-shirt with bling and a dress for a wedding they're going to in July.

I arrived home around 5:30 p.m. just in time to make dinner!

I didn't take my camera today so the photos are from yesterday at Bunche Beach. Betty and I are both wearing new sundresses we got at the Fleamasters on Friday.

Bunche Beach and Dinner Out

Only part of a flock of black skimmers at Bunche Beach

The bracelet that Betty bought at the craft sale

This morning we lazed around, I sat outside and read and Gordon worked on his photos.

This afternoon we were to be at Betty and Garth's for 3:00 p.m. We sat on their lanai and chatted for a while then drove to Bunche Beach and walked on the beach. While we were there this giant flock of black skimmers flew in. We were able to get really close to them and took some photos. Back at Betty and Garth's, Betty showed me a bracelet that she had purchased at the Craft Sale this morning at Kelly Greens. I was really surprised to find out that it had been made by Linda Payne of rv-dreams.com. Small world!

Betty prepared Omaha steaks and baked potatoes, carrots and salad for dinner with ice cream and fruit cocktail for desert. It was excellent as usual.

Arrangements have been made to meet up with them at a new mall here in Fort Myers tomorrow to check out new cameras for Garth.

Back to the Fleamarket

Gordon dropped me at Walmart this morning and Betty picked me up there and away we went to the Fleamarket again. It was very hot today so glad I wore shorts! There's no air conditioning in the Fleamarket. I bought a sweatshirt (yeah, I know, it's too hot for a sweatshirt but we'll be starting our trek home in a couple of weeks and I have no doubt it will be used) and a sundress - great combination!

We stopped at a place selling puppies and they had a toy apricot poodle. He was so cute! They even offered to ship him to Canada for me but I declined. It's much easier traveling without an animal even though I miss having one sometimes.

The traffic was horrendous on our return as the Minnesota Twins stadium was just letting people out from a game this afternoon. It seemed to take forever!

Gordon was out photographing historical sites and beaches today. He says he took 200 photos so check out his site here. It will take him a day or so to get them uploaded.

Now I'm home and it's too hot to do anything but I guess I'd better start thinking about dinner.

No photos today. I didn't even take my camera with me.

Time to Get Housework Done

It seemed a little cooler this morning so I decided to get the freezer defrosted and the refrigerator cleaned. Once I started working, it didn't seem so cool anymore. While the freezer was defrosting I vacuumed and washed the floors. By then the freezer was ready to be cleaned up and the excess water disposed of.

Since that nasty little job was done, I headed to Walmart to get some groceries. I haven't been buying any meat since I needed to get the freezer cleaned out as all I have are two small coolers to put the freezer and refrigerator stuff in when defrosting.

After getting back to the RV and unpacking the groceries, I sat outside and read for a while, then took some books that I've read since I've been here up to the lending library at the office and exchanged them for others. While I was out I took photos of these roses in the Memorial Garden here in the park. Apparently they are donated by people whose spouse or friend has passed away - a nice idea.

Lake Okeechobee and Manatee Park

Today was another beautiful day. We did have some cloud but the temperature reached 86F (30C) with a nice breeze.

This morning we headed east to visit Lake Okeechobee so we drove through La Belle to Clewiston and stopped at the Chamber of Commerce. The lady there wasn't as friendly or helpful as we find at most Visitor Information or Chamber of Commerce Visitor Centres however we did drive to the area that she suggested. There is a walking trail of 110 miles that goes all around the lake. We had no plans to walk it however. The lake is surrounded by a dike that was built by the Corps of Engineers to keep the lake from flooding during hurricanes. Apparently in the 1920's this happened a couple of times killing a lot of people. So, you climb the dike but instead of the lake (at least in the Clewiston area) you see a canal with the lake in the distance. We climbed the dike in a couple of different places but didn't get a good look at the lake itself.

We drove southeast for a ways and stopped for a picnic lunch at John Stretch Park.

Looks like Capt. Justin ran his boat ashore. Don't know how long it's been there but it makes for a good photo.

This is Royal Palm Drive in Clewiston. Not an exceptionally high end street housing-wise but very pretty trees.

There were lots of these bottle-brush trees in Clewiston. I haven't seen them since we were in San Diego last winter.

On our way back we stopped at Manatee Park. Unfortunately this is the only manatee we saw.

This is a pretty area in the park. Doesn't it look cool and refreshing?

We spent most of our time at the Butterfly Gardens. These two Gulf Fritillary butterflies stopped long enough for me to get a photo of them on the same flower.

Although the Manatee Park is not that far from where we are in the RV Park, it took us an hour to get back because of the traffic. Gordon decided to drive through the city instead of taking the freeway so that probably had something to do with it but we saw some areas of Fort Myers that we wouldn't have seen otherwise.

Gordon's friend, Bill sent us this today:

Warning - Lock Your Doors!

Be sure you lock your doors and windows!
A Fort Myers man was found in his home over the weekend.
Detectives at the scene found the man face down in his bathtub.
The tub had been filled with milk, sugar, and cornflakes.
Police suspect a cereal killer.