A Picnic and a Surrey Ride

This morning started out sunny and nice. We had planned a picnic for today at Lakes Regional Park with Betty and Garth. Shortly after noon it clouded over and looked like rain so we took our rain jackets and headed to the park to meet Betty and Garth for 2:00 p.m. There are several shelters available with picnic tables but it looked like they had to be booked as some had “Reserved” on them.

I had wanted to sit on the deck overlooking the water by the concession stand so we headed there. It was VERY windy and we spent most of our picnic holding onto things to keep them from blowing away. It’s too bad as I was really looked forward to a nice leisurely picnic. I had made potato salad and deviled eggs and picked up a roasted chicken from Publix with pineapple for dessert. The food was good though.

They have all sorts of vehicles and boat types for rent so Garth went and rented a four seater surrey that you pedal (there are pedals for each person). We had it for an hour and it was fun but hard to pedal especially on hills. We saw lots of birds and one alligator laying out on a tiny grassy island close to shore.

Garth and Betty coming to pick us up to go for a ride in the surrey

Garth and the alligator that you can barely see on the little grassy island

The four of us and the surrey

The rest of the day remained cloudy and windy so much so that when we got back to the RV, Gordon put the awning up.

Shopping with Betty

No walk this morning as I was meeting Betty at Walmart again for our shopping trip to the Edison Mall. Gordon decided he didn't need the truck today so I just left the truck at Walmart.

We didn't go in most of the stores sticking mainly to the anchor stores - Dillards, Macy's and Sears. Betty bought quite a few things but I didn't buy anything - no room for things I don't need! We had lunch at the little restaurant in the mall, then continued on shopping. When we finished there we stopped at Big Lots but didn't buy anything there either. I've been looking for a pillowtop mattress cover and a new duvet but so far haven't seen what I want. Duvets really have some ugly patterns!

Betty dropped me at Walmart at about 4:30 p.m. and I went in to pick up a few items. I've invited Betty and Garth for a picnic tomorrow at Lakes Park so I needed some things for the picnic. Then on my way home I stopped at Publix to pick up a roasted chicken for our picnic. Tonight will be getting the potato salad and deviled eggs together.

No photos today. Too busy!

Our Second Trip to Six Mile Cypress Slough

Mr. Alligator swimming in Gator Lake on our way in to the Slough

Mr. Alligator sunning himself on the raft on our way out

We had to put the heater on last night. It got down to 48 F (9C). It was bright and sunny this morning but still quite cool even though I slept till 9:00 a.m. I haven’t done that for ages! The rest of the morning and early afternoon were much the same, recovering from last night’s St. Patrick’s Day party.

Late this afternoon, Gordon decided he wanted to go for a Sunday drive so we drove to Six Mile Cypress Slough and did the whole boardwalk trail this time. We saw lots of birds including a pileated woodpecker, a couple of immature ibis and a limpkin. We also saw the great egrets, tri-colour herons and anghingas but to add to it, we also saw a fairly large alligator swimming in Gator Lake on our way into the Slough and he was sunning himself on the raft when we came out. We spent two hours there and had a good time.

Since it was quite late by then we stopped at Taco Bell and picked up Gordon’s dinner and McDonald’s for my Asian Salad and brought them home to eat dinner here.

That’s about it for our day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It was much cooler this morning with a temperature of 60F (16C) and a wind rather than a breeze but still bright and sunny with not a cloud in the sky. I got the laundry done this morning. It was a busy morning in the laundry room. I was lucky I got there early!

This afternoon we dumped the tanks and then got ready to go for St. Patrick’s Day dinner at Betty & Garth’s Country Club at their condo complex. We had drinks at their condo first and dinner was at 6:00 p.m. It was a buffet and was very well-attended. They had live music and dancing. We sat at a table with a couple from Chicago that were very nice, interesting people. This is their sixth year staying at Kelly Greens. They had just arrived at the beginning of March. We had walked from the condo to the club when the sun was still shining but our return walk to the condo was quite a bit cooler especially since I was only wearing a light jacket and had sandals on! It’s supposed to warm up a bit by Monday.

The photo is of the four of us after dinner. Note all the green. Gordon doesn’t really own a green shirt, maybe we’ll have to buy him one!

Flea Market Shopping

Today Gordon dropped me off at Walmart and Betty picked me up there and we headed off to Fleamasters a giant fleamarket here in Fort Myers. There are two buildings and we only managed to get through one of them so guess where we'll be going next Friday? The fleamarket is Friday, Saturday and Sunday but Friday seems like the best day to go.

I managed to pick up a few items that I needed like a new pair of shorts. I also got Gordon a baseball cap with an alligator on it that also says Florida for $5.00. Two years ago I bought my Florida baseball cap at a Beall's Outlet store for $5.00 and he's always wanted a $5.00 Florida hat so now he has one (actually mine was $4.99).

We arrived there just before 11:00 a.m. and Betty dropped me off at the RV Park around 3:30 p.m. so we had a full day. My back can attest to it!

Just after I arrived home we had a bit of a thunderstorm and some rain so the temperature has gone down quite a bit. It's supposed to be quite a bit cooler (mid 70's F) here for the next few days. I'm glad too. I don't like it to be too hot although there have only been a couple of days that really bothered me. Usually the breeze makes up for the high temperature.

My blogging friend, Susan is in Desert Hot Springs and their temps have been in the 90's this week so I guess we're lucky.

The photo is one I took of Betty at the fleamarket.

Strawberry Social

Here are the strawberries

This is our table - you can barely see Gordon (only the back of his shirt) nearly at the end

This turtle is in the yard near the shuffleboard courts and is made of painted rocks

Although the temperature wasn’t as high today it seemed warmer due to the humidity. I felt tired today and I think it was from the humidity.

At lunch time today the campground hosted a strawberry social, free to people in the park so we went up to partake. Gordon was able to get just strawberries and cool whip while I also got the cake. It was very good!

This afternoon Gordon wanted to go and check out the possibility of getting into Lakes Park before it opens at 8:00 a.m. in case he wants to go for sunrise so dropped me off at Walmart to do grocery shopping.

Not much else to report today!

We Visit Sanibel & Captiva Islands

This morning we were at Betty & Garth's for 10:30 a.m. and Garth drove us to the Sanibel and Captiva Islands. We drove to the far end of Captiva but there's really too much traffic and it's so built up you can't see much. It's also difficult to find a place to park. We stopped at one place and walked to the marina and the beach but didn't stay long as we were parked in a restaurant parking lot and shouldn't have been there.

We stopped at Doc Ford's Sanibel Rum Bar & Grille for lunch. It is owned by Randy Wayne White who is a local author.

After lunch we went to the Ding Darling Wildlife Preserve and spent a couple of hours there mostly driving the road through the preserve but also stopping to see birds. I saw my first night heron up close as you can see above.

On our way back to Fort Myers we stopped at a hotel where Betty and Garth stayed fifteen years ago and I took their photo on the bridge that goes from the hotel to the beach.

We didn't get home till around 6:00 p.m. so it was a long day!

More Sightseeing in Our Area

Gordon went out for sunrise photos again. He hadn’t been feeling well since we arrived here so today was the first day that he went out early. I did my usual walk. When Gordon got back he said he had almost stopped next door in the little mall for breakfast so we walked over there and had breakfast at Talk of the Town.

When we got back I sat outside and read for a while and also did a computer backup and deleted my 2004 and 2005 photos from my computer as my hard drive was bordering on full.

We had to go and get fuel so we did some driving around the area and ended up at a park called Lakes Park that is very close to us. I got some good photos of birds and wildlife which you will see below. None of these photos have been cropped so that’s how close I got to them with my little camera. This park is a beautiful park for walking and is quite scenic as well with little islands in the water. We have to go back there and do the complete walk around the lakes but we didn’t have time today. It costs $1.00/hr to park and we had only paid for one hour.

Tri-Colored Heron

A little alligator

An Anhinga sitting right below me on the bridge drying his wings

Another Tri-Colored Heron

A Little Blue Heron

Some pretty palms along the road

After we left the park we drove to a little fruit and vegetable market out near where Betty and Garth are so I could get some oranges. The ones in the grocery store didn’t look nice. These looked nice but I’ve had better. I have a nice big bag of them now. I also got a really good looking tomato.

Tonight will be our usual night of TV.

Visitors

Betty and Garth at our RV

Dinner at our place

It stays dark later in the morning now with daylight saving time so I didn't get up till nearly 8:00 a.m. I needed a few things at the grocery store as Betty and Garth were coming for dinner and I decided to change the menu last night. There is a Publix just across the canal from the RV Park so I walked over and picked up what I needed. It's a nice little mall with a health food store (I'll have to check to see if they have any gluten free stuff) and a restaurant that serves breakfast all day. There's a Mexican restaurant, dry cleaner, hair dresser and a bunch of other shops.

This morning and early afternoon we spent preparing for our dinner company and sitting outside reading. Betty & Garth were to arrive around 3:00 p.m. so I biked up to the office and they were just pulling in as I got there so they followed me back to the RV. We spent a nice afternoon chatting and we had dinner outside at our picnic table as there’s not a lot of room for four at our dining room table. We walked around the park and a tri colored heron was nice enough to show up at the canal while we were there.

Arrangements were made for us to see them on Wednesday and Betty and I are going to the flea market (Fleamasters) on Friday.

YEAH!Daylight Savings Time is Here!

There is a side street beside the park that has a furniture store on it and then goes into a 55+ housing park. There’s also a road which runs parallel with Hwy 41 and goes by an elementary school, Arby’s and Dunkin’ Donuts so that’s where I walked this morning just for a change.

Another 86F (30C) high today with a nice breeze. I met Betty at Walmart this afternoon and we went shopping. Unfortunately neither of us found anything we couldn’t live without. I picked up some more groceries when I picked up the truck at Walmart and headed home.

Since it was late when I got home and I hadn’t left anything out nor purchased anything for dinner (I’m trying to clean out the freezer so I can defrost it), we went to Taco Bell for dinner and then drove around downtown Fort Myers. It’s not very impressive but looks like they are trying to rejuvenate it.

Today’s photo is of a very large banyan tree that is in downtown Fort Myers.

A Bit of Sightseeing

It’s another beautiful warm sunny day. By 9:00 a.m. it was already 74F (23C). I was up at 7:30 a.m. for my walk. I’ve pretty much walked the whole park now. After breakfast I got the laundry together and got that nasty little job done. It’s a hot job in this weather! Our high today was 86F (30C) again.

This afternoon we took a drive through Bonita Springs and crossed the bridge into Fort Myers Beach. We located the motel we stayed at some 18 years ago – amazing its still there. It’s just a little 2 storey motel right on the beach amongst high rises and hotels. The traffic was pretty bad especially on our way back. We weren’t able to find a place to park in the area where Gordon wanted to take photos so we stopped at Lovers Key State Park and walked on the trails there and took some photos which you will see below.

This is part of the beach at Lovers Key State Park

An egret looking for some lunch at Lovers Key State Park

A Nature Walk

This white ibis flew right in front of me this morning on my walk

I slept really well last night and this morning was mostly sunny and 64F (18C) when I got up. It quickly reached 70F (21C) by the time I had returned from my walk.

Betty and Garth have gone to an antiquarian book fair in St. Petersburg for a couple of days so we’re on our own.

I sat outside and read for most of the morning. This afternoon with temperatures reaching 86F (30C), we drove to Estero River Scrub which is not far from where we are. I only had sandals on and Gordon is fighting a cold so we decided not to walk there today and continued on to Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve. Here there is a boardwalk that goes through the preserve and a lot of it is shaded so we walked around there and got to see a fair number of birds as well as some swamp iris. It was very hot today but with a slight breeze so it was only bad in the sun. On our way back we stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things.

It’s very warm here during the day but cools off nicely with a breeze at night. Ideal!

This is a photo I took at the Estero River Scrub this afternoon

Little blue heron at Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve

Water iris at the Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve

Part of the swamp area at the preserve

Wood stork at the pond at Walmart

We Visit Betty & Garth

This morning was 56F (13C) and bright and sunny. I had a nice walk around the park. It’s not a beautiful park but it’s nice enough and has some nice features like the Ten Mile Canal that runs along one side of the park. By the time I finished my walk and got back to the rig it was 64F (18C) already and it warmed up to the low 80’s F (26C).

I called Betty (my sister) this morning and we went over to their condo this afternoon. Garth was playing golf so we caught him just before he left. We took a tour of the complex. It’s very large and has condos and single houses. It’s a very nice complex based on a golf course and has lots of little lakes throughout.

Betty took us for a drive to Bunche Beach and to one of the outlet malls that is close to them. Garth got back shortly after 5:00 p.m. and we had a nice dinner and chatted for a while. We called our younger sister in Ottawa where it was -22F ( -30C) with the wind chill this morning. YUK! Sure glad we’re here (except for the TRAFFIC!)

Betty and I walking on Bunche Beach

Dinner on Betty & Garth's lanai - L to R - Gordon, Sandra, Betty, Garth

We Have An RV Emergency Then Move to Fort Myers

We were packed up and ready to go shortly after 9:00 a.m. this morning. I had talked to my sister last night who is in Fort Myers and she had invited us for dinner at the restaurant at the condo they are renting. I just had to call them this morning to be sure they had something Gordon could eat (gluten free). I had called and confirmed that they could accommodate him when Gordon looked at the right rear tire of the fifth wheel and noted it had lost air – 36 lb to be exact. So we pulled the RV up to the garage at the campground and tried to put air in but couldn’t get enough pounds in it to continue on our trip. Off to Goodyear in Bushnell – after 1 ½ hr wait and a screw taken out of the tire, patched and put back on, we were on our way – 2 hour later than expected. I had called my sister when we reached Goodyear and told her that we wouldn’t make dinner tonight. Plans on a day that we’re moving is just too much so from now on – no plans on moving days!

Thanks to the guys at the Bushnell Tire Co. for getting us back on the road and working us in to their busy schedule.

Our fifth wheel with the tire off and under repair

We arrived at Fort Myers RV Resort around 2:30 p.m. under mostly sunny skies and a high of 81F (27C). We had some traffic backup at our exit off I-75 and some construction along the street that we traveled off I-75 to get to the park but other than that we made fairly good time.

After checking in, we were taken to our site which we were happy to see was fairly large. The park itself is a good size so I should have enough place to walk in the mornings. We were set up including changing the mount for the TV on the ladder to a higher location by 4:15 p.m.

Our site at Fort Myers RV Resort

We Meet Canadian Icons of Rving and Tour the Area

I had a nice walk through the campground this morning and on my way back signed us up for another night here. It’s a very large campground with not many park models. It’s well laid out and the seasonal sites are very large for a Florida park. Even the short term sites aren’t a bad size. I can’t give you a temperature for this morning as the sun was on the thermometer but the radio said 50F (10C) although I think the station is probably in Orlando. It didn’t feel like 50!

We got our phone call right at 9:00 a.m. saying that Fort Myers Campground has a site for us for a month. I really hate booking for so long a period without seeing the campground first but since it was so difficult to find a spot (that might be telling us something), we’re there for a month regardless.

After lunch we drove around downtown Bushnell – it’s not much, most everything is out where we are near the interstate. After that we stopped off to meet Peggi and John McDonald. They are at the RV park across the street from us called Red Barn. They have been fulltime RVers for 22 years and are fellow Canadians. Their site – rvliving.net is a wealth of information. If you want to know everything about RVing, ask them. They also have written several books. I bought the first one, Spirit of the Open Road before we started this lifestyle and it answered most of my questions. We didn’t stay long as we were headed to the Gulf Coast just for a drive but it was good to finally meet them. If I have a question, I send Peggi an email and I always get the answer to my question.

John and Peggi McDonald in front of their motorhome

Lots of Spanish moss in the trees around here

Flowering bush within the park

The drive was nice as it was a beautiful sunny day and reached 75F (24C). We didn’t see much over there, couldn’t get near the Gulf, too many houses and buildings but we had a good afternoon.

Tallahassee to Bushnell

Our site at Blueberry Hill RV Resort

A canopy of live oak trees cover the road

A view of the river that runs through Floral City

It was only 32F but sunny when I got up this morning. We got on the road by 9:05 a.m. and decided not to drive so far today so I made a reservation at Blueberry Hill RV Park in Bushnell, FL. We arrived there around 1:00 p.m. Our 212 mile drive was under sunny skies with little wind. We were set up by 2:00 p.m. even setting up the internet. We get enough local TV channels that we decided not to set up the TV dish.

The good news is that this park is right across the street from a SuperWalMart. After I had a bit of a rest I walked over there and Gordon came and picked me up when I was finished.

I spent a while on the phone trying to locate a site for us in Fort Myers. It’s amazing to me that resorts in Florida can charge $1100+/month and get away with it and be full! We’re thinking this is our last trip to Florida with the RV, too many people and too expensive! This is one park that is supposed to get back to me tomorrow so we’re planning on spending another day here in Bushnell.

Just before sunset we drove over to Floral City about 14 miles away as there were some scenic live oak trees that met in a tunnel over the road. We also drove to a little river that had some wood storks and limpkins. On our way back we picked up an Asian salad at McDonald’s and a Southwest steak bowl at Taco Bell for dinner. Yummy!

We're Back in the Eastern Time Zone in Tallahassee, FL!

This is our site at Tallahassee RV Park

There are azalea bushes all around the park

A cold front blew in last night so it was only 46F (8C) when I got up this morning – mind you it was 6:30 a.m. Central time. We started to pack up around 7:00 a.m. and were on our way by 8:30 a.m. It hadn’t warmed up any and the wind was strong. There was serious consideration given to staying another day but we wanted to get through Mobile and Pensacola on Sunday so off we went.

It was bright and sunny the whole way and we reached a high of 61F (16C). We crossed into Florida around 10:00 a.m. and arrived at Tallahassee RV Park at about 3:00 p.m. Eastern time and since we weren’t setting up either satellite (both cable and wifi are free) we were set up by 3:30 p.m. It’s the satellites that take the time.

This is a nice little campground run by a couple from New Zealand. It’s not cheap though at $32/night but I expect that’s not the most expensive campground we’ll see as we continue south.

We relaxed for the rest of the day. I took a walk around the campground and photographed some of the pretty flowers and also got a pretty good shot of a cardinal with my camera which is rare other than reading my book and watching TV, that’s about it. It’s supposed to get down to freezing here tonight!

We leave tomorrow hoping to make Venice, FL. Haven’t looked at campgrounds yet.

Short Trip to Mobile

This is the Richards DAR House Museum - note the cast iron facade which is quite popular in the older part of Mobile

Part of the Mobile skyline

Today was mostly sunny & breezy. It was 58F (14C) when I got up shortly after 7:00 a.m. I took what will probably be my last walk in the bird sanctuary at least for this trip.
We’re heading east tomorrow so will probably forego my walk as we’ll want to get on the road as early as possible.

Late this morning we left to go into Mobile. It was very crowded downtown. There was some kind of chili cook-off going on and it was wall to wall people. We took some photos of some of the antebellum mansions, one of which is the Richards DAR House Museum (Daughters of the American Revolution), drove around the downtown area, then headed for Walmart where I picked up some groceries before heading back to Dauphin Island.

Gordon went out to photograph the eclipse tonight and got a good photo To see it, click here.

Bellingrath Gardens

I was up shortly after 7:00 a.m. today. It was 55F (13C) and partly sunny with a bit of wind. I walked in the bird sanctuary and along the boardwalk to the beach. There were a few birds around this morning.

I took this photo at the beach this morning

Today was to be our day to go into Mobile and see the city. However Bellingrath Gardens was recommended to us by Gayle and Breland whom we met in Louisiana and a blogging RVer friend, Carolyn so we decided to go there on the way.

We arrived in time for the 12 noon cruise on the Fowl River. This is a 45 minute cruise that explains the importance of the river and the delta grasses that grow there with respect to the Gulf and fresh and salt water rivers. We saw a few osprey and the cruise commentary was interesting but the best was definitely the gardens, probably the prettiest was the oriental gardens. They had an oriental bridge and some buildings as well that really helped with the theme. They also had one lotus blossom tree. The rest of the gardens were very pretty as well. The azaleas were just coming into bloom and the camellias were just about finished but there were lots of flowering kale and cabbage and all sorts of spring flowers. You would need to spend a whole day there to see everything and take your time.

We left there around 2:30 p.m. and decided to come home as we were tired and hungry (Gordon couldn’t get anything at the cafeteria that he could eat) so we decided to go into Mobile tomorrow.

We reached a high of 65F (18C) and the afternoon turned sunny and beautiful, perfect for walking around the gardens.

Expenses, Housework & Touring Around

February Expenses

Campgrounds (incl Electricity) - $339.21

Groceries (includes wine) - $300.57

Laundry - $20.50

Entertainment/Parking/Restaurants - $155.97

Truck Fuel - $372.94

Propane - $0.00

Repairs/Service RV/Truck - $144.34 (includes labour for installation of microwave & truck service)

Internet/TV/Cell/Insurance - $351.52

Medical/Dental - $0.00

Gifts - $0.00

Misc - $343.78 – The largest items were my new hard drive and getting my hair done – other amounts just misc expenses

Total - $2,028.83

We did much better on groceries this month however since we started traveling at the end of the month our fuel expenses are higher. Our electric bill for Fulton Oaks was $85.50 which was rather high but we had quite a bit of cold weather so the electric heater was running 24 hr/day for several days as well as during the nights for a lot of days as well. It’s still cheaper than buying propane!

We were supposed to have rain and thunderstorms after midnight last night and continuing all day today and tonight. I woke up early as I’ve been getting up early the last few mornings because we were traveling so got up and Gordon and I went for a walk since it hadn’t started to rain yet. We found the beach which is accessible through the campground as is the Audubon bird sanctuary. The beach is not a ‘walking’ beach with mostly loose sand and the clouds were looking very heavy so we headed for the bird sanctuary and took the swamp trail when it started to rain a bit. We headed back to the RV. I made a stop to get some quarters for the laundry at the office and the rain stopped so I continued walking around the park. It was 65F (18C) and very humid.

This morning I did a couple of loads of laundry and vacuumed. Gordon went out to the bird sanctuary to take some photos but I decided to stay behind and rest my back for a while. Vacuuming and standing around always kills it and I stood for quite a while talking to a couple from Indiana when I was doing the laundry.

Around noon I checked the temperature and it was 80F( 27C). It was sunny but the skies were fairly dark. I had heard from someone this morning that the thunderstorms were passing north of us but with the humidity it feels like we might get some sort of action in that regard. We actually had the air conditioner on today. We had tornado watches for much of the day as well.

This afternoon we did some driving around and walked around another birding area but the birds haven’t arrived yet. This area is apparently a migratory stopoff for most birds and in a couple of weeks it will be teeming but unfortunately we can’t stay that long!

We also drove back to the west end of the island and saw the devastation that two hurricanes in less than ten years have caused the housing on the island. There are no trees or anything to shelter the houses. There’s a photo below of one of them.

We stopped at the local tourist office and obtained some information on the island. Behind the tourist bureau there are several camellia trees. Here’s a photo of one of the flowers. Very beautiful!

By the way for anyone watching the weather in this area, a tornado did hit Enterprise, AL but that’s about 300 miles from where we are – 13 people were killed including some kids in the local high school whose roof collapsed while the kids were inside. Devastating!