Thursday November 24th 2016

Happy Thanksgiving.

Today started off as a cloudy dull day. It evolved into a partly cloudy day with the temperature in the low 80s. My day started with the noise of one of my neighbors departing. There were several sites that turned over at the campground this morning including a couple that I was sure were here for the long weekend. The campers from the local area that come in for a few days for the fishing are hard to predict.

Two boats departing the lock eastbound this morning. The larger one was in a rush. It open the engines full as soon as it cleared the speed marker.

I spent the morning watching parades on television. I’m not sure why, but each of the three major networks were covering a parade this morning. CBS and NBC had the Macy’s parade and ABC was covering the Philadelphia parade. This is similar to the coverage I remember from many years ago. In the last few years I’ve only seen NBC covering the Macy’s parade. I can’t say the parades were anything unique, but they were an OK accompaniment for breakfast and my morning Internet reading.

This afternoon I drove south about thirty five miles to the Seminole Casino in Immokalee FL. Casinos usual have restaurants that don’t need reservations and can easily handle a single dinner. I found what I was looking for, a good turkey dinner for the holiday while watching football on a giant screen TV. As an added bonus I got to play a few slot machines.

The meal wasn’t terribly cheap, but it was good. Turkey, dressing, mash potato with gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, bread and pumpkin pie were the Thanksgiving special for $25. It was very good and with the exception of the cranberry sauce were all suitable for consumption. For some reason, I’ve never developed a taste for cranberries other than in breads. The slot machine play wasn’t as good.

Great Egret on the far bank in front of my camp site.

I was back at the campground in time to catch the sunset down the river. The partial cloud cover created purple red pattern in the western sky. Tomorrow’s weather is forecast to be similar.

Wednesday November 23rd 2016

This blog entry may read very similar to the last couple of days blogs. I’m not doing very blog inspiring things, but I am enjoying my stay in the Fort Meyers area.

Today my touring took me to the north into Charlotte and Desoto counties. The county is the geographical unit of significance in Florida. There is a lot of open country between the incorporated towns. I started my journey from the campground in Lee county by going strait north on route 31 through Charlotte county to the city of Arcadia in Desoto county. The terrain is flat with pine forests, cattle land and citrus groves.

I passed one huge new residential development called Babcock Ranch. When completed it will form another town. It is in the very early stages of development. The model homes aren’t scheduled to be ready until next year so I’m not sure what price range they will have. In general, the new homes in the southwest part of Florida are priced higher than the homes in the developments in northeast Florida around St. Augustine. The signs outside the new home developments in St. Augustine advertised homes starting in the 200, 300 and 400 thousands. In the Fort Meyers area I’ve been seeing 400, 600 and 1 million dollar homes advertised on similar signs.

Looking south from Ponce De Leon Park

Channel markers with a pair of mismatched sentinel birds. One is a pelican the other may be a sand piper.

This bird is guarding the boat launch.

In Arcadia Florida I turned back to the southwest on route US 17. It brought me back to Punta Gorda Florida on the south side of the Peace river from Port Charlotte. I drove through the old town center and out to Ponce De Leon Park on at the mouth of the river in Charlotte harbor. There is a wildlife center, a recreation area and a boat launch in the park. Surprisingly the parking was free in the Charlotte county (or city) park. I’ve gotten used to the Lee county parks around my campsite that charge by the hour in all parks and boat launches.

I returned to the campground on US 41 the Tamiami trail. The traffic wasn’t bad until I got into North Fort Meyers. Around the shopping areas traffic was very heavy. When I passed under Interstate 75 it looked like it was backed up with traffic so I made the right choice to avoid that route. Seeing the traffic confirmed that I was doing the right thing heading back to the campground.

Visitor to my campsite this evening.

Back at my RV home I grilled a couple of hotdogs for supper and watched the fish jumping in the river as the sunset.

Tuesday November 22nd 2016

Today was an uneventful day. The weather was sunny in the mid 70s by early afternoon, but it took until after 10 for it get comfortable outside. That’s when I left the camp to run a few errands.

Yesterday on my return from Sanibel Island I passed a citrus store. I went back to the Sun Harvest Citrus Company. It is combination of all things citrus. The huge green metal building is primarily for packaging and shipping citrus, but it has a retail shop that sells fruit and other things citrus. The biggest surprise is it also contains an official US Post Office. A good percentage of the people entering the building were going to the post office.

I bought a five pound bag of Naval Oranges that contained about 7 oranges and a five pound bag of grape fruit that contained 6 grapefruit. It works out to about 85 cents a pound which is much better than the supermarkets in the area. I’ve had one orange and it was very good.

From the citrus store I continued in shopping mode at the Gulf Coast Town Center. This is one of the strangest layouts for a shopping center I’ve encountered. I found it very difficult to find specific stores in the main cluster of shops. The Bass Pro shop on the perimeter of the shopping area was easy to find, but the other shops were in clusters around narrow “town” roads. Major stores like JC Penny and Belks were surrounded by little shops in each cluster. I never did find the Best Buy until I got home and looked at the map on the internet. The best part of this stop were the Christmas decorations in the Bass Pro shop. They had a two floor high Christmas Tree in the lobby that was very well decorated.

Visitor to my camp site while I was cooking on the grill.

Back at the campground most of today’s arrivals are here for the long weekend. They are families that have unpacked enough “stuff” to carry them through. How they manage to truck it all to the campground is beyond me. I suspect most of tomorrow’s turn overs will be filled by more families for the long weekend.

Monday November 21st 2016

Today I finally made it out to Sanibel Island. I was looking forward to the great beaches and sea shell hunting the island is known for. The weather was perfect. It was sunny in the low 70s.

It takes close to an hour and a half to get to the island through Fort Meyers traffic. It seems like there is always heavy traffic in this area. The access to the island is over a tall two lane bridge and causeway that is several miles long. The bridge wouldn’t be any fun in a high wind. Once on the island you can turn left to the light house on the southeast end or right toward Captiva Island to the northwest. I chose to join the stop and go traffic up the narrow two lane road toward Captiva Island. The island is noted for not having traffic lights, but it does have uniformed traffic conductors. I followed the slow line of traffic until I found a sign for beach access to the south.

Tarpon Beach looking back toward Fort Meyers

Tarpon Beach looking to the west.

Parking for Tarpon Beach is a few hundred yards inland from the beach. You need to walk along the bicycle trail to reach the beach. I was surprised by the narrow beach area. The distance from the tree line to the waters edge was only 40 or 50 feet. The tide was still a few hours from full so it would be even narrower at high tide. This beach didn’t meet my idea of a great beach.

Common shells I found on the beach.

There were lots of shells on the beach and more coming in with the wave action. The collection of shells at the high water mark were mostly broken pieces, but in the tidal area undamaged shells were common. I was expecting to find more exotic shells than seemed to be present. It may be the time of year or the particular beach, but I was not impressed by the shelling opportunities.

I think you need to stay on the island to properly appreciate it. There are many wildlife areas, walking and bicycle trails. If you are walking or riding a bike you avoid two of the islands biggest problems. The car traffic is bad and the cost of parking is high. It cost $6 to cross the causeway to the island and parking at any of the beaches is $4 per hour. Bicycles park free at the beaches. If I were in this area for the winter, I would return with my bike but I don’t think it is possible to ride it from the mainland.

Birds gathering in the campground

Birds in the river in front of the campground

Back at the campground this afternoon, the place had gone to the birds. There were birds filling the trees, other birds congregated on the ground and ducks in the water. Walking around the park was a challenge.

Sunday November 20th 2016

The predicted cold front went through last night. Today’s high temperature was in the mid 70s with a strong north wind that made it feel much cooler. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. If you sat in the sun out of the wind it was almost too hot. Overall it was a very nice day.

I stayed at home today and enjoyed the campground, the weather and watching a lot of sports on TV. The NASCAR championship race was fun to watch. In addition to a bunch of cars turning left, this race had lots of excitement. The four drivers vying for the championship were in the thick of the race until the end. There were significant and frequent lead change along with enough crash drama to keep my attention. However, I will admit to channel surfing to the football games a few times.

Sailboat ready to enter the lock.

Boats staying at the campground tonight.

Around the campground the weekend residents departed. Most of the sites were taken later in the day by new residents. I expect the few that remained open tonight will fill tomorrow. Even four of the eight boat slips that are part of the campground were filled today. The boats are bigger than most of the RVs.

Taking lunch in the weeds at the rivers edge.

With the change to cooler weather I was in the mood for stew. I spent some time this afternoon preparing and cooking a beef stew. The limited size of the kitchen made the process a little more complicated than I’m used to. It was necessary to do more staging than I would typically. I needed to get all of the ingredients ready before starting the cooking process. Preparing the vegetables while the meat browned wasn’t an option since I needed the counter space of the covered stove to spread out. The stew turned out fine and the cooking process kept the RV warm. I now have leftovers to eat over the next couple of days. It is supposed to warm back up by Wednesday so I better hurry.

Saturday November 19th 2016

There were more clouds than sun today, but it didn’t really feel like a cloudy day. The temperature got to the high 70s. Tonight and the next couple of days are predicted to be well below normal temperature. I might even have to wear a long sleeve shirt. I can’t complain about this weather when the TV news is talking about the first major snow storm crossing the country to the north. I’m just getting spoiled by the good weather.

I started the day slowly. I had my morning coffee outside watching the fish in the river. Every minute or so a fish would break the surface of the water. Usually it was only a ripple, but a couple of times a fish actually jumped clear of the water. It’s cheap entertainment that lasted until a breeze came up to disturb the calm surface.

Waiting for the lock.

My morning exercise was a couple of laps around the campground. It isn’t a long walk. The campground only has thirty sites in a figure eight pattern. The nice thing is that every site has a view of the river. I enjoy checking out the boat traffic and the folks fishing from the bank and the pier connected to the dam. I still haven’t seen anybody catch a fish.

All white boat waiting for the lock

This afternoon I took a drive to Pine Island. It is a barrier island northwest of Fort Meyers. I was expecting a similar experience to Fort Meyers Beach. It was totally different. I didn’t find any beaches or houses lining the shore. I found a forested island with small fishing style villages. What homes I saw were far more modest than on some of the other islands. Often the homes were older one story dwellings on canals. Along the main north south road there were several trail heads for hiking paths into the pine forests. It’s nice to knnow that the island offers a different type of experience.

This evening the campground smells of wood smoke. The weekend campers are all gathered around campfires. The good thing is they are enjoying their weekend here without getting noisy. I’ve been in a few public campgrounds that can get very rowdy on the weekends.

Friday November 18th 2016

Last night I checked the time of low tide on Sanibel Island. My plan was to check out the shell hunting on the world famous beaches of Sanibel Island. It wasn’t to be today. I got started late around 10AM which coincided with the time of low tide. Then my confusion about the area roads bit me again.

I knew from my map study that I had to get off Interstate 75 before the airport and head west. I expected the road signs to indicate Sanibel Island as one of the destinations at the exit. I found very little indications of destinations on the highway signs. Most just contained the name of the road or route number at the exit. It turns out I exited the interstate one exit to far south. This wouldn’t have been to bad except that the road looped around to the east and entered the airport. I looped around through the airport and then went an additional exit south on the interstate looking for a road west. At this point I didn’t know I was to far south. When I reached US 41 I had another choice of north or south. Again I chose the wrong direction. I went south.

The last time I was in this area was 2013. I stayed at a motel on US 41 south of Fort Meyers. I recognized the motel when I passed it and knew I was too far south. Plan B was to go to the gulf beaches in Bonita Springs. I found the road to Bonita Beach and successfully found the Gulf of Mexico in the gaps between buildings. I turned the car north looking for a beach access. Every now and then a sign indicated a public beach access. Unfortunately, each access only had two or three parking spaces each of which were taken. I kept driving north toward Fort Meyers Beach looking for an access.

Fort Meyers Beach has a special event going on. The 30th Annual American Sandsculpting Championship started today through the 27th of November. Once the sculptures are complete this might be a fun event. I’m guessing that opening day isn’t the best day to tour the event. Like yesterday in downtown Fort Meyers, the inexpensive parking was taken and event parking was $10 near the beach. Further north, major road construction had concrete barriers down the middle of the road. I couldn’t get across the barriers to enter the few available beach access parking lots.

I enjoyed my drive north along the Gulf Coast. It would have been better if I could have wandered the beach a little, but I was off the barrier island area before I knew it. I still wasn’t far enough north to reach the access road to Sanibel Island. The route I was on inland did intersect the correct road, but it was more than 3 hours past low tide when I reached the decision point for the turn. I chose to come back another day. Looking for shells in a rapidly rising tide doesn’t sound like a very successful task. The good news is I followed the road back to the interstate. I know how to get to the island the next time.

Afternoon visitors to my campsite.

Egrets hanging out on the far bank.

A gator in the river.

Another egret feeding on the bank in the setting sun.

The campground was quiet this afternoon. Many people left this morning and the replacements didn’t arrive until almost night fall. I’m guessing they are from the local area in for the weekend or maybe the holiday week.

Thursday November 17th 2016

This morning I drove west toward Fort Meyers. I soon found myself in the middle of the old downtown area. It was easily identifiable by the imitation cobblestone streets. I’m not sure if was purely decorative or to slow traffic down. It kept my already slow pace even slower. Looking for a place to park was a lost cause. The inexpensive spots were all taken and the “event” lots were charging $10. It turns out the event was the annual fall boat show. I’ll do some internet research on things to see and do in the downtown area before I return.

I drove by the Edison and Ford Winter Quarters on the far side of the downtown area. I want to visit these winter homes of the two turn of the 20th century innovators while I’m here. Planning ahead, if I wait until after Thanksgiving I can see the estates decorated for Christmas. I’ll need to look at a map to find a better way to get there though.

Traffic in the Fort Meyers area is heavy and I haven’t figured out the street layout yet. Interstate 75 forms a natural eastern boundary for navigating the area and route 41, the Tamiami Trail, parallels the interstate about halfway to the coast. Figuring out what the east west roads are is my next challenge. The bridges to the barrier islands appear to have tolls. My Sunpass toll transponder will get some use. I verified it had sufficient funds when I got home. I do have a map in the car and my phone has Google maps, but what fun would it be to look them.

On the way home I stopped at Walmart for provisions. Running out of paper towels can be annoying. The surprising thing was that most of the Walmart employees were wearing Santa Clause hats. It must be another way they are trying to push the season. I’m going to have to stop shopping at Walmart until after the Christmas rush. Long lines at the checkouts are not one of my favorite things. At the very least, I’ll need to pick my shopping times carefully.

Two boats waiting for the lock.

Visitor to my camp site this afternoon.

I returned to the campground at mid afternoon. A number of sites near me have turned over. New campers have replaced the ones that departed. It seems like some of the new arrivals went right to the river bank to fish. The number of people sitting in chairs along the bank with fishing rods out has nearly doubled over the last couple of days. I’m still not sure what they expect to catch. I’ve heard everything from catfish to tarpon and snook. The problem with that is catfish are primarily fresh water and the other two would need brackish water or ocean. I don’t know southern fish species very well so I could be way off base. I’m watching to learn.

Wednesday November 16th 2016

It was a chilly start to the day for Southwest Florida this time of year. It was in the high 50s to low 60s overnight. It warmed up well during the day to around 80 with a nice breeze. The general forecast is for below normal temperatures until the middle of next week. To me, it’s just beautiful weather.

Today was a slow catch my breath kind of day while I recover from whatever hit me on Monday. I checked out the local area for shopping and amenities. Surprisingly, it is not that easy to find those essentials in the local area. This campground is located in the middle of the Caloosahatchee River on an island connected to the dam and lock. The campground island is accessed from the north bank of the river across a causeway. The other side of the island is the dam followed by the lock before reaching the south side of the river. The north side of the river is all residential. The south side of the river has residential and commercial activity and a main east west route. Getting to the south side of the river from here is not quick. One bridge is about 5 miles east and another is a little further than that to the west.

Early morning view in front of my RV home.

East entry to the lock along the far river bank.

One of the houses on the north bank of the river.

Boat waiting for the lock.

The campground river and dam complex is a nicely laid out recreation area. The dam and lock were built in 1965 for flood control and navigation. The lock is located about 33 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. The river forms part of an east west inter-coastal waterway.

View west of the campground from the dam

View to the east of the campground from the dam

Dam and Lock looking east from the campground island.

The campground is very popular. It has a two week limit, but is full most of the time. It has a combination of local Floridians here for the fishing and boating and travelers of all kinds. The two week limit means there is turn over every day, but it appears there are reservations for the whole winter. When I made reservations in June there were only a couple of sites available. Reservations can be made 6 months in advance.

Tuesday November 15th 2016

I got up at 6AM this morning after 12 hours of fitful sleep. Whatever hit me yesterday afternoon was much diminished if not gone this morning. I’m not sure if it was food poisoning or some other virus, but I’m not taking any chances with the remaining donuts. They’re going out with the trash.

Taking it slow and easy with the remaining packing, I departed St. Augustine at 9AM. My route to the W. P. Franklin recreation area east of Fort Meyers Florida was down the east coast and across the state just north of Lake Okeechobee. The mapping programs I use wanted me to take Interstate 4 through Orlando. That route is on my list of avoid if at all possible roads. Interstate 95 down the coast had some construction, but nothing like the mess in Orlando. The drive across the state on secondary roads was through cattle land, farm land and an occasional swamp.

I arrived at the W.P. Franklin campground just before 3PM. I have a back in site along the river. It takes a little more time to get into a back-in. I have to disconnect the towed car before I can maneuver into the site. Today was not one of my better backing efforts. It took me four tries before I was happy with the orientation of the RV on the site. The first 3 attempts I was crooked one way or another.

Site 3 at the W.P. Franklin Recreation Area Campground

This is a Corp of Engineer Campground at one of the locks on the Caloosahatchee River. This is part of the waterway that goes from the Gulf of Mexico into Lake Okeechobee. Another waterway goes from the lake to the Atlantic Ocean in Port St. Lucie. So far I haven’t seen any boats underway. Many of the people here seem to be here for the fishing. I’m not sure what they are trying to catch.

My view from site 3.

I’ll me here for two weeks. I intend to tour around a lot of Southwest Florida. Tomorrow I’ll start by checking out the area between here and Fort Meyers.