Fort Myers, Sanibel/Captiva, swamp treks and Tommy and Henry. . . .

Having left Brandon and the Tampa Bay area, we made a brief stop at Longboat Key, and then continued for the past couple of days here in the Fort Myers Beach area.

We have been very pleasantly surprised at Fort Myers, especially their downtown area, which has been under re-development and the 'city-fathers' have done a great job on making it what appears to be a success for both the local residents as well as the tourists to the area.

I have visited many of the towns and cities of Florida during my earlier business travels in years past, with Forth Myers being one of them, but of course on business it is mostly fly in, pick up a rental car, check into the hotel and go the the meeting/appointment and then fly out and on the next location. Fort Myers is a city that has made many of the right moves for real improvement to the city and surrounding areas.

We made a drive over to Sanibel and Captiva Islands, and I hate to say it, but Marilyn and I were both somewhat disappointed in what we found and what we saw. We have never been on the islands of Sanibel and Captiva before, but we have read and heard a number of stories about the beautiful white-sand beaches and the rustic, remoteness of these islands. What we found was a heavily congested and developed set of islands, and could not find the "beautiful beaches" unfortunately. Now, it could be the time of year, the holiday season, along with tons of 'lookie-loo's like us. And the beaches were very nice and the area was quite pretty, but I guess not what we were expecting.

Fort Myers Beach, is a very nice area with some real nice beaches also. We found a few good seafood places that met our craving for good seafood.

We visited the "Six Mile Cypress Swamp", a Florida protected nature and wildlife area where they have built a 1.25 mile raised 'boardwalk' that traverses through a portion of the cypress swamp. It is in its natural state and is interesting as well as pretty. Didn't see any gators though, guess they were all off visiting family down in the 'glades.

And we saw the Winter Estates of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford located in Fort Myers along the Caloosahatchee River. Since Edison and Ford had adjoining properties.

There are the main homes and guest homes, plus Edison had a care-takers quarters (a quite nice home really), and his lab in an adjacent 'home' on his property. The docents have the properties along McGregor Blvd. decorated in Christmas lights for the season, which illuminates the area in a very pretty soft glow of multi-colors. It is comprised of a little over twenty acres that is a classic tropical setting, beautifully landscaped in palms, ti-plants, and banyan trees. Edison also has (or is it 'had'? but it is still there nonetheless), a fishing/boating pier out into the Caloosahatchee River. In fact the Caloosahatchee River is about a mile-and-a-half wide at this point, which is about 10 miles up-river from the mouth at the Gulf. Some interesting facts and info in regard to Edison, as well as Ford and a frequent visitor, Firestone.
Edison developed many of his patents and products while living in his Fort Myers winter home.

Our weather had been great, with highs in the mid-70's, and totally sunny. In other words, the kind of weather that many of these northern "snowbirds" fly south for in the winter. Sure beats cold, snow, ice, clouds and fog for sure. We like it anyhow...

We are off tomorrow morning to Naples and then on over to the Miami area, after our crossing is made through the Everglades on the Tamiami Trail (US-41) (...I did note that the I-75 route from Naples to Fort Lauderdale through the 'glades, is now a toll road. Marilyn and I traveled this road back in the 90's when we lived in south Florida and it was never a toll at the time. Things change ...roads and tolls included it would appear...).

. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .

Wishing all a very Merry Christmas, and all the best this holiday season!

Happy Holidays,

-Jim & Marilyn
Longboat Key, Florida

Since my last post, we have had a little rain (and I say 'little' as we had less than 1/4 inch, unlike the Miami and South Florida area that racked up 3-4 inches in 24 hours), but our cloudy, damp weather lasted about a day-and-a-half, and other than that, it has been mostly sunny with nice warm (not humid either - thank goodness) temps. Around here, when it gets to be a day with a 68F high like Saturday, and the 62F on Sunday, they act like it is 'cold'!


{Downtown Clearwater}

{St. Pete Beach}

We took a little drive over to St. Petersburg, St. Pete Beach (no, not 'St. Petersburg Beach', but rather 'St. Pete Beach), Clearwater, Largo, Dunedin, Palm Harbor, and Tarpon Springs to check out the beach towns and areas along the Gulf side. Some very nice, older, beautiful homes, and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (yep, a continuation of the same one).

{Clearwater Beach from the Intracoastal Waterway}



{A B&B on the beach}

Going over to the St. Pete peninsula, we took a different causeway/bridge going over and a different one on the return. Gotta check them all out.

{The "Buccaneer" (with tourists)}


{...Going over ....}

{...and coming back...}

The Christmas crowds are out, and by all appearances, it is definitely in force too. Whether they are all actually buying or not, I guess is to be seen in the final retail sales numbers after the holidays, but if number of cars and people out is any indication, then it should surely be a merry time for all concerned.

One thing of note that I have observed across the country and here in Florida as well, is the number of automobile dealers that have gone out of business (obvious with the large vacant car stores and lots). Also of notice has been the huge amount of cars (new and used) sitting on most car dealer lots. I did manage to get our toad (err, our 'towed-car' or in the RV vernacular - "toad") serviced at the local Saturn dealer here (yep, still in business ...until October 2010 anyhow). We do put a lot of leisure miles on our Vue as we cover a lot of roads, streets, and byways when we go off exploring an area. Now, I have to start seriously thinking about new tires for the buggy, as we are nearing 40,000 miles (and the tires are starting to show it now). And, all those miles on the Vue in just a little over 2-1/2 years.

Geez, between the coach and the toad, we do about 28,000 miles a year in total. Now, that is a lot of 'happy trails'!

{Residential streets in the local area}


And then there is the number of vacant and boarded stores in strip malls and in the larger city/regional malls, all across the nation that we have seen anyhow, shows some significant 'shrinkage' in the retail sector. I guess it would be fair to say that all of this is just another 'sign of the times'.

Marilyn and I have decided that we will spend our Christmas Day here in the Tampa Bay area. We have our "little-castle" decorated and all four of us are in the Christmas spirit (all four of course is Marilyn, Jim, along with our "kids", Kalua and Bailey).

We will depart for Fort Myers on Monday, the 28th, and most likely spend our New Year's Eve and Day in the Fort Myers/Sanibel Island area.

Ahh, the beautiful Florida weather has returned! We are sunny with a high of 82F today here in Brandon, and more of the same is in the forecast, thank goodness.

We started the day off with a super breakfast here at the Elks, and we met some really nice folks who always have some great stories to share with us.

Wow! were the Christmas shoppers out today... all the shopping centers, strip-malls, and other stores are just packed with shoppers ...and traffic of course.

Tomorrow we have to make our Costco run, and see a few other sights on our local list of "to-sees". We plan on being around this neighborhood for another week or so, with our next stop being probably Fort Myers area.

Taking in the Chargers / Cowboys game right now, and it is going into the final seconds .... alright! the San Diego Chargers win again! (sorry 'bout that Jerry, Wade, Tony and 'boys'; but then there is always "next week", ....oops, it is against New Orleans. That does not look good either though.)

O.K. folks, now get out there and spend, spend, spend...our economy needs it! (I think I'll just kinda sit back and watch, if that's okay with y'all...)


The Causeway, going from Clearwater over to Tampa (Eastbound)

The DirecTV 'blimp' in the air for the Buccaneers game today (they lost).

...and now, Tampa Bay...

Tampa Bay/Brandon we are here. And it is cold ...o.k., cool, but cooler than we like anyhow. The bottom-tail-end of the mid-west cold front edged down this way it appears, and our high today was a chilly 62F and cloudy with a few random showers, but nothing of any real wet-consequence.
Our local weather is supposed to start improving tomorrow with some sun and highs in the mid 70's. Hope so. We'll see in any event I guess.

Regardless, we are still having a good time, seeing interesting places and sites (...and sights too), as well as some great folks also.

We took it easy today, and just kinda of loafing around. But tomorrow is another day (huh, Scarlett?). Ohhh, speaking of Scarlett, at the intersection of I-75 and I-4 (just north of us here), we saw one of the largest free-flying "stars and bars" (i.e., rebel flag of the 'old south') that we have ever seen anywhere. It was flying high on its own flag pole and nothing else around, just off of the freeway. Mus' jest be one of dem good ol' boys showin' hes colors. Reckon so.

The sun has rizz and the sun has set. . . . .

. . . .and here we are in Wildwood, yet.

The typical sort of happened here at Alliance Coach this morning. That is, they verify my service request and I think to me-self, 'ummm, I think I should have the Allison (the tranny) serviced also (new filters (4 - internally) and new Trans-Synd oil); and oh yes, of course you might as well take care of the 'air-dryer' and change out the filter also.
Well, that should do it I guess. ...But oh yeah, by the way, howz 'bout checking out exhaust and charge-air-cooler also while you have it in there.
So all was taken care of except for the last two items above, and we are here overnight again and look to have this finished up by about mid-morning, hopefully.
But everything is coming along fine and of course that is always a blessing in itself.

So we took the short drive over to 'The Villages' today to check it out. We have heard a lot about The Villages, and some folks that live at The Villages think it is absolutely great with excellent housing, great stores and shopping and of course the numerous golf courses including a couple by Arnie Palmer and Nancy Lopez. It is a very large land area layout, over several thousand acres and it is master-planned and well maintained.
One of the first things we noticed was the large number of 'golf carts' - everywhere!
They even have their own little roadways to move about on. It is a prime method of transportation there.
We saw some beautiful homes, and golf courses at The Villages. Much of the country further out from The Villages (coming and going there) seems to be comprised mainly of a number of large premium horse ranches.

Our weather continues to be great here! We had a high today of 82F, light breezes and mostly sunny skies. I did seem to notice more humidity today than anytime of recent, although it did seem to "dry out" quite a bit by mid-afternoon today.
And speaking of weather, wow is it cold in many of the other 'burgs' out side of the deep south. I saw where it was 27F in Visalia this morning; -10F in Rapid City (high today was 2F there); Kalispell was -12F; Denver was -14F and Plano was a chilly 23F (although that must seem to be a heat-wave over in Denver, Rapid City and Kalispell!)
This seems rather standard with a real cold snap in mid-December just about like clockwork in many areas of the country.

Should be in Tampa Bay area tomorrow evening at this time. I will check back in when we are there.

A few pictures from today . . . .

Hello from Wildwood

It was a pleasant drive coming from Destin yesterday. We decided to stay overnight in Lake City, which is at the intersect of I-10 and I-75. This morning we headed south to Wildwood, a small town in central Florida located about 20 miles south of Ocala.

We choose Wildwood not for its history, scenic appeal, resort status or its small-town atmosphere, although it possesses some of all of these attributes, the main reason for our stop here in Wildwood was to make a visit to Alliance Coach Inc., a motorcoach service facility. It was formerly owned by Monaco Coach Corp., but was sold off earlier this year to satisfy the bankruptcy filing made by Monaco at the end of last year. It is a modern, state-of-the-art facility that is now owned by the former managers of the facility when it operated under Monaco Coach. All of the service techs are certified and experienced. They handle all facets of coach service including the periodic oil/lube/filters change (the reason that I am here), collision repair, painting, major mechanical, appliance and various coach 240/120V and 12V systems, etc.
There is a very nice and spacious park for overnight stays that includes full hookups and a grassy yard for our pooch. As it was with all of the Monaco service facilities, this one, now under Alliance Coach, is gratis.
I usually have our coach receive its annual maintenance service in the December/January time-period, so this worked out well for us at this time.
I have spoken with a number of folks who have used the service here since they opened (re-opened?) in September of this year, and they have raved and highly recommended the service and capabilities of Alliance Coach. I guess I will be finding out for myself tomorrow.

Once we leave Wildwood, we plan to continue south to the Tampa Bay area where we expect to stay for about one-week. After Tampa we plan for Fort Myers, and then Naples.

I can say that the weather has improved with warmer weather and sunnier skies. It was 81F today with a partly cloudy, mostly sunny sky. Tonight should be about 58F and tomorrow looks to be around 80F again and with sunny skies. I think we have found that warmer weather we were looking for.

I am throwing in a few pictures that were made while we were in the Destin area, and thought that I would share them with all.

We'll check in again soon from the Tampa Bay area...

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A few pictures from back Destin way:




Fudpucker's - a funky place! - - - - - - - - A real/live albino alligator at Fudpucker's


Marilyn at Fud's... - - - - - - - - - - - Live alligators (about 3' to 4')


More gators... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Marilyn at Fud's - lunch


Destin, Florida - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - Bridge from Ft. Walton Beach to Destin


Gulf Shores National Seashore; now doesn't - - Gulf Shores National Seashore ...more snow?
that look like snow? It does, but it is not... - - - It is all just sugar-white beach sand...



The beach at Panama City Beach, Florida - - "Home Sweet Home" on the beach at Destin/
Ft. Walton Beach Elks Lodge #1795

From the white sands of Destin, Florida

We arrived here at the Destin/Ft. Walton Elks Lodge yesterday mid-afternoon, and since it was past lunch time we decided to look for some good seafood. We went to the visitors center, which conveniently was located across the street from the Elks Lodge. We got the scoop on all to see, where to shop, and of course, where to find some good local seafood.

We found our way just down the way to a great local place called 'The Hightide'. We had some oysters on the half-shell, seafood fondue, a crab soup, and some Gumbo. Simply put, it was very good and quite filling for both of us.

We went to 'The Wharf' and the 'Gulfarium' and found those particular venues to be interesting and fun.
Today (Friday) we took a drive down to Panama City Beach and a little further south to Mexico Beach. Panama City Beach was nice and had clean beaches and with a lot of condos along the shoreline. Mexico Beach was more rustic, older and not as developed (especially with the condos) than the beaches further north.
We had lunch at Toucan's in Mexico Beach. It was very 'tropical', rustic and quaint by design and the seafood was quite good also.
It was a nice drive with a good deal of undeveloped pine land between the towns, and in our for-what-its-worth opinion, we prefer the area where we are at - the Destin & Ft. Walton area, where the beaches are very pretty and the places to see and do are numerous as well.
I mean we even have a "Fudpuckers" here. No, that was not a typo, it was not a "Fudruckers", but rather a very bright, gaudy, 'hip' place called "Fudpuckers". I will try to include a picture of it next time around.
And of course, this area being on the "snow-bird" and 'tourist route', if you will, there is the large Preferred Outlets (not sure how many outlet stores they have in this one, but it is quite big). So there seems to be no shortage of shopping for this area too.

So this weekend we will do some sightseeing around the area, but with our football games scheduled on Saturday afternoon between the #1 Florida Gators and the #2 Alabama Crimson Tide. I love to see the Gators quarterback Tim Tebow play, as he is a real play maker that can pass, hand-off and run himself. It should be a good game, and I think a fairly close one at that, but hopefully with the Florida Gators taking the win home.
Back in Gulf Shores there were cars all over with the red with white 'A' flags on their cars. Whereas over here, there are a ton of cars all over with the blue and orange gator flags on their cars. They do take their football pretty darn serious down this way.

Our weather has not been too bad, but it is somewhat colder than we like. Yesterday afternoon it was cloudy and some light wind out of the north and the temp was dropping. This morning we woke to temps in the high 30's and the high for today was 50F here and partly cloudy/sunny. Tomorrow is supposed to be about the same.

Marilyn and I have looked at each other and said emphatically, that we are heading south and fast (next week). So we will be heading down into south Florida and probably won't put out the anchor until the temp reaches at least 75F and with the nights about 50F is acceptable.
I think some of that cold (sans the snow part) that hit Houston today, must have brushed down over this way in the Florida Panhandle.
But that is alright, it will be warmer in south Florida I am sure. And if not, then you can bet that it will be warm come July here. But then too, I think we will past on that and be in the cooler climes of Dakota/Montana at that time, thank you very much.
All is well here - Marilyn, Kalua, Bailey and moi'.

Well, here we go again. . . . .

Well, its time to move on down the road, you know how we look at it - 'over the next hill, around the next bend'.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our one-month stay here at the Gulf Shores Elks Lodge RV Park, and all of the south Alabama area of Gulf Shores, Perdido Key, Orange Beach, Foley, Robersdale, Fairhope, Spanish Fort, Mobile, Fort Morgan, Pensacola, and the neat little town of Lillian, Alabama (...and too, it has the first name of my mother which I like...).

We have seen, and been on, around, or over The Wharf, the Beaches, The Gulf State Park, Fort Morgan, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Lulu's Beach Restaurant, The Hangout, Ryan's, Mama Lou's, Lambert's Cafe, the Outlets, Pottery Time, Gator Alley, U.S.S. Alabama, the Elks of Lodge 2782, O'Charlie's, and so much more.

It is a very nice area with friendly folks, beautiful white sand beaches, great shopping and nice restaurants, interesting historical sites and local amusements.

Overall we have experienced good weather with temps in the upper 60's to lower 80's, blue skies and plenty of sunshine. Well, that is except for the past two days anyhow (and the couple of days a few weeks back when the defunct hurricane, then tropical storm Ida came ashore here with some rain and wind, but little else) , which rained and rained and then rained some more. Yesterday alone in a 24 hour period, the reported rainfall here was 4.5" (now that is a lot of water folks!). It was a warm, sub-tropical storm that moved up over the Gulf from the south with a lot of rain and some high winds to boot.

Tomorrow morning we move on over to Destin, Florida and will settle in there for only a couple of days before moving further east to Mexico Beach, a short distance southeast of Panama City Beach. It should be nice weather for traveling and our distance is not that far tomorrow, so it will be an easy journey for us hopefully.

I did get a few "home" things done while we have been here in Gulf Shores like, polishing the chrome wheels on the coach (damn, there are a lot of wheels to polish, and big too!). I got a repair made on my umbilical (electrical) cord, and I got the electrical tow-switch repaired on the Vue. I think we have all systems set to 'go'.

We will check in again with you from the Florida Panhandle...