Last Days in Paradise

Hi all, Dianne here:

Just a quick blog to update our last days here at Franklin Lock outside Ft. Myers, Florida. From here we will head to Longs, South Carolina to attend the RV Dreams Rally, then several state parks as we make our way back to Indiana to sell yet ANOTHER house and yet MORE "stuff." (Ugh...will it ever end??)

We got word that our RV lot at Retama Village is coming along nicely. The concrete pad is poured and they are now constructing our little "coach house" shell. Our closing is to be in a couple of weeks.

We have sure enjoyed seeing our daughter, Amanda, and granddaughter, Kaia, this past month. The time was too short!

We've had some camp fires, gone kayaking, and have been able to eat outside at the picnic table on balmy evenings. It's been great.

Several times we took our beach chairs down the hill behind our site to get a closer look at the river activity: Lots of jumping fish, pelicans, anhingas, swimming turtles, egrets, even a limpkin

on the grassy bank. The black duck with the bright red forehead is a common gallinule.

There are some lovely water lilies right behind our site.

You can be sure I'll be perched on my computer the moment sites here at Franklin Lock open up for next spring (six months in advance).

As Kaia mentioned in her guest blog, we spent yesterday at the Bonita Beach dog park (beach).

Kaia was on spring break, so while her mom was at work we loaded up the three dogs, Kaia, and a picnic lunch, and drove to the dog beach. Kaia had a great time running through the shallow surf with Jasper and playing with her beagle, Cinnamon.

Jasper ran at a slowed pace next to Kaia. It reminded me of when we first got Jasper (he was nine months old and Kaia was two years old.) Jasper would let Kaia, as a toddler, walk him on his leash inside our house. Even as a pup Jasper knew to walk r-e-a-l slow, and was always very gentle with her. He did the same thing as they ran through the surf yesterday; kept pace right with her, even though he could have gone into high 35-mile-per-hour gear. He also kept a close eye on her as she played in the water. Have I mentioned yet that he is the best dog in the world???

Chaplin was busy doing his own thing, walking down the beach and plopping down on towels and blankets, uninvited, even between people! I finally put him back on his leash, because even though most people thought it was cute, I didn't want to press our luck with that. (Nobody in their right mind would go to the dog beach if they weren't dog lovers; trust me on that).

After we left the beach, we drove over to Sanibel Island to give Kaia the "Pinocchio's" Italian gelato experience. She was skeptical when I told her Italian gelato was even better than ice cream until she took her first bite. Apologies to Cindy G. for these next two photos; one is of my

"purple cow" (raspberry with dark chocolate chunks) and Roger's "triple dark chocolate."

We definitely thought of you, Cindy, as we devoured them!

The

dogs were so tired from the dog beach that they didn't even bother us as we ate.

I'll close out this blog with a couple of beautiful Florida sunset photos, fitting as we leave Florida for our trek north.

Florida Guest Blog by Kaia

Dianne here: Long-time readers of our blog will remember occasional "guest blogs" written by our granddaughter, Kaia. I'll write soon to add additional photos and commentary, but first, here's Kaia's installment for this visit:

Hey this is Kaia!

Guess what, my grandparents came........again! haha

So i guess it is my job to tell you what we did! Well first we were at

Shady Acres, which i wasn't a big fan of, nether was mea-maw and pop-pop.

But i guess it was kind of fun - i mean it had a dog park, who doesn't like that, but still it was kind of a bore.

My grandparents already had wonderful guests: Chuck and Cindy Gemmer.

They were very nice people and let me tell you, when it comes to cooking food, they know what they're doing! Okay well lets not talk about that.

So after a few weeks, the Gemmers went back to Indiana and mea-maw and pop-pop went to W.P. Franklin lock and dam. It was very beautiful. One weekend i didn't spend with my grandparents. My friends came to my house: Anna Vaca, and Cheyanne Cobrera. Then, i went to the motor home and i was waiting to see them as i was in the car.

There was a dock and it wasn't finished yet but i had fun walking on it anyway.......ha ha! Then, one day when i was on the dock, i dropped meamaw's shoe! Me and poppop had to kayak to go and get it! It was her fav. shoe, so we had to get it. Luckily we did find it.

Then on friday, i had a friend stay over at the motor home:

Cheyanne Cobrera.

1st meamaw picked us up at school. Then she took us to blockbuster to get bandslam, new moon, and beetlejuice. we didn't watch beetlejuice though we watched bandslam and new moon. Cheyanne and i were in meamaw and poppop's room.

It was fun! We stayed up until 5:00!

In the morning, we had chocolate-chip muffins!

YUM!!! They were delicious!

Then, we went kayaking!

i went first, because cheyanne was afraid. Then she finally went after i came back with poppop. While cheyanne

was kayaking, i was in my own world.....haha! i was actually acting like i was at a concert.

Then when cheyanne came back we took a picture together.

On Friday we went to the dog beach.........after cheyanne left of course.

Jasper kept chasing me in the water hahaha it was fun! Cinnamon

couldn't be trusted, because she almost ran away.

Chaplin did run away. :-( until i found him. :-) YAY!!!

Well, thats all you have to hear and i'll i have to say: Again, recycle, stay in school, make sure travel with whippets is your number 1 website and well....peace! $upercheeee$y* and if your wondering what super cheesy is, it's my signature alright $upercheeee$y*

Franklin Lock Corps of Engineers CG - Back in Paradise!

Hi all - Dianne here. Well, Roger and I traveled less than an hour to our next stop, one of our FAVORITE places to camp in all of the U.S.!

Last winter we lucked into a terrific camp site at W.P. Franklin Lock Corps of Engineers Campground outside Fort Myers, Florida and spent two glorious weeks. At the time we vowed to come back, but didn't know when that would be, since at the time we had no plans to return to Florida any time soon.

All that changed last August when our daughter and granddaughter moved from Indiana to Fort Myers. There was NO DOUBT where we would try to stay while visiting them!

Like many state parks, the Corps of Engineers campground has a two-week limit.

This particular Corps of Engineers campground is pretty small, and VERY hard to get reservations in the winter unless you get lucky on your computer the instant one becomes available. It is unusual in that in addition to RV sites, there are a few boat sites as well, where folks can stop on their way east or west on the Caloosahatchee River and tether their boats for an overnight stop.

We wrote extensively about this place last winter (Feb. of '09) and took many, many photographs. (Some of you might remember getting tired of all our sunset shots last year!) Anyway, if you want to learn more about this place, you can click on "Franklin Locks" in the sidebar and it will bring up last year's blogs.

It is so easy to just while away the hours here, watching boats go through the lock, fish jumping, and the many and various birds, or just watching the water. The sites are large, private, and have covered picnic tables and concrete and gravel patios.

No full hookups, but with a little water conservation we can make it about a week before having to unhook to go "dump."

Amanda and Kaia are continuing to visit us most evenings after work and school. This Wednesday we had a special treat when our friends, Jay and Nancy, drove up from their Naples condo to spend the day and evening.

We hadn't seen them since we were in Indiana last summer and it was SO good to see them. They are only in Florida for a week this trip, so we were thrilled that they made time to come visit. They had recently purchased an inflatable kayak to keep at their summer lake home,

so Roger gave them a demonstration of inflating and then took each of them out to get a taste of kayaking. Nancy

especially enjoyed it and agreed with me that it is SO much easier than canoeing.

We broke out some bottles of our Texas Hill Country wines that we'd saved for this day, and spent a relaxing afternoon wining and cheesing it on the patio, watching the water and boats and getting caught up on each others' lives and kids. (The four of us have been friends for more than 40 years, were in each others' weddings, so we are technically more like family than friends.) Those blog readers with good memories will remember a prior blog when I explained that it was Jay and Nancy who set Roger and I up on a blind date; the rest is history!

Amanda and Kaia joined us for a delicious steak dinner. I can brag on it, because Roger did all the grilling. We used some of our Cooper's Texas BBQ rub and sauce that we'd purchased on our "authentic Texas BBQ excursion" in Llano, TX last December. Costco came through again with some high-quality beef, and the result of mixing the two was exceptional! I just had to get a photo of the steaks grilling

and of Roger, the grill master, acting silly with Kaia.

More silliness ensued as the evening wore on, with Kaia jumping in the air

for the camera and even talking her mom

into joining her antics. Nancy used my camera to get some good shots of Mandy and Kaia together.

Today Roger and I are resting up for Friday night, when Kaia and her little friend, Cheyenne, will have a sleepover here in the RV with us. Once we have recovered from that, we'll blog again!

Bonita Dog Beach - Ft. Myers, Florida

Hi all -- Dianne here. The "doggy express" truck (Chuck, Cindy, Roger, Me, Jasper, Chaplin, and Sophie) spent two glorious days at the dog beach on Lover's Key near Bonita Springs, Florida last week. We had such a good time after our first visit that we went back again the very next day! Roger and I plan to return with Amanda, Kaia, and Cinnamon with our dogs. (Chuck and Cindy are now back in Indiana after a long drive home).

The dog beach is an off-leash beach. It is a peninsula surrounded on three sides by shallow water.

We were even able to let Chaplin off his leash for a while. (He's notorious for being an escape artist). I tried to get a photo of Sophie at the dog beach, but try as I might, she was too busy running, chasing, and playing from one end of the beach to the other, so that I couldn't get a photo of her that wasn't a partial-dog blur.

I did manage to get two great shots of Jasper as he raced through the shallow water.

He loves the water, even though he is definitely not built for swimming. He couldn't help himself from running into the surf each time another dog chased a ball or frisbee into the water.

Only problem was, Jasper's fur is so thin that he then got chilled from the wind and had to be dried off and covered with a towel. This would last until the next dog led him into the water; then the whole process was repeated.

Chaplin hates the water.

He spent his time flirting with the pretty girls on the beach, sniffing dog tails, and begging for dog treats from a kindly couple who brought a large bag of them to distribute.

We packed a picnic lunch both days. You eat lunch at your own risk at the dog beach! One german shepherd almost got Roger's sandwich right from his hand as he lifted it toward his mouth to take a bite.

There were dogs of every size and shape,

from tiny chihuahuas to pit bulls and mastiffs, but all got along well, at least while we were there. I always kept an eye on my dogs, however, just in case.

A lot of folks drive up in their boats and let their dogs jump off, swim to shore, and play at the dog beach for a while.

There are a few things you need to be aware of if you go to this dog beach: First, there are no facilities other than one porta-potty. Second, depending on the tides,

the walk-in area might be covered with water. Both days we walked in on dry sand and exited by wading through ankle-deep water. At high tide, parts of the peninsula beach become submerged, so keep tabs on your chairs and mats. We left both days before 3:00 because the

beach started to disappear.

This beach also is not a place to try to lay on a blanket, unless you want some sandy paw prints on your back. There's not much point in bringing a book, because there is so much action that it's just fun to sit and watch.

The funniest incident of the day occurred right after the scariest moment. Sophie, who was in constant motion, took off on a run to the land-locked part of the peninsula which leads to the parking lot. Chuck, Cindy, and Roger ran off to try to catch Sophie, while I stayed on the beach with our dogs to keep them from following. Chuck did catch up with Sophie; she had run to Chuck's truck. I was sure glad to see them coming back down the beach with Sophie, because the parking lot is off of a busy road.

While my attention was on Chuck, Cindy, Roger and Sophie's return, a large golden retriever (we named him "John Dillinger") walked up to Cindy's beach bag, stuck his head completely into the bag, and pulled out a gallon-size Zip-Lock bag of Milk Bone dog biscuits. He then proceeded to run down the beach with it in his mouth! I immediately jumped up, but I couldn't grab the bag in time. Everyone sitting on the beach was laughing at the sight of the big retriever running down the beach with that bag of dog bones in his mouth, followed by Chuck and I running after him as fast as we could go (it's hard to run fast when you're laughing)! We never did get the dog bones back. "John Dillinger" was smart enough to take them into the water, rip the bag apart, and then scoop up the dog bones from the surf as though they were minnows. I did manage to retrieve the ripped-apart plastic bag and gave it back to Cindy, minus its treats.

"John" wasn't through for the day, though. About an hour later Roger got a good photo of him rummaging through another person's beach bag, searching for loot.

Like I said before, don't bother to bring a book to the dog beach!

There is far too much canine entertainment to need one.