Manatees + Old and New Friends

Hi all - Dianne here.  We are down to our last day here at W.P. Franklin Locks.  Tomorrow we pack up and move to our next site, and let someone new enjoy this wonderful place that we hate to leave behind.

After we saw that glorious sunrise (see prior blog) we went to Manatee

 park, since it was a cool morning.  Manatees gather in the warm runoff water of a Florida Power and Light plant.  They have developed a nice viewing area and park to take advantage of it, and it's a great place to see congregations of manatees.   They are elusive creatures, and it's very hard to photograph them.  Usually all that you can see are their nose, back, or tail when they come up for air.

  We took a lot of photos of black water until we actually were quick enough to get some shots.  Of course, after these shots we had some VERY good views, but unfortunately I got the dreaded message "change battery pack" on my camera, so there's no proof of our really close views.

When I was a girl scout "Brownie," we sang a round "Make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver and the other gold."  That is our theme for the upcoming days and weeks.   While parked at WP Franklin, there was a tan and fit couple camping next to us.  For several days, I saw them enjoying the same type of activities we were, and I even said out loud to Roger, "See, THAT'S what I aspire to."    When I saw the wife waving a bubble wand on a windy day, I knew she was my kind of gal!   Harry and Bobbi are from Michigan.  They have been all over the country, canoeing, camping, fishing, motorcycling, you name it.   We finally did get acquainted, and had some fun times.  We took our little boats out paddling across the river together and visited the Franklin Lock visitor center.  Back home, we sat around a campfire, watched sunsets and birds, and just had random conversations whenever the mood struck and we were both out.

They enjoy nature and the same types of camp sites we do.  (Note all the patches sewn on Bobbi's jacket; these are all state parks and places they have been).  They spent last winter in Texas, and gave us some very good ideas for our possible Winter Texan adventure next year.   Before they left for their next site, Harry even taught us how to download and get on Google Earth to check out our future camp sites, look at our house back home, etc.  The possibilities are endless!!  What fun!!   I am 58 years old and have never been bored, but if I ever am, I know how to spend some fun hours now.   Thanks, Harry and Bobbi!   "Happy Trails To You...."

Now from new friends to old:  Roger's graduating class keeps in touch via internet.  Lo and behold, come to find out that one of his classmates lives on the Caloosahatchee River, just up the road!   We met for dinner one evening and spent a very fun afternoon with them on their boat.  I'll let Roger elaborate on that. 

Roger here....  One of my high school classmates from Pendleton High School's class of '68, Judy, has managed to pull together the email addresses of many of our classmates.  It was a small class of 160 students, so most of us know or at least remember each other.  During one of the mass emails, Judy asked us to answer questions about what we remembered from our high school days and what we were up to now.  Since I now have the time, I was one of the responders and indicated what Dianne and I were up to.  The next day I got an email from an old friend, Mary, asking where we were traveling and suggesting that we give them a call if we were ever in Florida.  When I told her that we would be at the Franklin Locks near Ft. Myers, she wrote back saying that they live five minutes from there.  What an amazing coincidence that Judy's email allowed us to find out that we would be in the same spot at the same time!

We had dinner with Mary and her husband, Gregg, on Sunday night at the local "Alva Diner" - good and tasty comfort food.  Dianne and I went off our healthy food kick for the evening and had country fried steak.  Yummy.  We enjoyed lots of good conversations about old-times in the idyllic little town of Pendleton, Indiana, where Mary and I grew up.  

The next afternoon they invited us to join them on their boat 

on the Caloosahatchee River.  This very large river is part of the intracoastal waterway system.  It connects the Gulf of Mexico at Fort Myers to Lake Okeechobee.  Another river connects the lake with the Atlantic Ocean.  It is a busy river with all kinds of water craft, including wave runners, fishing boats, paddle wheelers, barges, tug boats, sail boats, ski boats, the S.S. Minnow inflatable kayak, and some pretty fancy yachts like the white beauty shown in this photo: 

 We met them at their house on the river, walked through their beautiful river-front garden, then boarded their boat and relaxed while Gregg steered us along the river. 

 We first went west about ten miles toward the Franklin Locks, where we were able to see our motor home parked in the distance.  We then went all the way to our next motor home stop at the Ortona Locks several miles (30?) to the east.  It was a great trip.  Gregg alternated speed and "amusement park-like maneuvers" with slow trips around the many jungle-like islands where the water was covered with water-lilies 

and filled with all sorts of wild life (turtles, fish, birds).   At one point a tiny tree frog hopped on Dianne, who immediately unleashed her obligatory scream.  I thought that a snake or gator must be attacking the boat.  We all had a good laugh when we saw the cute little frog that you can see on Mary's thumb. 

 Mary and Dianne insisted that the frog be released onto a tree - he hopped in the river before reaching the branch, but we all watched as he frog-kicked (had to describe it this way as a former swim coach) to the shore.   

Gregg also took us down a back water to see an abandoned tug boat 

that looked like something out of Disney's Jungle cruise.

We cruised by retirement communities, three-bedroom houses, and multimillion dollar mansions along the way.   At one point, when we passed Port LaBelle, we were able to see the condo complex where my parents owned a unit and spent several of their winters.  It brought back many sentimental memories of the visits that Dianne and I made there with our daughters, often with one of their friends tagging along.  

When we returned to Gregg and Mary's house at sunset, Gregg fed the wildlife from his dock - lots of long and skinny gar, turtles, etc.  It was a memorable day that we won't forget.  Thanks again to Mary and Gregg!

Dianne again.  Continuing the "old friends" theme, in another week or two we will be seeing our oldest and dearest friends from home as they come down to Florida.  They are not campers, so we will board our dogs and spend two nights with them in their beautiful condo on the beach in Naples.  Stay tuned.  I think that blog title will probably be "How the Other Half Lives"!   Then later in March we'll be meeting our camping buddies Chuck & Cindy from home to spend two weeks together in Fort Myers at the Grove campground.  

Some exciting news for us: we actually had a house showing the other day!   We still hope the right person comes along to fall in love with our house in Pendleton so that we can be truly free and start planning another winter adventure.   You can't fault me for trying, so I'm pasting in info from an older blog entry of ours :  The  MLS listing number is 2900560 and can be viewed at the F.C. Tucker real estate web site.  (I don't know how to link it).   I sure hope it sells while we're down South, but I realize that is a pipe dream.   There is an extensive album of outdoor shots taken in all seasons at our house that can be viewed at:  http://photobucket.com/125_S_Main_Pendleton   Please pass this info to anyone you know who might be looking for a great house in a small town that is very near to Indianapolis and only ten minutes to Indiana's newest mall!

You want a sunrise? Here's a sunrise!!!!!!!!!

Hi all, Dianne here.   This will be a quick "interim" blog while I work on the next one.  In our last blog I mentioned that we no longer wake up early enough to see a sunrise.  Well, the very next morning after I published that blog, I happened to wake up early and look out the window.  WOW!!!!!  I saw a sunrise like I have never seen before.  I will include most of the pictures I took of it, because it's hard to choose just one!  Check out the rays that spread through the clouds.  It lasted for quite a while.  

Another glorious day in paradise!

Sunrise, Sunset

Hi all -- Dianne here.  Don't bother looking for a sunrise photo; these are just sunsets.  After 36 years of the alarm going off at 5:15 a.m., we've seen enough sunrises to last a lifetime.  The sunsets, however, have become a nightly event on our little corner of the island.  Even the anhingas line up on the buoys and face the sunset every evening.    Best of all, the evenings have been balmy and nice enough to sit out and enjoy it, usually in our shorts and t-shirts.

Roger has figured out the proper inflation for our inflatable kayak, so I even took it out the other day and had a great time.

  I paddled all around and had no problems at all.

  Roger took a photo of Jasper on alert and standing guard, watching me in the water.   That dog really takes his job as my "guardian" very seriously!

  Actually, Roger and I both took the kayak out; we just took turns.  The beauty of this little kayak is that we can configure it with one seat or two, however we want to use it at the time.  I used our waterproof box (another perfect retirement gift to Roger) for our camera and paddled out to take a photo of our wonderful camp site from the water on the driver's side of the motorhome.

  (There is water on both sides; our site is on the point of an island).

At the other end of the island, beyond the other camp sites, is another point.  Off this point is a tree growing in the water.  Every evening, birds of every size, color, and description roost in this little tree. 

 Most of them are the anhingas, ibises, egrets, and little blue herons that populate this stretch of the river.  We try to time our evening dog walks to go to that side of the island to watch them swoop in for their nightly roost.  It's quite a show!

I also took a photo of the lovely view we have out our "dining room" window.   There are a lot of cattle and horse farms in this area of Florida, one of which is just across the water on that side. 

  

We really haven't ventured out much since we've been here, other than to find a dog park and run some errands.  There is usually something to watch right here at our patio, whether it be the birds, jumping fish, or boats like this large barge that went through the lock yesterday. 

Roger took some photos showing our patio lights reflecting on the water. 

 I'll let him add his thoughts on our sunsets, since he took several of these photos.

Roger here....  Yesterday, I told Dianne that she needed to hide the camera from me every evening until we leave.  We really don't need any more pictures of the sunsets :-)

A Tale of Two Camp Sites

Hi all -- Dianne here.   This blog is a study of contrasts.   There are all kinds of camp sites, obviously; no two are alike.   The contrast between our two sites this week just has to be shown!   

We left the KOA in the Florida Keys on Wednesday, February 11 for two weeks at the Corps of Engineers campground at Franklin Locks, just east of Fort Myers.  These camp sites are very hard to get; I sat perched on my computer last August 11 at 10:00 a.m., the moment they opened up, in order to reserve one of the handful of sites that became available that day.  I could not tell on the computer from the reservation map what the sites really were like, so I picked site #10.

  WOW!!  Our first clue as we pulled in to register was the campground host saying, "You have the best site in the campground.  People will be asking you how you got this site." 

  We weren't really expecting as much from this campground as our next one, another Corps of Engineers campground east of here at Ortona, also on the Caloosahatchee River.   To say this is a pleasant surprise would be the understatement of 2009!

Roger here...

This story really starts with our arrival at the Key West campground.  The KOA staff had people who assisted everyone as they maneuvered into each site - an absolute necessity there.  We took a few photos of the telephone pole that was less than a foot from two of our windows

 - a lot of back and forth to get this close, but necessary in order to have any space at all outside the RV door.

  The sites were gravel.  They were exhorbitantly expensive.  Everyone was packed in like sardines. The slide-out from the RV next door was only a couple feet from our picnic table, which was only a couple feet from our RV.  When we left, we had to ask the people on our other side to move all of their patio chairs and tables so that we could back into their site to exit.  It took two KOA staff members to get us out of the site.

In the sense of fairness, we knew ahead of time that the campground would be expensive and crowded.  There were also some very positive aspects to the campground.   ALL the staff members were extremely friendly and helpful.  I am sure that their positive attitude diffuses a lot of stressful situations.  The amenities were also excellent.  The pool was excellent.  The adjacent bar area was excellent - beautiful views of the small beach, turquoise water, bridge, and marina.  There was a boat launch and marina on-site (no traveling to launch).  An excellent band played a couple of the nights that we were there.  The camp store was upscale.  Key West was only a half hour away.  There was a small area to let the dogs off-leash.  

In retrospect, it really depends on what you want.  Dianne and I tend to prefer calm views and serenity to the hustle bustle.  Dianne will talk about our current beautiful site.

Dianne here --  Talk about serene!   It's so calm and quiet here at the Corps of Engineers campground at Franklin Locks that when birds fly over us, we can hear their wings flap.   From our patio we can watch boats, yachts, even a paddle wheeler go through the lock.  We are situated at the point of an island in the Caloosahatchee River.   We have a view of water from both sides.  There is an eagle nest in a dead tree across the river, and we can watch the pair of bald eagles who live there roost in the tree.

  They also usually fly right over our site at least once a day.  (I have included a photo of them perched in their tree, but hope to get a closer shot of them flying over while we're here.)

Every evening we sit outside on our patio, have a glass (or two) of wine, and watch the sunset.  

 More than once I have muttered to Roger, "It just doesn't get any better than this!"    (I am a cheap date).

We have watched Tarpon cavorting right at our doorstep, 

and other 3- to 4-foot fish of unknown type leap out of the water right in front of us.  The egrets, ibises, and anhingas line up on the buoys right at our site and put on quite a show during the day as they find their dinner. 

 We are able to launch the "SS Minnow" right from our site into safe waters.   

The first evening we were here, after we were all set up and enjoying the patio, we had a discussion of whether we'd ever had a site this good before.   The only one that might equal or top this site is the remote site we enjoyed in the summer of 1998 right on the north rim of the grand canyon.   I'm including a photo of Roger at that site. 

 (As a side note, the reason I am able to include this old photo is that I spent the summer scanning our photo albums onto the computer so we could take our photos with us without the bulk and weight, and so that we can show them on our digital photo frame.  It took a lot of time to do it, but it was time well spent.)

Our site at the Grand Canyon was something we could not do now in our large motorhome.  At the time we camped there, we had a tent that fit onto the back of our minivan.  We were  60 miles from the nearest civilization down a gravel lane, in a free camp site the park rangers directed us to.   Our patio chairs were set up literally on the edge of the north rim.

I don't expect to ever be able to top that camp site, but this one here at Franklin Locks is about as good as it gets in a motorhome. 

 I look forward to other happy surprises down the road as we continue to explore this beautiful country!