All summer long we anxiously await the chance to land a site
in the beautiful WP Franklin Corp of Engineer Campground. SPFB!!
IF we secure one of the extremely difficult to get campsites, then we
book the rest of our winter trip around those 2 weeks. We
anticipated! We secured! We
arrived! Now, we’ve used up our
allotted two weeks on site #2 and sadly, it’s time to move on. Most things have comfortably remained the
same – wonderful camp sites, the dark tannic waters of the Caloosahatchee
River, favorite restaurants, and favorite neighbors - the eagle that roosts
across the way, the grazing cattle and horses along Rt 78, and always the
shorebirds that stalk and search for a morsel along the banks of the river just
below us. (The little Tri-colored heron
is still one of my favorites!) In the
early morning light, on our little niche of this island, the smooth surface of
the liquid glass that is water still amazes me with the calm reflections of the
trees and rocks and docks across the way, in such a clear mirror of the real
things. Then the sun comes up fully and
the breezes begin. The image is gone
and the expanse of still water turns to dancing ripples!
The bustling downtown Ft Myers is still the same as is the
Oasis Restaurant. Flea Markets have
been dissected as usual and a few items have even been procured! B&C made the trip from Lake
Placid to
visit and the day was topped off with BBQ pork dinner at the Log Cabin Inn over
in Labelle! YUMMM! And while the best
way to get to Ft Myers Beach is still taking the trolley, all of its beach
going passengers are now deposited at the busy Times Square area of the island,
just off the causeway. There is a FREE,
much smaller open tram system that runs from one end of the
island to the
other. As always we indulged in our
annual mile or so walk from Bowditch Park at the north end of the island, back
up to the crowded Fishing Pier. We
finished the day’s sandy hike with our ice cream at DQ!
New for this trip, and checking it off my “to do” list was
to finally see a burrowing owl, the highly protected symbol of Cape Coral! Once you know how to locate a burrow in one
of the many vacant lots in the 100 sq miles of the
city, the chances of
actually seeing one of the 8-10 inch, well camouflaged little birds is a bit
easier! To protect the burrows, the
city has placed 4 white PVC pipes in the corners of a 10ft square space. In the center of each outlined square is
most often a rough perch made of slats of wood – near the hole dug by the birds
in the dry dirt. On our way to one of
the beaches, we saw a BUNCH of such setups in a BUNCH of unmowed vacant
lots. These little birds are most
active during the day and we gratefully saw a pair sitting on the edge of their
burrow! Mission accomplished!
Another “new to do” activity was to visit the Six Mile
Cypress Slough Preserve and walk the 1.2 mile boardwalk trail. A “slew” is a type of forested wetland with
slow moving freshwater that
sometimes gathers into small ponds. The Slough got its unusual name in the early
1900’s when travelers in wagons would get stuck in the swampy area on their way
to Ft Myers. From experience they knew it was SIX MORE MILES to town!! Talk about “Are we there yet?”! Back in the 1970’s, land development began
to encroach on the area and a group of teens started the effort to save the
slough. The boardwalk was opened to the
public in 1991. The wooden boardwalk is dotted with signs and matching
descriptions for visitors to learn about the trail. We saw gators warming themselves on floating platforms, darting
little warblers in the trees, noisy woodpeckers, snow white egrets and even a
tall blue heron meticulously building her nest of twigs in a low tree. Then there was the Cottonmouth snake –
nestled all coiled up on a dead palmetto frond. It looks big in the picture but actually it was only a baby –
thankfully!
One weekend morning, we made the mistake of finding the
“free” Home and Garden Show at the Hertz Arena – the home of the Everglades
Hockey team! The “show” was a waste of
good time but we did hesitate long enough to watch some young men in the
middle
of a fast paced hockey game on one of the smaller rinks in the building. Across the parking lot and a rather large
retention pond, we noticed a gathering of classic cars - growing in numbers and
lining up in several very long lines.
We could hear the music and the announcer on a loud speaker. We were drawn in and HAD to investigate! Rows and rows of hot rods, trucks, muscle
cars (a RED 65’ GTO!), and a plethora of marvelous Chevy’s – all years, all
colors, all styles and ALWAYS – Corvettes!
This fabulous blue one is just one of the many! H had to stop and drool
over a low slung Lamborghini that 
he knew he’d never be able to fold up and slide down to even get into!
he knew he’d never be able to fold up and slide down to even get into!
And MORE new friends!! J&B from Ohio, R&C from Michigan, C&J from
Wisconsin! We ladies shared and the
guys swapped advice and hard to believe stories! AND – H is now without his drone. Just like last year – sold before we even finished up our
trip! Our email addresses have been
exchanged and promises made to keep in touch but now it’s time to shake out the
rug and hook up the “train” – it’s time to head north! But not too far! Our adventure is not over yet!
It’s time for Tampa!
