16. Just Another Week in Florida

There was no easy way to navigate from Dunedin around Tampa Bay. The bay can be crossed on any of several large bridges, but we prefer to avoid traffic and large bridges. So, we suffered through a couple hours of slow stop-n-go traffic on the major arterials. It was similar to driving from Everett to Tacoma on Highway 99. The urban area gradually faded away in the rear view mirror and we cruised on to our next RV park, located along the Peace River between the small towns of Wauchula (pop. 4,300) and Zolfo Springs (pop. 1,600).

Our main objective in Florida was to visit Pat and John in Punta Gorda. Pat and Bonnie are long-time friends, but hadn’t seen each other for 17 years. They welcomed us into their home for a couple days, fed us very well, and pointed us in the right direction for local sightseeing. We took a dip in their pool and spent some relaxing time on the patio overlooking the back yard canal and boats. John barbecued some pork ribs and brats, and Pat made a big dish of baked beans and served up a key lime pie for dessert. If that wasn’t enough, she also squeezed two quarts of very sweet delicious orange juice, right from their own tree. Ron loves good orange juice and polished it off in two days. Best we ever tasted.

We got a personal tour of Punta Gorda, including some shopping at the Fishermens Village (how about that fish?) and Bealls Outlet, where very low prices on clothing couldn’t be passed by. Punta Gorda received a direct hit from Hurricane Charlie in 2004. It removed many of the weakest older structures. Lots of attractive new development has filled in over the past four years. Pat and John’s home suffered some broken windows and doors and a damaged roof. Their “pool cage” (screened enclosure) was destroyed and more than a dozen palm trees and other trees and plants were lost. Fortunately, their house and its contents stood up very well.

About 40 miles south of Punta Gorda, Ft. Myers is home to the winter estates of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. The properties are side-by-side and open to the public. We expected just another ho-hum house tour, but it was much more interesting than we thought it would be. We spent several hours there.

A little history: Edison and Ford were friends and business associates for many years. Ford worked in Edison’s electric company and Edison helped Ford get his car factory going. Edison visited the Ft. Myers area by boat in 1885, twenty years before there were roads or rails to the area. He liked it and bought 13 acres for a winter home (he lived in New Jersey). His architect designed and built two houses and a laboratory in Maine and shipped them to Florida by boat. They were assembled on the site and named Seminole Lodge. Henry Ford was one of the many famous guests that visited the lodge. Henry eventually bought the property next door and built his own winter home, called The Mangoes. The two properties are well preserved and full of interesting artifacts and history. Edison was a prolific inventor who received more than 1,000 patents. A museum includes many of his inventions.

Some of Edison’s botanical gardens still remain where he planted more than 17,000 different plant specimens. We got to see the preserved laboratory where he did research into plants and rubber production for friend Harvey Firestone.

Edison gave Harvey a small banyan tree from India in 1925. It was planted at Seminole Lodge. A statue of Thomas Edison stands under this tree, which now covers more than an acre and is the second largest banyan tree in the world.

It was interesting that Thomas Edison could work so hard, invent so many interesting things, and still have time to entertain, travel, and fish for tarpon off his long pier. He was an amazing guy!

We heard a lot about Sanibel Island. Since it was just south of Ft. Myers, we decided to see what it was all about. After paying a rather steep $6 toll to get onto the island, we found a beautiful public beach ($2/hr. parking fee) with clean sand and lots of nice shells. Ron burns easily, so we stayed just long enough for some shell collecting, wading and a little tanning. Sanibel is a fairly ritzy neighborhood. It was fun to go there once, but there are many other beaches that are just as nice . . . with free parking and no tolls.

We spent an entire week at the Peace River campground. It had a nice pool, shuffleboard and pickle ball courts, a nature trail along the river, and a lodge with internet access and other things to do. It was also close to Wauchula for shopping, bank, post office, etc., and to Zolfo Springs where we found an excellent restaurant with lots of food for very low prices. It’s 1970s/NASCAR décor wasn’t pretty, but the food was good and plentiful.

Twenty miles down the road is the town of Arcadia. We drove down there for the annual Watermelon Festival on May 17. It was a very nice event with the usual arts, crafts and food vendors, a very nice little classic car show and, of course, the watermelon eating and seed spitting contests.When we were done with all those exciting events and after eating our barbecued pork sandwiches and poking through a couple of the many downtown antique stores, we parked ourselves on the brick patio under the “Tree of Knowledge” and listened to some live music. [The tree got its name many years ago when townspeople came together under its broad branches to hear the local news, to hear a sermon or to have local meetings.] It was a very nice day in Arcadia.

15. Florida's West Coast

We expected to see more Panama City type beaches as we continued along Florida’s west coast. But the highway is far from the shoreline and much of the area is heavily vegetated and protected. There are many wildlife refuges with names such as Lower Suwannee, Cedar Keys, Gulf Hammock, Homosassa Springs and Chassahowitzka. A portion of this area is known as the “Nature Coast”. Great place for birders. We saw lots of birds, too many gators, and came across this family of dolphins while on a boat ride.

Tarpon Springs is an interesting coastal town. It was once the center of sponge production. More than 100 years ago there was a labor shortage, so the owner of a Greek sponge company turned to his homeland for fresh workers. Many new sponge workers came here from Greece and other European countries to dive for sponges. Today, the community is proud of its Greek heritage. It maintains its character with lots of Greek restaurants, bakeries, stores and the largest Greek Orthodox church in the U.S. (Don't know the guy waving in the background)

Large fleets of sponge boats worked the gulf until a red tide killed off most of the sponge beds in the 1940s. It took about four decades for the beds to recover . . . but the sponge industry didn’t. Today, just a handful of sponge boats satisfy the market for “real” sponges, while cheaper synthetics have taken over most of the market. We took a boat tour of the Tarpon Springs harbor, saw some old shrimp boats (photo) and some of the beautiful homes that line the waterways on the way to Anclote Key. The old lighthouse, constructed in the 1890s, is still operating. It was fascinating to see and learn about sponges. We “soaked up” as much information as possible about the many different kinds. An excellent car-washing sponge could be purchased for about $8, but Ron decided to stick with his dollar store model (made in China).

A few remnants of past hurricanes still litter the byways. The owners of these have been piling up fines of $50/day for years but don't seem to be too concerned about it.

A little farther down the west coast we found a very nice RV Park in Dunedin (pronounced DUN-EE-DIN). The name comes from the Scots Gaelic “Dun Eideann” which, according to local authority, means Edinburgh (is that right, Melinda?). This is where the Toronto Blue Jays do their spring training. The city is also proud of its portion of the 39 mile Pinellas Trail, a walking/cycling trail system through several coastal communities. We took the Honda to a local car wash. The machinery broke down half way through and we weren't sure we'd ever get it out of there. But, after poking around in the gears with large bars, the guys got it going again and our car emerged extra clean.

Dunedin was a good jumping off location for side trips to various sites on the St. Petersburg peninsula, across the bay from Tampa. St. Petersburg was our first destination. We were impressed with its modern downtown, lots of new construction, and very little traffic congestion. We were amazed at how easy it was to get around, and to find a free on-street parking space right at the base of the 2,400 ft. city pier. At the far end of the pier is a large upside-down triangle shaped building that contains small shops, several restaurants, public observation decks and an aquarium. It's a beautiful pier but you don't see many tourists or other people in the photo. It's the off season and business is very slow.

Do you see what appears to be a hat floating in Tampa Bay? The hat once belonged to Ron. He bought it in Sandpoint, Idaho last August. As we were walking along the city pier, a gust of wind lifted the hat off his head and over the rail it went. A fisherman on the pier tried several times to snag it with his fishing line, to no avail. Fortunately, the first shop we came to at the end of the pier was a hat shop, so we both got new hats.

Old Fort DeSoto was built at the extreme south end of the peninsula. It’s now a public park that covers five interconnected islands and 1,136 acres of parkland and some of the best beaches in the state. We spent some time there wading and relaxing.







On our last evening in Dunedin, we went out to Honeymoon Island to watch the sunset. It’s a popular activity and the roads and beaches were very busy. It was a nice lazy way to end our stay in the Tampa Bay area.

14. Florida Panhandle

Most RV parks are similar and fairly predictable, but once in a while we stumble onto one that’s exceptional. Somewhere between Pensacola and Tallahassee, we spent a couple nights at Juniper Lake RV Park in the small town of DeFuniak Springs, pop. 5,000. Many of the park’s 20 spaces were occupied by permanent residents or snowbirds. Our hosts, Bill and Donna, were very friendly and brimming over with “southern hospitality”. After we got settled in, Bill invited us down to the large deck on the lake for some conversation and a cold beer (no charge). He and Donna bought their little piece of Juniper Lake and have created an RV park that’s like a garden with lots of flowers, grass, decks, docks, wind chimes, bird houses and other amenities everywhere. The lake is full of fish, including trophy bass, and many turtles that they feed from the deck. A few gators also live in the area and help keep the turtle population in check. We really enjoyed this park and stayed an extra day to let a thunder storm pass through the area.

The panhandle beaches are some of the best in Florida. The sand is bright white and soft as sugar and the water is usually beautiful. The photo of Bonnie and the first photo below were taken at Santa Rosa Beach. It was open and uncrowded so we took the opportunity to bask and work on our tans. The second photo was taken west of Panama City Beach. Much of that beach is lined with hi-rise condos and hotels. Some can be seen in the distance. Public beach access in that area is controlled and not available to us common folks.

About 300 miles down the highway we arrived at the small town of Homosassa Springs, home of an exceptional state park by the same name. Natural springs pump millions of gallons of fresh water into the “fish bowl” of the Homosassa River. The water is a constant 72 degrees which is perfect for the manatees that make it their year-round home. We visited the park and watched the manatees. They aren’t the most exciting animals to watch. Most of the time they move very very slowly and look like very large slugs or small sand bars. Many manatees outside the refuges are injured or killed by boats because they swim in shallow water and have to surface frequently for air. Some areas have very slow speed limits for boats in an effort to minimize collisions.

The park is a wildlife refuge with its emphasis on birds. The birds include flamingos, spoonbills, blue heron, egrets, pelicans, owls and even a few bald eagles and hawks that were injured and can’t return to the wild.

The park also has a variety of reptiles and lots of alligators. The park naturalist showed us a baby gator. Bonnie got to touch the little feller. The big gator in the photo seemed to be “growling” at Bonnie. She caught a short video of it and we’ll try to get it to you so you can hear him growl. It sounds something like a motor boat engine.

This was a very interesting park within a half mile of our RV park. It was a relatively cool shady place to go on a hot muggy day.

13. New Orleans & Katrina

As everyone knows, New Orleans has its problems with water and flooding. A couple days before we arrived, the city received 8 inches of rain in 5 hours. There was some minor flooding, but they pumped it out and everything was okay.

We parked the car in a downtown New Orleans lot ($16) and spent a couple hours exploring the French Quarter. It’s larger than we thought. It's very colorful, and full of interesting art and architecture, funky businesses, entertaining signs and the aroma of southern cooking wafting through the narrow streets. Cars, trucks, horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians seem to conflict at every intersection but somehow things keep moving.

To get an overall view of New Orleans and its history, we took a three-hour city tour. The driver grew up in the city and could explain what it was like when he was young and how it has changed . . . and how it continues to sink. The tour covered the French Quarter, CBD, Mississippi River levees and Cemetery #3 where the driver (photo) explained how the laws of the Catholic church control how the family tombs are used, maintained and removed if not properly maintained. Fascinating.

We visited some of the neighborhoods that were severely damaged by the flooding following Hurricane Katrina, including the Ninth Ward where the water was deepest and about 450 people died. Nearly three years have passed since the hurricane. Most of the debris has been cleaned up, burned or hauled away, but many mutilated structures remain abandoned. In some cases, it appears that badly damaged homes are still being occupied. Many FEMA trailers are still in place, but many others are still living in tents. Habitat for Humanity and other organizations are very actively building new homes. We also saw many new single-wide manufactured homes, complete with front porches, have replaced many of the destroyed homes.

Large flood walls protect low lying neighborhoods from the river. We saw some of the old flood walls that didn't fail. We also saw the newest walls that are giving property owners renewed confidence that it will never happen again. The photo shows one of the new walls. The remains of a destroyed neighborhood lies to the right, with new houses being built. Personally, I’d never feel safe looking up at the Mississippi River.

Many families lost everything in the hurricane and flooding and it’s obvious that those neighborhoods will struggle for many more years. However, the central business district, French Quarter and other areas that were not damaged appear to be healthy and gaining strength.

The amir of Qatar was visiting New Orleans while we were there. His entourage of black limos, led by an extensive police escort, crossed our path a couple of times. The amir and his associates visited this area after Hurricane Katrina. After viewing the devastation, they felt compelled to help out. So far, they have contributed $100 million to the recovery effort. Most of the assistance went to Children’s Hospital, Habitat for Humanity and Xavier, Loyola, Tulane and Louisiana State Universities. The Qatar group is here to check on progress and make sure the money is going into the recovery effort and specifically for projects related to education, housing and health care. One of those projects is a 50,000 sq. ft. addition to one of the university hospitals. The addition will be known as the Qatar Pharmacy Pavilion.

Bay St. Louis, Mississippi was near the center of Hurricane Katrina. We stayed in a local RV park and drove through former neighborhoods and along the shoreline highway to see what was lost and what is being done today. It was amazing to see how low and flat the land is and how close the shoreline is to the highway and properties.

We drove through Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian where whole beachfront neighborhoods were wiped off the map. Scattered framework, foundations, pilings and some floors can still be seen with floor tile still attached. It’s not unusual to see a fancy iron fence and gate with a winding driveway leading to what was once the site of a large home, but is now occupied by a travel trailer.

We found a couple interesting churches. One was gutted, but its sturdy Gothic arched framework still stands. Another (photo) managed to save its steeple, which remains as its focal point, but now operates from the temporary structures.

It’s very sad. But time marches on and new construction is going on everywhere. Streets are being rebuilt and new homes are popping up along the beachfront. I suppose they’ll be occupied by families who feel another Katrina will never happen . . . at least during their lifetimes.

12. New Iberia and Tabasco

A little deeper into southern Louisiana is the town of New Iberia, an early Cajun settlement that is proud of its many restored homes and a nationally recognized historic downtown. We decided to take a closer look at one of the first mansions. It was built along Bayou Teche and named Shadows on the Teche. This house was built by local plantation owner David Weeks in 1834. It’s officially listed as a “brick, 7-bay, colossal columnar Greek Revival plantation house.” The house has been mostly restored to reflect its early 1800s lifestyle. A similar house (the white one) was built next door in 1910 by a descendent of Mr. Weeks and fits neatly into the neighborhood character of New Iberia.

The Konriko Rice Mill is also in New Iberia. It's a family business and the oldest rice mill in the country. It has been operating with the same basic machinery that was installed in 1912. Still going strong with the old technology.

Ron enjoys the “spices” of life, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tour the Tabasco factory a little farther down the road on Avery Island. This little island is actually the top of a massive salt dome that extends thousands of feet into the earth. The island grows lots of bright red Capsicum frutescens peppers for their pepper sauce, mines salt which is used in the process, and pumps the oil that is often found adjacent to major salt formations. It also maintains the wildlife sanctuary where the snowy egret was brought back from near extinction and the 200 acre Jungle Gardens full of plants, flowers and native creatures such as alligators, deer, nutria, raccoons and armadillo. The Tabasco factory is a big brick building but is close to the coast and was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. They are now building a higher levee to protect all their facilities from a category 5 hurricane.

We capped off our day in New Iberia with a crawfish dinner at the Seafood Connection. Locals recommended it, so it had to be good . . . and it was. The restaurant itself appeared to be an old converted 1950’s drive-in with a sit-down room addition made of cinder block with no windows or other features that might attract someone to stop there. The interior was also pretty plain, with tables lined up in rows, Bingo hall style. A big screen TV was playing a re-run of a Saturday night Cajun program up the road in Eunice, the center of Prairie Cajun. Everyone seems to be eating crawfish around here these days, so we both ordered the crawfish dinner. They came to us in big tin dishes, similar to oil change pans, with potatoes mixed in, a couple ears of corn-on-the-cob and a couple large sausages. It was a very messy hands-on dinner but fun and very tasty indeed.Seafood is everywhere, crawfish is king right now and there are also lots of oysters, shrimp, crab, catfish, seafood gumbo and jambalaya, andouille and boudin sausages, shrimp po-boy sandwiches and etouffees (pronounced “A-2-fay”). It’s really great!!! We'll miss the food, but will also miss the fun spirit of the local people, the music and the large swamps, bayous and unique wildlife that the state is trying hard to protect. As we head on down the road, we'll leave you with a picture of Bonnie at Bayou Teche.