Rain??

 I was the last of the 24 of us to get a bike that would work for me. I was not trying to be difficult, but I needed a bike that was right. I tried about seven different bikes before I finally settled on one, then I had the mechanic put on my saddle and pedals. This made me the last one out of the gate! Even then I had to stop twice to get the seat at the correct height. I don't know what it is with bike rental people, but the same thing happened when I was on my tour in France -- they want me too low to the ground so that I think my knees might hit my chin! No matter what I tell them, they try to convince me that they are correct and my seat needs to be low rather than high enough to get a good leg length. So I have to wait until I am out of their sight and raise the seat to my needs. I apologized to Dorothy for taking so long, and she said it was because I know what I am looking for!

Finally on the road, it rained. The weather is warm enough to simply allow ourselves to get wet, and in about six minutes it stopped, we dried, and the sun was soon shining.

 We had three leaders - Ken the Road Scholar main person; Amy, Big Momma of the bike shop; Hung, the bike shop manager and mechanic. Amy has a lot of energy, knows Naples quite well since she lives here, and is very accommodating and patient. BUT! We had a safety meeting before starting our ride, and all the things we were told seem to not apply to our leaders. Neither Amy nor Hung (who gave the safety speech) wore a helmet, Amy spoke on her cell phone many times (without stopping to get off her bike), and rode in the middle of the lane even when there was a car coming from behind. When I, or one other person, would say "car back", Amy would say "they'll go around us". Not only is this unsafe behavior, it is behavior that causes motorists to be annoyed at cyclists. Not only do motorists need to share the road with us, we need to share the road with them.

Enough of that.

The city of Naples is a city of opulence. The homes are huge, often gated, and tremendously expensive. We had very little traffic on the neighborhood roads, and passed Spielberg's home in progress of being built -- on both sides of the road -- before reaching the dead end where boat houses protectively hid the yachts that may cost close to the price of some of the homes.

 We enjoyed stopping at the fishing pier and walking to the end where we spotted dolphins rising as they hunted the same fish as the fisher people. The guy here is filleting pompano, and that is whole pompano on the table.

Harriet is from Michigan. She and her husband did a lot of bike touring before he died twenty years ago. This is her 44th Elderhostel trip and she is always among the five of us in the lead group. She found her way to keep going after she lost her husband and never stops. Harriet is 85 years old. There is hope for me!

Getting ready to roll...

On the way to return our rental car to the airport in Fort Meyers we took a side trip to Casperen Beach in search of sharks teeth that wash up on the beach. The shark tooth hunters are all but "professionals" with their sifters and pails, and some wading out into the deeper water with their gear to get the teeth before they hit shore I suppose. Little have I known what a gold mine I must have in a wine bottle that I have moved around with me for about (a lot of) years! The teeth we college students found back in the day at Chesapeake Beach in Maryland are not black as they are here in south Florida, but they are bigger. And we did not have to sift, or even hunt very hard -- they were just there.

The only photos for the day are of the egret that was at the shark tooth hunting grounds.

 From the airport we had to take a (pricey) taxi ride to Naples and the hotel meeting place for our tour. We 24 folks gathered for our welcome and info meeting before being driven to dinner. We have eleven states and one province (Ontario) represented, and of course Dorothy and I have come the farthest distance.

Amy will lead us on the bike tour, and is the owner of the bike shop that will provide our bikes. We go for bike choosing and fitting tomorrow morning, then a ride around Naples.

Yoga on the beach -- and meeting my pen pal Meta

 That is not me in the photo ;'-). How nice that I found this yoga on the beach class that was held right next to our motel. My first time to do yoga on the beach -- or anywhere outdoors. I loved feeling the sand in my toes and seeing the shore birds at the water's edge and flying overhead. It was so good to get in some nice stretching which I have not been doing with all our car sitting. There were at least 20 of us doing yoga poses and enjoying the fresh air.

 While I was at yoga, Dorothy drove to the next town of Venice to look around at a Saturday market. Now she is back and I am about to drive to Bradenton to meet Meta.

What a delight to meet Meta and her family and Tony and his family. I met Meta on a walking forum and we gradually became "cyber friends" with common interests in walking and cycling. She invited me to join her "spreadsheet gang" to track miles walked and biked with it being a competition only unto our own goals that we set each month. And so I met Tony (and  Hank who could not be there today).

 I had spoken with Meta on the phone earlier and told her about my yoga class which she misunderstood. She relayed my conversation to David and Christina that she did not know I was into yodeling, and I was taking a lesson on the beach this morning. We got a lot of laughs from this one.

 At lunch with Meta (across from me), Tony, his wife Juanita, his brother Jim and wife Anna, Chirstina and David (Meta's daughter-in-law and son).

After lunch we drove to Bradenton Beach for a nice walk in the sand and surf.

 A memorable few hours together with warm and caring people -- my friends created via cyber networking. It was a little hard to part so soon but we hugged with thanks that we got to meet and share time together.

Once back at the motel, Dorothy and I sat out on the patio waiting for a possible colorful sunset. We heard drums off to our left and the fellow who stays here every year (for the past sixteen) for six weeks, told us this group of ten or so drummers do this every Saturday evening. We had to get a closer look and listen so we walked down the beach to find free-form dancers in the middle of a big circle formed by beach chaired spectators, gyrating to the beat of the drummers. 

 There was no colorful sunset -- the sun simply went away.

Everglades -- 2/3/12

 There are alligators in the Everglades!

 The airboat took us through some of the waterways and canoe routes that the Seminole Indians used. The Mangrove trees were called "walking trees" by the Indians -- and you can see why.

 Even though our airboat captain called the white birds Great White Herrings, he was able to spell mangrove for us, and was very knowledgeable about the wildlife and environs of the 'Glades.

The Swamp trolley provided a slow moving tour through, well, the swamp. It is quite dry right now. The tree photo shows a "strangler fig" that will eventually kill that tree and become a tree of its own.

 After several hours in the Everglades we headed north to our new hotel on Casey Key. We dodged rain drops for maybe 17 seconds as we exited the glades, and continued on in dry but cloudy weather. We got to our hotel in time for a walk on the beach while it was daylight (our motel is on the beach, poor us), then off to dinner. There is a tiki bar in our courtyard, but I am not sure it actually is used.

 That's it for today folks.

Shorts, pelicans, Edison & Ford

The first things to notice when you come from the cold country are people walking around in shorts and sleeveless tops in February. Then there is walking out of the grocery store finding it warmer rather than colder out there. And of course there are the palm trees, the sun the birds...

We had quite the busy day. Early this morning we drove back to the airport to get our rental car and then drove north to meet Dorothy's cousin and her husband for lunch on the deck of Pop's cafe overlooking the canal. They led us around Venice and to Casey Key along the beach. We reserved a room there, on the beach, for Friday and Saturday night as that will put me closer to the town where I will be meeting my "pen pal" friends for lunch on Saturday, and Dorothy will have a delightful place to relax and enjoy the sun and sand.

 We said our goodbyes and drove back to Fort Meyers for a visit to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates. Though there was quite a difference in there ages, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford became good friends and had adjoining properties where their families would vacation together, exploring southwest Florida.
We learned a lot here from our guide. Some facts I had known and forgotten - like that palm trees are not actually trees, they are a kind of a cross between grass and trees. On the premises is the largest Banyon tree in the continental U.S.. When the first tree was planted it was four feet tall and two inches in diameter --  now it takes over about an acre, and it has had to be cut back several times. The Banyon is in the family of the Ficus and Rubber trees.

 It was nice to hold the hand of Thomas.

 And we enjoyed seeing Henry's Model T and Model A. Wish I had read the information board as I do not know what the differences of these models are, except one looks a bit more plush -- and bigger.

 We drove around a lot today and saw a lot today, and now we are both tired. Time for bed to rest up for yet more adventures tomorrow.

On the plane

We are in the air! For a long time! Due to arrive in Fort Meyers at 10:20 p.m. Florida time. Our two stops along the way (St. Louis and Orlando) will be for a brief 30 minutes each, so I don't anticipate getting off the plane until we reach our destination.

FINALLY, we are now in Fort Meyers, Florida. This is the first time that I have flown on Southwest and they have a pretty nifty way of boarding passengers by assigning numbers when you do your check in online. And the service in-flight is a little different as well. The attendants take orders for your drinks, go to their station and fill up the cups and carry trays filled with the drinks to deliver to your seat. No rolling carts on this fight.

Stepping out of the airport into the "tropical" warmth was a delight. The quiet of the night was a relief as well. Not only was there the engine noise of the plane, but we flew from St. Louis to Orlando and just about every boarding adult had multiple children with them -- think Disney World. It was kind of like a flying day care center.


Our hotel sent the shuttle for us. 

 And we are now snuggled into our beds ready for a good night's sleep (I hope).

Florida Bound

Stress! Traffic on I-5 was way backed up due to accidents I think. So for our 11:00 fight we arrived just before 10:00. The good part about that is that there were no lines for security check, so we whipped right through. Dorothy's daughter-in-law drove us here so she had as much stress to get us here as we had, now she has more coming as she drives home in what looked like a parking lot heading south on I-5.

I settled my stress with some yoga breathing and calmed my anxiety about possibly missing our flight! Now sitting at Gate B10 awaiting boarding. No time for photos yet ;'-) -- will catch up more later.