Bonita Springs, Florida - Dec. 17, 2006 - Jan. 31, 2007

We left Port Richey, Florida on December 17th hoping that Bonita Lake Resort, our home for the next six weeks, would be bug free - well, as much as Florida can be bug free.  We were not disappointed.  Bonita Lake provided us with a very pleasant stay -friendly people, a nice clean park (did we mention no bugs?) a good location, a small lake and island inhabited by our very own rather shy alligator. 

This was the first time we stayed in a park that offers organized activities. Although there is clearly a seasonal snowbird community, as well as several year-round residents, they were all quite welcoming and friendly to newcomers.  The warmth of the community was greatly appreciated especially during the holidays.

We met our "back fence" neighbors upon arrival.  Steve and Terry pulled up chairs, popped open a couple of beers and settled in for the afternoon entertainment of cheering and jeering as we attempted to park the fifth-wheel.  Mary and Kay tried to get them to behave, but with little success.  Happily, Bill's expertise minimized their entertainment; however, Susan's directions continued to be a source of amusement.

After we all introduced ourselves, our neighbors gave us some tips on how to maneuver the considerable southwest Florida traffic, and recommended restaurants and beaches.  Then they headed home to Ohio for the holidays, to return in January.

We discovered that one of the reasons the traffic is so bad is that the road system lacks connectivity.  A street will end abruptly and not connect to a main road less than ¼ mile away - for no apparent reason.  Additionally, there are waterways everywhere, more developments are gated than are not and golf courses seemingly spring up out of nowhere, all resulting in an abundance of "no outlet" signs.  Consequently, the limited throughways are forced to accommodate the substantial demand. 

Hint:  look for the roads with the "Evacuation Route" signs.  The signs are a bit disconcerting, but you can be pretty sure the road leads somewhere.
Susan had an extensive "to do" list for southwest Florida, but as it turned out, we needed to sandwich our sight-seeing and excursions between preparing for and installing two mobile HughesNet systems in central Florida, and Susan getting her left knee sliced and diced AGAIN.

The satellite installations took us to a remote location in the Ocala National Forest and to Daytona International Speedway.  We did the national forest install first, then spent the night in Daytona and did the Speedway installation and training the next day.  Spending the day at the Speedway's infield during qualifying races was very exciting and absolutely deafening.  At first the roar of the engines was exhilarating, but after three hours we were running for earplugs.

We made several outings while at Bonita Springs, including a visit to Thomas Edison and Henry Fords Winter Estates in Fort Myers.  The homes were very gracious, but not ostentatious.  They were perfect for the un-air-conditioned, early 20th Century conditions - wide verandas, ceiling fans and large windows and doors to capture the breezes.  The estates included three homes, the grounds and gardens, a museum of Edison's inventions and his laboratory.  Ironically, the day we visited Edison's lab was closed due to electrical problems.

We enjoyed several bike rides in the area.  The first was at the Shark Valley Tram Road in Everglades National Park.  The Shark Valley ride is a 15-mile loop that features a 30-foot platform at the halfway point that overlooks the grass and wetlands.  It is restricted to bikes, pedestrians, tram and alligator traffic.  We actually had to bike around monstrous alligators warming their bellies on the sun drenched pavement.  The ride also provided a rather close observation of turtles, various herons, egrets, cranes and wood storks.

We also biked beautiful Sanibel Island and the Ding Darling Wildlife Preserve northwest of Bonita Springs.  The wildlife preserve was great and while you can drive through it the only way to really "see" it is by bike or kayak.  Kayak may be better, but we have bikes, so…  We saw wonderful flocks of various birds, but the most exciting were the roseate spoonbills. 

We checked out the Sanibel RV Park on the island with its very own exotic bird aviary.  Half the parrots were saying "Hello", while the other half were responding with "Goodbye".  The conversation reminded us of a Beatle's song.

On several occasions we risked life and limb by biking on the local roads to access some of the gulf beaches and very upscale, gated country club communities.  Once within these expansive communities it was like biking in a tropical paradise, but the first 3-4 miles in traffic could be a bit unnerving.

On another outing, we trekked north to Gasparilla Island for a relaxing lunch at the Loose Caboose, a converted train station, in Boca Grande and visited the Gasparilla Lighthouse.  We caught sight of a couple of non-native "released" iguanas living at the beach and had a very successful afternoon searching for shells along the shore.

On our continuing search for indigenous wildlife we visited the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  Our sightings there included the very difficult to spot American Bittern, Red Shoulder Hawks and Yellow Crowned Night Herons, plus ibis, egrets and osprey. 

Our 26th wedding anniversary fell the day before Susan's knee surgery so we decided dancing all night was not in the cards.  We chose to splurge on a wonderful meal at Roy's.  We have romantic memories of dining at Roy's on Maui many years ago. Roy's of Bonita Springs served to enhance these memories.

The next day Susan's knee surgery went fine.  It was less painful than her 2005 experience and she was up and moving around immediately after the restrictive 72 hour elevation and ice pack routine.  Nurse Bill even allowed her to walk about 4 miles around Lover's Key State Park seven days after surgery.

A couple of days before leaving Bonita Springs we trekked north to a Thousand Trails RV Park near the Peace River to visit Jim and Chris Guld.  We met them our first year out in Zion, Utah and then again at Big Bend, Texas.  Jim was busy working most of the day installing a DataStorm Satellite System on a customer's motorhome.  But we enjoyed visiting with Chris and a couple of other folks in the Peace River RV Park.  Later that evening we did get to visit with Jim too when we went to dinner a local restaurant.  They are good friends and it was great being able to get back together with them.

On February 1 we bid goodbye to our friends at Bonita Springs and headed south to Fiesta Key, about 70 miles north of Key West… tropical breezes and turquoise waters here we come!