Last Days at Legacy and we're off!

It's getting time to empty the dock box and point Tourist to the North. Our destination for the summer is somewhere in the Kentucky Lakes area. We don't have any particular schedule as to when we want to arrive there but I know from past experience that once we're underway it's hard for me to stop and smell the roses until we reach our destination.
Before we left we had time to take in one more Art Walk in downtown Ft. Myers which started with dinner at Ichiban.

Pam & Bill too full to move after dinner.

We finally got them off the chair in time to see Jesus.

 This young lady was more than happy to strike a pose for the camera.

 By now Bill was in need of support.

 Not to be left out the NSA had a drone watching the festivities.

 We were amazed at how this VW came through the wall unscathed.

 There was even an aerial show in the middle of town.

 This guy was performing spray paint art. And oh yeah. We hit the Cigar Bar.

 A few days later we got Bill, Mary, & Ted to pose for a family picture before they headed back to Canada.

For the past couple of years we have been wanting to return to a German restaurant we had eaten at one of the first years we wintered here. Luckily Rich & Diane (M/V RiDi) asked us to join them and Bob and Linda  (M/V Erika Lyn) for dinner. It was buffet style and did not disappoint. Yumm!

 Pam surprised Diane on her birthday with flowers.

As I stated earlier we are planning on boating in the Kentucky Lake area this summer. Good plan but it does present a logistical problem. What to do with the car? Answer: move it to Kentucky. So we did. We got a rental from Enterprise and Saturday morning we took off. Me in the rental and Pam in our car. Up I-75 we went. All was well until we got to Tampa and then it stopped. Bumper to bumper, sometimes moving, sometimes stopped. We wasted time in this mess until Ocala where we decided to go cross country. Past Tallahassee and into the panhandle where we bunked for the night. The next day we cruised through Dothan, Al. home of the National Peanut Festival! On to Montgomery and Birmingham. Through Nashville and into Kentucky.

 Pam in my rearview mirror somewhere in northern Florida.

Rest area near Huntsville, Alabama.

 We dropped the car off in a lonely parking lot to await our return.

 The view of our summer marina.

After dropping the car we did a U-turn and headed back to Florida.

 Of course no road trip for us is complete without multiple stops at Pilot for their coffee.

 We found this cow in southern Georgia. The same place we ran into a guy smacking a pipe into the bed of his pick-up truck. Turns out he was killing a rattlesnake that was in the bed of the truck! No Lie!

 Monday afternoon we arrived back at Legacy after 1926 miles and stayed awake long enough to take this shot of the full moon.

 Wednesday came and it was time to go. One last shot of the marina and Highpoint condo's.

 Our first night we made it to Cayo Costa and decided to hang it up for a couple of nights.

 The second afternoon rain moved in and curtailed our tanning.

Friday we were on the move again passing through the Boca Grande Bridge enroute to Venice for a couple of nights to visit my Uncle Leo and wait out a weather system.

 

While we were tying up our last days at Legacy my son Addam's favorite girl turned 10.

 

Future Harley rider? Happy Birthday Kate!



Caloosahatchie

One week ago we untied Tourist from the dock and headed east along the Caloosahatchie River. Our destination, River Forest Yachting Center located in the middle of nowhere between LaBelle and Moorehaven. Two towns that are not likely to pop into your mind when your thinking of places in Florida!

We passed by rural homes.

Abundant greenery.

Cattle. This one with a bird companion.

Heading East.

Approaching the Ortona Lock. The smoke is from the sugar cane fields being burned off.

Just past the Ortona Lock we made a 90 degree turn to port and headed into the basin at River Forest. Somewhat to our surprise the basin was nearly full of boats. Most waiting to be hauled out for summer storage.

Fortunately there was an open spot near the well where the boats are hauled out of the water. We were assisted in docking by Kathy and Terry from M/V Green Door who we had met in January.
It wasn't long after that I heard conversations on the vhf of a couple more boats who were coming into the basin. The scramble began to move boats closer together to make room for the others. Once the dust settled a total of four additional boats had arrived and were able to tie up. Among them were our friends Rick & Deb from M/V Broulee and Bob on Istaboa who had wintered at Legacy a few years ago.

Broulee on the opposite wall. (3rd white boat from the left)

Istaboa in the well.

Our reason for being here was to have an intake cover installed and a prop switched out.

There should be another cover over the hole on the right.

The ding in the prop wouldn't have happened if the cover hadn't come off and hit the prop while we were underway.

Of course as things usually happen they didn't have the correct cover in stock but were able to get a new one overnighted. The prop was sent out and our spare put on and by Wednesday we were on our way.

One of the perks of our stay was being able to re-connect with Rick and Deb and catch up on what's been going on in each others lives since we last saw each other. Of course this mostly happened over docktails!

Pam and her new friend Izzy. Actually Izzy was suckering Pam into giving her a treat. It worked!

Izzy sharing her seat with Rick & Deb.

Just for size comparison. That's a 42' Silverton sitting in the rear of the building.

River Forest does come complete with wildlife. There's a gator in the water just off the rocks in front of the boat.
We also had a water moccasin ride out of the water on our trim tab and fall off on land. One of the workers smacked it with a pipe and flipped it back into the water before it could attack Pam.

As I stated earlier we left River Forest on Wednesday and headed back west to overnight at Franklin Lock before going back to Legacy. Shortly after we locked through Ortona Lock we met M/V Seagull heading east. Harry & Mary were getting ready to store the boat for the summer and head back up to the great white north.

M/V Seagull underway on the Caloosahatchie.

When we arrived at Franklin Lock the docks were nearly full. We secured Tourist in one of the remaining slips and got the dinghy out. We took a little ride along the river and through some of the small oxbows looking at homes and any wildlife that dared peek out at us. Unlike last year when Mike and Nancy were here we failed to spot any gators in the water or on shore.

Heading into one of the lilly covered oxbows.

The docks filled up causing this guy to anchor overnight.

When we first pulled into the dock we heard a loud screeching sound. First on one side of the canal and then from the other. Back and forth, back and forth. It was obviously a couple of birds that supposedly were mating or at least negotiating a future date. Fortunately they gave up at nightfall but by 6 a.m. they were at it again. I have no idea what type of bird they were but I did get a picture of one Thursday morning.

Screeching bird.

We pulled up stakes Thursday morning and headed back to Legacy where we will start getting ready for our departure next week.

Passing the power plant just outside Ft. Myers.

Coast Guard buoy tender "Vise" replacing a green marker.

Nothing better than a cocktail and a snack once back in the dock.

Family Visits

We arrived back at Tourist in time to get prepped for a quick visit from my daughter Angela and her husband Doug. They, like so many others had had enough of winter and found a couple of days to escape.

 Happy to be off the plane and in warmer weather.

 Dad & Daughter at the Green Flash on Captiva.

This is the only green flash I've ever seen.

 We stopped for a walk on the beach when Ange thought she saw an imaginary Limbo pole!

 The beach at Captiva.

The only request they had for a choice of dinner spots was Carrabba's. One of our favorite chain restaurants so it wasn't hard to oblige
.

 Ready to dig in at Carrabba's.

With only 2 full days at their disposal it wasn't conducive to unleashing Tourist from the dock so we did the next best thing. We drove to Matlacha and rented kayaks. We both had tandem kayaks and after some uncoordinated attempts at paddling we all got it figured out and had a good time. Of course we saw birds and fish that seemed like they were going to jump into the kayak and a dolphin to make the adventure complete. We even saw a couple of manatees stick their noses out. We did get a little wet but that goes with it.

 Paddles in sync in the hold position.

Pam checking to see if I'm paddling.

In need of refreshment after our adventure we drove to St. James City and made a stop at Woody's.

 No not Key West. Just Woody's!

That night Pam made Asian salmon and we dined aboard Tourist.

Ange getting in as much time in the warm weather as possible before returning home.

All too soon it was time to head back to the airport and say goodbye. A quick visit but a good one.