June 17

After spending 3 nites in Ft Myers, we needed to move on.  We're starting to develop this darn thing called a "schedule".  During the past 2 weeks, Sue's uncle in Ohio had some changes in his medical condition, to the point where Sue was on the phone several times a day while we were anchored in a cove.  Later this week when we dock the boat for a month, we'll drive north to Ohio to assist him.

Banyan tree given to Edison by Firestone around 1910.
Banyan trees produce latex rubber & grow their
"roots" from the branches down to the ground. 
This one has grown to over an acre big!

Our highlights in Ft Myers, besides wanting to come back to spend more time, were finding a new Goodwill "Boutique" downtown where Sue found a couple "priced-right" articles ,and touring the winter estates of Henry Ford & Thomas Edison.  What struck me about the estates, was the museum showing the genius of Edison, and then the personal & business relationships that Edison had with Ford & Harvey Firestone.  The three of them created a business in the late 1910's to find a source of rubber (which the US had to import during WWI).Their labs imported & tested over 17,000 plants & trees, and many of the exotic plants surround their estates.  The other interesting item was that Edison was a mentor to Ford in encouraging Ford to produce the horseless carriage, even though at the time Edison was developing a battery-powered car.  Yes, Edison was a bit ahead of his time!

We departed Ft Myers early Monday into sunny, hot, humid weather.  Are we in Florida in the summer?!?  The Okeechobee Waterway consists of the Caloosahatchee River eastbound into Lake Okeechobee.  The river had some nice waterfront homes, surrounded by citrus groves, cattle farms, sugar cane fields & Spanish moss.  Kinda like the house we used to have in LA. 

Rather boring Okeechobee Waterway.  Hours of
complete boredom interspersed with moments
of sheer terror!

After a while, we saw something swimming like crazy at the surface of the water.  As we got closer, we saw it was a 8' alligator trying to avoid the on-coming boat.  For some reason, it didn't dive deep, but instead was swimming at the surface.  Crazy alligator!  We went through two locks today, one with a 3' lift, and the other was 8'.  Not quite like the Tennessee River, where the lift is as much as 84' in one lock

We stopped as planned at Moore Haven city dock for the night.  Right after we docked, a 101' Hargrave showed up & docked next to us.  All at once, we were the smallest boat at the dock!  As we walked along the water looking at the lock close-by, we met the part-time mayor of the city sitting under the bridge on his pick-up truck & shared a beer with him.  Nothing like small southern towns! 

We're the little boat tonight!