Visitors This Week

 

Sunset on the Caloosahatchee

Lock & my camp 

My campsite, shown in the picture, is at a Lock on the Caloosahatchee River, the locks allow boats to cross the state of FL from Fort Myers to West Palm Beach. It's a popular campground but each year I have been able to reserve a campsite.

Telegraph Creek Dinosaur

Last Saturday I paddled 3/4 mi West of the lock to Telegraph Creek. Each year I look for the  Telegraph Creek Dinosaur. Well after all these years I guess the flood after Hurricane Ian took him out, no more Dino.

The creek was low and I did see a really big alligator. He didn't move when I paddled past him going upstream but when I was coming back I stopped to take a picture, he slowly sank into the water.

I usually can paddle 3-1/2 mi upstream but this time I couldn't make it past some of  the dead fall left from the storm blocking my way, 

When I got back to the big river the wind was really blowing hard and if I didn't paddle hard I just sat there and If I stopped paddling I blew back downstream. So it was a sprint and I was sore the next day from the workout.

On Monday, Pat & Tom Foos arrived with their E-Bikes. Our plan like last year was for them to load up my bike and the three of us will explore all the bike paths in the nearby development of Babcock Ranch. From their brochure:  "Babcock Ranch spans over 17,000 acres of land and will eventually consist of 19,500 homes. Planned healthcare options and new medical facilities designed to support a larger population of residents and an abundance of parks open spaces, additional golf, and 50 total miles of trails, will create an open invitation to stay active and well." 

Right now they are building new homes like crazy, prices are $300 -$600K and up. We explored the outer perimeter of the development on many of their wide bike paths. In the new areas we biked down the newly paved roads. We started at the big Publix Grocery store and when we finished our 17 mile ride we stopped for lunch next door at a great little restaurant, M'Xuma Tacos.

It wouldn't be that far from my campground, if they ever put in a bike trail.  It is not safe to take the main roads to get here. There are no bike lanes or berm on River Rd. If you can, drive over and check out the nice trails all around this development.

 

Nine Mile Ride

On Wednesday I did another 9 mile neighborhood bike ride but it required me to go about a mile down River Road to get there. I did short sprints using wide spots and waited until there was no traffic to do the next sprint. I made a good fast pace on the long dead end roads.

On Thursday my friend's Kelly & Brent stopped by to say hello. They were heading to Brent's parents who live about an hour north of here. Brent was in Palm Beach all week and drove over to Fort Myers airport to pickup Kelly who just flew in from Chicago this morning.

I enjoyed seeing them but it was a hot afternoon and they were anxious to get back in their Alfa Romeo rental car and get ahead of the rush hour traffic in Port Charlotte.

After Super Bowl Sunday I'll be heading a little further south. I hope to overnight at a Walmart or Lowes on Monday night after a bike ride on the John Yarbrough Linear Park Trail. It is a 6 mile long paved trail that goes between Ben Pratt Parkway to Colonial Blvd following an the old Ten Mile Canal.  There is a large park nearby that I may also explore, Lakes Regional Park, right across from the Lowes store.