Route 41, Airboat ride and Sanibel Island

May 13 2015 We took Route 41, the Tamiami Trail (Tampa Miami) across Florida.

Rt 41 had a canal that ran along it all the way. It got smaller and was over hung with growth further down the road. 

We stopped at two places to ride on an air boat. The first one told us there was a wait and to go check on their other company. We went on down the road and stopped at

 Becky was putting the dog in the trailer and found out that the trailer rocking on and off the road had caused the spaghetti sauce to fall from the cupboard and caused a large mess. So she cleaned it up and had lunch while another bunch of people went out on the boat. Then it was our turn and we went out in the swamp. We didn't take many pictures but it was nice to enjoy the wind in our hair and a boat ride.

Some baby birds that the boat driver pointed out.

Our view of the swamp!

The Everglades park borders Big Cypress National Preserve. We stopped at the visitors center and Becky and Patrick got out to look at the alligators. Patrick said he counted 34 in this one spot. We think that they feed them to keep them close for the tourist but who knows. The alligators were all along the road in the canal. Lots of people out fishing in boats and off the side of the road.

 We ended up in Estero, Florida at the Koreshan State Park. We did not visit the historical site. What, you say? No we didn't. We didn't take the river walk or take any pictures of the campsite. It was tight backing in because each site had a large amount of foliage on each side and I was backing in blind. I had an audience watching too. All the campers turned out to see me park the trailer in two tries! The campsite was over hung with trees and a grape looking vine had infested the canopy. It provided lots of shade and a hide out for snakes. I did not see them but Iris tried to eat three of them or so Becky says.  Of course the paved handicap sites were taken by people who were not handicapped, just old. The bath house sat in the middle of the sites with a path from each site to get to the bath house. The handicap sites had paved paths but I couldn't get to them because of all the junk they had in the way in the handicap sites. So I drove the Tahoe down the service road, parked up on the sidewalk and took a shower. Shower needed cleaned though.I wouldn't mind going back to do some more exploring. It had been decided that if we came back to Florida, we would buy kayaks so we could enjoy the water.

This photo shows the tightness of the spots. We don't have slides but the canopy overhung into the trees. 

 May 14 We drove out to Sanibel Island and stopped at Bowman's Beach. Becky wanted to hear the surf and pick up some seashells that Sanibel Island is famous for.

An anhinga, a diving bird

The pathway back to the parking lot. It was long with deep sand that Patrick pushed me through. To get to the beach from the parking lot it was over a river and through the woods. Seriously we had to cross a bridge.

Becky said these are shadow selfies

The causeway from the mainland to Sanibel

Fort Myers Beach

Living the good life. 

This is a nice picture of the causeway. The big bridge drops down to these little purpose built islands that had beaches and parks all along them. They were little slices of paradise.

We stopped for supper at a place called Skip One 41 Seafood Restaurant and Market. It was late by the time we got back to the trailer. We had tied the dog off on a five foot leash so she could lay on the bed and move around and not be trapped in the cage. Boy were we wrong. She climbed up onto the counter ate  a four pound roast that we thought was out of her reach and in doing so, crawled over the sink and turned the water on. She also dumped her food container and pulled my map and computer case off the bench that we thought she couldn't get to either.
The water running into the sink filled up the grey tank, the bathtub and the sink so that it all was running over onto the floor and out the front door. We cleaned up the mess and dumped a bunch of water out of the grey tank so that the tub was empty. Then we cleaned up all the water off the floor, opened the bench to rag the water out of it and I took apart the shoe rack to move it away from the wall. It was soaked too.
In all that mess, we were down a roast, a map and some dog food. Becky was angry with the dog and threatened to give her to the first person who would take her. I always remind Becky that she was the one who brought the dog home.