Fort Myers Rebuild and Bye Bye Trikes

 

Hey!  We are on our way!

Today is our first day of my six months of travel over the summer.  Much of it I will be doing with Steve.  Hence the "we" in the first sentence. 

Both of us left our respective homes this morning pulling our trailers.  We left our lovely trikes at home to rest and just have our two-wheelers with us.  

I decided to go trikeless because I wanted more space for stuff in my truck bed and because I will mostly be riding gravel trails and some single track trails this season.

But before I tell you about today,, I am sure you are curious about our trip to Fort Myers.

We stayed at the same place we stayed in November.  Linda and Dave had added a bathroom and an outdoor sink and shower for outdoor camping guests.  

The organization Matlacha Hookers got us in touch with some women that needed some small things done.  Just right for a team of two.  We cut down a tree and put up a porch railing and put up a metal shed.  It was fun and I learned some things about using a drill for screwing and unscrewing fasteners.

To get to Pine Island where we did most our work, we crossed the causeway.  The town of Matlacha is built up on the causeway!  Some businesses were built on pilings...  but not after Hurricane Ian came through.

The tree we cut down was a squatty palm with a trunk three feet wide and about three feet tall.

The lady needed roof repair where her carport blew off.  And the back window of her car was still missing.

Another image from Matlacha, FL.

We had a good time and seemed to get along great sharing Steve's camper.  Fortunately he is a patient teacher.

We helped Linda and David clear brush from an area of their yard and cut down a tree limb that had fallen.  

We did a few fun things too while we were there;  like walk along Bunchee Beach, and visit the Boat House Tiki bar where we shared a pinacolada and watched the sun set.

While getting ready to leave on this trip I discovered a grease seal had fallen out of place on LILAC.  I pushed the greasy thing back in place and fashioned a hubcap. I used a soda can and electrical tape and duct tape.

 Weeroll never answered my multiple requests about where to order a replacement hubcap.  So this is what I have for now.

I woke up this morning amazingly calm.  I noticed that because I was on the cusp of a big trip.  It seemed strange.  I was just glad to be meeting up with Steve later in the day and glad I did most of the outside packing up the day before.

Steve had mapped out a route and found a place midway for us to meet for lunch and a walk.  It was on the Baldwin Jacksonville Rail Trail.   I got there first and walked to the historic preservation place nearby.   They had trees planted from notable historic locations.  It was interesting. 

I sat in the shade practicing Spanish on Duolingo until I heard Steves truck pulling in.  

It was very good to see Steve again.  We had lunch and went for a short walk.

At about 4:00 we arrived at our Harvest Host's.  This is my first Harvest Host stay.  It is a Pecan farm in Georgia.  Steve still had to pay for the electric hook up.  I bought pecans and olive oil.

These are the spent blossoms of the pecan tree... we think.

Beside the spider I had about f I urge sightings of the swallow tail kite and at the historic preserve I saw a little black bird with orange stripes.  I just looked it up o. The Merlin App and it might have been an American Redstart. 

That's all for now, Steve is already snoring.  

 Smiles.

Tomorrow our destination is Hunting Island on the coast of South Carolina.