Monday, November 23, 2009

FRANKLIN LOCK, NOV. 16-23, 2009

On Monday we moved over to our final campground before the Keys.  We will spend the last 2 weeks in November at Franklin Lock Campground, another Corp of Engineers Park on the Caloosahatchee River.  This campground, which is actually an island in the river (connected by a causeway) is closer to Ft. Myers.  We like that every campsite is right on the water, but miss being able to see the boats go through the lock close-up as the lock is on the other side of the river.

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Our project on Tuesday was to go over and put the new tires on the boat trailer in the storage yard.  Hank did a masterful job and I was his able assistant!

 

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Next day, Wednesday, we picked the boat up and drove directly to the car wash in LaBelle to clean it up.  There was a lot more mildew in the boat this year.  After the initial cleaning, we gave it a thorough cleaning and waxing back at the campground.

 

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The manatees were frolicking in the spillway next to us the whole day we cleaned.  I wish I could have gotten better pictures of them, but mostly we saw their backs and tails as they surfaced and rolled over.

 

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We put the boat in the river on Friday and everything ran great.  We met up with Art and Jane in their boat and did some exploring with them.  Remember the camel we spotted last year?  We got another picture of him this year!

 

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Saturday morning we had breakfast with Art and Jane at Riverbend in their beautiful clubhouse.  Afterwards, we spent time at the Riverbend outdoor model railroad.  Jane showed me all the houses that are still in the shed, but that will be spread along the tracks as they get the train fully set up.  Amazing all the work and creativity that has gone into this project.

 

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We explored the Groves—one of Janie’s favorite areas at Riverbend—looking for the hoot owls.  We did find a couple of groves of bamboo.

 

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And I love their neighbor’s golf cart!

 

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I leave this posting with one of the spectacular sunsets we’ve witnessed this past week.

 

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