Florida Part 3: SW FL

The Key West Express ferry arrived in Ft Myers Beach after 10PM.  My bike wasn't off the boat until around 11PM. I didn't feel like riding 20-30 miles to the homes of the the people I met on the boat, and I suspected they wouldn't want to stay up until after 1AM getting me settled.  So at 11PM, hungry, and with a seat soaked in saltwater I rode to a nature preserve a couple miles away that I had scoped out ahead of time. Along the way I saw an open hotel office so I stopped and asked how much a room would cost.  $60.  I decided I wasn't that desperate.  The weather was windy, but dry and not too cold.  The woman at desk said they were open all night if I wanted to come back.

I found the nature preserve and rode along the boardwalk trail in the moonlight to a pavilion overlooking the bay, ruining a number of spider webs with my face along the way. I decided to sleep on the bench in the pavilion and leave at first light. I had been too nauseous to eat on the boat, so I was hungry and took out my food.  As soon as the food came out, so did the raccoons.  I chased them off a couple times but they were fearless.  After the food was put away they didn't let up. Now after midnight, the $60 for the hotel room seemed well worth it.  I rode the couple miles back to the hotel.

The woman I spoke to was gone, replaced by a young guy with fuzzy hair.  I told him about my conversation with the woman an hour ago and he told me I must have been misinformed.  The cheapest room they had was over $100.  Somehow he didn't know what woman I was talking about.  After pleading my case and getting nowhere I rode away in frustration, back to the preserve, and found a couple palm trees near the entrance to hang my hammock tent.  Not well hidden, but I figured I would be gone in a few hours anyway.  At about 1:30AM I fell asleep.

At 3:30AM I woke up to voices.  People walking down the trail, speaking loudly.  They walked right by me, stepping over my bike laying in the trail.  At first I thought I was dreaming and fell asleep again.  Then I distinctly heard someone yell "What are you doing?" Definitely not dreaming.  I decided this was not a good place to be, and packed up my stuff in a hurry.  At 430AM I threw my thermarest and sleeping bag down on a ball field behind a school.  At 6AM the facilities guys arrived to open the school for the day.

With about 3 hours of sleep I rode south before sunrise toward Naples to visit the Gozdecks, the parents of a childhood friend.   About 20 miles down the road I found a public beach, set my hammock up in a pavilion, had a good nap, and thought about what lessons I learned from my bad night:

1. If someone offers you a safe comfortable place to sleep, take it.
2. If you stealth camp, make sure you are stealthy about it.

After a jump in the ocean and a shower I hosed off my bike before a grouchy park employee informed me I wasn't allowed to use their hose.  I didn't see why I couldn't use the hose, but he said he "could think of a dozen reasons".  Too late.  My bike was clean!

Southwest FL is a subdued version of the east coast.  The development is still out of control, but instead of endless rows of high rise condominiums there are mostly single family gabillion dollar homes.  More of the snowbirds are from the mid-west rather than the Northeast.  The beaches are nicer.  Beautiful fine white sand with generally calmer water.

I arrived at the Gozdecks house in Naples early afternoon.  I had not seen them for over a decade.  Their son, Brett, and I spent a lot of time together growing up in Torrington.  Skiing, playing tennis, shooting BB guns, playing video games, and miscellaneous mischief. One time I accidentally fired a BB gun in the Gozdeck's living room.  Luckily it didn't hit Brett or Mr Goz, both standing next to me, and Mr Goz managed not to kill me.  Another time I disgracefully drank too much and got sick on their coffee table.   They must have forgotten or forgiven such episodes, as they welcomed me into their home like family and the gave me a tour of Naples finest neighborhoods along with a delicious meal out on the town.   I also got one of my best night's sleep of the trip.

Out for dinner with the Gozdecks on 5th Ave in Naples

The next day the winds were blowing hard from the south so I decided to ride to Sarasota.  The scenery was typical FL big box strip mall development nearly the entire way.  I passed 15 Publix grocery stores in 107 miles of riding.  That is a Publix grocery store about every 7 miles.  Seems a bit excessive to me, but they have clean bathrooms and free WiFi.

I spent about a week in Sarasota, including Thanksgiving, visiting my friends from New Haven, Dave and Basia, and their dog, Boomer.  I learned to drive a motorcycle and a motorboat and we managed to fit in all the important Florida activities: beach Frisbee, tennis, motorcycling, boating, and lots of eating and drinking.   Here is a picture story of some of the fun.

  Dave rented a motorboat and took us out for a spin one afternoon.  We accidentally got in to some shallow water a couple times, which was a great opportunity for Dave to demonstrate the roostertail.  If you lift the propeller up so it is about level with the surface of the water and then slam on the accelerator, water shoots up into the air a good ways.  As you can see by Dave's face, this is very amusing. Not so much for Boomer though.    

Me and Basia adjusting the Bimini after discovering that we wouldn't fit under some of the bridges in the canals.  It wasn't until our third bridge and near disaster, saved only by Dave's skillful boat handling, that we discovered it can be lowered all the way down. 

Dave and Basia taught me how to ride a motorcycle, which was a lot of fun.  Basia has a smaller 250CC bike (pictured) which is good for learning.  Dave has a bigger Harley looking Honda, which intimidated me enough not to try riding it.  I managed to not crash or stall the bike.  I see the appeal of motorcycles.  Riding one is like riding a bicycle, but more dangerous and effortless.  And the smaller ones get pretty good gas mileage. 

Attempting a group photo with Boomer after one of our many good meals.