We spent the day on Sanibel and Captiva Islands. They are known for the sea shells.
Beautiful beaches:

For the grands: a dead baby shark of some sort

Sea shells on the beach:

And an alligator along side the road. I was no more than 20 feet from him.

What do you do on a chilly, windy day? Go to a museum. We went to the Edison & Ford Winter Estates (homes, gardens, lab, and museum).
Thomas Edison and Henry Ford owned summer homes next door to each other in Ft. Myers, Florida. These were two brilliant men. And they were both into gardening. John is standing by Edison’s pool which was one of the first ever built in Florida. He’s glad he doesn’t have to clean it. And, lastly, Edison’s lab. All fascinating.

This is Tarpon Springs where they harvest and sell natural sea sponges. Is that redundant? I guess if they are from the sea, they must be natural.
Sponges hanging from the boat:

And for sale:

Sunset on the Dunedin Causeway. Pretty cool to park right on the beach:

I love the pastel colors of the Florida houses. No boring beige here because the HOA has to approve your paint color:

We didn’t get to stay here but this was the most beautiful campground we had ever seen. And, Slater and Cruise, papa caught a fish:

They serve anyone at Madeira Beach:

Sunday: church and gators

And, finally, a beautiful swamp. The bright green in the foreground is actually water covered with some sort of plant matter that blows on to the surface:

We are constantly in awe of the diversity in landscape and wildlife we have seen since leaving home. What a creative God we have!

Here’s a few pics from two places we went to on the advice of people we ran into during our travels. They did not lead us astray!
Cedar Key:

Homosassa Springs:



We have really enjoyed all the wildlife we’ve seen. But not the mosquitos we’ve recently encountered. They aren’t too bad yet but this is what people have to do to their houses so they can actually enjoy their yards and pools. Now that’s a screened in porch:

So how do we decide where to go and when? Thought you might be interested in the process.

Those of you who know me, know I’m a planner and organizer. I did tons of research for a year to come up with an itinerary. We plotted out where we wanted to go but didn’t make any reservations because we wanted to leave flexibility in our itinerary. That has turned out to be a great decision! We might be driving from point A to point B but see a road or sign that looks interesting and we take it. Wasn’t it Yogi Berra who said if you see a fork in the road, take it? 😊 We have had days where the map shows a two hour drive to our next destination but it ends up taking us six hours because we stop off at interesting sites or decide to take a rural road. By the way, we only take interstates when there is no other way.

The other thing that guides our trip is talking to people. This brings me to the bars and churches title! In John Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley, he says that the best places to talk to people while you are on the road is bars and churches. But, of course, churches are only open on Sunday’s. I know you are wondering where this is going!

I love cooking in our trailer but we also want to taste the local fare, especially BBQ and sea food so we take advantage of local restaurants that specialize in local fare often. And we’ve discovered, if the restaurant has a bar, that it’s the best place to sit if you want to talk to people. We have had so many interesting conversations with both locals and other travelers who tell us of great places to visit.

As an example, we stopped in at a pawn shop a few days ago (John always has to look at guitars) and the owner told us about a place called Cedar Keys and exactly how to get there. So we went. What a lovely little beach community it was. We stopped in at a local restaurant for lunch (one grouper sandwich and one soft shell crab sandwich). We sat at the bar instead of a table and talked to a couple sitting next to us who told John of a cheap fishing charter to go on when we get to the Keys. We want to Manatee Springs State Park because a fellow traveler had told us about it. It was not on my itinerary. Everywhere we go, including churches, restaurants, grocery stores, campgrounds, people are so great at sharing their experiences with us and sending us on to new experiences.

So now you know why we are where we are. It’s just a big adventure. And, or course, we are so thankful for God’s protection over us thus far!

And finally, one picture. Is this my future? Will I eventually drive a pink car?