Fort Myers, FL

Wednesday, 1/6/16 - Travel day Fort Myers Beach, FL.  I must fess up that I made a boo boo in planning this stop.   I had plotted out a campground in Punta Gorda called Gulf View Resort, but when I went online, I booked Gulf Air in Fort Myers Beach.  When we arrived at Gulf View in Punta Gorda they didn't have my reservation.  Then we saw that I had actually booked at Gulf Air in Fort Myers Beach (about 32 miles south-we had passed by it while heading north).  We had to turn around and drive back south to Gulf Air.  We got there in the dark and after hours , so no help from the office.  Our spot was very narrow, so the neighbor actually helped us park the coach.  When we got done, we had only 1" left on the passenger side, and about 12" left of the driver side.  Everybody was over-tired.  Not a good start.

Thursday, 1/7/16 - Tom and I went to Fort Myers for a tour of the Edison and Ford winter homes.   Here is aerial photo of the Edison property only.

Guest house on left; Family home on right

The structure on the right is the Edison home, and the structure on the left is the guest house.   Edison came to Fort Myers in 1885.  He fell in love with the trees, the birds, and the weather (as New Jersey gets pretty cold in the winter).  He bought 13 acres along the river for $2750, and made plans to build 2 identical houses; one for his family, and a guest house for his business partner's family (a reverse plan).  After he married his second wife, Mina, in 1886, he brought his bride here for vacations.  The guest house went through several owners, but was finally sold back to the Edisons, where they connected the two by way of a covered walkway  (seen above), and enjoyed the entire property.

 The Edisons used the property until his death in 1931 (at the age of 84), and Mina kept it until 1947 when she deeded it to City of Fort Myers, to be opened to the public.  Here is a picture of the covered walkway.

covered walkway

Edison's good friend, Henry Ford, who had been visiting the Edison family for many years, bought the neighboring house in 1916 to be close to his good friend and colaborator (Ford was 16 years ounger than Edison).  The properties were exactly next door to each other and backed up to a very large river, the Caloosahatchee.   Here are a typical group of friends in the back yard. Seated (l to r): Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and standing are (l to r) : Frank Campsall, Freddie Ott, Roger Firestone, and James Newton.

Friends in the back yard
 (taken around 1931, just months prior to Edison's death)

Here is a beautiful tree in Edison's back yard, against the backdrop of the river.

Edison's back yard

Both properties are rather simple, but you could almost see how much they both loved the area.  Here is Edicon's car in the garage.

Edison's 1916 Model T
(a gift from Henry Ford, and later improved)

Henry Ford's house is a little bigger, but it only had one garage, so he put his extra cars in Edison's 3 car garage.

Henry Ford's house next door

Ford's Model T

Ford's 1917 Model TT Truck; and a 1929 Model A

Just for you, Dad.  We saw this flathead engine in the museum.

Forn flathead engine  c. 1937

We had a good tour and headed back to the RV, but stopped at Pinchers, a crab house, for dinner.  We had a delicious dinner overlooking the river, and a very pleasant waitress.  By the time we got home, we were both wiped out.

Friday, 1/8/16 - Tom and Mom took the car back north to Punta Gorda to the Muscle Car Museum.  Tom was really looking forward to seeing all the cars.  The owner bought an abandoned Wal -Mart store to house his collection!  Tom actually got to talk to the owner while he was there.  Mom said that she really enjoyed the tour too.  I stayed back at the RV as I had more paperwork to do involving the 2 escrows we are involved in.  Here is the only picture Tom gave me - it is a 1957 Chevy Cameo pickup truck - just like the one my dad used to own (even the right color).

1957 Chevy Cameo pickup

We all loved that truck.  Of course, this one does not have the hand painted pin striping that dad had.

In case you are wondering how the dogs are doing, here they are, in Penny's favorite spot (my seat).

Lucky crowding in on Penny

Saturday, 1/9/16 - a travel day from Fort Myers Beach to East Tampa.  We will be here 4 nights, and have an appointment to get the RV serviced at Lazy Days, the largest RV dealer in the U.S.  It has been raining off and on the whole time we are here.  Hope to see drier days ahead.