Florida Day 8 January 28 Traveling back to Ohio today.
The bike rides have ended and it is time to leave Venice, Florida - and this year's fine SCBC bicycling adventure and tour of this area of the Gulf coast.
There wasn't anything group-planned for our dinner last night so those that had not left to start back to Ohio went in small groups to try different places. Gary was very anxious to have some try Captain Eddie's. Located on US 41 only about 2 miles from our motel in Nokomis, FL it is a fresh seafood place that has been serving up native seafood since 1981. Nothing fancy about the place but it sure did bring the people on in for the fresh catch. Some had alligator, some fresh oysters, grouper, Red Shrimp, crab cakes and all was served with hush puppies and choices of sides. I'm glad no one was taking a cholesterol screening after that food!
There were a group of folks who were leaving on the 6:30 PM flight out of Ft Myers. This left time to sleep in a little later this morning. When the sun beams were just too bright to ignore another beautiful day everyone was gathering in the court yard area talking about where to go for breakfast. About 7 of us decided to walk to the restaurant across the street, Ntino's. This was a busy place at 9 AM on a Sunday morning and we had to wait for a table. Ntino's is a small Italian cafe that serves up good, reasonably priced, meals all day long. After breakfast final packing was done. The van that Toni had picked up for the day came in very handy as John S was tight on space with the seven he was taking back to the airport. We took several of the pieces of luggage so that they didn't end up having to pile it on their laps. We were not planning on renting a van for the three of us (Toni, Paul and I) just a full sized car. But when Toni was at the rental picking up the vehicle on Saturday afternoon they gave her a FREE no charge upgrade to a van. A very pleasant surprise that came in handy in transporting all our bags. There was discussion of where to go sightseeing with the hours before having to check in to the airport. We ended up on McGregor Boulevard in downtown Ft Myers to visit the historical Thomas Edison and Henry Ford's winter estates. These once close friends came each winter to spend some time, and had their places right next to each other. Edison had one of his laboratories on the property too. On the estate is the largest Banyan tree in the USA. (Rubber is produced from these trees). It quite a sight to see. It was just a little 2' tree when Harvey Firestone brought it back from India and gave it as a gift to Edison in 1925. Now it's a 400' tree that sprawls out in all directions. I had never seen a tree like this - the first being the other day when we were riding on Casa Grande. It was a very interesting place to visit, and I suggest taking the time to go if you are in the Ft Myers area. We took the guided tours around the estate and listened to the excellent presentations by the guides who gave information on the history and background of what these famous people did and how they spent their days at Seminole Lodge overlooking the Caloosahatchee River.
Check in for the AirTran flight went smooth and the non-stop flight back to Canton/Akron airport was good - we landed about 15 minutes ahead of schedule.
A whole lot of planning went into this trip by the core team who did all the logistics to make things run smoothly for such a large group. This week was grand and it could not have been but for the efforts of Al, Karen, John "Shoe", Mal, Debbie and EVERYONE who were part of the trip planning. A bike club from Indiana comes to this same Veranda Inn each winter and rents rooms for a week. They had provided their maps and ride cue sheets. These maps were tweaked by the SCBC folks and on some of the days several options were offered to our group. A lot of extra coordination on those days. But all fell into place each and everyday, and the riders just had a scenic good time putting on some early 2006 miles on their butts and bikes!
I would like to go back to this place again. But when it comes to week-long biking adventures I do like to see new faces and places. So it would be hard to decide if this exact place and the same routes/roads should be repeated. It is just so nice to get away during the winter cold that any place down in the warm South would be fine -- whether it is a repeat or new and different location. I look forward to what will come to be next year!
Thanks again for visiting this week's journal of the SCBC Bike Trip to Florida. Keep visiting my web site as I developed it as time goes by. And be sure to follow me on my cross country trip. I would love for you to sign the GUESTBOOK, found on the Home Page.
MORE PHOTOS will be posted so please come back to visit here. I'm sure there will be a fancy slide show presentation at one of the future SCBC meetings. Memories are made to share. I