On Things Along the Way 10

For photos: http://willemcoetzee.blogspot.com/2014/02/fotos-14.html

Flamingo, Oh Flamingo. So, we were on the menu instead!

Right at the southern tip of the Everglades, this is a remarkable place: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everglades

The slow southward draining of a river from Lake Okeechobee, extending 60 miles wide over a virtually horizontal plain well in excess of a hundred miles long and for thousands of years, resulted in a unique eco system.

The explosive population growth in Florida  (https://www.google.com/search?q=florida+population+growth&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=DUfyUvaBFoO_kQfJh4HQCQ&ved=0CCcQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=614)   raised questions about water resources and land management that impact the Everglades and resulted in conservation measures to restore and secure the future of the diversity of fauna and flora. This in turn gave rise to the Everglades National Park  http://www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/flamcamp.htm     and  https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Everglades+National+Park,+Flamingo,+Monroe,+FL&hl=en&sll=40.788014,-77.852571&sspn=0.071094,0.181961&oq=flamingo+everglades&t=h&hnear=Flamingo,+Monroe,+Florida&z=15 

Some of the water that used to drain down the Everglades from Okeechobee (and could take years to reach the southern bay) is now channeled to the demanding urban developments on the Florida shores, and challenges to resource management will not get smaller. In addition, the area is very much hurricane prone and evidence of the impact on Flamingo is most obvious. Structural damage to buildings resulted in shrunken facilities and services but the recreational fishing attractiveness of the area assured that two marinas remain functional and plans are on the drawing board to rebuild and restore some of its splendor.

But between plans and final results seem to stand the realities of recreational demands of modern day tourists and curtailing the appetite of insects – even in winter.  We discovered that Flamingo is known as the Mosquito Capital of the USA! They and the inevitable no-see-ums got a good bite out of us, with Willem at the top of their menu; due to his O- blood group, perhaps?  ( http://www.ibtimes.com/mosquitoes-do-bite-some-people-more-others-here-are-traits-bloodsuckers-1353645 ).  Had it not been for that, we could probably have stayed longer, hiked more and got more fishing done. Especially with the outstanding weather we enjoyed, although it took at least two days to recover from exposure between outings! The fact of the matter is that challenging the insect menace would interfere with the non-human component of the food chain, which brings one back to the challenge of raising funds for maintaining this remarkable heritage site. For us, we could leave our lovely camp site and escape to Miami for a day trip and celebration dinner of Fickie and Stella’s 45^th wedding anniversary. The architecture is amazing, including the extensive Art Deco, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Deco, representation, so reminiscent of the area in South Africa where Willem and Stella grew up on the Reef – the Witwatersrand.

Then we took off for Koreshan and on the way marveled at the abundant agricultural activities. Vegetable and fruit production – especially tropical and semi-tropical -- were astonishing and we received quite an education at a produce stall on the edge of the Everglades. Clearly, if a limit did not exist on land development, Southern Florida could satisfy US needs and harm many South American and other producers!  It is interesting how ecological awareness in Florida results in providing livelihood very far afield. We once heard that although bananas are the primary consumed fruit in the US, no commercial production is done inside of the States! 

We crossed Florida via Route 41, which reach the Gulf Coast south of Naples. And from there to our destination at Estero, south of Fort Meyers, we surely were surprised by the extremely well developed area which was suggestive of prosperity not yielding ground to anything we’ve seen on the Atlantic Coast of Florida.

A surprisingly splendid camp site was awaiting us at Koreshan State Park. Although the site entrance at first seemed rather narrow, we backed into it rather easily and after adjusting for leveling and the length of our electric supply cable, the slide-outs came out nicely with room to spare.   We stabilized the rig, uncoupled the truck and set up camp -- down to spreading the ground covering and positioning the very heavy picnic table right on it. However, when we were ready to sit back with cold ones it turned out that the awning fell short of full extension by about a foot due to a mere few inches of the trunk of a coconut palm tree! It showed how concentrating on numerous factors while fitting into a tight spot, could leave one variable unattended and unprojected. We figured we could live with that and would just retract the awning if rain became a factor, to prevent water from running toward the rig. Going through the hookup procedure for 3 inches seemed too much interference with enjoying sundowners after a busy day!

This State Park http://www.floridastateparks.org/koreshan/default.cfm is located on a site with historical significance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koreshanity. An additional summary is provided by http://www.religionnewsblog.com/4479/just-who-were-the-koreshans . At first we thought about putting our boat into the Estero River and heading toward the bay, some miles away, but were uncertain that it would be suitable for a motorized vessel. We thus decided to pursue other cultural attractions, such as the Naples Art Museum   http://artisnaples.org/baker-museum and the winter retreats of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford in Fort Meyers http://www.edisonfordwinterestates.org/ . Willem dropped Susan off at the former and we other three proceeded to Fort Meyers. 

The winter estates were a big surprise to us. The site provides a very comprehensive view of the early blending of science, engineering and technology in the hands of evolving industrialists that impacted civilization so drastically since a mere century ago. But even equally informative is the glimpse into the lives of these monumental personalities: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ford . We were unaware of the close relationship between these men and also of their botanical research and keen cultural interests in various arts; even having demonstrated music skills worth mentioning. The location of the venue on the Caloosahatchee River at the bay is breath taking and their experimental work on various plants to find cultivars for rubber production and bamboo varieties for filaments in the lighting industry, left the tangible evidence to this day in the lovely gardens surrounding the buildings. Also, Edison’s introducing palms to Fort Meyers left a mark extending all over Florida. In addition, the museum and workshop/laboratory are very detailed and one could spend days working through the wealth of materials on display. These significant dots connect with the Industrial Revolution and further forward with the dots of Alfred Loomis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Lee_Loomis  and those of the era bridging to the expansion of Government into high science and technology in the USA. This, in turn launched the research university role in society and its politico-financial impact, generating dots that draw a picture right up to today’s generation.  The winter estates were surely a highpoint of our trip to date!

Susan’s report on the Baker Museum highlighted the Duchamp Family of Artists exhibition http://artisnaples.org/museum/duchamp-family , the Collection of the Dahesh Museum of Art: Rediscovering Egypt http://artisnaples.org/museum/rediscovering-egypt  and the sculpture exhibit of works by Hanneke Beaumont http://contessagallery.com/artist/Hanneke_Beaumont/works/list/ .

In addition, Fickie and Stella encountered several artists painting various scenes within Koreshan Park and seemingly meeting regularly on Wednesdays for lunch.  The work of Al Marcenkus complemented his pleasant personality: www.almarcenkusart.com  .

A day trip to explore some of the beaches in the area took us via Fort Meyers Beach to Sanibel Island. Once again, the bridges were impressive; the beaches and traffic less so and at the end of the day we were happy to have it behind us but glad that we nevertheless didn’t miss out on those sites. Massive late afternoon sandwiches we enjoyed at Sanibel, obviated the need for dinner that evening.

And before leaving the area we did tour the Koreshan settlement. The overall impression was of the power of human attraction universally to ideological absolutes and what it took to pop the Koreshan bubble: Neil Armstrong’s reaching and walking on the moon, according to one of the last members at the time. By then very few members remained. But in Edison’s time the Koreshans were well known for the high value placed on education, the arts and music in particular. To this day the hall with the Steinway piano used in music concerts attended by the Edison and Ford families remain in place and in use. Also, the bamboo, palm and other plants donated by Edison to the Koreshans grace the property. We are not aware of any opinion expressed by these industrialist giants on the scientific merits of the group’s belief system, although they certainly had opinions about religion.  Maintaining the settlement is commendable, though, and visiting it, rather informative.

Our last evening was punctuated by Alligator Ed’s canoe rounding the river bend as we were appreciating the serenity of the place. Fickie and Stella had a previous encounter with this true adventurer who claimed interaction with the likes of the African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart and Catherine Hepburn, and once captaining the Queen for the then owner, Jim Hendricks, at Key Largo, Florida http://www.africanqueenflkeys.com/! And that evening Ed delivered documentary evidence about it all for Fickie to keep!

The next morning we left for Manatee River State Park, south of Tampa.