Awake: 6:47am Temp 57 sleep 7+09 mostly sunny overnight @ Punta Gorda, FL.
K & I continue washing & cleaning the rest of our Motorcoach; starting @ 7:30am & finally finishing @ 11:00; our home on wheels looks a lot better now.
I call Mike D in Everglade City, FL for confirmation of a visiting time.
After breakfast, Kathy does (2) laundry loads while I return Judy & Jerry's call from Boca Reton, FL.
Next, K & I motor south about (30) miles & tour the Thomas Edison & Henry Ford winter estates in Fort Myers, FL. For many yrs, Ford visited Fort Myers @ the invitation of his friend Edison & stayed in Edison's Guest House. Finally, Ford purchased the estate next to Edison enabling them to enjoy winter vacations together with even more friends.
When touring both estates, we had a choice of using a handheld wireless recorder (which we did) or a human tour guide; the tour either way was a little pricy but very interesting & extremely historical. Many different trees, plants & flowers from around the world are represented throughout the (2) estates, including the 2nd largest Banyan tree (rubber tree) in the world. The (4) foot tree was planted in 1925 & grew to over (1) acre in diameter.
Edison had a Botanic Research Laboratory built on his property in 1928 to find a source of natural rubber from a plant that could grow in the U.S. Edison tried several thousand plants & found (40) that he could cultivate on a large scale; they finally deduced that the weed, Goldenrod (Solidago Leavenworthii) was the best producer of latex. Much work would be conducted for months on this plant after this conclusion came about. From distillation of chemicals, to the vulcanization of the wet residues produced, anything and everything was attempted by Edison and his workers. Despite Edison's desires, the research was not able to produce rubber from a plant on a large enough scale to deem it economically feasible or commercially successful.
From here, we continue south thru the city of Fort Myers & visit Kathy's Aunt Robin & Uncle Harvey, both in their early 80's. It's been (5) yrs since we've seen them so we gab for an hr updating each other on our respective lives, children & grandchildren. Then Robin serves us a dinner of: mixed salad, Basa fish, baked potato, & sautéed broccoli & cauliflower; coffee cake for dessert. After dinner, we continue our gab session until their daughter Jodi calls from Madison, WI & we both take turns talking with her. We thank them very much & hope not so much time elapses before we see them again. En route north to our campground, John B calls: he now has an e-mail address & wants me to check it out.
Back in our motorhome, I sent a short test message to John & casually wait for a reply...which comes later in the evening. John is now a high-tech computer man.
Late movie: "The Women" with Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Rosalind Russell, Mary Boland, Joan Fontaine, etc. All-star (and all female) cast shines in this hilarious adaptation of Clare Boothe play about divorce, cattiness & competition in circle of "friends." Crawford has one of her best roles as bitchy home wrecker. Fashion show sequence is in color. 1939. Kathy didn't enjoy this movie because of what it portrayed; however, I enjoyed the slyness & troublemaking schemes for generating unhappiness.
Lights out: 1:21am
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