Giant Flea Market and Swamp Buggy Races

Saturday the 7th

After putting off going to the Giant Flea Market http://www.fleamall.com/ in Ft Myers we finally decided to make the trip back up there.

We left the coach around 7:30 AM and stopped at a small cottage restaurant for breakfast, it was slow but pretty good and inexpensive. It took about 40 minutes to make the drive and we got parked in a great location right next to the main entrance. This place is huge! We spent about 3 hours just wandering the aisles. Weaving our way back and forth we probably covered about three miles. We bought a few absolutely necessary items, then stopped for some fresh vegetables before going to the car and heading home. It was pretty amazing. There were thousands of people there and we could have easily stayed all day. As it was we probably only saw 15 percent of what was there. Some booths were small stores, several easily over 1,200 sq ft.

On our way home we got stuck in the traffic going onto Estero Island. We forgot it was Spring Break and Saturday. It took about 45 minutes to go the last 3 miles onto the island. Once we got past the primary beach areas, we were back to the rig in a jiffy. Even so we had a fun morning.

The rest of the day we spent taking the dogs for walks on the beach and enjoying the beautiful 80 degree weather.

No photos today.

Sunday the 8th

Today we did something completely different, we went to the Swamp Buggy Races down in Naples at the Florida Sports Park http://www.swampbuggy.com/. It was a partly cloudy day with temperatures expected to be in the low 80's so we headed out around 10:15 in the morning for the 30 mile drive. We got there and found a parking spot right away in a huge field rapidly filling with cars. Yesterday they had the qualifying races so today was to be the finals for a half dozen different classes of race vehicle. I say vehicle since these are half boat half car designs. We grabbed a couple of pulled pork sandwiches and water and headed for the stands to try and find a seat. Oh yes, we also popped for a couple of seat cushions, the stands are old weathered 2' by 12' boards on aluminum scaffolds. They looked pretty rickety but felt solid so we grabbed a spot just past the finish line about 10 rows up with the sun behind us.

In addition to the super modifieds, there is an 'unlimited' class with horsepower in the 1,200 range, 'pro-modified two wheel drive' using big block chevy's modified with high performance parts developing up to 1,000 hp, 'pro-modified 4 wheel drive', 'Jeep' Must be a 4 cylinder American Jeep. Air Cooled Must be air-cooled. Usually powered by motorcycle or Volkswagen engines. 4 Cylinder Must be 4 cylinders. 6 Cylinder Must be 6 cylinders. V6 or straight 6. V8 Stock Must be stock V8 engine block according to manufacturer's specifications.

Racing was scheduled to start at 12:30 so we relaxed with lunch and watched the stands fill in. Finally, around 12:40 the announcer started opening the days festivities with a parade of the drivers followed by the national anthem and the traditional frisbee toss (from the drivers into the stands). Then it was racetime. They started off with a couple of super modifieds.

To give you a sense of what is going on, the track is an oval about a quarter mile around with the center field cut in two by a wide channel. The water varies in depth but probably averages three feet deep. There are two deeper pits that drop down to about five feet deep, the first about 50 yards from the start and the second just past the beginning of the channel in the center. The race pits are across the way from the viewing stands and the buggys come onto the course at the south end of the track.

The buggys are staged at the south end of the track, similar to the drags, although depending on the class of vehicle, they can line up nine abreast. Initially it looks like they are going to go counter clockwise around the track, but at the start the buggys leap forward from the start line charging for the channel through the 'infield' heading for the north turn where they sweep around to come down the front straight-away towards the start line. Going out of the straight-away around the south turn they complete a lap going up the back straight-away (past the pits) sweep around the north turn again and thunder down the front straight-away past the viewing stands and across the finish line. To get off the track the continue around the south turn and exit to the pits.

They ran eight different heats in the first half then took a short intermission. The second half saw 6 heats for final points and the trophies. The event was well run with a new heat lining up as soon as the track is clear. It was all very exciting and there were lots of surprises including a jeep that ended on its side in one of the deep mud holes with only its two left side wheels above the water.

To see all of todays photos click on the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski

Monday the 9th

A quiet day today. Tina did laundry and I went grocery shopping. The rest of the day we spent relaxing, reading, beach walking, eating and watching the sunset.

Tuesday the 10th

Another relaxing day. A little housekeeping, but lots of sunshine!!