Fort Myers, FL: Edison Ford Winter Estates

Cooked a great dinner tonight on the grill. Found some sausages made from chicken, hot peppers, and cheese -- awesome. Bought some fresh tomatoes -- real, vine-ripened tomatoes with great taste. Added a big salad to the sausage and viola -- a great meal. Finally found some strawberries that taste really good so desert was delicious. So much of the strawberry crop has great color and shape however the taste is just not there. Buying from roadside stands is the only way to go.

Today was an incredibly windy, blustery day and the temperature was noticeably lower. Spent the better part of the day at the Edison - Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers today. Edison was born in 1847, well before the Civil War, and lived until 1931. He was/is America's most prolific inventor as measured by patents: just over 1040 patents. Right up until he died he was focused on inventing.

Turns out Ford worked for Edison in Detroit and in his spare time he played with motors, eventually leading to his first vehicle, a quadricycle. Basically a motorized sled with four bicycle tires. Caused so much disruption when he drove into the city, scaring horses and people, he had to have someone precede him with a flag to wave others out of the way.

After Ford started his own company he and Edison met again, and over time Edison became a mentor for Ford. Later, another legendary member to join this group was Harvey Firestone, of Firestone Tires fame. They would go camping using Ford Model T's as tent campers -- some of the first RV's, initially in the Everglades.

Yesterday I said it was President Roosevelt who joined them on some camping trips when in fact it was President Harding. Hope you didn't lose any Jeopardy contests as a result of my misinformation.

Overall the tour was OK, not great. You could look into the houses via the windows however you couldn't go in to any of the Edison estate and only two rooms of the Ford estate. You could go into Edison's lab for his Botanical Research Company.

Around the First World War, which was towards the end of Edison's life, he was convinced there would be a shortage of the raw materials to make rubber. He spent a lot of time and resources investigating plants that produce latex that could be grown in the US. Didn't happen however he did advance botanical research and his notes were turned over to the Department of Agriculture. The estate is covered with all kinds of exotic plants, palms, and trees. Above is an Fig tree that has grown to cover almost an acre, but one of several impressive tree's found here.

My overall impression? Ford seems a bitter and unhappy man. Not a lot of nice things to say himself about others nor were there many nice things said about him. Maybe I just caught him on a bad day....

Edison however was a driven, incredibly focused, self-educated man. I plan to spend more time reading about him and his accomplishments. An amazing individual. MLA bought me a book of quotes from Edison and Ford so don't be surprised if I throw some of those into the blog. You had to love Edison. He did not believe in any form of exercise or aerobic activity. He was famous for saying his body's only purpose was to transport his brain. And he used power naps for inspiration and felt that many of his best ideas came to him during these naps.

The fact that he worked non-stop 24/7 and when working on a problem was notorious for being able to focus 100% of his attention on that topic until progress was made, well, might have had something to do with his success too.

I think I'll go take a power nap and see what my mind comes up with...

See Ya!