Mission Completed

Hi Henry here,

They all woke up and packed me in Sues' bag to continue our quest to find the graves of the 23 British Airmen killed whilst being trained as pilots in America.

We left at 10am and continued around lake Okeechobee which is the largest man made lake in Florida. As we were told we would not see the lake very well as is completely surrounded with a levy at least 20ft high and difficult to see from the road,. The lake is 37miles across and supplies water to most of Florida. This is a shot taken from the car over a bridge which had a sluice gate to let water out of the lake.

Sorry about the dead fly we collected quite a few of the on this trip

They said they would stop when they could climb the side of the levy, I was scared being new and stayed in the car as I am only small and did not want to get lost. Fred went with Gloria as he is a brave Gnome.

It was very hot on the way up but eventually they reached the top, "Where is the water", Mike cried, due to the lack of rain this area had dried up.

Back in the car we cuddled Henry and got on our way to Arcadia. We called into a small 50s Diner for lunch of burgers  and "Working Cow" Florida Ice Cream with black cherries, whipped cream and sprinkles.

We were given directions to the Oak Ridge Cemetery and were able to drive around inside until we found The British Plot, there we found the 23 graves and paid our respects.

This was a very moving place tucked up at one side of the cemetery and we all felt the we had done our bit and returned to drive on up country to Lake Wales which is in the centre of Florida. We booked into another Holiday Express Inn for a two day stop over and within 10 minutes of arriving Gloria and Mike were in the pool with me looking out of the window.  I havn't experienced water yet so I am not sure about it.

That's Mike drowning.............

These are some of the poor flies that we collected on the way, oh dear what a mess, best forget about in untill the morning.

They cleaned the windows and that was it.

I had a good but tiring day doing this, I don't know whether I can cope any more.

Nite Nite from a very tired Henry  XX

Mission

Hi Folks it's me again,

They put me in their bag and we were off to Clewiston which is about100 miles from Naples. What a journey across the Everglades, the car really got a splattering from the flys. So much so that when we arrived we had to scrub the front of the car, fill the washer bottle and clean the radiator not to mention the windscreen. See Tony's picture of the lorry below through the screen.

Wow what a mess, glad I was in my bag.

We then arrived at our destination.

The reason for the detour was we wanted to visit the place, there were lots of them in Florida that trained our pilots during the second world war. At this base alone over 1800 pilots were trained to fly, all with  the help of the American Government who funded the training.  Little is known about this in Britain and sadly all the trainees that survived the war are dying due to old age.

We were greeted by a very nice gentleman who could not do enough for us and ushered us into his board room.

We then studied the archives and learnt a lot about these brave men who on the return to England were shot down.

We found a load of information on the training school which we will bring back to England and find out more.

The base in Clewiston was called Riddle Field, here is a taster of what we found..........

Across the road was a memorial to our brave  men who lost their lives during training in America.

Well what a day for our new friend Henry I am sure that he is proud to be an American and will be pleased to come back to England with us.

He has not had much of a first day but I am sure he and his buddies will be proud..

"Lest we Forget".

Nite, Nite from Henry and his chums.  X X X

Henry's last night in Naples

Hello all,

I'm in a bit of a tizzy as this is my last night in my home town of Naples as Sue will be taking me on to Clewiston tomorrow.

Tony and Mike are going on a quest to uncover the story of the RAF airmen who were trained by the Americans during the second world war. They plan to visit the town and find out more about this untold story.

Back to today, Fred and I went into my home town for the last time.

Popped to the beach to say bye bye.

Short and sweet tonight as we are packing to leave in the morning for out long trip to Lake Okeechobbe, more on that tomorrow.

Nite Nite, luv Henry

Henrys first day

Hello all,

Well talk about being thrown in at the deep end. I was only put up in the shop for sale yesterday and Sue comes along and snaps me up. I hope I can keep up with poor Ernie and Fred as I am a bit new at this lark.

Anyway, after breakfast the first stop of the day is Walmart, to the people that don't know it's a massive store that sells everything, I havn't been to England yet but they tell me Asda is part of Walmart.   What a store, I was a bit worried when one of the staff came past us with a 3 wheeled bike, the aisle was that wide. Sue and Gloria stocked up with the daily goodies and off we went to the Zoo.

More worries for me as this was my first trip out with my new family, it was very bright and hot and Gloria bought Fred a pair of sunglasses, I kid you not.

Well I tell you, I was not happy to be taken to this place as the animals were not very friendly, what the dickens is that, I was so scared I WANTED TO GO BACK TO THE SHOP. After I calmed down I came down from the tree and went back in Sue's bag.

What a funny tree I was in.

I then calmed down and Sue took me to see some fawns and I felt a bit better.

Then they showed me a Panther, I was all right with that as he was asleep.

Well that's it I'm going back to the Hotel I have had enough of the Zoo.
Just as a finish I said that Gloria bought Fred some sun glasses, I know you all thought I was Joking..................

Well what can I say, who bought me into this rabble.

Nite, nite, luv Henry with the help of Fred  xxx

All turned out alright in the end

Hi Folks, Fred here again,

This is very tiring being in charge it wouldn't be so bad if I got paid for it.

Anyway's, we went to The John D Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo to chill out before going on to Naples. It was a lovely park, I enjoyed the sunshine but they didn't share their ice creams with me.

This was a view from the park looking across the lagoon. They had Kayaking, snorkling and swimming all rolled into one. Also on the site was a shop and an Aquarium.

I don't think I would like to get too near these Lion Fish but they did look pretty.

On the way back they did the washing, I don't know much about these launderette places but they said they hadn't seen anything like it.  I stayed in the car as I do not wish to take part in such activities.

They told me that the walls were painted by a local artist and the drier doors were etched with pictures of fish.

Close up of the doors.

On the wall above the machines.

Last shot of the door mat as we left.

Anyway back to the hotel and a good sleep before we packed and set off to Naples across the Everglades.

A 162 mile journey  with a stop at an Indian reservation before arriving at Naples

We.found the Comfort Inn which Sue and Mike stopped at 11 years ago. In the shop was a bear and our Sue fell in love with him straight away.
On his vest it says " I spent the night in Naples" and his name is Henry. He seems a bit young to do the blog but we decided to give him a try.

nite nite from a very happy group, Sue, Mike,Tony,Gloria,Fred and our new friend Henry XXX

We hope Eileen approves. (Fred has had  enough anyway and wants to go back to Ireland}

Fred at our beach

Right, well they did not bring me back a Guinness so I finished the Buds.

They all seemed to be enjoying themselves and Mike was up at 7.30am to do a recky of the site, wow, what a wonderful place with its own beach.

Me soaking up the sun..

Thought I would have a bit of  fun building sand castles.

Jetty at the end of our beach.

Mike at the end of the jetty, I take a mean picture, or perhaps it's the luck of the Irish.

Even the car park was beautiful, we will be sad to leave tomorrow.

I will  have so get back it my bag as we are going through the Everglades which is midge county on our way up to Naples. So wind the windows up and put the air-con on.

Wow, I need a looooooong sleep after that and a large Guinness.

See you later fans, luv, Fred XXX

Fred's day of fame or two

Hi there, my name is Fred

 I don't know why Gloria calls me that as I am an Irish Gnome. I am taking over from Ernie as the silly old fool has gone walk about,. Mike who is a very nice fellow asked me to hold the fort till that Ernie is found. so I agreed at a price.

Well they woke up at 7am, packed and had breakfast in that rather swanky hotel Mike was going on about yesterday. I thought it was a bit over the top for a Gnome but they liked it.

Tony drove another 80 plus miles to Key Largo which is on the Keys just before you turn off for Miami, I wanted to go into there and see all the Bikini clad girls but Gloria said I was too young, spoil sport.. Anyway they found a Hotel to stay in for 2 nights so at least I had a bed for the night.


During our stay we had a look around the town and Gloria got this shot of a mail box which I thought was very cool with the fish on top and not look like our ones back home.

Mike being a Mechanic wanted to look in the local auto shop as we had to oblige, he bought a lot of silly things. A squeegee for the windscreen and would you believe it yet another light for the garage back home.

Inside the store it was like an Aladdin's cave, full of tools and bits it was just like a big Halfords back home..

As we left we saw the most amazing car, a Thunderbird with its' own Keeys number plate, how cool is that..

Boy, they must still have money over here, or the luck of the Irish..

As we turned the corner, we were greeted to this on the side of a Diving shop wow, what a sight.


Right, back to the hotel for a nap, it's been a hard day taking over from that Ernie to be sure, to be sure.


Well that's it from me ,they have left me on my own so the could go and do some washing they said,. I bet they are in the bar, ah here they are now with a box of Budwiser, typical..


Nite nite, luv, Fred and the gang XX