This week’s photos are of inland Collier County near Immokalee. My commute through citrus groves and cattle ranches has changed a lot since moving here in the summer of 2018. There has been a lot of housing development. Citrus groves are failing due to a disease, and it’s sad to see so many dead orange trees in long rows, untended, dry, and gray. These farmers are selling their land to housing developers. People are moving here in droves, and closer to the populated towns and villages the roads are being widened. Normally, with the hours I am commuting, there isn’t too much traffic. 
A few weeks ago an accident on the two lane road I take prompted me to take a detour on a gravel road which I recalled hearing would loop around back to the main road. It was fun in a strange way. Deep under tall pines and surrounded by saw palmetto, I dodged ruts in road and tried not to get my passenger side scratched up in the brush. I saw that a few houses had lights on, and old mailboxes with reflectors shone in my headlights. I wanted to drive through it another time, so I could really see what it was like back in there.
These photos are of that neighborhood in daylight. One of the properties for sale has an old, very long corrugated metal roofed house and 21 acres. They are asking a million and a half for it. Another has a large carport and outbuildings. People park their RV under there, and they have 5 acres. They are asking $220,000. I suppose if I drive through here in another 5 years, this will be developed. I’m not in favor of progress. Unless it’s wise stewardship and cleaning up messes, I suppose. That’d be real progress.
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