Visit from Brian and Mary!!!

So today is our last day here in Punta Gorda.  We'll be packing everything up by tonight so we can leave EARLY tomorrow morning and head up to Sarasota.  Actually, our next stop is the FORD dealership in Sarasota!  Our "service engine soon" light came on while we were on our way down from Michigan and this was the first time we could get into a garage.  Technically we could stay here until the 1st of February, but we decided to leave one day early, take the rig to the garage and let them have it for the whole day.  Thursday night we'll just pull into a Walmart or someplace and then Friday morning we'll go to our next destination, which is Fort DeSoto in St. Pete's.  Cross your fingers for us that the engine light isn't anything big!

We've enjoyed our time here in Punta Gorda, but we are SO SO ready to get back into a campground.  We are very tired of having neighbors pushed in against us from every direction - we want to get back into a CAMPSITE, where we can have a campfire and some PRIVACY!  Two months in RV parks is about all we can take!  And Fort DeSoto is SO nice - we can't wait to get there!

So our BIG fun since my last blog is our visit from our dear friends Brian and Mary.  They flew down to St. Pete's on Sunday and stayed with Mary's mom in Bradenton, then came down to us Monday evening.  We took them to the Slip Knot, which is such a fun little bar here in town.  I don't have any pictures, which is too bad, because it's just a great "Florida" bar with the tiki hut look, a "pirate ship", big orange neon palm trees, and all the other tacky-but-fun stuff.  They stayed overnight and got up really early Tuesday to catch the ferry down to Key West, where they spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with Mary's friend Marilyn.  They came back to us late Thursday night and stayed until Sunday morning.  On Friday we took them "bar-hopping" to all our favorite places.  We went out to Pine Island and stopped in at Scott and Deb's for a minute (they weren't home so we kept moving), then we went to the Low Key Tiki, the Ragged Ass, then stopped at the American Legion where Scott and Deb were working the lunch service.  Brian and Mary got to meet our friends Paul and Mary, and then we headed back off the island, stopping at Bert's Bar in Matlacha for lunch.  We stopped back at the rig for a short time, then headed into Punta Gorda for a little tour of the area.  We made a stop at our favorite tiki bar by the Four Seasons, on the Peace River, and then took them up to Fisherman's Village for dinner at Harpoon Harry's.  I got some pictures, but I think Brian and Mary also took a bunch and I'm not sure we've shared them all yet, but I'll throw a couple in here just for fun.

Although we all had fun on Friday, Mary was dying for some R&R and sun-time by the pool, so on Saturday we did another little tour of Punta Gorda in the morning, stopping at the farmer's market for a quick walk-through, and then we came back to the park and let Mary "veg out" by the pool for the majority of the afternoon.  Saturday night we took them to the women's basketball game at the Alico Arena at FGCU.  We are so glad that they are both big-time sport fans and were happy to go to a game.  Both the women and men's teams were ranked #2 in their division and both were playing the #1 team, which was Stetson University from Deland.  The two women's teams were both 8-and-0, so it was a very exciting game and we all had a GREAT time watching the game - and our FGCU women WON, which of course made it even better.  It is just a lot of fun watching these games, and we're really glad that we decided years ago to look for basketball games to attend while we're traveling.  We didn't get home until late Saturday, so we all hit the sack and then Sunday morning we had a light breakfast with our friends and waved them good-bye as they headed back to St. Pete's for their flight home.  I think they had a great time soaking up some sun and we had a terrific time having visitors from home.  Brian and Mary are great guests-very easy to live with and very appreciative of every little thing.  They picked the perfect week to come down because Michigan had FRIGID temps last week.  We just wish they could have had more time down here before they had to go back to "real life" at home.

Other than our visit with them, the last week or so has been pretty much more of the same:  we rode our bikes into town, did a couple of "pool" afternoons, Dave put the kayak in a couple times and did a little fishing (...he has NOT had good luck fishing here in Alligator Creek and he is looking forward to Fort DeSoto if only for a new fishing venue!), took Brandi to the dog park in town a few times, and just generally relaxed and enjoyed life here in Punta Gorda.  I'm still trying to do a run every day or two, to get ready for a 5K at the end of March - the picture here is of one of the eight or so sandhill cranes that seem to live in the housing development I usually run through.  And I continue to do some work for Kerkstra, which I am enjoying, and that's kind of our life! Pretty good, huh?

Halfway through January already?

OK, THAT is hard to believe!  It's already January 18th and we are already past the mid-point of our time here in Punta Gorda.  We are kind of in love with this little town of less than 20,000 people.  I think we both agree we could envision ourselves living in this town in a while - but not for quite a few years, of course!  It's very nicely located - really pleasant winter weather (hotter than you-know-where in the summer, it goes without saying).  It's about halfway between the greater Fort Myers area and the Sarasota/Bradenton area, so you have access to all of the big-city amenities quite easily.  It feels like it's a bit off the beaten path - it's not a MAJOR tourist attraction because there are no beaches, and it's not directly on the Gulf.  But it has a lovely downtown waterfront area, along the Peace River.  The bike/walk paths are extensive and very pretty.  It has a somewhat fresher, newer feel about it, which we finally decided might be due to the recovery from Hurricane Charlie back in 2004.  It's our understanding that a LOT of buildings were lost to the hurricane and
a lot of subsequent rebuilding has taken place.  There are quite a few wide open lots scattered in unexpected places, and we THINK these may be the result of buildings that were destroyed and removed after the hurricane.  There is a nice commemorative statue on one of the waterfront paths that states that Hurricane Charlie "bent us but didn't break us".  We've been down to the riverfront a number of times now - we've ridden our bike a couple times, went down there one evening just to sit at the Tiki Bar and watch the sunset over the water, and today we did the 10K AVA walk.  I was very proud of Dave - he did the whole thing and only toward the very end did we digress slightly from the walking directions.  There's a nice event center right downtown, which we might try to get to before we leave.  There are a number of pleasant restaurants and bars, both here in Punta Gorda and directly across the river in Port Charlotte.  Port Charlotte has a larger shopping area, with a Sam's Club, a Kohl's and a pretty decent looking mall.  There are a number of places around here where you can put the kayaks into the water, plus there are a number of fishing docks.  I've seen the library, just from the outside, but it looks quite nice and there is a great little dog park right in town.  All in all, we just like the feel of the place.  We don't intend to move into a permanent location for years yet, since we hope to keep traveling between north and south for a long time; but we agree that when we have to settle in one place, we would prefer pleasant in the winter (even at the cost of hot in the summer) as opposed to pleasant in the summer but cold and snowy in the winter (i.e. south vs north).  (OK-having said all that, I still told Dave that before we EVER bought anything down here, we should rent a condo for a month - like in July or August - and see what it's REALLY like down here during that time of year!)

One of the places we really like along the bike path is this great little tiki bar right on the edge of the waterfront.  It's so cute - they brought in a bunch of white sand and put in a lot of andirondack chairs and little side tables and a gas firepit and people just come in and get their drink and sit wherever they want and watch the traffice going across the bridge to Port Charlotte.  We were there the other day and this woman came and sat down

with her big old German Shepherd ("Princess").  We stopped there another day when we were riding our bikes and there were a couple little kids playing in the sand with little sand pails and shovels - I assume the bar has them right there!  It's just a cute, comfy place to sit and relax.  We went there one evening just about sunset and watched the sun go down over the horizon, and then headed out for pizza.  Just a fun place!

So the "biggest" thing that's happened since my last posting in that I flew back to Grand Rapids for a couple days, for Kerkstra.  I flew up on Tuesday and had a great time having dinner with Cindi and Glennda that night.  I was staying at the Hyatt at M-6 and Byron Center so we just met at Monelli's across the street from my hotel.  Our house is totally shutdown for the winter (no hot water, refrigerator or anything) so there was no sense even thinking about going home for the two days - I wouldn't even know HOW to get everything up and running, plus it would be kind of stupid!  So I was happy that my friends just happened to be free that night - it was great to see them!  Then I worked all day Wednesday (actually, until about 9:30, then went back to the hotel and worked until about midnight) - Kerkstra readers, I hope you're taking note of this!!!  I worked until 3:30 or so on Thursday then flew back down to Florida.  Of course, with a connection in Atlanta (which is just CRAZY!) I didn't actually get back to the RV until about 1:00.  I was PRETTY tired!  But the trip went really well and we did some great work during the two days.  I think I may be coming back up in March and if I do I'm very tempted to pay for a little swing through Columbus for a couple days - we'll see!  It was very nice to see my co-workers at Kerksta, but BOY is there a lot of flu and colds there!  Yikes!  I am actually quite amazed that I got in there and back out without any signs of getting sick!  Maybe it's because my first evening, after my dinner with the "girls", I stopped at the Walgreens and got a big bottle of echinacea and a jug of hand sanitizer and used them both extensively during my visit.  Needless to say, it was nice to come back to my 80 degree weather down here.

Dave and I have been trying to do a little "day trip" just about every day, since our remaining time here is going to pass pretty quickly.  As I mentioned before, we've done a couple nice bike rides - I finally figured out the route for getting from the RV park to downtown via bike paths the whole way.  We did the AVA walk today, and yesterday we did another group kayak trip.  That is one thing that we've definitely enjoyed here.  This trip was over in Matlacha (which is the "bridge" to Pine Island).  We had a nice little paddle around the mangrove islands in the bay, although the wind definitely picked up on our way back to our put-in location.  I think there were supposed to be about 26 people - not sure if that's the right number - and with this being our second time we felt like we already knew some of the people and had a chance to meet
some new ones.  Although we tend to shy away from a lot of the park socializing, we are finding that we really do like this group of people, probably because they are more adventurous and physically active.  If they have another paddle next week, I assume we'll go since this would be the last time before we leave the park on January 31.  When I say we tend to avoid the social activities, the exception is the activity we joined in tonight - THE POTLUCK!  That is one event we DO tend to take advantage of.  As usual, we had delicious homemade food, and Dave was in bed reading by 7:30.  (You have to understand - the potluck is at 5:00 (!!!) and everybody has to eat and run so they can break down the tables and get set up for "movie night" at 7:00.)  Nope - we are definitely not QUITE ready for this lifestyle yet!!!!

We are still trying to get a little better acquainted with the broader geography in this area, since we've not been in this exact part of the state before.  On Wednesday, we went for a drive over to Gasparilla Island, which is home to the quaint (but upscale) little town of Boca Grande.  Gasparilla is only a mile or two from Pine Island as the crow flies, but is miles and miles to drive.  From our park, I think it was almost 30 miles to get to the very tip of the island.  But it was a very pleasant day trip for us - you have to go over the Peace River, north through Port Charlotte, then head west over to Placida and then south onto the causeway over to the island.  The island is fairly long and very narrow, and about halfway down the length of the island you get to Boca, which has a lot of cute shops and restaurants.  We stopped for ice cream - yummy - and went to the state park to walk along the shoreline.  The state park is comprised of about five separate beach areas strung along the length of the island.  We parked at one of them, got out and walked the shore, and ended up at the far southern tip of the island.  There is an OLD rennovated lighthouse at the end, which has been converted into a very interesting little museum that we stopped and visited.  Overall, a very nice way to spend the day - not positive we'll come back in the foreseeable future but glad we did it.  The only thing I'm bummed about is I forgot to bring my phone (therefore my camera) along and didn't get any pictures of the lighthouse or the island.

We had another fun event since my last post.  Scott and Deb had another one of their parties - they are such MAJOR party people - I'm in awe!  They throw these big parties 3 or 4 times while they're down here (plus we know they also have parties during the summer up in Michigan).  They probably had 60 or more people at the party and they did two great big turkeys, plus mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy (...sort of a Thanksgiving in January thing, I guess).  Plus everyone brought food, so there were just massive amounts of stuff to eat.  We met some nice people (from Grand Haven, no less) who bought a house across the river in Peace River, although right now they are only here for two or three months in the winter.  I'd like to talk to them sometime about the logistics of owning an actual house down here.  We talked to them quite a bit, along with Jim and Lanay (I really need to find out how to spell her name!), and Scott and Deb's neighbors Judy and Kurt - nice people all.  Of course, once again you have to remember most of their guests are retired, so the party started at noon, and the majority of the guests were gone by 6:00 or 7:00 or so.  We had to drive back to Punta Gorda so we were one of the couples leaving at about that time.  We love Scott and Deb - they are so friendly and warm and giving.

So I know I'm overlooking some little things, but I think that's the majority of what we've been doing.  The weather has been consistently about 10 degrees above normal - about 80 every single day - but we've heard it's going to cool down slightly - all the way to the lower 70's - for the remainder of the month.  We are SO excited because our dear friends Brian and Mary are going to be coming down for a couple days next week.  And they are REALLY brave, because they are going to actually stay in the RV with us - actually with us AND the dog AND the two cats.  It'll be interesting - hopefully they'll still be friends at the end of their visit.  I'll keep you all "posted"!!!!

Happy New Year from Punta Gorda

Oops, I've been a little remiss in posting, so it's "catch up" time tonight!  We are in Punta Gorda right now, at the Encore RV park ("Gulf View" is the park's actual name).  We got here on January 1 so have only been here a few days, but we really like it.  It's a little bit smaller park, only around 200 sites or so, but it feels really "homey".  The people seem to be really nice, very friendly...  In fact, when we pulled in and were setting up, a number of people stopped by and introduced themselves.  One lady, name Jodie, was riding her bike past us and came to a screeching halt when she saw that we had kayaks on the car.  She organizes kayak trips for the people in the park and told us there was a trip scheduled for Thursday and she invited us to join them.  (We did, but more about that later - but it was really fun!)  Anyway, we are here for the month of January and I think it'll be a good month for us.  We haven't spent much time in the Punta Gorda/Port Charlotte area and are looking forward to doing some exploring.  We DO know that we like the downtown area - we did an AVA walk here last winter so are a little bit familiar with the riverfront area, which is very nice and has a GREAT bike path.  Speaking of bikes, the only thing we've found to be disappointing or challenging is the lack of a decent way to ride our bikes into the downtown area.  It's less than 5 miles, but it's right along highway 41, which is CRAZY busy.  There are stretches of bike path, but then it abruptly stops.  I'm in the process of piecing together a way to get into town (this involves going BEHIND the Home Depot, then behind the Publix grocery store, down the sidewalk on Tripoli, then crossing 41 at the traffic light and picking up one of the sections of bike path - anyway, you get the idea!)  This is probably the main thing we miss about Pine Island - there is a GREAT bike path on the island, and after 3 miles of peddling you are in the little town of St James City where there are lots of cute bars and stuff.  On the other hand, we can put our kayaks right into the water here at this park, which we couldn't do on Pine Island.  One thing we've learned - EVERYPLACE has it's trade-offs - you always get some of what you want, but you never get ALL of it!  Once we find a place that has everything we want, we'll probably move there!!!!!!

So - I need to backtrack a little - I think I left off right after Christmas, with our little "feast" at the club house.  Right after that, on December 27th, I headed up to St. Augustine to hook up with Brenda and her family.  IT WAS SO WONDERFUL TO SEE THEM!  I got there about 2:00 on Thursday,

had all day Friday with them,
then headed back down here at about 2:00 on Saturday.  So a grand total of only 48 ho
urs, but it SEEMED like a lot longer than that!  They had come down to Jacksonville to spend Christmas with Arnie's daughter Anna and her family (...NOT the best visit, apparently, but no need to go there).  Arnie and the girls went on a horseback ride on Thursday so Brenda and my sweet little Emma drove down to St Augustine while they were on their ride.  (Brenda and Arnie were in one car, and Tessa, Chelsey and Emma drove down separately, so they had two cars down here.)  Anyway, I spent the afternoon with Brenda and the baby, then when Arnie and the girls got there we all walked downtown and spent the evening just wandering in and out of the little shops and the park - I got some nice pictures at the park, which was all lit up and looked so cute.  It was a little chilly - probably in the upper 40's or low 50's by evening, hence the coats!  Emma was such a little sweetie, but after a few hours Tessa took her back to their room (actually, back to MY room - I had invited one or the other of the girls to share my room, so we decided to just get a "pack and play"

from the office, put it in my room, and just have Tessa and Emma stay with me).  Brenda and Arnie and I went out to dinner - we found this nice little restaurant that had Cuban food - VERY good!  Then we were going to a little bar in town that had one of their favorite local performers - Billy Buchanan - playing.  Chelsey came back and re-joined us and we were out until MIDNIGHT!  VERY late for me!  We all got a little tipsy so poor Chelsey got to see her mom and her grandma being loud and dumb!  I hope she recovers from it!

On Friday we all went out to breakfast together, then I went with the girls to do some shopping and stuff and Brenda and Arnie got a little "alone time".  Later in the afternoon we walked around downtown again and this time Arnie took Emma and let us "girls" do our own thing.  We had sort of planned to go out on the town, but it kind of fizzled early - I was tired from the night before, Chelsey decided to go back to her room earlier than the rest of us, and Brenda kind of wanted to go back and pick up Arnie so they could go see Billy again.  But it was still a really nice evening - we did a little shopping, got ice cream cones, and just spent time together.  HEAVEN!  But that was the end of my time with the girls - they got up early and were on the road by 7:00!  They wanted to drive straight through, which they did - they hit a little bad weather at the end of the trip, but I think they got home by 11:00 that night! Driving all day with a baby!  I was VERY impressed!  So Brenda, Arnie and I went out to breakfast then walked around - Brenda wanted to walk over to a wedding cake bakery that she likes to visit whenevery they're in St Augustine - and after a few hours we stopped at this nice little place and had barbecue.  Good but not GREAT - but I couldn't care less about the food, I was ALL about spending the time with them.  At 2:00 it was time for hugs and kisses and good-byes.  I won't see them now until we get home - it'll probably be May before I am able to get down to Columbus for a visit - but I don't even want to think about that!

I am posting some pictures from the two days, and some require a couple notes.  The picture of Arnie and Emma on a "leash" is one of my favorites.  She is SUCH a walker now - I can't believe how much more she is walking (...or should I say RUNNING?) than when we saw her at Thanksgiving.  And she wants to walk ALL the time - she doesn't want to be carried (except on Grandpa's shoulders) or ride in her stroller.  So I ended up buying her this adorable little panda bear "harness" - and Arnie ended up "walking" her (like a little doggie!!) almost all afternoon on Friday - it was SO cute.  In fact, one of the cutest parts of the trip was when he took her into this little pocket park and they played "hide and seek" and Emma just BELLY laughed the whole time - she LOVES her grandpa!

And one of the things that Brenda and Arnie gave to the girls was the photo session at one of those "old time" studios where you get dressed up in period costumes and get your picture taken in all these weird or funny positions.  Of course, the girls are so beautiful and they looked so gorgeous in their Western "bar girl" outfits, and Emma was cute as could be in her little outfit.  We all had fun watching the photographer pose the girls and then try to get Emma to smile and sit still - good LUCK!

Overall, the time with all of them was my wonderful Christmas present - It was so great to just spend time walking, talking, laughing, eating, holding the baby.  Lots of times when I go down and visit them in Columbus, the girls are working or doing things with their friends so it was especially precious to spend time with them.  Merry Christmas to me!

OK - enough about that - move on.....  So I got back to Pine Island late on Saturday - the traffic was HORRENDOUS all the way back!!!!  We only had two more days left there, so just did a few more little things but mostly started getting ready for our next move.  We had agreed to a pretty low-key New Year's Eve, so we stopped in at the American Legion for a little while then headed back to the RV for the rest of the evening.  New Year's Eve just isn't that big a deal to us anymore - we've both done the New Year's Eve party thing many times and it just doesn't do much for us at this point.

On the first of January we moved up here to Punta Gorda (only a 28 mile drive, which was nice) and, as I mentioned above, we were invited to go out kayaking with some of the people from the park on Thursday.  There were 14 kayaks, so we caravaned to the "put in" point which was Don Pedro State Park - I'm still a little fuzzy on the geography here, so not positive what town that would be.  I know we went across the bridge into Port Charlotte and then headed west for about a half hour!  Anyway - the people were very welcoming and we had beautiful weather and a great afternoon with our new aquaintences, getting to know each other.  Some very nice folks!  Dave spent part of the time out on his kayak doing some fishing, then he pulled up and joined the rest of us on the beach.  We had all brought our lunches with us, and most of us had blankets or towels for sitting on the beach, some of us went for nice walks along the beach, picking up shells - it was just a very nice relaxing few hours with everyone doing whatever they felt like doing (I definitely saw some napping going on!).  The only downside of the trip was the fact that a "red tide" (algae bloom) had moved into the area and there were LOTS of dead fish - VERY smelly on our paddle across the intercoastal!!! It was impossible to paddle across without actually hitting some of the floating dead fish with either your paddles or your boat - NASTY!  But once we got to the island and crossed over to the beach, it was much better because we were now on Gulf waters rather than intercoastal waters.  Jody tells us that they will try to have a weekly paddle, so I'm sure we'll go on at least one more trip before we leave at the end of the month.  Unfortunately I didn't have my phone so don't have any pictures - but if we do another paddle with the group I'll definitely get pictures next time.

So I think I'm ALMOST caught up - today we drove

down to Estero and went to two basketball games at Florida Gulf Coast University.  Both the men and women won their games, which makes it fun!  We went to a few games at FGCU last year and really enjoyed them, so we were happy to see that there are a couple more double-headers during January.  We really like their arena (Alico Arena) and they have a beautiful campus.  There is another double header on January 19th so we're definitely planning on that one too.

We are really enjoying our trip this year (as usual!) but I'll be getting a little extra reinforcement of my gratitude for the opportunity to be down here - because I'm heading back up to Michigan for a few days this week.  I'm flying up on Tuesday, and spending Wednesday and Thursday at Kerkstra.  I'm looking forward to seeing all the people at Kerkstra, and I know we'll get some great work done together as a team during the two days, but I am NOT looking forward to being back in cold weather.  I've asked them to PLEASE be sure that no really bad weather happens while I'm up there, and they've assured me they'll take care of it!  So for my next posting I'll probably have some pictures of snow!!!!  And I'm sure I'll be VERY happy to be back in the nice warm weather down here!