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"!!!!