Kevin B Parsons: 50 States, Day 275

Pine Island, 63 miles

"Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement."

~Brian Tracy

Between the Florida weather, the friendly campground and the lovely landscaping on the island, leaving becomes a bit of a challenge. That and rumors of ice storms in Georgia.

We're parked outside the rec center, so today Libby and the tent are in center field of... um, bean bag baseball. The players toss bean bags toward the target and through the single, double, triple or home run holes, and should they miss them three times, they are out. If they get a 'hit' they walk to the appropriate base. This looks like fun, but they are into it! Last week was the All Star Game, and 150 people attended. Toward the end of the season they have a World Series, the American League versus the National League. This could be a fun place to live part time.

The laundry became a chore today as Donkey Boy brought the clothes to the 'mat and QG washed, dried and read. After an hour in the dryer, she checked them and they were cold! It made for marathon cleaning today.

I heard there was a car show in town so putted to N. Ft. Myers to gawk at the iron. Some really nice old cars. Having spent many years at Hot August Nights in Reno where 4,000 cars attend, I'm a classic car snob, but some of them were really nice. And I noticed something when the meet ended. People started up their cars and drove off.

Way less noisy than in the past.

Where once they loved the roar of a big old V-8 engine, they're building them more quiet and understated. It's the Geezer Effect.

And now, smelling like freshly washed cotton, Quilter Girl!

There is a great library here, filled with lots of good books that I haven't read, at least as far as I can remember. I could use finishing my book as an excuse for not noticing the dryer not heating, but the truth is, I just didn't think to check it. It was a long morning at the laundry. After the clothes were put away we were heading out for lunner when we asked one of the snowbirds for a restaurant recommendation. She immediately said Captain Cons at the north end of the island. Sounded good so off we went. The ride was great, almost the whole length of the island, past many palm tree nurseries. I suppose most of the palms in the south were started here.

We found the restaurant at the very end of the road, looking out on the gulf. The building has been around many years and oozes personality. Definitely a local place. The food was great, Kevin had seafood, flounder and deviled crab, while I had a bacon cheeseburger. We both had cole slaw with our meals and ate every bite, it was so good. There was pie being served to the table next to us before we ordered that made our mouths water, but there was no room after the wonderful meals. We walked out on the pier to watch the pelicans feeding. They are very clumsy and just plop onto the water, no grace at all. Sometimes they even go in beak first and come up with a fish. They were very fun to watch.