Day 120 Ft Myers

Tom at Rod & Gun Club, Everglades City







Probably the only alligator I'll get to see






Airboat waiting for me







Quaint bar at Rod & Gun (note the warm clothes)








Rod & Gun Marina







The first Panther sign was for 7 miles







This past Saturday proved to be the most uncomfortable day of this cold snap. Although considered cold by Floridian standards, it still is an improvement over the Midwest. We spent the majority of the day chasing errands since we have a rental vehicle. We experienced a lot of traffic, some challenges (some self inflicted) It seemed that all of our retail store stops proved to be out of stock, out of season or we were just in the wrong store.

The day improved as we had a late lunch engagement with Gary and Karen Howe from Des Moines (they boat out of the Dubuque Yacht Basin). We pre-arranged to meet at Rondao’s sports bar & grille on McGregor Blvd. What a great place, about 50 TV’s, several very large screen and good food. It was truly a pleasure to see Karen & Gary who have been coming to Pine Island for many years. The N.E – Dallas game was on as well as U. of Iowa basketball and Iowa State Basketball all at the same time. After returning to the boat for the evening I spent time in the boater’s lounge assembling my new jigsaw puzzle. The box said 10-12 years but I finished it in one night.

Sunday after breakfast on board (and warming up) we drove down to Everglades City just to see the area. We ventured over to the famous Rod & Gun Club hoping to have lunch. Great place with a lot of history like stepping back in time. Unfortunately they have no need for heat producing equipment and the building was very cold. The hostess greeted us dressed in a winter jacket, gloves and a scarf wrapped tightly around her neck. Not a good sign for dinning. We opted to go elsewhere but did walk the grounds for a couple of photo opps. We drove around town, I had hoped for an airboat ride into the swamp area, however the weather mandated staying in the car with the heat on. I did get a shot of the “Panther Crossing” sign though.

We left Everglade City and drove up to Luke Besse and Jane Casanova’s beautiful condo at Paseo Development in Ft Myers. What a well designed, planned, landscaped development. Extremely well done. Jane graciously accepted the request to do my hair in her home. As usual Luke and Jane extended the warmest hospitality.

Today, Monday, we returned the rental vehicle back to enterprise and we are catching up on laundry, e-mails, blog entries and planning our departure to Marco Island in the next few days. The warm weather is still a day or two away from being what is considered normal. But all in all it has been a great stay here at Moss Marine. We have had a great opportunity to visit with many of our home town friends that have chosen Western Florida for their winter retreats.