A Day on Pine Island with a Visit with Ray and Barb!

I actually got up before Ken today and was in the LR doing some reading when Ken got up at 7:40.  He did his reading in bed.  We did some clean-up and then had flax pancakes for breakfast.

Ken continued doing more clean-up while I got ready.  He also did some more cleaning of our shells and sharks teeth and then set them out to dry.  We did have a few showers early, so we were not able to put anything away outside in preparation for our move tomorrow.

I vacuumed Waldo while Ken dumped our tanks and then disconnected the sewer line.  Ray and Barb, folks who camped beside us in Royal Coachman about 4 years ago, arrived at our campsite at 11.  In 2007 they had camped on Pine Island and were excited to come back and have lunch at Captain Con's at the end of the island in Bokeelia.  We had seen them in November when we had stayed at Royal Coachman for 2 weeks with Chuck and Melissa, so we were so happy to see them again.  They toured Waldo and then at 11:45 we headed to Captain Con's.  Barb loves coconut shrimp and says they have the absolute best she has ever eaten and she has had them at many different restaurants.  She was not disappointed!  She had me try one with their special sauce and it was positively delicious.  After lunch, they left to go back to Venice.  We sure had a good time with them!  We have plans to go to Rib City on Friday with them and Chuck and Melissa when we are camping in the Venice area.

A great little restaurant overlooking the water!

Our friends, Ray and Barb.  Don't the coconut shrimp
look delicious????

The view across from the restaurant.
This is a public fishing pier that had damage
in January doing some violent storms.  Several
other private piers in the area also had parts
washed away!

We were back to Waldo by 2:15 and we got the laundry together and I went to the CG laundromat.  Ken worked outside getting everything put away for tomorrow's trip back to Rambler's Rest CG in Venice for one more week. He had a lot of the work done when I returned at 4:15.  We worked together putting the laundry away and a few things outside.  

Then we decided to take a little time to sit outside to enjoy the beautiful day and the pond view.  It was around 80 degrees with lots of sunshine and a nice breeze.  Another gorgeous day!

We took a 1/2 hour walk around the park stopping to chat with numerous campers we know.  We actually saw Bill and Donna going thru the CG and we knew they are staying at Rambler's Rest.  They were just driving through showing to the couple that are camped beside them Pine Island and the CG.  So good to see them again.   Back by 6 to have dinner and watch the local and national news.  

It was a beautiful evening so we decided to take another walk, stopping to say our good-byes to several of the couples we have seen here and spent time with over the last several years - Ed and Sandy, Coy and Betsy, and Paul and Reggie. We had a nice visit with all of them.

Back to Waldo by 10:15 and I had a chat with my mother.  Dad has a bad case of cellulitis and so far they haven't found an antibiotic that helps stop the infection.  Today they inserted a port and he will receive an antibiotic via an IV for 1 hour per day for 7 days.  We are hoping and praying that it will be effective.

Did a little preparation inside for tomorrow's trip to Venice, a 1 3/4 hour drive from here.  We hope to beat the thunderstorms that are predicted.