Another Day in Paradise!

Today was another gorgeous day in Pine Island.  Actually had to do some work today - Laundry!  Imagine that!  After 10 days on the road, it was a necessity!  We enjoyed a walk around the park and then Ken went to the Earth and Spirit Gallery to take an outdoor Yoga Class with Deb.  He had taken numerous classes with her last year!  They were happy to reconnect!  After lunch we took our 1st ride on our new bikes - they are very comfortable and ride well!  We rode to St. James City at the end of the island and pedaled around the area.  Enjoyed.  Then I left Ken beat me at a game of 2 handed pinochle (NOT).  Spent 1 1/2 hours sitting by the pool.  Grilled dinner and then went to the clubhouse to enjoy a music group made up of musicians who stay at this park every year.  They are very good and entertaining.  There was actually a wedding here at the CG at 5:00 and the group played for the reception.  The entire park was invited for appetizers, cake, and free beer and champagne.  What a hoot!!!  The drummer in the band is the manager of maintenance for the park and the women who manage the park love dancing and being part of the fun. 



Removing the Garter!



Ken trying to catch the Garter!
Bride said it was for luck since
most of the men were married!



Today was another sunny day with temperatures in the 80's.  What's not to love here in Florida!!!

Bonnie 

One of the Reasons We Love Camping!

Wanted to share one of the reasons we love to camp - meeting new people!  At Pine Island one of our neighbors (but only for 2 days) was Slim and Barb Lehart from West Virginia.  After talking with them, we learned that Slim is a well-known country singer throughout his home area.  Barb sang with him at times, but not regularly.  He brought his guitar over to our campsite and asked if he could sing a couple songs for us.  Barb even agreed to join him for one of them.  We had our own private concert.   They had amazing voices and were some of the kindest people!  You could tell they love entertaining.  They lived neighbors to Brad Paisley, and Brad actually mentions Slim as one of the people who encouraged and helped him in his musical career.  Small World!!!

If you have an interest in learning more about Slim Lehart you can go on his website at http://www.slimlehart.com/.  It is interesting and gives you insight into a very nice gentleman with a passion for country music.

Another Day in Pine Island!

We got up around 7:15 and took a walk around the CG.  Again, it was 67 degrees.  Loving it!  We talked to the bike shop and told them we are ready to purchase new bikes.  We had ridden some they had in the shop yesterday and told him to please get them ready for us to pick up later today.  So, we decided to head to Fort Myers Beach to spend the day soaking up the sun since it is near the bike shop.  What a gorgeous day to be on the beach.  It was in the low 80's with no breeze and total sun.  We spent 3 hours walking along the beach and then reading.  At 4:00 we picked up our new bikes - Jamus brand.  It is exciting, but sad to see the old ones go.  They were a gift from our girls about 7 years ago for a combined birthday and Christmas gift.  They were afraid we would buy cheap bikes so they got us a gift certificate to a local bike shop.  How nice!  So they were abit sentimental.  

How deep is the snow?  Is it this deep???


Spent time talking to our neighbors and then made dinner.  Spent most of the evening posting on this blog.  I am learning as I go!


Tomorrow looks like another great day in "Paradise".  So sorry we are missing all the snow and ice in PA - NOT!!!!!

Find the painted telephone poles so unique and such a bonus when driving on the island.  Each design was submitted by a local artist and then approved to be painted on the pole!

2nd Day in Pine Island

What a beautiful day! It was 67 degrees when we got up at 7:00 and went all the way to 80.  We took a walk around the park and cooked a great breakfast.  Today is the day to figure out what we are going to do with our mangled bikes.  Bikes don't fair very well when the bike rack drags on Route 95 and the bikes bounce up and down!  So, we 1st took them to a small bike shop on Pine Island.  We were abit disappointed that he didn't even take them off the bike rack but was still able to give us the amount it would cost to fix them.   Also said he would have to order the parts and it would take till the middle of next week before they would be ready.  Not what we wanted to hear!  After all, Pine Island is the place we like to ride our bikes.  So, we decided to get a 2nd opinion.  We had to drive to near Ft. Myers Beach where there was a bike shop that sold the same brand of bikes we have - Raleigh.  To make a long story short, we learned that the bikes were damaged beyond repair - Wow!  We talked to Gayle Klines RV to give them an update. 

Back to our campsite by 3:00.  We went for a walk to the area nearby where bald eagles are nesting.  Incredible to watch.

We are so happy to be back at Pine Island.  It is a friendly CG with many activities, including a red bus that takes campers on excursions throughout the week.  We are really enjoying "Willie" and all the space we have in the kitchen.  Both Ken and I can work together and not be bumping into each other!

First Day at Pine Island

Our drive from Holiday Travel Resort to Pine Island was uneventful, fortunately.  We had left around 10:15 AM and got to Pine Island CG (Encore Park) around 3:30.  Friendly folks on either side of us.  Ken, an employee of the park did a great job of escorting us to our site and directing Ken and "Willie" into our site.  (Ken told them as soon as we checked in that this was his 1st time backing "Willie" into a site and they went out of their way to make it easy for us.)  The other Ken has a 5th wheel too so he was pro in the "help" department.

We took a walk around the park and we chatted with 2 parties we had met her last year - Paul and Deb Keller from Stevens and Barry and Deb from Canada.  Then we realized the people across from us were here last year too - Ed and Sandy.  So we feel right at home. 

Had a later dinner and then went to bed rather early.  Our 6 week stay in Florida officially begins!

Holiday Travel Resort in Florida! Love this place!

So glad we came to this great resort!  (Only stopped there because the Geeks on Tour were offering their on the road computer classes. ) This campground had some of the friendliest people we have ever met on the road and more activities than you can begin to imagine!  We took a Google Earth class on Thursday that was incredible.  It is a free download from Google that you really should see to believe.  It is like having a globe on screen.  You can even put in your home address and it will pull up your exact property.  Check it out.  On Friday we took the 6 hour Boot Camp with the Geeks and learned so much.  Then on Saturday we went to an instruction class for learning to play shuffleboard.  We had played many times before, but there is definitely a lot to learn when playing the game properly.  At Holiday Travel they take the sport very seriously.  Ray, our instructor, was terrific and so much fun.  We had 1 on 1 instruction and really enjoyed the 1 1/2 hour class.  That afternoon, I played round robin tennis for about 2 hours and had a great time.  Other amenities at the CG include a beautiful outdoor pool, heated indoor pool with hot tub that is open 24 hours, 4 lighted tennis courts, 12 shuffleboard courts, bocce ball, volleyball courts, a par 3 golf course, miniature golf, any card game imaginable, computer classes, breakfast and lunch restaurant, doggie park, and a marina.  You could be busy all the time if you wanted.  The amazing part is that everything is included.  There are about 900 sites and about 700 of them our permanent sites.  But, everyone is so welcoming to the people who are just passing through.  We enjoyed the quietness of the area and so much less traffic.

Round Robin Tennis

Beautiful Marina Area



Softball field complete with
electronic scoreboard.  The CG
has 6 teams.



Holiday Travel Resort in Leesburg FL



Jim and Chris, The Geeks!



Thought I should explain how we chose the Holiday Travel Resort as our 1st destination in Florida.  For at least 3 years, Ken has been following the website of "Geeks on Tour".  He enjoys their information and was fascinated by the fact that they are fulltimers!  In October of 2009, Ken and I camped on Jekyll Island in Georgia.  When walking through the campground I said to Ken, "Look at the Class C with the words Geeks on Tour.  Ken immediately said that those are the folks I have been following for a long time.  When we passed the next day, Jim was outside, so we began chatting.  He invited inside to see all their computer set-ups.  Then Chris and her mother returned.  What gracious people!  We had been wanting to take some computer classes with them, but never seemed to be at the same area at the same time.  I noticed on their website, that they were offering classes and their Boot Camp at the Holiday Travel Resort the week before we had planned to be in Florida.  Ken and I decided to leave early so we could attend some of their classes.  So, that is how we got to Holiday Travel Resort.  We were fortunate enough to arrive in time to have dinner on Wednesday evening with Roxie and Charlie and Chris and Jim and several other computer classmates.  Roxie was in charge of the computer class scheduling and has such a passion for her job.  I had a great time communicating with her before we arrived in Florida.  I felt like Roxie and Charlie were the welcoming committee when we arrived.  If you ever have the opportunity to take a class offered by the Geeks on Tour, don't pass it up.  You will learn so much in such a relaxed atmosphere.  After Boot Camp, a 6 hour session, Jim and Chris also helped classmates "clean up their computers", put on free spy wear, and she did a 1 on 1 with me concerning setting up a blog site, since we arrived too late for me to take that class.  We were so grateful for the time we had with them.  They come back to our 5th wheel after the class and we got to share our adventures and alittle about our families.  Check them out at http://www.geeksontour.com/. 



This is their full-time home!