Joe's Retirement Travels

Saturday in Captiva.   Beautiful morning here in paradise.   Coffee and breakfast on the porch overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. After breakfast Barbara and Barry and I went on a bike ride up to the marina and around the north end of the property.   We also biked down to the main part of Captiva to The Mucky Duck. When we returned to our building we visited with the Fiess's in the pool.    Barbara prepared a lunch for me to take for my drive to pick up Jessie & Marty at the airport in Ft. Myers. Picked up Jessie and Marty and stopped at a Publix for more groceries.   Returned to our building on the resort and jumped into swimsuits and into the gulf.   Water was about 84-deg.!!   Felt great. Barbara prepared salad and fruit bowls and cooked some baked beans.   Barry and Matt cooked chicken and hamburgers and sausages and hot dogs on the barbecue grill out at the pool. Here are a few pics...

Recovering from a 260-mile drive to go see a hockey game was tough this morning.  Took a refreshing shower, started packing for the next phase of travel.    Need to re-organize the Rav4 to allow for David & Ruth Ann's luggage and groceries.    Had a good visit with Scott's brother and his wife and mother-in-law, who just arrived after using Scott & Sue's unit at Captiva. Drove out to RSW to pick up David & Ruth Ann.   They had a long day, early morning flight from Spokane -through- Denver -to- Ft. Myers.    We then drove to a grocery store, Publix, and bought groceries for a week. Jeanette and Matt and kids had a 4-hour drive from Orlando.  They also stopped for groceries. We pulled in to the South Seas Island Resort and after finishing at the registration desk we drove up to our unit.  We had to hustle to move in all the luggage and groceries before heading to the beach for the 7 o'clock sunset.    So ...

Fun day at Scott & Sue's.    Lovely house, great guest room, wonderful hosts!   AND .. a fun little girl to play with, Peanut.   She's smaller than Java, but just as skittish and nervous.   But cuuuute! Here's a pic of their house : I told Sue about my idea of a dinosaur kit for Cameron and I to play with at Captiva and that I had seen something that might work at Home Depot in the Halloween section, she looked up on-line and found some better kits at Joann's.    We drove there and bought a couple of different ones.  This will be a surprise for Cameron, I'll show you pic's and a description of what we do in storytelling. Afterwards, since they knew I had a long drive to Tampa and that I'd probably not get a full meal before the game, they treated me to lunch at PINCHERS, "from the water to the table". An interesting seafood restaurant.   Our young server was from the Netherlands.   We had a lo...

Here's a typical blogging-post work set-up, every night this trip.  Trusty wifi-enabled Chromebook, map(s), notebook that I scribble in during the day, wire-bound research compendium, and my organizing binder with trip facts.   So far so good.   Been fun. Because I closed yesterday's post with thoughts and observations of the devastation of Hurricane Michael in the Florida panhandle, I didn't mention my stop at the stunning facility on I-10, the Florida WELCOME CENTER !   Wow!  It's like a Disney attraction.    Since tourism is No.1 in Florida, they went 'all in' on this location.    Here's a few pic's.    A couple of greeters are there to answer any questions, direct you to large sections of wall that have many brochures and maps for different parts of the state, and then they offer you orange or grapefruit juice! I also meant to list a bunch of interesting river names.   After today's...

Tallahassee  -or-  bust!  today .. After last night's torrential rainstorms in New Orleans, I thought, as Mr. Cronn suggested, I'd have to install pontoons on the Rav4 to get out of town.    I thought I was re-living Katrina! My adventures in driving through the aftermath of Hurricane Michael was coming up in the pm. On I-10 and headed East, through 60-miles of thick fog .. Here's what it looked like through the windshield :   camera's optics show it better than what I saw .. Here's 1st rest stop, see standing water in background : historical sign, of course : I saw a sign at the Gulfport exit that said  .. Navy Seabee Museum.   Oh boy!   Went to the main gate and was told it didn't open until 10 (it was 8:30!).    dogGONE it !   timing has been 'off' this trip On to Biloxi.   You could tell they're still rebuilding, after all of these years after Katrina, Biloxi, ...

Last day in 'nawleens'.   Walked several blocks to a cafe for breakfast.    Jon and Salli called from Korea on my walk.  They were checking on me.   They are working on a collage or album of their trip to France for Salli's cousin's wedding.  They'll let us know when they're ready to share.  Afterwards, I secured a LYFT ride down to the museum.  But, before my ride, I took a few more 'traditional' trip pic's : Then- on to this famous museum!  Picked the right day to be inside.  It rained several times during the day.  I think all of the tourists thought the same thing, but not until later in the day!    It was sparse for the first 3-1/2 hours! It starts with a simulated train ride where they explain how to use your 'dog tag' card. I used my card at many kiosks throughout the exhibits.  You can follow what I selected by going to : DogTagExperience.org  and  putting in my no...