Day 130: Saturday, January 12, 2013

Port to Port: Fort Myers Beach

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 0      Stayed At: Marina

First Things First: Rode a bike (thanks Boomerang) to get a flu shot and go to Publix grocery store at other end of island.

Mile to Mile: Illinois, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Ontario and, of course, Florida were just a few of the license plates I saw on my walk this morning. Florida is filled with people not from Florida – especially at this time of the year.

After finishing blogging about yesterday, I tried to figure out a way to run new wires to the base of the mast for a new mast light connection – one of the old wires corroded away and broke below the deck. I was unsuccessful in getting the remaining wire to move either up or down (to use to pull new wires through) so I gave up and cleaned the cockpit instead – a little soapy water with bleach and some elbow grease and we have at sparkly white boat again. Pretty amazing for a 32 year old boat.

Florida is an interesting place – especially compared to Minnesota. We may have higher taxes in Minnesota but at least we invest in decent infrastructure like roads and sidewalks. Florida invests in the bare minimum and hopes for the best. You take your life into your hands walking or biking or even driving around Fort Myers Beach. You would think a tourist area would want people to get around easily, quickly and safely but I guess not. Everyone is forced to drive everywhere making traffic horrendous and parking a nightmare. The do keep the beaches clean and neat, though – even with thousands of people a day on the beach, I have seen very little trash anywhere. And it’s warm and sunny.

Cindy is in Mesa, Arizona now for a little over a week and is enjoying record breaking cold weather. And she didn’t bring her cold weather coat. At least half of us are warm and cozy.