We are up before dawn and on our way to Naples, FL. With little traffic, it was a relaxing drive down to Plant City. Aunt Ruth had told us about their fantastic strawberries and she was right; sweet, delicious, and $4.99 for a half a flat. Of course, we loaded up on other fruits and vegetables, as well. To get that excited over fresh and ripe fruits and veggies shows that we have been in Alaska for 38 years. I have been known to embarrass my friend Barb, more than once, at the Pike’s Place Market in Seattle, oohing, aahing and taking pictures of the produce! We arrive in Naples in the late afternoon and head to Wal-Mart to get our shopping done. It was such a lovely evening and perfect for a walking.
We woke to a torrential rainstorm, as well as thunder and lightning. Fortunately, it had let up some by the time our friends, Nancy and Bob Walker came to pick us up. We had not seen them for over almost 40 years. We have some great memories of visiting them in Glens Falls, NY, riding motorcycles, and their phenomenal breakfast feasts on the weekend. Here we were back in their kitchen, this time in Florida, smelling bacon, sausage, and freshly caught fish. Bob (Walker) had gone out fishing and caught some sea trout, black drum, and one other species for us to try, However, after filleting the fish, he turned his back just long enough for some hungry pelicans to steal all but the trout fillets. They have a lovely place on a canal with their boat tied up right in front of their house.
When we went down to go for a boat ride, the pelicans were right there waiting for another treat.
After such a hard rainstorm, it was hard to believe that the day turned out to be so beautiful and warm. We saw lots of nesting Osprey on our boat ride, Great Blue Herons, and Egrets.
Back at their place, we spent the afternoon catching up…40 years is a lot of time to cover, but it felt like our friendship picked right up where we left off. They took us for a ride to Marco Island, Collier Seminole State Park and to a quaint little fishing village, called Goodland. Afterwords,we went to dinner at one of their local barbeque restaurants. It seems that we have started a new tradition of trying the barbecue in each state that we visit. Sadly, it was time for them to bring us back to our 5th wheel. It might take some doing, but we promised Nancy that we would try to persuade Bob into coming to Alaska. We assured him that there would be plenty of good fishing and no pelicans to steal his fish. OK, so we forgot to tell him about the bears! Thanks guys for a wonderful day and let’s not wait another 40 years before we see each other.
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