A month at Imperial Bonita Estates

   

     It's been nearly a month since we arrived at Imperial Bonita Estates at Bonita Springs, Fl.  We arrived with a little trepidation, not knowing what to expect but our blogging friends John and Sharon (On the Road of Retirement) had stayed here previously and recommended it.  It was going to be a new experience for us to sit and relax in one spot for a month, and I was wondering how long till what they call "hitch itch" would kick in.  "Hitch itch" refers to that anxious feeling one experiences when one wants to pack things up and get moving down the road.  But our fears were soon calmed as neighbor after neighbor welcomed us to the park, wanting to know where we were from and where we were destined.  Debbie knew I would be fine when she started looking for me about 7 minutes after leveling the coach, and finding me sitting with a neighbor, sharing our first adult beverage.    Our first acquaintances were John and Diane from Ontario Canada who are long term snowbirds.  They've been coming to IBE for years and filled us in on all the goings on around here.   "Red" from Syracuse, who has a park model across the street, invited me to join in on the morning horseshoe game which starts promptly at 8 AM.  John likes the "cornhole" that occurs every Wednesday at around 4 PM or the beanbag baseball games that occur each week.  Then about 3 days into our stay we met Jean, formerly from Syracuse, now a resident of Buffalo, who also has a park model right behind us.  Turns out she's really from Ilion, NY, and a great friend of Vivian, Char's mom!  As she started going through the family history, I thought for a moment she was going to end up being a relative!
     A few days later we met Steve from Indiana, who had contacted us through RVillage.  RVillage is a website currently with over 14,000 members and growing, who are living the RV lifestyle.  The site is very similar to  Facebook with the common theme being anything pertaining to RV's.  One of the most interesting functions of RVillage is having the ability to sign in/out of the various campgrounds through RVillage, and also be able to see  any other RVillagers are also camping in your campground or nearby.  When I checked-in, I saw that there were 2 members in the park.  Steve was interested in our Tiffin so I invited him over to see it.  We soon found many common interests including the fact that he is the Sheriff patrol on his lake in Indiana.  We ran into him at the RV show in Tampa, and we've stopped to visit each other in IBE.  It's just a nice way to meet fellow RV'ers if you're the bashful type.

     Time has passed very quickly at IBE even though we've found ourselves relaxing more on the premises than out touring around as we usually do.  Traffic around here can be a little heavy especially on the weekends. We've made 2 attempts to visit Ft Myers, and each time have turned around because of the stand still traffic, especially over near the beach.  We did work our way around Ft Myers and over to Sanibel Island.  After crossing the bridge to get on the island, we noticed 2 guys fly fishing out in the bay.  There was a Ranger parked across the street, so I wandered over to see if I could get some information on fishing.  The poor girls looked at me like I had 3 eyes, and responded that she had no idea on fishing tactics from the shore.  She must be really enjoying her job as a Ranger!  We grabbed a quick burger at Schnapper's Hots, a little burger joint on the island.  The burger and fries were great, and I would bet there's quite a challenge to get in during the busier season.  We were lucky that day, and found a parking spot without much trouble.
     Debbie has made sure that we attend Sunday Mass and we've been amazed at the cash this local church collects each Sunday.  Even more amazing was the collection at Christmas....nearly $57,000!  The following Sunday they picked up an additional $26,000!  With just a little help from this parish, we could pay off the debt at St Mary's in just a couple of weeks.
     We've made a few attempts at getting to the beach, but as ya'll know, I'm not a beach person, and even Debbie is starting to enjoy the pool over the beach.  Maybe the Princess is right...."Too Sticky"! But the temps have cooled down a little and the wind is up, but not to the point where we have to start worrying about windchill.  So Debbie and I meandered over to Barefoot Beach anticipating that the cooler weather would lessen the crowds.  We had no problem locating a parking spot and pulled our chairs up and enjoyed the pounding surf.  The beach is very nice with soft white sand, and it would be interesting to visit when the wind has quit and the surf isn't so rough.

 There were hundreds of these star fish all along the beach and people seemed to be picking them up for souvenirs.  I bet today when they open up that plastic bag and the odor hits them, they'll be headed for the trash.  With the cooler weather, the manatees have returned to IBE and it's always fun to see them.  They are pretty ugly....but harmless...and they just keep to themselves.
      And everyone seemed so concerned with my lack of visits to the barbershop.

 I haven't officially been to a barbershop since March 2014 in Ocotillo, Ca.   So Erika volunteered to clean me up a little bit.  My only concern was that she kept me handsome, and I think she succeeded!  So I'm all cleaned up and I told her I'll be back next year for a little trim.
     We closed out our bingo season at IBE last night, and out table ended with 7 bingo's!  I brought home $17.50, having to share a $35.00 pot with some senior citizen.  Debbie still hasn't been able to figure out how the game is played, but she's a sport for going every week.  Although I don't think I'd get her back for a game next week. Today we're making final preparations for our Friday departure.  Debbie is cleaning up the inside and I've been checking all the tire pressures making sure everything is ok.  Everything appears to be fine.  Tonight we're going out for pizza with Erika and Dave.  Steve stopped over this morning to say goodbye, and hopefully our paths will cross again.  He had several suggestions for parks for us to visit, so we've got to check them out.  I'm sure our paths will cross again, and since we're "friends" on RVillage, I'll be able to keep track of his location.  I think Big Red is anxious to get back on the road also.  Everything needs to get lubed up again.  So we'll be doing 2 more weeks in Key West at Bluewater Key, our favorite haunt.  Then up the west coast of Florida to visit Annette in Pensacola.  Then we'll have to make a decision on how fast we want to get to California and how we want to cross Texas.  Plenty of time before we need to make those decisions though.  Hopefully I'll get a lot better a keeping up with this blog as we get moving along.  Goodbye IBE and hello Key West!