Do We Stay or Do We Go?

Seventy-two degrees or twenty-two degrees?  It's a NO-BRAINER!  72 degrees wins every time! We are staying another day at Naples Motorcoach Resort after reading about the temperatures in the twenties in northern Florida and Mississippi. One more day here in Naples gives us a little more wiggle room for a warming trend starting Sunday in the northern parts of the state. We are definitely acting more like snowbirds, deciding not to move until it warms up. HOWEVER, let it be known that I actually don't mind mind heading out, I'm ready for cooler temperatures. ("What am I going to do with you? Ship you on a plane to Minnesota?" says E.) It's actually only in the mid fifties today, a cold front came through. Wonder how long it would take us to be like Floridians to get acclimated to southern temperatures and then find that 60 degrees is COLD?  You can tell who the northerners are by what people wear down here when it gets to the 60's.  People who have lived here for a long time don sweaters, jackets and hats when it's in the low 60's and they are shivering! People from up north might wear a long sleeve tee shirt, still have shorts on and be very comfortable.

Eldy in hot water, lol! 

What's funny is, last night we were sitting in the clubhouse with two other couples and we were all talking about how we check our cell phones every day for the weather "back home", and how we text our kids on a daily basis what the temperatures are here! And sometimes, just to tease a bit more, we send photos of what we are doing along with the latest temperature report...We sent this photo to Eldy's kids to tease them. It was -6 degrees back home when we sent it. That's pretty darn cold for Indiana!

Yesterday we enjoyed ourselves at the RV show in Fort Myers. We signed up for every possible free RV resort stay we could find!

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While we were signing up for freebies, we got to spin the wheel on a couple of vendor booths. Eldy won a month's stay at a certain campgrounds in Texas for 179.00. We will definitely check that out when we are down there as to the facilities. There were a choice of three places down at the very southern tip of Texas or some in Florida. While walking around, we ran  into two vendors that were at Nick's Rally last summer in August in Elkhart. It was like meeting old friends... We chatted for awhile. It was really great to catch up with them on where they had been and where they were going. We saw this enterprising gentleman who had a great voice and serenaded the visitors at the show. He had his chair decorated really terrifically in true Florida style!

Later in the evening, we went to the clubhouse to check out the entertainment and chatted with two couples who are "neighbors" on lots nearby to ours. There was music so we even did a little dancing. A couple who came out on the dance floor with us happened to ask where Eldy was from. He says, Elkhart, and they went crazy with questions..REALLY? Where at? We're from Elkhart, too! And that was fun for Eldy to have a little hometown chat with people who know your hometown area as well as you do...There are all kinds of neighbors when you RV..neighbors beside you at your site or anybody on your row at the campground but also we consider anybody "neighbors" to be someone who has lived in your hometown. It's just another way to feel more connected in the traveling world of RVers. The other day we even traveled down the road a few extra miles to leave a note at the campground site of fellow bloggers, Howard and Linda Payne.  We met them this summer in Michigan and Eldy had been following their blog, RV Dreams for a couple of years. They weren't home, so we let them know we were in town and in the same area and just gave them a friendly hello note. They are staying at a campground called Midway, in the Everglades, for 19.00 a night, right on 41. Fifty amp hookup but no water or sewer hookup.

By following blogs, we learn lots of great information-- tips and traveling destinations are just the tip of the iceberg. I would say RVers tend to make friendships quickly. By reading each other's blogs, we become a part of their lives and when we finally do meet up with them, it's like meeting old friends and we feel like we've known them for a long time.

We are really going to miss Naples when we leave....this is one of the most beautiful, clean cities we have ever seen in our 60 plus years of living...you are minutes from the Everglades, boating, islands, wonderful restaurants, the wildlife is incredible, and the beauty of nature is endless...

Roseate spoonbill flying in 10,000 Islands Preserve

Wish I could get little videos back into the blog now and then..having trouble with learning imovie and sharing little videos in the proper size. Had a funny little video of my jackhammering ibis bird friends in a feeding frenzy outside our motor home today, but just couldn't get it loaded properly! I was able to do it more easily when I had a PC for some reason. Stay tuned, one of these days, I'll have it figured out... We'll be on the road DEFINITELY Sunday morning early, heading for northern Florida. See you on the road!