Saturday November 19th 2016

There were more clouds than sun today, but it didn’t really feel like a cloudy day. The temperature got to the high 70s. Tonight and the next couple of days are predicted to be well below normal temperature. I might even have to wear a long sleeve shirt. I can’t complain about this weather when the TV news is talking about the first major snow storm crossing the country to the north. I’m just getting spoiled by the good weather.

I started the day slowly. I had my morning coffee outside watching the fish in the river. Every minute or so a fish would break the surface of the water. Usually it was only a ripple, but a couple of times a fish actually jumped clear of the water. It’s cheap entertainment that lasted until a breeze came up to disturb the calm surface.

Waiting for the lock.

My morning exercise was a couple of laps around the campground. It isn’t a long walk. The campground only has thirty sites in a figure eight pattern. The nice thing is that every site has a view of the river. I enjoy checking out the boat traffic and the folks fishing from the bank and the pier connected to the dam. I still haven’t seen anybody catch a fish.

All white boat waiting for the lock

This afternoon I took a drive to Pine Island. It is a barrier island northwest of Fort Meyers. I was expecting a similar experience to Fort Meyers Beach. It was totally different. I didn’t find any beaches or houses lining the shore. I found a forested island with small fishing style villages. What homes I saw were far more modest than on some of the other islands. Often the homes were older one story dwellings on canals. Along the main north south road there were several trail heads for hiking paths into the pine forests. It’s nice to knnow that the island offers a different type of experience.

This evening the campground smells of wood smoke. The weekend campers are all gathered around campfires. The good thing is they are enjoying their weekend here without getting noisy. I’ve been in a few public campgrounds that can get very rowdy on the weekends.