Ghost Towns, or RV Parks

Last week we parked the rig at Shady Acres RV Resort near Ft Myers FL. We had a large selection of sites to choose from since most of the "snow-birds" have already migrated north. We really enjoyed the park, the clubhouse was nice, the bathrooms were a bit on the fancy side, and the pool was heated. With the Passport America discount it was even affordable at $22 a night.



The park has a small lake in it with some sites "on the water".



We even saw the park alligator lounging on the bank next to the deck that over looks the lake. It was a small gator, and I'm sure they will be calling someone to trap it once it gets big enough to start causing problems with all the little dogs people have in the park.



Marcia and I started to play a game of chess with the chess set provided by the park, but I couldn't hold two pawns in my hands so Marcia could pick one to determine who would be white.



One day we went to Ft Myers Beach to walk in the sand and watch the people, we were entertained by a guy catching this fish. He said it was a "sail catfish" and I don't dispute it one bit after seeing the large sail like fin.



We had the chance to meet my brother, his wife, and their youngest son for dinner at Cracker Barrel one evening. It was good to see them, and I regret that we don't spend more time with them.



Marcia met Chuck and Terry and another couple Saturday to go shelling. I wasn't feeling like I wanted to walk the beaches so I got caught up on some sleep I had been missing out on. They found a lot of nice sea shells, and here is Marcia laying them out to inspect them, or show them off to me.



Sunday we left Shady Acres early and drove to Lazy Days. We parked the Kountry Star there while we took the tracker to MacDill AFB to get the Santara. As I suspected the new ceiling Lazy Days had installed was starting to come down, so we drove the Santara back to Lazy Days and left a note for our "service manager" to get it FIXED.
After turning in the keys we hooked the tracker back to the KS and drove on to Sumter Oaks. We arrived just as everyone was leaving the ice cream social. We again got to pick our site from many empty sites. We are finding a lot of near empty campgrounds here in FL in May, they look a lot like Ghost Towns. We picked the site we had when Marcia was host here, the same site we were on when someone stole my motorcycle on Dec 4th 2008.



It is really strange seeing so many empty sites here, it makes me remember the good times we had here before when almost every site had someone on it. And the fun we had when Bob and Molly would come over to play cards with Paul and Connie, us, the Chapman s,and a slew of others. This is also where we were when my dad came down and spent about 6 weeks with us. He really enjoyed that visit and he asks about everyone he met here when we see him. He was really impressed with Connie, and I think it might have been the cookies she brought him.



But as you can see there are a lot of empty sites here now. 25 rigs yesterday, but some of those remain here year round with the owners coming back for the winters.



Larry and Babs are here now until the end of the month, and we may see them in NC sometime this summer. Several others are here too, but we haven't gotten close to them like we have others. You know how some people you meet and like, and some you meet and like and want to spend time with, and I can't leave out the ones you meet and don't like, although those are few and far between.

Wednesday the Santara "should" be ready for us to pick up, and if it is we will store it at Breezy Oaks in hopes that my dad will come to FL this winter and use it! As soon as we deal with the Santara we will head to KY to see the kids and grand kids as well as dad and Scott for a few days. Then to Lexington KY for some doctors appointments........