Passing the days in Bonita Springs…

I can’t believe it is already January and we are only a little over three weeks away from leaving our winter home here in Bonita Springs, Florida. I was a bit worried about how I would handle a three month stay but I knew Sharon likes nesting awhile and knew she would have no problem with it. However, the frequent happy hours sure helps pass the time…

I am surprised I haven’t gotten the hitch itch yet but it has a lot to do with how we stayed three months here.I think it is because our stay here has been like three separate monthly stays. Our first month (November) we had much of the park to ourselves so we did a lot of exploring in and around Bonita Springs before all the traffic hit. Then in December, our second month, Katie stayed with us for nearly 3 weeks making it more of a family visit, and now in January the park is full so there is a lot of socializing with both old and new friends. The variety of each of the three months has made our stay here really slip on by.

The weather had been mostly hot with temperatures in the 80’s during the day until this last cold front came through just after the New Year began. Temperatures currently are more moderate with highs in the 70’s instead of the 80’s. We really can’t complain about any of the weather in Southern Florida. It certainly has allowed us to experience a lot of beach time.

One of the beaches we most frequent is Barefoot Beach where we take our Sunbrella and set it up near the surf. Thanks to our parking pass and great weather, we will certainly be able to get our allocation of active beach days. Barefoot Beach is also a preserve for the protected gopher tortoise of which several of today’s pictures depict. The preserve consists of 342 acres of native habitat and is one of the last remaining undeveloped barrier islands on Florida's southwest coast.

With February sneaking up on us I have been watching for cancellations at some of the parks we would like to stay at on our journey out of Florida. Luckily yesterday an opening a Lake Manatee State Park came up and we have the first four days of February covered now. Although it is only a little less than 115 miles north of us at least it has us heading in the right direction. Now all we have to do is find the next few spots before we land at Betty’s RV Park on February the nineteenth…