Settling into the Routine and Battling a Cold…

We have been here in Bonita Springs nearly three months which is a record for us in length of stay. We have pretty much fallen into a routine unlike when we are in shorter stays. The routine more resembles our former life prior to our fulltime RV life yet we still manage to mingle in a few vacation type events amongst the more mundane and routine.

The weather in November and December was spectacular however January has been quite the contrast. We have the occasional warm sunny day where we hit the beach or for a little surf fishing but much of January’s weather has been stormy, windy and a bit cooler than normal.  It is funny how we became so accustomed to the 80 degree temperatures that when the temperatures dipped into the high to mid 60’s for a daily high we found ourselves chilled. In addition to the chill we had a brief encounter with severe thunderstorms and tornado watches/warnings causing us to take down the UV screens and bring in the awning. This January weather has been more typical of spring than winter in Florida.

With all the changes in the weather Sharon and I are both battling colds. We have rarely been sick in our nearly five years on the road but staying longer means exposure to more germs as we mingle with so many more people (especially the big crowds at the Tampa RV show). The last several days we have been mostly holed up inside due to either the weather (rain) or our colds (or both). With cooler than normal weather and the fact that we both have colds we have been making lots of feel good foods. We made a homemade chicken noodle soup, a homemade navy bean soup, pizza from scratch and some spicy Cajun gumbo. These hot soups have certainly made our cold symptoms feel somewhat more tolerable.

We even snuck out one evening to try a new place (at least to us) called the Brass Tap. We had gotten some cards for a BOGO (buy-one-get-one free) craft beer so we took advantage of those. The Brass Tap makes some of their own brews and their Imperial and Rye IPA’s were quite good. We haven’t encountered a lot of Florida craft beers that we really like but the Brass Tap we felt was a keeper.

We have been having a lot of fun (when we aren’t fighting colds) with our park routine attending the weekly bean bag and shuffleboard tournaments. We have also played a lot of pickleball, attended their donut and coffee days, danced the night away at a park dance, played ping pong and billiards as well as mingling with great friends made here in the park at various drop in happy hours.  Monday nights we are usually found at a local watering hole, Johnny Malloys, eating 25 cent wings with a lot of other regular IBE’ers (people from our park, Imperial Bonita Estates).  

Well its super windy outside the RV today (winds gusting to 30 mph) and it is supposed to be nicer tomorrow. We sure are glad our colds are waning and we can get back out to enjoy the nice days before we have to leave southwest Florida…