~Saturday, February 27, 2021~
Day 258
With it being a weekend, the river has a lot of boat traffic as we were awakened by the whistle of the swinging bridge and the many jet skis, jet boats, and fancy yachts passing by. A clear, windy day. But, when you have the setting that we’re in, any weather will do. Sadie has unquestionably given her stamp of approval with the wide expanse of lawn allowing her to get in some long ball time. Larry’s place has to be Sadie’s favorite! 🎾🐾
Finally, after months of trying to coordinate a meeting time with our travel friend Larry (the other Larry), we were finally getting together. With our hors d’oeuvres and pup in tow, we drove to Fort Myers that Larry has called “home” for 2 months. It’s a mobile home park where you’re able to either buy or rent homes, or in his case, rent a concrete pad with a storage unit on it. His rig is a Class ‘C” RV nestled in a nice little spot between all the other mobile homes. Being a retired architect/contractor, Larry is quite the problem solver as he constructed a fabric-walled outdoor seating area for himself and whoever wants to pop in for a visit; a nice extension to his home on wheels. It was like yesterday that we had seen each other. He gave us the “grand tour” where he’s modified a few things to make his space work for him. We sat outside in his adapted patio area where he’s got 3 chairs, lamps, and a t.v. set up. Since mobile home parks seem to rotate residents, people are always getting rid of stuff. Couches, lamps, chairs, what have you. Just put a “free” sign on it, and you have a taker in minutes. Larry is now the proud recipient of 2 rattan/fabric chairs of which we were sitting on, and several lamps, all in great condition. Perfect, since he spends about 95% of his time outdoors, including sleeping. Even though he does have a bed inside his rig, he prefers to snooze on his recliner outside, something you can absolutely get away with in Florida. Nice to have options. It was great catching up, sharing our travel stories, including our rig troubles. That in fact, is how we met Larry, in Bakersfield, about 7 months ago, waiting on a new transmission. Larry has also seen his share of vehicle troubles. A few months back while in St. George, Utah, his engine failed which overall delayed him a month. Apparently, the engine had been replaced with the wrong motor before he bought it used, leaving him in the hole about $10,000. Ouch!!on 😩🔧He also recently had his awning rip apart in a windstorm, though he was due for a replacement anyway. When the new one arrived, 4 or 5 neighbors came over to help him install it. Nice! And an awning is a necessity when owning an RV. But here’s how resourceful he is. When they took down the old ripped awning, he cut it into sections to use as “paneling” for his outdoor area. Clever, clever!
Before we knew it, it was time to head out. The bugs were winning anyway, and we still had some grocery shopping to do before getting back. My one regret….I forgot to get a group photo. So we said our goodbyes for now, looking forward to our next meeting in July, in his hometown, just outside of Flint, Michigan.