Tuesday, February 26, 2013 – Ft. Myers:

            I know everyone who reads this “blog” is probably sick and tired of me extolling the wonderful qualities of Publix, but Bob and I went to a Publix in Cape Coral this morning that outdid them all!  I probably should have taken pictures of all the Publix grocery stores we have visited!  I never in all my life saw a grocery store this humongous.  It put all other grocery stores to shame!  We only went in for a dozen eggs that I realized I needed and hadn’t gotten yesterday, and, besides, the cat asked me to get her some more dry cat food, but we walked around agog!  It was also the cleanest, brightest store I have ever seen, but there were hardly any people in it.  I’m not sure who they catered to, but it didn’t seem to me that the area would have supported a grocery store like that one!  And we found it by accident!

            The weather this morning was sunny, but the wind is picking up, and we had to find a Verizon store to get Bob’s phone fixed again, and return the car by 11:00 a.m.  So after breakfast, we found a Verizon store in Cape Coral and hopped in the car and headed over that way.  We have heard it is supposed to be a very nice area, but we only hit the main drag, and saw mostly “strip” malls.  Unfortunately, when we got to the Verizon store, it had moved!  So Bob pulled up the handy GPS app on his phone, and we found the next nearest one (which could have been the one that moved) and headed in that direction.  We got to the store, and they showed Bob how to fix the problem he seems to keep having with our e-mail account when he gets the e-mail on the phone, and that’s when we discovered the “Gucci” Publix next door. 

            Well, enough of grocery stores – actually, I think we will have withdrawal when we finally get home to Maryland, because those stores just won’t “cut it.”  Once Bob realizes he isn’t going to get those “bear claw” pastries, he may consider moving down here!

            We turned in the car and got a ride back to the marina.  The weather is starting to go downhill, and the wind is really blowing and gusting.  The sky is turning dark and cloudy, and we may be in for a storm.  We have some boat chores - I washed two more loads of clothes, Bob did the “pump-out” thing, we put water in the tanks, Bob checked the fuel and the engine room, and now we can spend the rest of the afternoon doing whatever we want.  We are tied up next to the face dock, and the boat is rocking around.  I am glad we are not out on the water.  We are still planning on leaving tomorrow, and I think the latest word is that the wind will die down.  We will be on the Okeechobee Waterway, so hopefully, the weather won’t bother us too bad. 

            Well, it has started to pour like mad.  I don’t think anything exciting is going to occur for the rest of the day, so I am going to sign off for today.  Bob says if it is like this tomorrow, we are not going anywhere!

Stormy skies over Ft. Myers