Beaches and bags

Thursday, February 16, 2012 DUNEDIN, FL – It was Mum’s last day with us here in Florida, so we thought it would be a good time to take her to the seashore where she could look out on the Gulf of Mexico. We drove over the causeway to Honeymoon Island and headed for the northern tip, where the seashells are supposed to be good for collecting. It was a lovely, sunny day with a fresh breeze. There were quite a few shell gatherers on the beach, and sea gulls swooped overhead a dive-bombed the water in search of fish. It was slightly rough going for Mum with her cane (the walker, over rocks and bumps, was out of the question), but she enjoyed seeing the blue-green water stretching off to the horizon, and the mounds of tiny shells at her feet. We also caught a couple of glimpses of slim, white egrets by the roadside. Fortunately, we didn’t see any sign of another island resident, the rattlesnake. Being the consummate traveler that she is, Mum was packed and ready for her trip home as soon as she got up this morning, so there was nothing to do to get ready for the trip to the airport later in the afternoon. We had time for our beach outing, and also to drop by John and Fawn’s trailer one last time. Our plan, again, was to take Mum to the airport well ahead of time so we could enjoy a nice dinner at Carrabba’s, the wonderful Italian restaurant we discovered there when we went last week to pick Mum up. She also had time to pick up a couple of last-minute souvenirs before we ate. After another delicious meal, it was off to the check-in counter, where we were pleased to see that the airline had arranged for a wheelchair escort, as requested, to her departure gate. We said our goodbyes as she was wheeled away. It was good to hear Mum say she’d had a good time and was glad she’d come! On the way back to the RV park, we stopped at Beall’s, a Florida department store, to pick up some bargains for Val. He found a nice lightweight jacket and a couple of pairs of shorts, and with the discounts of the day plus a coupon I got on my last visit, we saved almost $90. That’s the kind of shopping we both like! Tomorrow will be our last full day at Dunedin RV Resort, after a month here, so there will be laundry to do, propane and fuel tanks on the RV to fill up, and other finishing-up activities. We don’t know what kind of internet connections we will have at the next stop (it’s always a gamble!), so if we go silent for a while, that’s a likely reason – as it always is when we’re mobile. One thing RV parks everywhere could do to make the experience more pleasant would be to make sure their wi-fi service is as up to date as possible and strong enough to service all visitors on the property, no matter how far they are from the main office. Everybody likes to keep in touch with the folks back home.