After we left the disappointing Turtle Beach Campground on Siesta Key, we headed back down the road half an hour to Venice, Fl to stay with Gloria and Bill for a couple of days.  When visiting their area we like to split time between parking the RV in their driveway and staying at nearby parks. Turtle Beach is simply the latest experiment in our ongoing exploration of alternatives to our preferred Rambler’s Rest RV Resort during the months they do not take the Passport America rate.  So far we prefer the difficult to reserve Oscar Scherer State Park, but we will probably try the Myakka River State Park next winter.

Coconut Fish Rosemarie made for Gloria’s garden.

We always love coming to the Bayba’s, welcoming as they are to us and our cat, who has the run of the house and large screened in pool deck.  We also took the opportunity to give Pad Kee Meo her monthly bath and next day flea treatment.  You can tell from the picture she loves this just as much as every other cat.

Gloria always makes a variety of Puerto Rican dishes, usually starting with bacalaitos, a type of cod fritter.  While there we got to see Rosemarie’s brother, niece, soon to be sister-in-law, and her son, that’s Jerry, Laura, Kim, and Andrew, respectively.

I had planned to go on a salt water fishing outing with Bill, but the weather intervened and the charter captain rightly cancelled. This was actually quite a good thing, because I had developed a rather nasty stomach problem, and rocking and rolling at sea for six to eight hours in cramped quarters would have been uncomfortable at best.

After four days of suffering I consulted with Uncle Bob, a family practitioner, and he recommended I go straight to a walk in clinic, which in this town are rather numerous. The Gulf Coast Medical Group‘s urgent care facility saw me with only a short wait, issued a script, took a variety of tests, and said to call back each day for the results so as to adjust the medicine if needed.

Sure enough, 48 hours later they ordered me to stop taking the issued prescription, which had provided some symptomatic relief but was actually interfering with my body’s attempt to fight off the cooties, and immediately start on a course of antibiotics to combat a nasty bacterial infection.  Unfortunately this particular medicine is a close cousin of disulfram, aka antabuse, a drug used to treat chronic alcoholism by making it very unpleasant to consume alcohol.  So I had to completely forgo the divine juices for the 10 day course of treatment, which was more difficult than the actual sickness, heh.

Our Latest spot at Periwinkle Park

Because of this ongoing illness and associated treatment we extended our stay at the Bayba’s from two to three days.  We called Periwinkle Park to inform them of the delay in our arrival, they understood the circumstances and did not charge us for the day or a change fee.  The next day I felt sufficient to the task of managing the two hour drive, so we backtracked south by 80 miles towards Fort Myers, crossing the expensive ($12 for the rig plus tow vehicle) toll causeway onto Sanibel Island.

Which had a tree positioned perfectly for PKM to climb even while attached to her lead.

We had scheduled this latest stay in order to allow Rosemarie to go on Pam Rambo’s shelling excursion to some of the other little islands reachable only by boat.  Pam is the owner of I Love Shelling, one of the local mainstay’s in Sanibel well known for her expertise and love of beach combing.  The haul was not as much as Rosemarie has taken on a good day on Sanibel after rough weather has stirred things up, but the outing was fun and informative.

Roseann and Anthony came to visit us for the weekend, and we enjoyed showing them the island, especially Friday morning exotic bird presentation right in the park.  Since we know the area reasonably well now we are also able to take guests to the best beaches, shops, and a couple of affordable but good restaurants.

We finished up our five day stay, saying goodbye to both Sanibel and the Gulf Coast until we return to Florida late in the fall.  Turning north east, we headed back to what has become one of our favorite places, Trimble County Park near Mount Dora.  Since Sanibel involved a bit of backtracking, in a way this marks the true beginning of our northward journey up the East Coast.  We look forward to meeting up with family and friends along the way, so if we are passing through your hometown or RV location, let us know and hopefully we can meet up.