1st Trip - 5th Stop - Nokomis, FL

We left the Florida State Fairgrounds this morning before the "rush" of hundreds of others started pulling out.  We hit the highway and around 20 minutes into the short trip to Nokomis, Ed noticed that our car being towed behind the RV was "weaving".  He carefully slowed down and pulled off the highway with the car hitting the bicycles on the bike rack and, once out of the RV, found that the pin had come out of one of the tow bars.  The bar was dragging on the highway so he had to unhook the other bar from the car and I loaded the dogs in the car to ride with me and followed him the rest of the way.

Upon arrival at the Royal Coachman RV Resort in Nokomis, the coach started losing air pressure both in the parking lot after checking in and once again trying to back into the site.  Hopefully, in the two weeks we're here, we can get things fixed.

On the bright side, we met up with our old Cornwall Yacht Club buddies:  Betsy & Rich Harden and Karen & Jeff Schaack and went out to dinner at Pop's Sunset Grille along the Intracoastal Waterway.  We saw a dolphin swimming and I didn't have my camera!!!

Monday, Ed and I did a little driving around and decided to stop for late lunch/early dinner at Ophelia's Pasta House in Nokomis.  The dogs LOVED it because they're dog-friendly and they have an enclosed patio where THEY can come and eat with you and they get to order off a doggy menu (they ordered chicken).  Definitely, a highlight of the trip for the dogs.  Later we had happy hour at Rich & Betsy's place with Karen & Jeff and then Karen and I went to Bingo (we didn't win!).

Tuesday, Karen and I said goodbye to Ed and the dogs and we headed to the beach on our bicycles.  It was almost a 7 mile round-trip ride with the wind in our faces both directions but flat (except for the drawbridge over the intracoastal).  The red tide left a lot of dead fish on the beach but we picked up some pretty shells and then pedaled down to the North Jetty (the South Jetty across the inlet is Venice).  We talked to a few people there and Karen found a real pretty shell...it was pretty until she felt something move in her hand and that's when she met Charlie.  After she looked Charlie in the eyes, she couldn't bare to take him home and kill him so he was set free.

Thursday the three of us ended up going to a sunset drum circle on Nokomis Beach the other night.  It was a bit chilly but it was a BIG circle with lots of people showing up with their drums.  It was sort of like a jam session and a few free spirits got up and "danced" while another guy did like an Indian ritual with feathers...quite different.

On Saturday, Ed and I headed to downtown Venice to walk around.  Like New Bern's Bears, they have the painted turtles and dolphins throughout the downtown area.



Pelican tree...you definitely don't want to be sitting under this!