Living the Full-time Dream: Two Months in Ft. Myers, Florida

I am well overdue for a blog post. I apologize for keeping you waiting so long. This will be a longer post to get caught up with the last two months. When we left St. Augustine in mid-December, we went to stay with our dear friends Patti and Freddie in Ft. Myers.

Freddie, Patti, Bodhi and Oliver

We were so excited to see our friends and spend 3 weeks staying with them at their house. We parked the camper in their driveway and used it as a big closet for that time. We made the best of our time together. There were beach days

and sunset nights at Ft. Myers Beach.

There were boat days in Lover's Key between Ft. Myers Beach and Bonita Beach.

And there were brewery visits and trivia nights.

We house and pet sat while our friends visited family over Christmas weekend. Our beloved sister/in-law Kathy joined us for a week over Christmas, and we thoroughly enjoyed sharing Ft. Myers with her.

Kathy, Bodhi and Mrs. Buttersworth

Bodhi and Oliver in their Christmas Sweaters

For the month of January, we stayed at Tamiami Village and RV Park. This was our first experience at a true RV park, and we loved it. This park had a large village of park model trailer homes and an RV section. Many of the RVers spend the whole winter at the park. The RV park was an open area with rows of side by side lots, grass and some small vegetation, but few trees.

Our spot at Tamiami Village

Tamiami Village at night

If you would have told me that I would enjoy this as much as I did, I would have been skeptical. But what we quickly discovered is that one of the big differences between RV parks and campgrounds, is that RV parks are designed to be communal and social. People regularly stopped and introduced themselves, chatted and were generally very friendly and amiable. The majority of the folks spent all season together, and become a close knit group. They were quick to welcome us to the mix. One of our favorite social gathering spots was the pool. Because it was heated, people lounged in the pool all afternoon. And everyone had a pool noodle. I joked with Carol that I had noodle envy, so I had to go back to the camper and get my floaty, not a noodle, but it made me happy.

Just as we were getting settled in, we had to make an emergency trip back to NY when my dad became ill. My dad is doing well now and we are grateful that he has great doctors and that this was not something more serious.

Not only did being home allow us to help my folks, it also meant getting to spend some extra quality time with Maria and our grandkids, Alana and Gregory. 💜💚

Carol returned to FL a week earlier than me to attend to some appointments and I was gone for 2 and a half weeks. I returned the day before were due to leave Tamiami Village. We decided to adjust our previous plans, and looked for a place to stay in the Ft. Myers area to extend our "time in one place" just a little longer. We were so fortunate to find a wonderful spot just across the highway at Swan Lake Village and RV Resort. So we cancelled some other reservations, and stayed 2 more weeks.

Swan Lake was similar in many ways to Tamiami Village. There was a section of permanent homes, and an RV section. However the RV area was somewhat more natural, with more trees and a little more campground than RV park vibe.

Home Sweet Home

Looking into the RV park at Swan Lake

Many of the folks at Swan Lake also spend the winter season in the RV park and were also quick to welcome us to their midst. We found the amenities to be quite nice and truly wished we were staying longer.