Update Feb. 14, 2016

Damn, I can hardly believe it's been over two weeks since my last update to all you folks "back home." Time has simply been speeding by; my six-month stay is now a little more than half over, which seems equally impossible. Since returning from our mini-cruise to Key West and back, things have been fairly quiet here for Dawn and I. My last major event involved a a trip "north" this past week to visit friends Gene and Pegg Johnson on St. Pete Beach, followed by a hop over to  Lakeland for an overnight to attend a watch show. So I will start there and work my way backwards.

Thursday Feb. 11

Took off for St. Pete Beach around 10:45 a.m. after some last minute watch trading with a contact here in Ft. Myers who was also headed to the show, but leaving Friday. I arrived at Gene/Pegg's place at around 1 p.m. Gene greeted me, gave me a parking permit for my vehicle, and then we headed out to their community pool/patio for some sun, conversation, and a refreshing dip in the pool. Weather there was a little on the chilly side, as it has been lately in Ft. Myers, but the water temp in the pool was 84 degrees, so it was a nice swim. Gene and I each had a couple of beers, while Pegg relaxed, soaked up the sun, and read her books.

Gene/Pegg have rented a condo at the "Friendly Native Beach Resort." If I remember correctly from Gene, the place was built back in the 1940s, originally as nurses' quarters for a nearby military hospital. Over the years, it was eventually converted into a condo community. It has a nice friendly feel to it, and its vintage atmosphere tends to attract a more mature crowd who appreciate the low-key atmosphere versus the more hip, swinging high-rise, condos that cater more to the party-hearty crowd. Here's a picture of me and Gene on the beach:

Anyway, at about 4:30, we changed into our "going-out" clothes to rendezvous with some friends of Gene/Pegg's at a place called "Guppy's on the Beach," up a ways from us on Indian Rocks Beach, almost to Clearwater. You might think by the name that this is a Tiki Bar kind of joint, but actually it's a full-service steak/seafood restaurant that caters to an upscale crowd, but still within the realm of affordability, with all entrees including the various accompaniment (salad, starch, vegetable, etc.). Our dining companions were "Joe," a shirt-tail cousin of Pegg's, and his daughter, Deborah. They were delightful company, and we had one of those grand, 2-hour dinners that include a bottle of wine, and coffee/dessert/conversation after the meal. My meal, including tip, came to $73, but I must confess to ordering a lobster appetizer served escargot style, and  the "surf and turf" which, at $35, was the most expensive item on the menu. Most other entrees were in the $20-$25 range. Joe/Deborah graciously bought the wine for the table, which was $34 for a very nice Chardonnay, "Morning Fog," by the Wente vintner. I also finished out the meal with key line pie (thick and tart, just the way I like it) and a decaf. Gene, meanwhile, had flounder, Pegg had lobster ravioli, Joe had potato -wrapped salmon, and Deborah had seared tuna. All pronounced their dishes excellent. While I  had my key lime pie, Deborah had an apple/walnut upside down cake, and Gene enjoyed a sambuca, an anise flavored liqueur served in the tradition Italian style in a snifter glass with five coffee beans dropped into the glass.

Back at the condo, Gene and I reminisced about our time together at CUNA (Credit Union National Association), our heroes and villains, fallen comrades, and days of rollicking road trips before the corporate bean counters turned them into dreaded chores with cheap motels and Draconian meal allowances. Outside of our former jobs, we talked of books and movies, and the current dismal state of journalism, among other things. Ah, sweet conversation, lubricated with just the right amount of alcohol and a glorious meal of five courses. All sadly becoming a lost art, a casualty of electronic gadgets and Hot Pockets.

Friday Feb. 12

The next morning, Gene, Pegg, and I took a mile-long walk along St. Pete beach, followed with a light breakfast of coffee, English muffin, fruit and yogurt. I got on the road to Lakeland about 10:30 a.m. with a bottle of water, an apple, and a Snicker's bar for on -the-road fortification. Here's a picture of me getting ready to hit the road:

 I arrived at the Lakeland Center around noon, picked up my registration packet, and went to my table inside the mart trading room. I did some selling, saw several of my "watch friends" and acquaintances, and roamed the aisles looking at watches and related accessories, but did not buy anything, as I am more in a liquidation mode at this time.

By 3:30, I was hungry and all done with the show for the day, so decided to take off to find my $34 lodgings, secured through Airbnb.com. It was at this point, driving past liquor stores, pay-day loan establishments, and half-deserted strip malls, that I started to wonder about the "draw" of Lakeland, With apologies to what I'm sure are the many fine, tax-paying, hard-working citizens of this city of 100,000 people, I really don't know why this city is "here," with the possible exception of its closeness to Interstate 4 and the fact that it's high enough above sea level (141 feet) to build upon. So I did a little digging on Wikipedia and learned that Frank Lloyd Wright designed a small college campus there (Florida Southern College, currently 2,860 students enrolled there); it is the spring training grounds for the Detroit Tigers baseball team (a rather dubious honor, I would say), and is a major source of phosphate, which has been mined since the 1800s and continues to be mined to this day. A major bragging point of Lakeland is that it is a "city of lakes," but if you dig a little (no pun intended) you find that the vast majority of those lakes are former phosphate mining pits that eventually filled with water. The closest "real" water with beaches is an hour away in St. Pete. The city's largest employer is Publix, one of the largest regional grocery chains in the United States with over 1,000 stores. Publix employs over 6,500 people in the Lakeland area, including headquarter and warehouse employees.

So OK, there's a few things going on, but not enough, in my opinion, to warrant a room rate of $250 a night at the Hyatt Place Lakeland Center, the designated host hotel of the watch show and convention. And by way of long introduction, the reason for my sourcing of alternate lodging. The house in which I had booked my room was located at 728 W. 5th Street, at the corner of 5th and N. Lincoln Avenue. A distressed neighborhood in the heart of downtown, it nevertheless afforded me a place to hang my hat and get a good night's sleep. My host, Christopher, was very nice and stopped in to introduce himself. (He does not actually live there, as most Airbnb hosts do reside in their homes in which they are letting rooms).  Once I arrived at the property at about 4 p.m. and stowed my personals in my room (the "Lakeland Suite" no less!!) I was hungry as balls by this time, and just wanted something quick, easy, and familiar. So I broke my rule about not patronizing the McDonald's Corporation while on this winter hiatus, and GPS'd to the nearest Golden Arches and got a filet-o-fish, McDouble, small fries, a soft drink, and a bottled water. The filet, fries, and soft drink I wolfed down inside the restaurant, per the sign:

and took the McDouble and bottled water back to the house (the tap water here isn't the greatest) and consumed it there. I watched TV until about 10 p.m. At around 9 p.m., the two other Airbnb guests (single males) arrived from their jobs, one a strawberry picker, and the other an insurance adjuster. We exchanged hellos, and both headed to their private rooms, so we were a full house (3 rooms) for the night. They were very quiet, and I crossed paths only once in the morning with one of the guys heading out the door. It was a fine stay and perfect for my needs, and I got a good night's sleep which, when you come down to it, is the most important thing. I have stayed at "budget" motels (at 3 and 4 times the price) that are noisy, dirty, moldy, and have lumpy mattresses, wafer-thin pillows, and bedding pocked with cigarette burns, and smelling of sin and futility (to borrow a line from author Harry Mark Petrakis). So at a third the price of a budget motel (and close to a tenth the price at the Hyatt), I got a room in a clean, nice smelling house, with two quiet "roommates." Quite a bargain, I would say.and I applaud Airbnb for helping to make budget travel still possible in this day and age.

Saturday Feb. 12

After my McDonald's "fat pill" dinner of last night, I wanted a tasty, home style breakfast, so consulted my handy smartphone and discovered a breakfast/lunch diner called the the "Cozy Oaks Restaurant," rated four out of five stars by regular patrons and travelers alike. It's off the beaten path a little bit on a slightly deserted stretch of East Orange Street, and it offered just the right scratch to my itch. Good coffee, friendly waitstaff, and breakfasts to satisfy the most ardent lover of breakfast meats. I had a breakfast called the "Fat Cat," which comes with 2 eggs to order, 2 bacon strips, two pork links, and a slice of ham. In addition, you get a choice of hash browns, home fries, or grits (I went with hash browns). And lastly a choice of toast, or homemade biscuit, between which I chose the biscuit.  All for $8.49. Not only did this breakfast do me in (I left part of the pancake and part of the biscuit) but it lasted me through lunch. Which I think is a great traveling trip to save money: Get a big breakfast and just skip lunch.

I headed over to the Lakeland Center, and at 9:30 a.m. gave my lecture on the "100th Anniversary of the Wristwatch," which was attended by about 12 people (my usual "crowd" for such presentations). It was well received, and I think I did a pretty good job of presenting considering I did it "off the cuff" without looking at my notes due to a data projector that seemed to have a mind of its own and put my 23 "slides" completely out of order. I really do need to learn how to work "Powerpoint" if I am going to continue doing these presentations. I really don't consider myself a good public speaker, but the watch and clock association (NAWCC) keeps asking me back for lectures, which either means I'm "good enough," or there's an acute shortage of speakers!

With my speech done, I had little reason to hang around the show (or Lakeland) any longer, so I headed back to Fort Myers. My GPS for some reason routed me along state and county (and in some instances even town) roads, as opposed to getting me on I-4 and then to I-75. Rather than try to override the system, I just went with it and traded the stress of the Interstate for rolling along two-lane highways, passing through bump-in-the-road towns like Eaton Park, Bartow, Wauchula, and others until finally I reached I-75 at North Fort Myers by the power plant.

I arrived Fort Myers about 1:30 p.m. So ended my little adventure. It was fun to see my friends, Gene and Pegg, and my bank account is now a little more flush with proceeds of my sales at the watch show. And I got to see a part of Florida that I would never have visited had I not had a reason to go. I hope I didn't "bash" Lakeland too badly; I've been told my blog gets a little "snarky" at times. I suppose it's a good place to set up "base camp" for someone (or family) who can't decide between Disney (Orlando) and the Gulf Coast (Tampa/St. Pete). Each is only only about 40 miles from Lakeland. But as a destination itself, I can't imagine wintering there, let alone living there full time, But, as the old saying goes, everybody has to be from somewhere. As for me, I'll take Fort Myers for my winter hiatus. But if you ever find yourself in Lakeland, at least there's a good breakfast place!

Other stuff since the last post

There hasn't been a lot going on since returning from the Key West Cruise. Dawn and I have been keeping a low profile and have more or less settled into a daily routine not all that dissimilar to life up north. I've been reading, doing eBay lots, running the usual errands. We did try two new restaurants in our area that have been on our "list" for some time. One called "Prawnbrokers," which is a combination seafood market and restaurant. The other is the "University Grill," and oddly enough both restaurants are run by the same company. Excellent food and serviced at both places. Price is around $40 per person for a nice meal. Prawnbrokers is more a seafood place with a nautical theme in the dining room. University Grill is reminiscent of the "supper clubs" back in Wisconsin, and they even do a Friday fish fry, and have prime rib ("starting at 4 p.m. 'til gone $20," reads the sign) but served on Sunday rather than the traditional Saturday in Wisconsin. Curt and Karen, we are thinking of taking you to Prawnbrokers during the time you are here. Their corn-flake crusted deep fried shrimp are heaven. Monster 3-biters!

I'll post a couple pictures of me in St. Pete when my friend Gene sends them to me via email.

Bye for now,

Bruce