Pine Island

After leaving Okeechobee, we drove to Pine Island Encore/KOA Campground near Fort Myers Florida where we would be staying for a few days.  We had stayed in touch with Ken and Bonnie Hosler, our RV-Dreams friends (see May 30, 2012 post)over the winter and knew they were also staying at Pine Island for a couple of weeks.

Neil and Nancy Savage who had also attended the RV Dreams Rally in Hershey were also at Pine Island.  Neil and Nancy are recent fulltimers so it was interesting exchanging full-timing stories with them.

The day we arrived was Super Bowl Sunday and the campground was having a Super Bowl party where everyone brought pot luck.  The campground had a big screen TV and there were a few die-hard Ravens fans and 49ers fans that made watching the game even more entertaining.

On Monday, we drove to Sanibel Island and took our bikes so we could ride our bikes around the island.

 

Sanibel Island is a beautiful little island with bike trails running all over the place.  Because Ken and Bonnie had biked here before, we just followed them stopping here and there to see the beach...

and other interesting sites like the lighthouse.

There were a lot of beautiful houses that backed up to canals on the island.

 

Even though we rode our bikes for about 11.5 miles the time flew by because we were talking all along the way.

We hooked up with Neil and Nancy at R C Otters Restaurant on the island and had a delicious lunch together.

 

After lunch, we walked over to the beach and looked for shell pieces with Bonnie for her "Gifts From the Sea" jewelry that she makes. 

 

Sanibel has beautiful beaches.

 

On Tuesday, Ken and Bonnie asked if we were up for another bike ride and we said sure.  So we drove down to a park in the center of Pine Island and rode our bikes down to Bokeelia at the north end of the island. 

This time we rode 17 miles but again, because we were talking and having such a good time, the bike ride didn't seem to take long at all.  After riding our bikes, we drove over to a park in Matlacha for a picnic lunch and then walked around the unique shops in Matlacha. 

On Wednesday, Chuck and I rode our bikes towards Saint James City at the south end of the island. 

We rode through some of the streets where some nice homes were built with canals backing up to them.  We walked out on this lot that was for sale. 

You could see the bridge we crossed going over to Sanibel Island from here.

 

On the ride back we saw this huge pineapple.

 

Correction....palm tree.

 

The weather was great and it was a great day for a 10 mile bike ride.

 

That evening, we all got together at Ken and Bonnie's for dinner and playing some card games.  We had so much fun with Ken & Bonnie and Neil & Nancy, we hated that we had to leave the next day.