DATELINE: March 11-16, 2016, Pine Island, FL
5k Breast Fest Walk and 37 Mile Bike Ride
Invited by my wonderful sister in law, Kay, Kip and I jetted off to spend several days in her rented digs on Pine Island, off the west coast, near Ft. Myers, Florida. I had surgery in January, and was just about cleared to run, bike, swim, lift my luggage, as we embarked. Eager to bag the state, I entered “us” in two 5k races in a row, in Ft. Myers. I figured Kay , Kip and I could walk the first, and I would run the second, solo, to see how much fitness I lost through surgery and recuperation. Little did I know how long it took to drive the short distance on and off Pine Island back to Ft. Myers. Honestly, it would have been a slog.
Sometimes the travel gods look out for the unprepared. Our arrival at the house on the southern tip of Pine Island boasted three surprises. One: we would be sharing the house not only with Kay but also with her in laws, David and Susan, who hail from North Carolina and who proved adept at impromptu sing-alongs, sunscreen sharing, condo buying, and card games. Two, our nearest neighbors were two bald eagle adults and their flight fearful, fully grown chick, who delighted us daily with his awkward attempts to wield his wings. And three: a breast cancer walk was scheduled for the very next day, March 12, my 54th birthday, a block away from the house. Eighty percent of the family agreed to join me at 8:30 am for the walk, despite their not being “morning people.”
The walk was invigorating, the terrain, of course, flat, and the locals turned out in support with water bottles, doggie play pools, and live music, both at the turnaround point and all day long at the community center. We all completed the walk at a brisk pace and cooled off in the screened in pool right behind our house, along the canal. Kip and I set off later in search of a marina to make plans for a boat trip later in the week, and we all drove to Bokeelia at the opposite end of the island for a sunset birthday dinner at the island’s best restaurant, the Tarpon Lodge.
I let everybody sleep in Sunday morning and borrowed Susan’s rented beach cruiser for a sunrise start for my challenge: an end to end to end ride on the bike path that runs from St. James City to Bokeelia, 18 plus miles. Pine Island is far less developed than most of Florida, and I greeted the dawn thusly:
True, there were no hills, but no uphill means no downhill, no coasting, just consistent work. To add to the challenge, the bike seat kept inching down, increasing the difficulty and stressing my knees and thighs. After a little over an hour, I reached the halfway point in fine fettle.
After a little walk and a few minutes break, I remounted my single speed steed and… discovered that I had been benefitting from a tailwind the whole way. Now, my tail was turned and so were my fortunes. Eighteen miles ahead of me, into a 15 mph wind. Now I was working! No wonder the people I had met going the opposite way on the path had looked like they were in super slow mo. And I thought they were just much older. They probably weren’t that much older. Feeling older, actually a year older on paper, I was not about to quit, and I trudged away at the distance. It took me significantly longer to do the second half, but I completed my challenge and hit the pool and had my second cup of coffee. Woohoo!
David and Susan spent the rest of that day buying a condo closer to the golf that they love, and we toasted their success that night ’round the corner at the Waterfront Restaurant and Marina in St. James City, topping it off with the chocolate peanut butter mousse cake. One slice is more than enough for 5 people. Don’t eat this alone unless you are, in fact, a moose. Then we played cards, a fun new game called Meet it, Beat it, or Eat it. I mostly ate it.
Day 3, Dave had a member guest tournament and the rest of us headed off- island to Airboats and Alligators, the closest opportunity to ride airboats and experience the Everglades. Lake Trafford, Immokalee, Florida, is reputedly the headwaters of the Everglades, and it truly does have an undeveloped shoreline, mangrove swamps, grasslands, and a mass of alligators. I expected to be disappointed but I wasn’t. I saw some wonderful life birds too, including boat-tailed grackles, coots, and the marvelous purple gallinule.
The only downside to the road trip was the mass of cages on the porch of the little cabin. Inside were scarlet and blue macaws, gray parrots, parakeets and lovebirds. The signs all screamed DON’T TOUCH! THEY BITE! But as I walked out onto the porch, the first bird cheerily said “Hello!” and every bird turned its shoulder into the bars of the cage, desperate for contact, begging to be stroked and touched. So I did. It’s cruel, tantamount to imprisoning a three year-old child for life. I wanted to take them all home with me.
We drove home, stopped to try to see manatees at Manatee Park, but the waters had warmed and the manatees had left their winter hang-out near the power plant. And it was back to the pool and to Myers Rum and OJ cocktails.
Our final day, we did a dawn assault and caught the 9 am boat to North Captiva, the shelling capital of Florida. It was a foggy morning, and became a foggy day, which was fine with me, since I prefer shade to sun as long as it’s warm. The first person we met as we carted our beach chairs and towels toward the gulf side beaches said, “No, there’s no beach here. At the end of the road, there is a 6 foot cliff. Even my dogs can’t get down it. They are not supposed to tell you that you can walk this island. You are just supposed to eat lunch and leave. The public beach is at least a mile down that road.”
She was wrong. She was mean. We walked a bit, ran into a resort, so we tried the road past the firehouse, and we found the beach. It is gorgeous, very quiet. True to its reputation, I have never seen so many undamaged shells anywhere else. They are piled up two to three feet high in certain areas. In other spots, there are none. Those are the places where swimming is best. The water was cool, no undertow, delicious. Two happy hours on the sand, and we trekked back to Barnacle’s Restaurant, where we had sangria and yummy salads, black beans and rice, and fish sandwiches. Susan and I schooled a younger couple in the game of cornhole, and we made our triumphant return to Pine Island on the 2:15 boat. Another great day, a relaxing and fun vacation overall, and a wonderful chance to get to know extended family. Now that Susan and Dave have a house down there… we may spend more time in Florida as the years go on.
