4 May - Bonita Springs and Lunch at Docs Beach House with Doreen's Cousin

 

Doreen and Gary

Today we drove 30 miles north to Bonita Springs to have lunch with Doreen's cousin Gary Schwandt. Gary's dad and Doreen's mom were brother and sister.  The last time we saw them was in 2016 on our Maine trip and we drove to Cape Cod.  Gary and his wife Cheri live in Pocasset MA on Cape Cod in the summer and in Bonita Springs during the winter.  They are within days of heading back north so we are glad to have had the opportunity to connect during our journey through southwestern Florida.

Aerial view of Doc's Beach House

The plan was to meet at Doc's Beach House in Bonita Springs around noon.  Parking is always a concern of mine due to the large footprint of the big ol' brown truck - a one ton, dual rear wheel (wide), long bed (long and poor turning radius) pulling machine!. All of these restaurants along the beach have mandatory valet parking.  Gary had checked with the restaurant in advance and was given the green light for my truck, but I wanted a plan "B" just in case.  There is a public parking lot just to the south of the restaurant, but all of the public lots are clearly posted, "No vehicles over 20' allowed."  The big ol' RAM is 21 ft 6" long, so by ordinance we are not allowed to park there.

Sign at the entrance to the public parking area

So we arrived at Doc's and I temporarily staged behind a delivery truck while Doreen walked up to the valet area.  Soon they motioned me forward so wide swing and in we came!  The guy said no problem, give me your keys!  Gulp, OK here you go.. !  In a minute or so here comes my truck right up to the entrance door.  We could see the grille from our table!  No issues!

The nose of our truck visible through the doorway!

Doreen looked over as I sighed with relief.  Just kidding!  She was safely parked with little chance of a door ding or worse.  

While we waited for Gary to arrive I stepped up to the bar for a cold beer.  I noticed some "tickling" in my throat and some irritation in my nose, and thought, "O great here we go.  I've got a cold or something coming on!"  Doreen also commented on her throat, and then the bartender made a comment on how her COVID mask was not even helping and I asked her what she was talking about.  She said, "can you feel the red tide?"  We are familiar with red tide from when we were stationed in Maine.  At certain times of the year there would be what they called "paralytic shellfish poisoning", better known as "red tide".  It was actually a toxic algae bloom in the ocean that can take on a red tint at times.  During red tide they did not harvest lobsters, clams or other sea food.  Apparently red tide down here in Florida is similar and has to do with water flow from an inland lake causing an algae bloom.  This red tide apparently becomes airborne and irritates the human respiratory system.  The gulf winds were blowing it right into the restaurant.

Soon Gary arrived and we migrated upstairs into the air conditioning which helped the red tide irritation.  It was taco Tuesday so each of us had a different type of taco.  Gary and Doreen shared pictures of the kids and grands while we were brought up to speed on what everyone is doing.

Melody and Shawntelle

As I've mentioned before, it is great to reconnect with friends, relatives and military comrades as we travel around the USA.  Today was Doreen's day with one of her cousins.  Tomorrow is mine as we will reconnect with two cousins on my mom's side that I have not seen since maybe April 1974 when Doreen and I were freshly married and our car broke down in Rockford IL on the way back to Maine.  My mom's sister (my aunt & Shawntelle and Melody's mom Lila and her husband Dick lived in Rockford IL at the time and helped us get the car fixed.  Tomorrow we will have lunch with Shawntelle and her younger sister Melody.  It will be great to see them!