February 17, 2020 – Around the Great Loop on the Answer

Week 27: Punta Gorda, FL to Fort Myers, FL

We stayed in Laishley for another week and spent time with Avalon, exploring Punta Gorda, and doing some Christmas shopping.

I did my usual shopping for stocking stuffers since I wanted to have something for family in December but had shipped their gifts since they were all flying and I didn’t want them to have to pack and bring things back on the plane. However, it would not be the same if there were no stockings! Between Beals, Starbucks, Dollar Tree, online shipments to marinas,and a few gift cards, Xmas shopping was practically completed.

Peter and I also visited the Military Heritage Museum that was recently renovated. We enjoyed the various exhibits and were surprised at the number of local volunteer veterans serving as docents. We have heard that many towns are veteran/military friendly and Punta Gorda appears to be one of these. Punta Gorda is proud to be home to a replica of the Vietnam Wall in Washington D.C. The Vietnam Wall of Southwest Florida is located in Laishley Park and is about half the size of the one in D.C.

The town had a number of holiday activities planned this week including the town Christmas tree lighting with music, food vendors and other festivities. In addition, the Visual Art Center was having a Christmas craft fair that Terrie (Avalon) and I decided to check out. We left Peter and Richard back on the boats since we knew they had little interest. Lots of interesting crafts….if you weren’t living on a boat. However, I did find hand-made Christmas ornaments for our granddaughters since we add one to their collection each year. These were oval shaped balls with swirled paint and sparkles in pink and purple. Probably the first year that I purchased ornaments for them that were designed for children but not “kiddy”.

Avalon had plans to spend a few days at Cayo Costa before heading back home for birthdays and Christmas. We had hoped to go with them but experienced some issue with getting into forward gear and needed to wait for a mechanic. We did go out for dinner at Hurricane Charley’s before they left and enjoyed the music of the Silver Sneakers band.

The mechanic came and advised that we should get in touch with a Yanmar dealer since the engine and transmission were new when we got to Fort Meyers next week. He made a phone call to their service department and they were to send an email about setting up an appointment. Of course, their schedule was full but since we were staying in Fort Myers for a month-six weeks, they said they could get to us after Christmas. We figured since there was some difficulty with the gears, it would be best to skip Cayo Costa and plan to get into gear only once to get us to Edison Ford in Fort Meyers on the 11th.