Bill and Cathy McArthur on the Road 2010: 13

  Monday, April 5, was a beautiful day. Bill awoke a bit after 6:00 AM and went out to the Bialas' back porch to see the Space Shuttle launch. The light from the rocket was incredibly bright. After breakfast, we got on the road by 8:30 AM. Traffic was easy and we made it to Starbucks and Publix by 11:30 AM. We returned to the RV and unpacked the XTerra. We ate lunch outside. Bill went out for a 5 hour 20 minute kayak paddle of 20 miles. He went out Gordon Pass for the first time and discovered that the incoming tide had a strong current from north to south along the shore. There were a bunch of idiots out on the ICW, including many jetskiers and someone towing a water skier. Bill got back around 6:30 PM. Cathy played bridge during the afternoon with Marty, Bud, and Marty's cousin Sheila. We had quinoa and lasagna for dinner. We viewed a previous episode of "24" during and after dinner.

  Tuesday was another beautiful day. Cathy went to her exercise class. Bill went out for a 10K tempo run:

Bill pushed the pace a bit, but stayed comfortable. After the exercise, we walked over to site #314 to look it over. We saw our possible new neighbor, Judd Brody, who invited us in to look over his park model. He has exactly the layout that we want. Later, we met with Jan at the Rock Creek office to discuss options for ordering our park model. After we were done, Cathy called the bank to see about financing. Bill deployed the awning and we ate outside in the 85 degree air. During the morning run, Bill's iPod stopped responding to its volume controls, so he researched a substitute for the earphone system. He found that Best Buy had an adaptor by Belkin and many options for running earphones. Bill dropped Cathy at her tutoring session and went to Best Buy to pick up the adaptor and Nike earphones. Then he went next door to Staples to print a form from LVCC. Finally, he went to Target to buy a cappuccino. Then, he returned to the Golden Gate library and set up his new earphones, which worked well. We drove back to Rock Creek. Bill set up an email address for Cathy's student. We went for a 3.7 mile bike ride next to the airport and then to the bridge for Happy Hour. The word about our proposed park model had spread to everyone. We were given a lot of welcoming comments by the park regulars. It seemed that our decision on the park model indicated our desire to become permanent members of the community. We had a long talk with Norm and Marianne as we walked back from the bridge. Bill had gnocchi for dinner and Cathy had lasagna. We watched "24" during and after dinner. Then, we watched two "The Daily Show" recordings and then the episode of "Lost", which Cathy slept through.

  Wednesday was still beautiful. Cathy went to her morning class. We had a 10:00 AM meeting with Kevin Sands, a potential contractor for our park model porch. We walked over to site 314 and Judd Brody took Kevin on a tour of his unit. Cathy did laundry later in the morning. After lunch, we walked to the beach via Starbucks. It was very summery as we lay on the sand for about an hour. Then we walked to Olive Garden for dinner. We arrived back at Rock Creek at sunset. Bill worked on cleaning off his old laptop.

  Thursday was another warm and humid day. Cathy went to her exercise class. Bill went out for a 10K run:

It was a sweaty run, the kind that Bill calls a "Key West run." Our friend Bud Gross borrowed our car to drive to a doctor's appointment. We had an early lunch and then Bill went to his tutoring session at the Literacy Center. He had a good class and then walked back. Cathy drove to her tutoring session at the Golden Gate Library. Bill's new bicycle arrived at the Rock Creek office. Christy helped him get the big box back to our site where Bill assembled the bike. When he tried a test drive, he discovered two things: first, he hadn't fastened the handlebars securely; second, he had the front wheel turned backwards. The combination causes him to fall off of the bike at a slow speed over grass, so he wasn't hurt. He fixed the problems and tried another test ride. He discovered that he has a lot of practice to do in order to ride the road bike with fluency. When Cathy returned, we went to Starbucks and Publix for some shopping. Later, we went to the bridge for Happy Hour and then returned to the RV for a quiche dinner. We watched "Lost" during dinner (second time for Bill).

  Friday was supposed to be a rainy day, but it stayed nice all day. Cathy went to her exercise class. Bill finished readying his old laptop and installed and tested Skype on it. We met with Jan about our proposed park model and went over several items, including a 6' x 10' front deck and a small outside shower at the back of the porch. After lunch, Bill went out to run several errands:

1. Packet pickup at Naples on the Run for the Philharmonic 10K race.
2. Buying a small saddlebag for his new bike.
3. Printing some IRS files at Office Max.
4. Starbucks.

When Bill returned, we finalized our loan application for Cape Bank and got the IRS printouts ready to mail. Bill drove to the Naples post office and mailed the three items. The post office had its usual long line of patrons, but three clerks helped speed the throughput. When he returned, Bill went out for a couple of laps on his new bike. Cathy was already out walking. We had quinoa and chicken for dinner. Afterward, we joined a group at a bonfire at the flood retention area. We had several good conversations and were congratulated by many "permanent" residents of the park.

  Saturday was warm and humid with a chance of afternoon showers. Bill went out early for a 4 hour 20 minute, 16 mile kayak paddle. He had the wind in his face the whole second half of the trip. After lunch, we walked downtown to an art show in the park, Starbucks, and finally, to the beach. We lay on the beach for about an hour and a half before heading back. We grilled burgers for dinner.

  Sunday morning started at 5:00 AM for Bill as he readied for the Philharmonic 10K. Cathy wasn't sleeping anyway, so she got up also. Bill ate a normal breakfast, but Cathy decided to wait until later. We searched for an open Starbucks on the way to the race, but couldn't find anything. We parked by the water shops. There was a crowd of 900 for the first annual 10K for the Phil:

Bill felt good throughout the run and had a good personal time for the event. When he scanned the results, he saw himself in 5th place in his age group, so we walked to Starbucks in the water shops for breakfast for Cathy and a second breakfast for Bill. We stopped at Target for a couple of items for granddaughter Sarah before heading back to our campground. Cathy went for a walk, but Bill had to pick her up when a very hard rain started. We ate lunch in the middle of a T-storm. We solved a very difficult Sunday Times puzzle while the rain continued. Later, we went to Starbucks/Publix for some shopping and stopped for gas on the way back. We watched the Masters tournament until it was over and then went to dinner at Grouper and Chips. Bill had blackened grouper and linguini. Cathy had salmon. We both had seafood chowder and loved our dinners.

  Monday, April 12 , was warm and windy. Cathy went to the gym for two classes. Bill worked on becoming comfortable on his new road bike. He rode for a total of 12 miles, making some adjustments along the way. He found that the bicycle isn't solely responsible for the speed of the ride. Bill brought both of his laptops to his tutoring session. He gave the old one to Francisco and did a test session on Skype to make sure that the two will be able to communicate when we leave Naples for the north. We went to the bridge for Happy Hour. Bill had gnocchi for dinner while Cathy had a frozen entree.

  Tuesday did her exercise class in the morning. Bill did a practice duathlon: (2 mile run, 12 mile bike, 5K run)

After lunch, Cathy went to a tutoring lesson. Bill rode his geezer bike to Bad Ass Coffee for a cappuccino. Afterward, Bill chilled out on a lounge chair. We had a quinoa and chicken dinner. During and after dinner, we watched "24", "House", and "Lost."

  Wednesday was sunny, warm, and very windy. Cathy went to the gym for two classes. Bill went for a 4 hour kayak paddle, hugging the shore to hide from the wind. Cathy brought a fruit lunch to our neighbors Jerry and Lou. After our lunch, Cathy did laundry. At 2:00 PM, we met with Jan and got closer to finalizing the details on our park model. Afterward, Bill emailed Kevin Sands to update him on our progress. We had a pasta dinner. After dinner, Bill drove to Walmart to pick up "Hurt Locker" from RedBox. We enjoyed the movie when Bill returned.

  Thursday was another warm and windy day. Cathy did an exercise class in the campground. Bill decided to do some speed work:

He was planning to try for 7:30 for the third interval, but decided to just do something comfortable instead. Cathy took a walk after her class. After lunch, Cathy had a tutoring session. We drove down to 3rd Street for the Thursday night music, but found the restaurants all too expensive for their worth. We decided that if we were going to pay that kind of money, we would go to the best restaurant, so we walked up to the corner of 3rd Street and 5th Avenue and ate at Bice's. We had great dinners of risotto and wild salmon. We also had tiramisu and profiteroles for dessert after dinner. Bill talked with Jim Sosna just before the entrees arrived. Jim was in Temple University Hospital, which had a nursing strike ongoing. His lungs were in bad shape and he was in the process of being biopsied for a possible new fungus infection.

  Friday was still windy, but Bill decided to go out for a 20 mile kayak paddle. With an east wind, he decided to go out Gordon Pass and up the Gulf shore for 2 miles past the fishing pier. The water was pretty flat, but the wind kept trying to blow the kayak off shore. Bill stopped on the beach for a lunch of 2 power bars. The inlet was choppy with standing waves on the way in. Bill was a bit tired when he finally landed after 5 hours and 20 minutes. We drove Jerry and Lou's car to Lely Palms Retirement Home and visited their new apartment. Later, we attended a Cinco de Mayo party at Jerry and Sylvia's home in the campground. When we returned, Bill made some quinoa flakes, dates, and walnuts for his dinner. We talked with Linda Keech and found that Jim Sosna's condition had worsened. He had gone into septic shock and wasn't doing well.

  Saturday was cloudy. Cathy did some laundry while Bill researched how to determine when he is riding his bike at 90 rpm cadence from his speed on the GPS. Bill came up with the following table, based on his gears:

He figured that 2nd gear on the front and 5th gear on the rear would give him a chance to try to attain a 15.8 mph speed, indicating 90 RPM. Beth Findlay called and reported that our friend Jim Sosna had died overnight. We were crushed by the news. Bill called Ed and Paula Kline's home phone to leave a message concerning the funeral arrangements. Bill talked with Jim's wife Linda and with Paula several times. We decided that we would drive up to the Cape May area and then to North Carolina and back to Naples. Cathy called Al's Plumbing and asked that our water be turned on so that we could stay overnight in our house during the trip. We went out to Walmart and got haircuts and then went to Starbucks and Publix for some shopping. We had frozen pizza for dinner and viewed "An Education", a British chick flick which was mildly entertaining. Bill worked on getting together some photos for a tribute to Jim.

  Sunday was a rainy day from start to end. Bill was up at 5:45 AM, hoping to get a workout in before the rain, but it started too early. Bill worked on a tribute to Jim Sosna and finished it just before lunch. After lunch, we drove (in the rain, of course) to Borders in North Naples so that Bill could get a cappuccino and Cathy could get a couple of books. We continued north for almost a mile to a Walmart to return the dvd from Saturday night. When we got back, Bill did a short medley workout (in the rain): 10K ride, 5K run, 10K ride. By the time he was done, the rain had been pelting him for some time, so he cut it short. After a shower for Bill, we talked with Paula Kline and found that the probable day for Jim's funeral is Friday. We decided to leave Monday morning. Bill called Budget Rental to add a day to our rental itinerary. We went over to Gene and Bev's to say goodbye and then went out to dinner at Grouper and Chips. Cathy had Yellowtail Snapper and Bill had the usual Blackened Grouper with linguini. We finished packing when we got back.

        Bill and Cathy