January 31, Day 220 – In Goodland

When we woke up this morning we were aground (but then Gerry had expected we would be). However, as the tide rose we were soon swinging back and forth on the anchor. It was cloudy and breezy -- not nearly as nice a day as yesterday. After breakfast Gerry did some chores and then fished awhile (only caught catfish) and Linda worked on the blog.

Around 12:30 we headed into town for the Mullet Festival. We were expecting company (Nancy Figgins from our neighborhood in Maryland) to show up around 1:00. She has a winter home in Estero and was driving down to meet us. When we got to Stan’s, it was packed; many more people than yesterday. It was hard to find a place to sit so we decided to wander around the town for awhile. There were cars, motorcycles and people everywhere. Probably twice as many people as yesterday. We finally found a table on the opposite side of the stage and waited for Nancy to arrive. Once there, we all walked over to the Marco Island Restaurant for lunch as we decided it would be less crowded and much quieter. We had a nice visit with her catching up on neighborhood things and on her new boat, Seaglass, that she recently bought.

After lunch we were on our way back to Stan’s Bar when we ran into Michael and Jana. By sheer luck we were able to find a table, but not as close to the action as yesterday. Because of the huge crowd and the cooler temps, the festival wasn’t as fun today as yesterday, but there was still some interesting people watching to be done. Around 5:30 it started to sprinkle, so we decided to say goodbye to the Mullet Festival and head back to the boat. The ride back was pretty chilly, especially for someone who didn’t bring a jacket (Gerry).

Back at the boat we turned the heat on for a little while to warm up after our chilly ride, watched a movie and then off to bed.





This is the restarant where we had lunch with Nancy, the Marco Island Restaurant, but by the time we had lunch it was too cold to sit outside.