Day 8: Through the Everglades to a familiar place

Leaving the Keys today we took the Tamiami Trail out of the Miami area. Hwy 41 is a two lane highway transversing the Everglades. Gail was hoping to see some alligators. She wasn't disappointed! There were too many to count, sunning along the bank of canal that parallels the highway. I got out to take a pic (she wouldn't), then at the Big Cypress Refuge site there were some below a walkway.

Back into civilization at Naples we drove up to Ft. Myers where I spent the summer of '75 learning ministry and working with the youth at Riverside Baptist Church. Among the blessings of that summer were Jimmy and Alice Cooke, who housed and fed me for the summer. Jimmy has since gone to be with the Lord, but Alice is a very active 80-something. She's also become one of my Facebook friends recently, getting us re-acquainted. It has been 30 years since Gail and I last visited Ft. Myers, and that was our last contact with Alice.

So I definitely wanted to be able to stop by and spend some time laughing about old times, old friends and catching up on our families. She called Evelyn Berry, who lives "just around the corner", and whose daughter Kim was in my junior high group that summer. It was a lot of fun listening to them tell stories. When Evelyn said, "You know what I remember most about you?" I got a little nervous. But it was an innocent story about me ingesting a goldfish or something.

Tonigh we're habitating in Punta Gorda. Tomorrow is an easy travel day - our destination is only an hour and a half away - so we'll do some driving up the Gulf Coast around Sarasota. I was there once 36 years ago and remember how beautiful it was. Then it's off to visit with friends Scott and Gayle Ranck.