Oh, the challenges of retirement in the 21st Century. We have blotched the blog and are trying to figure out how to make this work. This is a test.

We arrived in southwest Florida on Tuesday afternoon. Down to shirt sleeves. Our journey was a success, but carrying all our possessions including one car with our RV was a challenge. At least we did not try to drive out while still connected to anything.

We drove through a storm in Carolina, but the cold front followed us here. The temperature fell to 50 this morning. We wore a jacket to Caloosahatchee Bay and watched dozens of species of shore and water birds on the mud flats this morning. Yesterday at lunch we gazed at three eagles circling above.

We're on I-95 before dawn. Went to bed at 7 p.m. yesterday, but it was not a short day. We rose at 6:30 a.m., slept in the motor home in our neighbor's driveway. Our tasks were to continue to pack and assemble the Birdmobile, finish emptying and cleaning the house, one last shower, and look at the home where we lived for 23 years. Even empty it looked beautiful. We had to go to storage to leave the last few items that we didn't want to take on our journey. While I finished arranging things in the motor home, Chuck loaded our little Ford Focus with our backpacks and camping gear. Then the bikes went on the rear and the canoe on the top. As we finished, Gen Ray drove by and I called my new friend, Vicky Jones. They watched and helped us hitch the Focus to the Birdmobile. Glen took photos of us fully loaded in front of Springettsbury Aven. and with she and Vicky waving us off, we got on the road by 10:15 a.m.

So things have really calmed down here. There's a lot less rushing to lectures and assessments and a lot more just fitting in the exercise we need to do. The day is still long and filled amazingly. For example, today I woke up at 7:30 in order to grab breakfast just before 8 and bring it to a class in the Back Dining Room or BDR. The class was about the importance of strength training while losing weight. It highlighted how it is impossible not to lose some muscle mass and impossible to gain muscle mass while losing weight so strength training is extra important in order to just maintain one's muscle as much as possible. whew.

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