March 9, 2012--Perry to Marco Island, FL

As we left Perry we to 98 to the inland which turned out to be a boring drive. The traffic was light and that added to the boredom. The road was sheltered by trees on both sides except an occasional glimpse of a ranch carved out of the timber-swamp land. The ranches had cattle grazing in the Florida sun.
At about 11 am we stopped at Crystal Springs and we saw many snowbirds in 80 degree weather with a few occasional sprinkles.

After passing through Homossasa Springs we did the 98 toll road south on 98. This made our trip faster than we expected so we decided to go on to Marco Island south of Naples  and not stay at Bartow for the night. We stopped for lunch at Riverview, Florida, and filled up with diesel fuel at $4.05 per gallon. This was the cheapest since we started looking for the price. It seems Walt notices all of the diesel prices.

During the late afternoon we dropped off the main drag and did a tour of the historic area of Ponta G????, Florida. It had the typical colorful homes of all sorts of architecture. It was a nice brake from the road.

At about 5:30 we found our reserved room for the night in an area just off of Marco Island. This turned out to be a 3 star room which should have been a minus three star rating. We should have known it was not what the booking site said when we saw a very run down complex with pink paint and spots of black mold and deteriation. On the web it showed a yellow facade but that was only enough to take a picture of the front entrance. It had been a big resort at one point but it went in foreclosure and all the fixtures and furniture was gone. I believe they even sold all the drapes because what we had in our room was very cheap commercial type of drape. You know how Walt tries to be optimistic about everything but after a while he admitted he could not think of any more positive points about the room. We had to stay because we had a reservation which could not be cancelled because we were past the 48 grace period.
The patrons of the hotel were hippy type squatters who made their own happy hour and entertainment during the evening. So is the life on the road--first times we have been "snookered", but we survived.

That evening we went to Marco Island and saw how the "upper crust" likes to live. Such excess--I could only think about how much they could have done for others who have very little. After the rich man tour we came upon a little fishing shack along the bay which was recommended to us in the town of Goodland. It was just fantastic. Good end to a long and trying day.

An addition to my collection of U.S. trees

Pink Lady

Graceful southern home

Marco Island Homes below: