Feb 12, 2010 - Seminole Campground

Today promises to be a down day.

Rain is supposed to come in this afternoon, but be gone early tonight. So today we’ll do some laundry, run to Publix for a few supplies, etc. 

We did take a drive to the Franklin Locks park on the Caloosahatchee River, not far from here. The booth attendant told us we could go ahead and take a drive around to check it out. It looks like a nice park with water and electricity at each site, but no sewer hookups. A boat launch and some boat docks are available too. For you fishermen, Beth’s uncle comes here quite often for bass. The sites are gravel with cement pads adjacent, and a covered picnic table at each site. Shower and rest room buildings were seen at each end of the park. One drawback, at least in a normal year, is that there’s not much shade. This winter, with temps about 15 degrees below normal, it’s no big deal.  Many of the sites are on the water. The campground is actually next to the dam, and it looks like there’s a walkway where you can go across the top of it and view the locks on the other side. We were going to park and check it out, but about that time it started to rain.

We went to the Bingo game tonight. Beth’s been a few times many years ago, but I’ve never actually played Bingo. I won the first game, after a false start. I’m such a rookie I didn’t realize we were playing a special game called "picnic table", where the object is to make a shape on your card that looks like a picnic table seen sideways. So I got 5 in a row, yelled "Bingo", and a guy came over to check my card. He then politely explained, while everyone else in the room listened, about the special game, told me I hadn’t won, then play continued. But first, the guy running the game had to say (a bit too loudly, I thought) "does everyone understand that we’re playing a special this game?" 

Floyd and I, game faces on.

A few minutes later, I actually did win. I don’t think anybody believed it at first, but they all waited patiently with pitying smiles on their faces while same guy came over to check my card. Everyone was fully expecting that I’d screwed up again, but when he said "we have a Bingo", they all looked slightly shocked for an instant, then their eyes narrowed and I got a dose of the stinkeye. I could practically read their minds: Rookies, and transients, and the special too. As they say today: WTF?

Beth won a few games later. So altogether we won 30 bucks, but it cost us $21 to buy in. $20 for the cards and a buck for the dauber. We only bought one dauber, because Beth and I intended to share it. Shortly after play started, a little girl saw us, took pity on us, came over to our table and lent us one of her crayons to mark cards with.

We’ve gotten several great suggestions for what to do in the area, from Beth’s relatives as well as some rPod folk who have been emailing me. Since we probably won’t be spending much time at the beach, all suggestions are appreciated.