one talking too loud. Just a peaceful place to shop.
Of course if you are in a hurry, this kind of place can drive you crazy. People here will strike up conversations with total strangers and talk for twenty minutes, not realizing they have created a roadblock for other shoppers.
It could be worse though. If you visit the Sams Club down in Port Charlotte on the day they are handing out food samples, it's kind of like standing in line at a senior citizen buffet. No one's in a hurry and everyone is making sure they don't miss out on any of the free food samplings.
Compared to that, shopping at the Publix on Dearborn isn't bad at all.
On this day, it only took me about twenty minutes to roll my shopping cart up and down all the food aisles, stocking up on supplies while dodging senior citizens who sometimes stop and seem to get stuck in place.
Since I wasn't in any hurry, none of this bothered me.
I was living the good life in Florida. I had money in the bank, a motorhome parked near the beach, a Jeep to get around in, and some interesting friends.
From Publix, I headed back to Serenity Cove. I had bought six bags of groceries and as I was taking the last load inside, I heard a door close nearby.
It was Polly, my neighbor in the Airstream next door. Oscar the wiener dog was with her, pulling at the leash Polly was holding.
“Walker, glad to see you're back. Oscar and I are going for a walk around the park. Would you like to join us?”
“ A walk sounds good. Let me get these groceries put up, and I'll join you.”
As we began our walk, it was clear that Oscar was calling the shots. He'd drag Polly from one side of the road to the other. Sniffing out spots marked by other four legged guests at Serenity Cove.
As we walked, Polly pointed out the features of the park and provided me background info about some of it's more colorful residents.
“ That big motorhome over there belongs to a famous Hollywood actor. They say after his fifth divorce, the only thing he had left was the motorhome. He was too old for Hollywood so he moved to Serenity Cove, threw away his toupee, and has been living here for almost ten years.
“ Next door to him is the former mayor of Chillicothe, Ohio. He only lives here during the winter. The rest of the time he's back in Ohio. Some people say he's gay, but I don't know about that.”
She pointed out another motorhome.
“The people who live in that older Fleetwood are from Minnesota. They have two cats and seven grand children. The cats they keep with them, the grand kids they leave back up north.”
As we continued our walk around the park, Polly filled me in on the different people living here. She'd point out a trailer and say, “The man who lives there is a writer.” Or “that couple is from Canada where they own a string of beauty parlors”, or “that man's wife died last year”, or “the woman who lives there is a famous artist.”
Polly said for the most part, people kept their trailers or motorhomes here year round. Even those who went back up north during the summer months would leave their trailers here.
For them, it was easier and less hassle to know they had a reserved spot in Serenity Cove than to call around to all the different RV parks trying to find an available space.
So they paid their rent even when they weren't living here, just so they had a place in Florida they could return to anytime they wanted to.
This meant Serenity Cove stayed booked up year round. There weren't many vacancies, except when someone died.
Polly also told me that before she moved to Serenity Cove she had been a registered nurse.
“ My last job was in the cardiac care center of Tampa General. It was a good job with good pay, but I didn't like the stress of living in a big city like Tampa.
“ Jack promised me that when we retired, we'd move back to Englewood. But that never happened.
“ On his sixtieth birthday, driving home from work during rush hour, he had a heart attack on
Of course if you are in a hurry, this kind of place can drive you crazy. People here will strike up conversations with total strangers and talk for twenty minutes, not realizing they have created a roadblock for other shoppers.
It could be worse though. If you visit the Sams Club down in Port Charlotte on the day they are handing out food samples, it's kind of like standing in line at a senior citizen buffet. No one's in a hurry and everyone is making sure they don't miss out on any of the free food samplings.
Compared to that, shopping at the Publix on Dearborn isn't bad at all.
On this day, it only took me about twenty minutes to roll my shopping cart up and down all the food aisles, stocking up on supplies while dodging senior citizens who sometimes stop and seem to get stuck in place.
Since I wasn't in any hurry, none of this bothered me.
I was living the good life in Florida. I had money in the bank, a motorhome parked near the beach, a Jeep to get around in, and some interesting friends.
From Publix, I headed back to Serenity Cove. I had bought six bags of groceries and as I was taking the last load inside, I heard a door close nearby.
It was Polly, my neighbor in the Airstream next door. Oscar the wiener dog was with her, pulling at the leash Polly was holding.
“Walker, glad to see you're back. Oscar and I are going for a walk around the park. Would you like to join us?”
“ A walk sounds good. Let me get these groceries put up, and I'll join you.”
As we began our walk, it was clear that Oscar was calling the shots. He'd drag Polly from one side of the road to the other. Sniffing out spots marked by other four legged guests at Serenity Cove.
As we walked, Polly pointed out the features of the park and provided me background info about some of it's more colorful residents.
“ That big motorhome over there belongs to a famous Hollywood actor. They say after his fifth divorce, the only thing he had left was the motorhome. He was too old for Hollywood so he moved to Serenity Cove, threw away his toupee, and has been living here for almost ten years.
“ Next door to him is the former mayor of Chillicothe, Ohio. He only lives here during the winter. The rest of the time he's back in Ohio. Some people say he's gay, but I don't know about that.”
She pointed out another motorhome.
“The people who live in that older Fleetwood are from Minnesota. They have two cats and seven grand children. The cats they keep with them, the grand kids they leave back up north.”
As we continued our walk around the park, Polly filled me in on the different people living here. She'd point out a trailer and say, “The man who lives there is a writer.” Or “that couple is from Canada where they own a string of beauty parlors”, or “that man's wife died last year”, or “the woman who lives there is a famous artist.”
Polly said for the most part, people kept their trailers or motorhomes here year round. Even those who went back up north during the summer months would leave their trailers here.
For them, it was easier and less hassle to know they had a reserved spot in Serenity Cove than to call around to all the different RV parks trying to find an available space.
So they paid their rent even when they weren't living here, just so they had a place in Florida they could return to anytime they wanted to.
This meant Serenity Cove stayed booked up year round. There weren't many vacancies, except when someone died.
Polly also told me that before she moved to Serenity Cove she had been a registered nurse.
“ My last job was in the cardiac care center of Tampa General. It was a good job with good pay, but I didn't like the stress of living in a big city like Tampa.
“ Jack promised me that when we retired, we'd move back to Englewood. But that never happened.
“ On his sixtieth birthday, driving home from work during rush hour, he had a heart attack on
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