North Fort Myers

We got a little later start than planned.  We kept forgetting to get Newcomb Construction business cards made.  I guess those might help business?!  After Linda created them & ordered them via smart phone, we got underway a little before nine o'clock.  A two foot drop in Franklin Lock put us back at sea level where we will not encounter another lock until Coffeeville on the Tenn-Tom.  That will be a while.  Especially if flood conditions persist for those we are praying for in the mid-west.
Not too long after departing Franklin Lock, we passed a boat we knew called "Q's End".  We met them three years ago in Marathon, and have seen them down there and elsewhere every year since then.  We hollered at them on the VHF radio after waving to them.  Upon calling Tom by name they seemed to realize who we were.  We knew the Canadians were going to store their boat in Florida this summer, but we did not know where.  They left Marathon this year on April 1, the same day we started out of there on the delivery of "Our Time".  They knew our plans of going up the east coast, and we figured they were long gone by now so we were both quite surprised to see each other.  Come to find out they enjoyed Ft. Myers Beach so much, they were just leaving there to store their boat up the Okeechobee.
Shortly after two o'clock we pulled into Paradise Marina in North Fort Myers where live aboard friends we met in Kentucky five years ago keep their boat.
At happy hour Linda started telling how Spike was famous in Marathon this year.  Another couple said, "Oh yeah, we heard about him on the Net."  They were in Marathon at the time Spike disappeared.  The Net is a Cruisers Network forum that is broadcast over the VHF radio every morning their to make announcements and what not.  So they heard Linda pleading for help in looking for her lost cat.  This boating community really is a small world.
By the end of the evening it was decided that we would stay here at least until Thursday morning to get through all the activities we want to do and those that these busy retirees already had planned.