Bill and Cathy McArthur on the Road 2011: 10

  Monday, March 21, Bill was somewhat sore and brain-fried from the race the day before. Cathy went to her exercise classes. Bill puttered around on the computer. Then, he cleaned his bike. After lunch, Bill helped Daniel and Mary Scallen from Quebec with their connectivity problems with their laptop. Bill installed a new wireless driver, but then discovered a switch that he thought was a cover latch. The switch was for the wireless antenna. That fixed the problem. Daniel brought over three paintings of his and allowed us to choose one in payment. We had an early quinoa and frozen meal dinner and started viewing "RED". We went to country line dancing class. Later, we finished viewing "RED" - a fluffy piece with a good cast and an improbable plot.

  Tuesday, Bill was still sore in the legs. Cathy went to the gym. Bill went out for a short kayak paddle of 9.6 miles and 2 hours and 40 minutes. It was beautiful out on Naples Bay. After a shower, Bill ate fruit for lunch. We drove to Jack and Sue's condo to meet with their daughters Karen and Kim. Bill and Jack drove to Jets Pizza on Radio Road to pick up an order that Sue had phoned in and then all but Bill ate lunch while we chatted. We hurried back to the clubhouse for a Talent Show practice of a line dance called "Bar Stools." Bill discovered that he didn't really know the dance, although he thought he did. At 3:30 PM, Bill walked to LVCC to meet with Primo for a tutoring session. He stopped at the bridge on his way back home. We grilled burgers for dinner and viewed the first episode of the mini-series "Carlos the Jackal", a good action show.

  Wednesday, Cathy went to her exercise classes. Bill decided to start recovering from the duathlon the past Sunday with a duathlon exercise set. He walked for 2 miles, ran for 2 miles, biked for 20 miles, fell off of his bike at dismount, and ran for 5K:

After stretching out, Bill ate a late lunch. We attended a practice session for Friday's talent show at 4:00 PM at the clubhouse. Bill was perturbed that a couple of the women in the group kept making unwanted recommendations, creating a bit of chaos. We drove to Tom and Jean Reilly's house after the practice. After chatting for a while, we drove to M waterfront grille in Venetian Bay. We had a great outside table. The service and the menu were excellent. Tom and Cathy had a wonderful Scottish salmon dish. Jean had a wonderful vegan dish. Bill would have had a wonderful grouper dish had the grouper not been gristly and overcooked. After dinner, we walked around the shops and restaurants on both parts of the complex before heading back to Marbella Lakes. We enjoyed some hot tea and herbal tea before heading home.

  Thursday, Cathy met with her student Elda. Bill drove to Home Depot earlier to pick up some kayaking gloves and microfiber cloths. Then Bill went out on his kayak for a fishing paddle. It was gorgeous out on the water. Bill paddled down to Gordon Pass and landed on a small beach on the bay side. He spent some time wading in the shallow water and fishing with a gold spoon. There were a few boats nearby. No one in the area got any fish. At noon, Bill paddled back home after 10.9 miles and 4:17. He showered and had a late lunch. He also called TiVo and canceled the account for the old box. At 3:30 PM, Bill walked to LVCC for his tutoring session with Primo. Bill and Cathy both showed up at the bridge for Happy Hour. We had a pasta dinner and watched the rather weak performance of George Clooney in "The American." We watched NCAA basketball for a while before heading to bed.

  Friday, Cathy had her exercise class while Bill rode his bike for 33 miles @ 17.2 mph. We headed to the clubhouse for the 11:00 AM Talent Show rehearsal. The rehearsal went well. After lunch, we set up reservations for the Key West Express and lodging at the Wicker House for a trip from April 14-16. Bill also signed up for a 5K Earth Day run on the 16th. Later in the afternoon, Bill went to Office Max to print our reservation receipts. He also stopped at Starbucks and Publix on the way back home. We performed in the Talent Show, which started at 7:00 PM. Then, we stood in the back to watch the rest of the show. We had a late quinoa and frozen meal dinner. We talked with Paula and Ed Kline to arrange for a trip to visit them in Marco on Saturday morning.

  Saturday, after breakfast, we drove to Marco to Paula and Ed's condo. We arrived around 9:00 AM. Ed met us in the parking lot and took us to their unit on the 20th floor. They had a gorgeous view of Marco Island and the Gulf from their deck and bedroom. We were very impressed with their unit and building. We all went for a long walk on the beach and picked up some interesting shells on the way. We saw a dolphin flip a fish into its mouth close by where we were standing. We also saw a reddish egret and some snowy plovers. We ate a light lunch when we got back. Then, we drove around Marco Island for about 3 hours. We stopped at their Friend Tom Quinn's house for a while. Then, we went to a couple of open houses and a few marinas as we hit all of the Goodland and Marco highlights. We saw a lot of big wahoos coming in for weigh-in at the marina at the Esplanade. We finally headed back to Naples around 6:00 PM. We stopped at a too busy Carrabbas and then got seated outside at the Back Street Cafe in Naples. We enjoyed a great seafood dinner and watched part of a basketball game on Bill's iPhone while we ate our salad course.

  Sunday was very warm and humid. Bill did his crossword puzzles, some stretching and crunches, and headed out for a run. He intended to go for a slow 10 miler, but for some reason he ran a bit faster than intended. He finished the first five miles at an average pace of 9:00 minutes/mile and a left calf that was getting sore. Bill tried to stretch and walk it out for a while and then gave up on any more running for the day. He joined Cathy for a speed walk. They walked 3.3 miles at 15:39 minutes/mile. Cathy's hip got sore from the effort. Bill's calf stiffened up also. We ate lunch and then chilled out for the afternoon. Our neighbor Judd Brodie came over for a few minutes to chat. Bill got a shower and then we headed to Grouper and Chips to pick up four take-out meals: 3 blackened grouper and rice and 1 grouper tacos. We stopped at Starbucks on the way to Lely Palms to eat dinner with Jerrry and Lou Hale in their apartment. Their daughter Suzie had set up a table for 4 in the living room. We had a nice dinner and good conversation. Bill watched the second half of the North Carolina/Kentucky game on his iPhone (with the sound turned off) during dinner without being rude. We left at about 8:00 PM and headed home. We viewed the end of "The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard" - funny at times, silly always. Bill's calf still hurt as he headed to bed.

        Bill and Cathy