PINE LAKE AND OTHER WATER
By Duncan
If you are following along on my road trip, you will know I have found shelter on the west side of Florida with my Personal and Very Close Friend, Tom Morookian. So let’s put a French accent on his dwelling and call it, “Chez Morookian.” Tom lives in a gated community about nine miles north of the Caloosahatchee River, in North Fort Myers. The gated community is called Magnolia Landing Golf Resort.
By the way, the river nine miles south of Magnolia Landing is a river named after the Calusa Indians. Hatchee in the Seminole language means “River.” So, loosely translated, the Caloosahatchee River means, “Indian River” or “River of Indians?” Hey, I’m not trying to rewrite history here. So, in reality the Caloosahatchee doesn’t need the word river behind it. Calling the Caloosahatchee a river would be redundant.
The Caloosahatchee (a mile wide) divides Fort Myers from North Fort Myers. As you can see, the Caloosahatchee is a good size body of water. Yes, there are two bridges both named the Edison Bridge. It allows automobile traffic to flow to and from from Fort Myers to North Fort Myers.
If you're not aware, the bridges are named after Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) the inventor of the electric light bulb. He lived in Fort Myers and had his laboratories in Fort Myers.
The City Fathers wanted the first first wooden bridge (1931) to be a toll bridge. The Federal Government said, “Na, Na, Greedy City Fathers, we will not allow the bridge to be part of Highway 41 if you make it a toll bridge.”
So, they had to shake down other pockets for the money to build the first bridge across the river. In 1992 and 1993 they built the current bridges. (55 feet off the water) The old wooden bridge (1931 Bridge) then caught fire and burned. No one seems to know how the wooden bridge caught fire, perhaps it was an accident when the City Fathers found out the cost of removing the bridge? Now, listen to me starting a rumor.
I remember Christmas Day 2019, putting the top down on the “Mean Yellow” and driving across the Edison Bridge thinking I had died and gone to heaven.There was nothing open in Fort Myers Christmas day except a small sports bar on a back street that was serving a free ham dinner with all the fixings. Again, what luck to find people who are happy and enjoying life. This truly was a paradise.
Okay enough about the difference between North Fort Myers and Fort Myers. Yes, Magnolia Landing was the community I lived in for five years. (2014-2019) But I’m back for a visit and there are several activities that Tom wants me to attend.
One is Garage Guys. “Garage Guys” started with one man who opened a lawn chair and sat in the warmth of the winter Florida sun and drank a cold one or two. His neighbor across the street yelled at him and asked, “What-cha doing?”
“What the hell does it look like?”
“Mind if I join ya?”
“Bring over your lawn chair and a few beers.”
Thus started the tradition of “Garage Guys.”
So, Garage Guys is on the agenda. Also, the Tuesday Morning Pine Lakes Country Club breakfast is also on the agenda. After our drunken birthday party last night, I will admit I drank a little too much wine. Tom wanted to go to the Pine Lakes Country Club for breakfast by 8:00 AM. Of course, I said, 8:00 AM?
Bruce, (Gray Sweater) Randy, (Red Sweater)
Every Tuesday morning these guys from Magnolia Landing Golf Resort drive across highway 41 to have breakfast at the Pine Lakes Country Club dining room. Why not have breakfast in their own Magnolia Landing ClubHouse? Because Magnolia Landing is only open for lunch and doesn't do breakfast. There seems to be a stigma that only the people who live in a resort community are allowed to use the amenities.
Pine Lakes seems to have a little different policy. Keep in mind the demographics of these gated communities are mainly older adults. Maybe you have heard the phrase, “God’s waiting room.” Below is the age demographics of Pine Lakes Country Club.
A Little math reveals that 396 people or 75% of the Pine Lakes community are fifty-five years or older. And of course, there is a line from a Jerry Seinfeld program that has been used many, many times. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that!”
Tom Morookian - Phil Fugere
Later in the day, Phil Fugere joined Tom Morrokian and myself for a chat in Tom’s living room. Phil has lived in Magnolia Landing for some time. When I first met Phil his lovely wife was living in the northeast with their grandkids. Phil would come down to my home lonely, and depressed, full of self doubt, and would walk into the house unannounced. Unannounced means, he doesn’t knock on the door, he just comes in. He heads for the refrigerator and helps himself to a beer. Then as he opens the beer, and drinks, then he would tell me I need to refill the frig.
“Duncan, you’re running low on beer.”
I always had to smile, because I personally don’t like the taste of beer. I don’t drink beer, but I stock a few bottles for my pals.
Well, Phil is a professional beer drinker. I love to watch his delicate ballet footsteps from my front door, to the kitchen, which is more like a slow methodical trot. All he needs is a tu-tu to punctuate his dance steps. I’m not saying Phil is light in the loafers, don’t get me wrong. The moment he opens the refrigerator door and reaches into the cold crevasse of my Whirlpool, and closes the door, his technique is unparalleled. He then opens the bottle and raises it to his lips in one symphonic crescendo. Ludwig van Beethoven would be proud. Phil must have lots of practice. Hell, I know he drank a lot of my beer!!!
Tom and Phil and others, who don’t want to be mentioned, would make our monthly lunch trip to The Wing House in downtown Fort Myers. I’m not sure why we went to this place on a regular basis. Perhaps it was the food.
Call it a pilgrimage to a sacred place. One has got to get out of the house once in a while and see how the rest of the world is living. Let’s face it, not all pilgrimages are spiritual, some pilgrimages deal with other kinds of devotion. Take this sandwich I’m holding in my hands, heavenly!
That's it for this addition of a road trip. Tomorrow we do a new restaurant in North Fort Myers called Rosies. There is lots of buzz about it, and we are going to check it out.
