I just wrapped up my week of winter detox and have successfully completed my winter ehab. I feel great! Winter is completely out of my system and it seems like a distant memory.
J. Dawg out of winter rehab!
San Carlos RV Resort and Marina
I’ve settled into my new winter roost – San Carlos RV Park in Fort Myers Beach. I’m here for the next 2 weeks. It feels so good to be with “my people” – all the other snowbirds. We’re all packed in tight. My small class B is dwarfed by big class A’s. This type of camping is not for everyone, but snowbirds are a super friendly bunch. We also share many common traits that give us affinity with each other. While these don’t apply to all snowbirds they are commonly seen;
- We snowbirds tend to undertake annual migrations at the same time starting the southern migration to the Atlantic and Caribbean coasts in Dec and the returning to our northern homes at end of April. This is an acquired tendency usually happening upon retirement from our jobs.
- We tend to congregate together in flocks, especially roosting in RV parks and condo associations. We tend to love sunshine and especially like southern Florida.
- When in the winter roost, we tend to be outside more and like to participate in group activities such as card playing, tennis, pickle ball, shuffleboard, and water aerobics. In some areas, there are whole communities built exclusively for us.
- We also like to share stories and experiences. We may retell the same story over and over and repeat ourselves because we easily forget that what we’ve just said.
- When it comes to memory we can easily remember events and details back 40 to 50 years, but can sometimes not remember what we just had for breakfast.
- Our species tends to eat early and frequently congregates at early bird specials starting our last daily meal at 3:30 pm.
- We tend to have a seen-it-all, been-there-done-that, have nothing to prove, care free attitude. Most of us have endured 60+ years of working, raising families, suffering illness, and handling life’s challenges so it’s easy to understand this behavior.
- Some of our species tend to move slowly once in the winter roost. Sometimes this is because we’re not in a hurry to get anywhere. When driving, we may drive well below the speed limit. We ask that people have patience with us. We can also become easily disoriented.
- Most of us are happy and generally in a good mood. We are very friendly and love to chat and interact with strangers and other members of the flock. We also like to sing and dance. This could be attributed to the 2-1 happy hour drink specials that predominate the snowbird eateries.
- Some of our male members may be seen wearing tropical shirts, plaids, gold jewelry, and white belts. Some may also wear the same exact clothes for multiple days. It’s probably a tribal thing and may be related to #7 above.
Overall, snowbirds are a very friendly and happy species.
