What are the odds?
My new friend Dave and I are standing at the end of Dave and Sally’s lot on my last full day at Outdoor Resorts in Long Key, Florida. We are looking down the street and Dave asks if I had met their neighbors, Deb and Laura, across the street. I tell him I hadn’t, and he says I will have to come back next winter to meet them.
“They just left. They have been staying on that nice big lot right there on the water since we bought this lot ten years ago. You’ll have to have them tell you the story about last year when they had a 5th wheel delivered to them. It was quite an ordeal to get it out of there when it was time to leave.”
Fast forward ten days to when I pull into site 171 at Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park in Jacksonville, Florida, my last campground before home. I needed a couple of days to be by myself to ride and write, mostly to write. As I backed into my new spot, two women sat outside watching me and asked where I had come from.
“Well, technically from the Keys, but it took me ten days to get here. I made stops in the Everglades, West Palm Beach, Merritt Island, and Daytona to visit friends on my way home.”
“Where in the Keys?”
“Halfway between Key Largo and Key West.”
“Like Long Key . . . Marathon … that area?”
“Exactly like Long Key. Yes!”
“Ever heard of Outdoor Resorts?”
“No way! That’s exactly where I just came from! Planned to be there for four weeks, but ended up staying six. Didn’t want to leave. Great people! Have you been there or something?”
“I’ve been going there since the 70’s, but we didn’t make it there this year. We have friends coming over here in about 30 minutes who just came from there. Do you know Deb and Laura?”
“Are you serious? Do you know Dave and Sally? They just told me the day before I left that I needed to meet Deb and Laura. They’re coming over here?”
“Yes. They are coming over for dinner.”
So, I go for a ride around the park. When I return, I introduce myself to my neighbors Sally and Sharon, as well as their friends Deb and Laura, who had just arrived from the Keys. These women met at Outdoor Resorts ten years ago and have been friends ever since. We talk until dark.
In the morning, Deb suggests taking the ferry over St. Johns River and riding my bike to another camper park over there. Instead of writing all afternoon, I spend the day exploring, enjoying dinner with my new friends at a Thai restaurant, and finishing with a walk to the lake for the sunset.
The morning we were to leave, we exchanged phone numbers, and they were excited to follow my blog and keep in touch.
Beginning with the story about getting their fifth wheel off their lot, I know my new friends have hundreds of travel stories to tell me—stories I would never get to hear if I had not met Ray in Rhode Island who invited me to Outdoor Resorts, where I connected with Dave and Sally. What are the odds? If you ask me why I haven’t finished my book Finding Joy, I will say it’s because I’m always out there finding joy.
Or in this case: finding Sally and Sharon . . . and Deb and Laura.