[1:30 p.m.] Diane Manchester moved to Bonita Springs just four days ago. She left her home in Rhode Island and bought a place in an over-55 mobile home park. She brought her 100-pound Labrador, Giallo, with her. Knowing they will likely have to evacuate her park, she’s already gotten a hotel room close by. Giallo’s back at the mobile home enjoying the air conditioning while Diane goes back and forth with personal items. Eventually, she’ll have to figure out where Giallo can go because most hotels don’t allow pets. Diane says she was getting pretty depressed about the situation last night until she saw people in her development that had nowhere to go, either because of age or infirmity.

“I don’t want to wish this storm on anyone, but if it has to go somewhere, I hope it goes to the Everglades,” Diane said. “I know there’s wildlife there, but animals know how to take care of themselves in the wild.”

I’m not so sure about that one. Like, where would a raccoon go in a hurricane? I’m normally not a big fan of AM radio—or any radio for that matter—but I happened to hear Rush Limbaugh talking about this same issue the other day while I was driving down here. He seemed to take issue with people who were concerned about wildlife during this hurricane. He said we should be worried about people in a hurricane. I’d like to think humans have enough compassion to be concerned about species who can’t build their own Motel 6.

[2:45 p.m.] I found Gail Ogle walking down the beach here with her niece, 12-year-old Christina Bailey, and her nephew, 6-year-old Robert Hall. Gail had something we’ve seen on beaches the last 30 years or so: metal detectors, aka “bits of worthless metal junk finder.” But it seemed fun for the kids, who manned the shovels everytime Gail heard a good beep.

Gail’s in her 40s and is a lifetime resident of this area—a Naples High grad—and she says she just doesn’t have that feeling in her gut like she did last year with other hurricanes, like Charley.

“If something’s coming, I get this feeling in the pit of my stomach,” Gail said. “But with this hurricane, I just don’t have that feeling, at least not yet.”

Gail and the kids were among the dozens of people on Bonita Beach today. Like so many other stops I’ve made along the way, there’s no signs of impending danger. The only hint of Wilma are these nice swells she is pumping on to the beaches the last two days. Here, surfers have turned up, mostly longboarders. I think the real serious surf dudes and dudettes are at some nearby jetty because I don’t see any Christian Slater types out here. I did meet one young surfer, T.J., a Fort Myers resident covered in tatoos, who was looking for better waves. He thinks the big stuff will be coming Sunday. After that, the surf might get too rough and choppy, not the tyoe that makes for long rides. For now, however, the waves are near-perfect—clean, long and packing a little power.