Indiantown is a very small Floridian swamp community and a large section of its population appears to be comprised of hard working lower - moderate income families including a large Hispanic population. Stuart is about 20 miles from Indiantown and is a large ocean -front city with a middle to upper middle- income population and is where I imagine most Indiantown people do their major shopping. However, if you live in Indiantown and cannot afford to travel often you do most of your shopping at the one grocery store, the Ace Hardware, the Family Dollar Store, and/ or the resale shop. The downtown (one major road) includes the Seminole Inn ( a lovely bed and breakfast) and a couple of restaurants including a small family owned Italian restaurant, a breakfast diner - Crackers and a Guatemalan/ Mexican restaurant.

There is a small group of people who live on their boats at the marina. The marina offers a large patio with many umbrellaed tables, a large screened in porch, and a small kitchen. There are two showers that offer “save water shower with a friend”. In the screened porch and kitchen are two community televisions. Every week there is a weekly pot luck.

We met many wonderful people Indiantown who have a “down home” welcoming aura and as always met some interesting boaters. One couple we met do their own hunting and canning together and load their boat with canned moose, etc prior to sailing. They anchor out instead of using marinas. They are very independent couple and have been sailing the Bahamian waters for over 20 years including many in a small 25 foot sailboat. We met another couple who had a business that struggled during the recession. They invited us on a large 45 foot motor vessel - an Endeavor- that they were taking to the Miami boat show. They were struggling with how to recoup after the recession and anticipating what their retirement would look like. They were used to traveling to Europe, Greece, and the Caribbean. There are so many ways life is lived and being surrounded by different people remind us of what is most important - good health, family, friends, and of course fine wines.

So entertaining ourselves in Indiantown is obviously very different than being home with access to all the resources of Chicago. Additionally, we are most often surrounded by friends and family that politically, culturally, and professionally are like us. One experience that brought home how traveling broadens our experiences was when President Obama was being inaugurated. I was excited to see this happen and assuming that everyone would want to share in the excitement I ran to the screened in porch (as we had our sea trials the same morning) to see his induction. I was with another boater and she asked if the others seated in the porch were watching what was on the T.V. (an old sitcom) and they said no and we could change the channel as long as we didn’t turn on the inauguration because “it isn’t worth watching something we can’t do nothing about!”
I watched excerpts later on my IPAD.

Time spent in Indiantown focused on preparing the boat, talking with new acquaintances about their boating experiences, visiting the three different restaurants, watching for ‘gators’, turtles, and seabirds. It is a simpler life and it feels right for a short time -the three weeks we spent was beyond that time. We are eager to get to Vero Beach where we look forward to going to the Art Museum, catching up with our friends Barbara and Merle, and going to the beach.