Chapter 143

We arrived at Naples Regional Airport at 12:30. That gave us a few minutes to get a quick lunch at the Airport Café. It seemed that every airport had some kind of eatery or lunch area and they all had either Airport or café in the name. I chose the chefs salad and a cheese burger with fries and a coke.

While lunch was being prepared, Lorrie and I walked in to the larger part of the airport lobby. We spotted a bored looking young lady manning a desk in the middle. There were several dozen people in the waiting area involved in quiet conversations. The name tag she wore gave her name as Rosy White. I introduced myself and asked directions for the meeting room we had reserved.

"Hi I am Rosy White, Airport Information Specialist. I am so glad to see you and welcome you to Naples Regional. We were worried that you had been delayed. Your meeting room is 2b. There is fresh coffee brewing, bottled water and pastries on a table to the side. We have the wired internet in the room. If you need cables I have them. I was instructed by Mr. Hamilton, the Airport Administrator, to call him as soon as you arrived," Rosy said.

There were a dozen or so other businesses represented in the lobby. There were several of the national realty chains, a taxi company, and several commuter ticket offices that were small local operations and also one national chain. There was also the county tourist welcome and information center. There was brisk traffic coming and going through most of the places.

I went to open the doors and to check out the accommodations. The room was well lit and you could see some of the runway through the side windows. The smell of fresh coffee brewing was invigorating. I went back to the café to pick up my food and my briefcase. I wanted to eat in the meeting room. The salad was in one of those Styrofoam containers and the burger and fries were in another. With my bag of food in one hand and briefcase in the other I made my way to the meeting room.

Rosy brought me several cables and the password for the internet, and then helped me link my laptop to the big plasma screen they had at the end of the meeting room. In order to see if it worked I went to the JBG website with Rosy seated looking at the screen. Ching Lee and Vicky had been busy with the site again. They had an introductory video with a voice that I recognized as the secretary than normally answered the phones. The girls were taking pictures all the time and some of them were used in the opening video. There was a segment on each of us with our corporate title and responsibilities. At the conclusion of the video a drop down appeared to view each business section. I clicked on each one to see what information it contained. Under Marcy's tab there was an over view of MAAR. There was even an announcement of the new Naples site to open in three weeks and expansions of Charlotte and Charleston.

I went to Lorrie's section, the rental information had been updated since the last time I had looked and there were different pictures of the planes and pilots. It was a nice site before and they just kept making it better.

By the time I looked through the site and finished lunch Jeanna, Marcy, Jenny, Lorrie and Randy had taken seats at the table. We discussed how we were going to handle the paper flow when the real estate agent and the sellers arrived. Jeanna had a folder for each house with a log of the inspections and all the legal paperwork and a certified check drawn on our corporation account for the final amount of each purchase. For me this was the first time that I had ever been involved in purchasing housing. I expected reams of paper.