Arrival Date 3/15/2015 Bay Bayou RV Resort - Tampa FL
This was a week to visit with friends and relatives in the Tampa area. In previous years we have had problems finding RV parks in the area that we liked. Bay Bayou looked like a better alternative. We got the only site available in the park. In order to get the satellite dish to find the satellites for DirecTV we needed to park backwards on the site. I liked the park in general but Linda was not happy because they misrepresented the rules of the park. First up was visiting with a good friend from high school Don Newton. I re-hooked up with Don this past summer at our 50 th high school reunion. Prior to that I had not seen him in more than 40 years. He is retired and living in Safety Harbor FL.
Don invited Linda and I out for the day on his boat. What a great day. Don’s boat is stored in Tarpon Springs, we cruised the sponge dock area of Tarpon Springs. It was interesting to see it from the water. Then our Anclote river to the channel on the land side of the gulf of Mexaco. We went past islands made from material dredged out of the channel. Past Honeymoon Island, to Clearwater. Back out to the Gulf of Mexico and back to the islands creaded by dredging he channel. There we stopped, had lunch, walked the beach and went back to Tarpon Springs. Although it is a new island made from dredged material, it was beautiful with lots of sea birds. It was great to see the area from the water. It was fun to be boating on the gulf. It was wonderful to catch up with Don. This was one of the best days on the trip.
Next up was visiting my sister. She lives in New Port Richey. We picked her up and followed my cousin Karen and her husband to Tarpon Springs for lunch. Tarpon Springs has a large greek population and was famous for it’s sponge industry when sponges were harvested from the ocean. It’s still a touristy fishing village. It was nice seeing my sister and cousin. We like Tarpon Springs and Linda enjoys shopping there. As she says lots of cute stores, good restaurants, a fun place to visit.
Since we are on the road through April I need to file my income taxes from the road. I do that by calling my tax guy and Thursday was the day for the call. I collect all my paperwork in advance and send it to him. When we have the appointment it’s a faily quick affair. This year we are paying about $2K. Usually we get money back.
Friday we were back with my old friend Don Newton. He and his wife Victoria invited us out for dinner. We went to Bon Appetit in Dunedin FL. Bon Appetit was a beautiful gulf side restaurant. What a nice dinner, good food and beautiful views over the water. After dinner we went back to Safety Harbor and wandered around a street festival that they have every third Friday of the month. We had a wonderful night with Don and Victoria. They were easy and fun to be with. I hope they come to visit us in New Hampshire. Safety Harbor and Dunedin are very nice towns. If I lived in the area they would be two places that I would want to live in.
One afternoon we took the bikes and rode part of the Pinellas Bike Trail in Dunedin. This is a long bike trail that goes through several towns along the coast. It is built on an old railroad bed. Very nice and easy to spin off the trail and see the water or the Spring training baseball park. There were several businesses along the trail catering to the bikers.
Saturday we went in the late afternoon to visit my nephew Scott and his family. My sister (Scott’s mother) was also visiting. Scotts son Jack was there which was cool because he is in college and its not easy to convince a college lad to come home. We had dinner and talked into the evening. Its great to catch up with relatives we don’t see very often.
Next we are off to drive up the gulf coast and along the panhandle to get to Gulf Shores AL. We will spend about 9 days total in the panhandle. The next page will wrap our three stops on one page since they are short stays.
