St. Pete's

The southern tip of the peninsula on the Gulf side of Tampa Bay is the St.Petersburg area .... so the dogs and I went exploring to see how far south we could go (St.Pete's Beach is over there).  It reminds me of the keys, because you travel from island to island in DeSoto State Park. It is huge and beautiful with aquamarine water and white sand beaches almost all around you.  At the very tip is the ruins of old Fort DeSoto.  Then you could get on a ferry and go further .... but I didn't.

I have located two warm water springs/river locations to see Manatees really clearly; so Vera and I will probably do that tomorrow.  Charlie is gone for a few days to take one of her dogs back to the friend she got her from.  So now there will only be three dogs.... we can already see improvement in behavior of "the pack".

We are camped at a very large place in Seffner, Florida that is supposedly the nation's largest RV dealer/service/campground. (they even have a Cracker Barrel and a doggie daycare on site).  We were told they have about 1200 RV's on site in sales inventory, about 80-100 in service/repairs at any one time, and 300 campsites.  It's a big place; and nice.  Believe it or not, they serve FREE breakfast and lunch to all campers and all people there for service. (well, 'free' is a relative word, but anyway.... ).  Also they deliver a local newspaper to your "front porch" every morning.

There is a large detention pond within sight of our spot, and this morning I was rather shocked to see a pair of whooping cranes wandering around in it.  Of course, here I am in Florida in the winter (birding paradise)..... but sometimes I think I've been so preoccupied with the alligators that I've neglected my birding.  Not really, the last campsite we had on Lake Okeechobee had four or five purple galinules in the canal behind the camper (along with the alligators).
But you know after being here in Florida for almost exactly two months now...... I am really starting to LIKE it.
But, after a brief stop in Houston/Galveston, we'll be off for "the Northwest". I could get used to this lifestyle!

Later, Marilyn for the Three Travelers