Motorcycle Mama and the Manatees

Friday
January 22


I had hoped to be in the north central states by now but cold weather there has kept me in Florida. That and having a good time with Friendly Floridians. I'll be holed up here for awhile waiting for good weather.

Seeing the Florida countryside on the back of the motorcycle of former Santa Clara cop, Bob.

Remember the Key West blog?

Working my way down the west coast of Florida near Crystal River.

At Three Sisters Manatee Preserve on the Gulf side the water is this incredible shade of three blues.  

Manatees hang out here among the Mangrove swamps until the Gulf warms up enough for them.

They look like giant rocks under water and are

no longer on the endangered species list thanks to the efforts of people like singer Jimmy Buffet.

The great fun of rv travel is meeting up with folks on the road like Dave and Andrea Sherman. We started chatting in a cafe in an rv park in Maryland near Washington, DC a few months ago and I've been following their FB posts ever since.
They're here on the Gulf coast now so we had dinner at Captain Jack's.near New Port Richie. They are on a quest for the perfect Margarita and have sampled hundreds around the country.
Dedicated bloggers, they had posted on FB a photo of us at dinner within 10 minutes of their dropping me off at my rv park!

At a huge rv park in Pinellas called Robert's, a nightly Happy Hour was just starting. Guests were jockeys for a horse race on which bets were taken for a winner. Food and 50's music as giant foam dice were rolled by the guy in the cowboy boots to determine how many spaces horses could move up.  It was more fun if you had a few drinks in you so I had some catching up to do.

In the morning as I was pulling up stakes, a volleyball game was under way, proving that white men CAN jump, even old white guys!

 Rainy this morning so drove into St.Petersburg to a historic 1920's neighborhood of Craftsman homes called Kenwood.
Stephanie and Jeff Schoor converted this one to a gallery for art and pottery and a cafe.

 Had a cappuccino and good salad and convinced myself I didn't need a beautiful glass bowl of colors I had never seen before. My tiny Doodlebug keeps spending down as there just isn't much room.

Next door was an antique shop whose owner, a young Army vet, showed me his collection of glass which glowed under a black light.

It's great to see young people excited about anything from a bygone era.

In the evening at Linger Lodge outside of Bradenton I had dinner at the restaurant in the rv park. It's rare to find a restaurant in an rv park and this one was filled with locals, most of whom were not staying at the park.
This giant alligator was 22 ft long.
I must be in Florida.