Fourth Installment

Monday evening we played “Jokers” with the Woolridges and another couple. Their rules a bit different but at the end of the evening it was even – two games each for the ladies and men. Wednesday we headed to the Florida State Fair as it was ‘Senior Day’ and admission included entry to the recreated Cracker Village next to the fair grounds. The first cracker village building we entered found two ladies doing pine needle weaving, a new craft that has Judy’s interest. They were very helpful and gave us several tips, including what to keep the needles together – a 5/16” copper ferrule.

While strolling around we found this one-man-band. Well not really one-man as his wife was trailing him playing drumsticks.

We wondered into one of the arenas in time to watch calf cutting/roping by teams. It was interesting and fun to watch as they tried to rope a calf, bring it to the ground and then a girl had to run out and ‘brand’ the calf with a powdered branding iron.

On the way out we stopped by a 4H exhibit and Judy made some butter and picked and squeezed her own cup of orange juice.

Thursday we had Floyd and Mary for dinner and after introduced them to ‘Golf’ as we play it. They play a version but they are dealt 8 cards and must use the card they draw. Over dinner we discussed making a trip to Bok Tower and Gardens in Lake Worth and possibly taking a free tour of the Tampa harbor.

The weather has really turned great so after washing down half the trailer we headed for the SeaScapes restaurant for lunch. It is located near the Marina at the south edge of the campground. Finished the other half of the trailer but not sure how long the cleaning will last as the dew is very heavy and the dust is flying as people drive by. After lunch we managed to get hold of the harbor and setup the tour for next Wednesday morning. We will make it a full day and after the tour head on to Bok Tower at Lake Wales.

As we have decided to stay put in partial hookups, we are constantly changing neighbors. Folks will move in from dry camp for a day or maybe two then be offered a full hookup site in the ‘sandpit’ area and move. Some of them move over for just one or two days before they leave the park. Saturday was another beautiful day and as it is a long weekend, many families have joined grandparents for some time in the sun and at the beach. The water is still pretty chilly, but that does not deter the young ones. We made a run to Home Depot to get some carpet for the Greystone outside steps and picked up a geranium plant to brighten up the spot and take home with us.

Wagon Wheel Flea Market called to us so we made the drive across the Gandy Bridge into Pinellas Park to one huge venue. As with most Florida flea markets, this is a series of connected and lined up pole buildings, plus outside vendors. We only walked the main buildings and did some outside vegetable shopping. Saw some strange vegetables. A number of large root types and some large yellowish fruit about the size of three grapefruit plus fish – all kinds of fish being sold by Koreans were at the outside stalls. After the a couple of hours of shopping and seeing all the sights we headed toward home and on the way looking for some ice cream as it was Judy’s birthday. Mary suggested a spot in a park on Bayshore not too far from the base so that was where we headed.

It is a nice little park with a long fishing pier and a small restaurant that also has ice cream. As it was nearly 2 and we had not had any lunch we decide to eat a little before ice cream. As the fish and chips basket is pretty good sized we ordered one and we split it between the two of us. It was a huge piece of fish and really good fries. Floyd bought ice cream for desert and Judy’s birthday. We were all pretty tired by the time we got back home.

Monday Jon worked on the carpet for the steps. At first he thought he would attaché them with grommets and wire ties and did that with the top one. The grommets tend to bunch the carpet up so the bottom two steps are held down with double faced tape. We will see if that works. After dinner it was back to the game room for some more hand and foot. This time we were joined by Lawrence and Helen Ryder from North/South Carolina. They say North/South because they would prefer to be North Carolinians, but live just across the border a bit west of Charlotte.

Tuesday we awoke to dense fog and clouds. The weather had predicted it and it certainly came true. During the night you could hear the distant fog horns sounding but by noon the sun was bright and it was time for some ‘rays’ and maybe a nap.

To show exactly where we are at Tampa, below is a screen shot from one of the mapping programs. You can see that MacDill is at the southern tip of that peninsula that extends into Tampa Bay and sort of separates Tampa and the Florida mainland from St Petersburg. The campground is in the bay.

The Security Police on this base are also sailors. There are signs in the bay around the base indicating that entry is prohibited and they boats to patrol and respond to craft that enter the zone. Here are two of their boats.

From the beach at the marina you can see the tall buildings of downtown St Petersburg.

 Birds, birds, birds, always lots of birds and be found around the beach area.

Thursday was a full and busy day. We picked up the Woolridges at a little before 8:30 and headed for the Aquarium. After some false turns we found an open parking deck and picked up our token as we entered - more about those tokens later. At the Aquarium we joined about one hundred other folks and boarded a boat for a tour of the Tampa harbor. The tour was nearly and hour and a half long and we learned a lot about the harbor and all the activities therein. Among the sights were a number of dry docks and ship/boat repair facilities. We also saw a four story barge that is towed out into the gulf for fishing. It is a floating hotel/fishing camp and people are ferried out to it for one to seven day fishing expeditions.

Ships in dry dock in these shots.

Mary, Judy and Floyd are watching the sights as we cruise the harbor.

Third Installment

After much discussion we have decided that this will be our last week here at Tyndall. It is too chilly and our site too shaded when the sun does come out. The rest of the week was pretty quiet through Wednesday. Just the usual, morning coffee, exercise/fitness center, craft time and a little of evening games. In there we have times to walk Lilly, listen to the F22’s and F16’s buzz over on take off and landing and evening retreat at 1700 – 5PM each day.


Wednesday was “craft day” at the club house. Linda, a regular here who is always organizing things, set up to send valentine cards to GI’s. Some how she found a list of names and one of the other ladies who is into scrap booking had cards and envelopes so many of the women and some men made valentine cards to send off. As we are on Central Time here, TV shows are an hour earlier than home so that by 9 most things we want to watch are over so it is off to bed and read some.

Lilly had her vet dental follow up on Thursday afternoon and all looked good, except for her cough. She has had it since the extractions and as the vet explained it is most probably irritation from the tube down her throat. We now have more medication for her to take! Other than the dry (well it sounds dry) tickle like cough she is back to her old self. She seems to enjoy the three times a day walk through the woods and has gotten to know a couple of other dogs, including a full sized greyhound named Chester who has stripes much like hers.

We had just finished a walk before dinner when it started to rain. It rained on and off all night Thursday and into Friday morning. Sure is nice to have this electric awning – up and down so easy. Where we are in the woods we are not subject to any winds so it can stay out, but it would be nice to have more light. On our way home from the walk we stopped to chat with a couple from Wisconsin and she was lamenting the lack of light and sun in the sites too.

On Saturday we decided to hit the mall everyone talks about and again try to locate Peppers. The mall was certainly nothing special, but they did have lots of easy chairs and soft benches for folks to sit it. When we walked out of Dillards into the mall there must have been ten gentlemen of age sitting in lounge chairs. Peppers’ was certainly good, but El Ricon back home is hard to beat. After church on Sunday we began to pack things up and get ready to move out. We took a nice long walk and bid our farewells

Sometime early Monday it began to rain and it was coming down hard as we hooked up and dumped. Dumping is no real fun, but to have to do it in the rain really adds to the enjoyment! We pulled out of Tyndall FamCamp at 7:30 CST in the rain and drove in sometimes very hard rain until we were just north of Tampa. After having the Greystone checked by security at the MacDill main gate, it was long drive through the base to the FamCamp. The overflow area is pretty full but we did put or names on the rotation list. Right now the wait is 4 to 5 days for a partial hookup site, but we filled with water, have our “blueboy” and Honda generator so we should be okay. We have lots planned for our time here so “boon-dock” camping will not be too bad. This is one of five AF bases testing a new food service program so we can eat in the dining facilities anytime we want so we may try it.

Well it is now Thursday and we are still pretty far down on the list for a partial hookup site. We have been doing pretty well in the overflow field though. On Tuesday we plotted in the nearest JoAnn’s store and headed there in the morning. Rather than take the Cross-Town Leroy Selman turnpike, we found our way into downtown Tampa. After some ‘recalculating’ we finally found the JoAnn’s and a lot more including lots of restaurants and a big CompUSA. Did not really find anything in either place but did locate a good place for lunch….a chain called “Cheddars.” On the way back stopped and filled up the Ram at a Texaco - $3.35 verses $3.49 outside the base. On Wednesday we just stayed home and walked the trails and on the beach. Each night about dark the generators start up. Many are quiet Honda 2000’s but there are a couple of loud Yamaha’s and those with big Class A motorhomes seem to leave them run a long time. Then there is reveille at 0615, To the Colors and the National Anthem at 1630 and just to keep you on your toes, Retreat at 2200 followed by Lights Out……guess that’s how they also test the base alert and warning system.

This is where we are dry-camped/boon docking. We are just one of many in this big field.

Friday morning during our walk around the park to check out the Marina and beach we saw a woman playing cards that we recognized from Tyndall. We knew that the Woolridge were here, but had not seen them so we stopped to talk to her for a while.

The next morning we decided to stop by their unit while walking, but found no one at home so we continued on to the Marina to check on the hours propane would be available. (It got very cold over night and the furnace ran several times and some time during the night we ran out….no I don’t use the automatic change over from one tank to the other) Anyway when we walked in, there sat Floyd and Mary with another couple so we joined them for some conversation. They invited us to play cards after church so our Saturday evening was booked.

Church was interesting, as are most base chapels as they are shared facilities. The priest was a retired AF Chaplin from Panama. He had been stationed here and when he retired was offered a ‘contract’ to stay on as ‘parish’ priest. After the homily he had all married couples stand and then we all renewed our wedding vows….even to the ‘you may kiss the bride’ part. It was nice. After church we played ‘hand and foot’ for a couple of hours and the ladies certainly did take the guys for a ride.



Sunday morning we went to the Marina for coffee and donuts and met some more interesting folks. Judy got into a deep conversation with our dry-camp neighbors and Jon found a State Farm retiree from Texas. After that we needed a 2 mile walk and then sat in the sun to read the paper. Along the way we spotted this crane in the canal.

Late on Sunday we were offered a partial hookup site, but after looking at it decided to not take it. It was about as far away from everything as you could get and was all grass and backed up to a canal. But that did get us to thinking more about moving on. After some careful consideration we decided that if we were offered a nice partial site we would stay put until we need to head to KPPSP and pass up the keys. There is lots to do in this area, including seeing the Bok Tower and Gardens (about an hour’s drive) so we will see what happens.

Sunday evening Floyd and Marry had us over for conversation and Pizza before we played cards. As with many other games, there are house rules – or Florida rules so we had to establish what we were going to do as we were joined by a couple from Arkansas. As a Valentine’s Day treat we will all go to the Crab Shack a late for lunch on Monday.

As we were preparing to leave on Monday, Linda from the park office called and wanted to know if we wanted site 310. We could see it from where we were dry camped and felt it would be good so accepted it. The people on the site are moving to a full hookup site and have to wait until that is vacant (the old domino effect) so on the way out for lunch we stopped and signed up for two more weeks at MacDill. It is a little strange – the moving business here. Even though checkout time is 11, many don’t get moving until after lunch time.

Well we are settled into our home for the next two weeks. It certainly is nice to have not to worry about water and to have electric on demand. The Honda kept us going, but we only would run it some in the morning and then in the evening. Those nights we played cards and only had it running for a short time did put a strain on the battery.

This is our home until the end of February.