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.

This is a yacht hauling ship. It is partially sunk and the yacht sailed into it, the back closed and the water pumped out. Guess if you can afford a yacht you don’t worry about the cost of moving it from where it was built to where you want it.

Along the way we came upon a metal crushing/shredding facility. We could see them using a bucket crane to grab large bites of shredded metal and drop it into a ship’s hold. The guide told us that the facility crushes and shreds old cars, washers, refrigerators – most anything metal – and ships the pieces of to Mexico where they are made into Ram pickups. Not so sure about the parts are going into Rams.

After the tour we headed east on US 60 to Lake Wales Florida to visit Bok Tower and Gardens. The tower is a 205 foot carillon bell tower built in 1929 on what was the highest location in Florida built by Edward Bok as a gift to the American people. The tower contains 60 bells, the largest of which weighs nearly six ton and the smallest a mere 500 pounds. The tower is surrounded by beautiful 50 acre garden grounds laid out by Fredrick Law Olmsted Jr. whose father designed Central Park in New York City. After an escorted tour by a volunteer we listened to a concert played on the carillon. Following are several pictures of the tower and grounds and even one of the man playing the carillon – via TV screen

Thursday started cloudy but we decided to hang some laundry out anyway. Next to the bathhouse/laundry building they have several clothes poles with six lines on each. Lots of people prefer to hang dry rather than use the driers. We hung our sheets and towels and though it was cloudy early, the sun came out and they dried in a hurry.

While at the flea market on Sunday, we bought a card game called Five Crowns, so on Thursday afternoon we spent some time learning the rules and playing. In the evening we played hand and foot with two other couples. We were the only ones playing cards even though Thursday is ‘poker night’ at the marina. Seems most players were off at building 2017 for bingo night.

Friday we headed to Pass and ID to register our ID cards but could not find any place to park – so that will be done at some other time. Judy went to the beauty shop for a trim and since we were on the northern side of the base we made a couple of phone calls. According to the young fellow at the cell phone kiosk in the BX the problem is with towers. MacDill will not allow any to be placed on base and because the property adjacent to the base is so expensive, no one wants to have a cell tower next door. That coupled with all the communications equipment on the base means bad service from all carriers.

This will be the last bit in this installment. Tomorrow, Sunday, we will work on packing things up for our departure for KPPSP on Monday morning. We will hold back on leaving until the morning rush is over as we have to travel six miles on a four lane highway that has businesses and stores on both sides. As it is only a three plus hour drive we will be in no hurry to get moving.