 |
|
|
|
|
...My Life as 'Drive away' driver
|
.. the trip continues from HERE 2024 01 14 FL Walk in the park - Circle B Bar Ranch No alarm for the first time in a few days. We can only eat so much food in a day so we skip the hotel breakfast so we are hungry enough to eat lunch at 11 AM. We drive to Lakeland ... Florida. 1st stop was the Cozy Oaks restaurant for food. They had about 20 tables crammed in their little shop. When we got there, there was a line but they said the wait would be about 15 minutes. Counting the people ahead of us, that would mean that over half the people eating would be done and gone. And they were. Good food, we both had breakfast. 2nd stop was the Circle B Bar Ranch. A repeat for us. Too cool today. 50 <> degrees with a wind. Not too cool for us, we were dressed for it. To cool for the crocodiles. We did not see any today. Did see lots of birds. Huge flocks of them in places. The hike we did today was about 2 miles based on map-my-walk. There likely is not three feet elevation change. Everything is just above water level. The first few feet are paved, but after that it is mud or dirt. Today was the first day we have seen crocodile signs ... warning of crocodiles ... on the path so maybe they have been out recently. Parking was the most crowded we've ever seen it but we still did not meet vary many groups of people. No fee for parking, no fee for admission. It had started to rain by the time we left the reserve and was raining harder once we were traveling. Shortly after we got on the freeway I saw flashing lights coming. And then they stopped before they got to us. It was the first rescue vehicle on the scene of a roll over. By the time we got near, I could see the crew by the car but no one that looked like they had been in the car so I'm guessing they were still in there. From the park we headed to our next hotel. We have finally had to decide where it will be. Clearwater. We have stayed at another one in Clearwater a couple of times but we had to pay for parking. 3rd stop was the Comfort Inn in Clearwater. No rooms on the bottom floor, that is where some parking is. The first room they gave us had to single beds. So we didn't even set foot in the room. We had requested a king bed. Once we were checked in, we went across the street to the Edgewater Drive Park. A narrow strip of land between the street and the water ... and a path. Another mile plus walk, the second in one day. This one is all paved and with no elevation change. There is a place to park for free at the south end of the park or park on any city street and cross the road to get to it. The park is a little over a mile long. At the end of the day we drove about a mile and a half to a place called Fish Camp. They did have one burger but everything else was fish. So a burger is what I had ... and key lime pie to go. On the way back to the hotel, the sun was just setting so BB got a few pictures out the car window. There are buildings on an island to our west so not really sun setting over the ocean/gulf pictures. We've decided not to spend the day in the car tomorrow so we will be doing something close by, depending on who much it rains. Forecast is for rain all day ... an hour to the north of us and an hour to the south of us. No planning on leaving yet so for work it would have to be the perfect trip for us to leave on Tuesday. 2024 01 15 FL Walk in the park - Honeymoon Island No alarm, no dogs barking last night after management knocked on the door. When we left in the AM, I mentioned it to the front desk. They knew all about it. The only dog they knew about was below us (and was a service dog.) BB was not with me then, but she is 'almost' sure that she saw the dogs in that room when someone was let in earlier in the night ??? No hotel breakfast today. We want to get some outside things done before it starts to rain. 1st stop is a place called Sandpiper. Five indoor tables and the rest are outside. We ate outside. I had a croissant and BB had a (mostly) vegetable bowl. From there it is five miles to Honeymoon Island State Park. Our 2nd stop for the day. We stopped at the visitors center. We were advised to walk on the gulf side of the island. If you walk inland or on the bay side of the island you are likely to be lunch for their mosquitoes. And yes, we did see a few, but didn't get bit. The visitors center had a list of the birds that people report seeing each day. We didn't pay much attention. We did see a few oysters on the ground and a few more that people were picking up and putting in bags. Also a couple of kids were playing with hermit crabs that they had found. Other than that, a million shells. We gave up trying not to step on them. We walked for about an hour and a half on the beach. Sandy beach. There is a paved bike trail inland along the drive that I think goes for miles across the causeway and into town. Cost to get into the park was $8 per car. The only bathrooms we saw were on the 2nd level of each building. The buildings are on stilts with a ramp to the 2nd floor. Long ramp. It rained a little while we were walking but not enough to wet the ground. Grave Days - Curlew - Palm Hills FL It is in the next town, but only a couple of miles from the State park. By chance we saw the area when the grave should be located as we drove in. So we walked that section once and some of it a second time. Not finding the park, we figured that the parker was under the tarp where the next quest was to be buried. After not finding it, I went into the office to see if they could tell me where it was. They said they could, but I wouldn't understand. Then the person comes and walks us to the areas to the area we had been walking. We both milled it. :( At this point we have nowhere else planned to go. The zoo is $50- , the aquarium's run from $50-180 and the closest safari is $125. Busch Gardens is $100+. Yes, our meals sometimes cost that much for the two of us but not ready to spend that much to look at things like that. (I just looked, we would get 50% off if we have our MN zoo membership with us) 4th stop of the day is Bay Pine National Cemetery. It is about 15 miles/30 minutes from where we were. I knew which way I wanted to go so I wasn't really listening to the GPS. Turns out that my way was one mile further. I wanted to get on a US highway and it wanted me to take city streets. Didn't know the difference then so we took the city streets. Grave Days - Bay Pines National When we got to where the GPS said to turn, the gate was locked. Google had said that it would be closed today but we thought just the buildings. I was already turning so we u-turned and then we saw a sign that said 'War Memorial Park.' Sounded half right. Nope, it was the park that was adjacent to the cemetery. When we got stopped, I looked at the map and saw there was another main entrance. At some of them, only the main entrance is open. Today was one of those day. Once on the grounds, we followed our noses as the GPS still wanted us to go through closed gates. Most national cemeteries have all info on FindaGrave or on their own website. And they are well marked so we went straight to the area and these stones were numbered so it was an easy find. Still too early to head to the hotel so we head to another cemetery about five miles away just off this street. Grave Days - Memorial Park - Saint Petersburg There was someone working, but walking right where we came into the cemetery so I stopped and asked where to find the section I was looking for. He had no idea but called over a guy on the mower. They didn't know the section name either ... and then I told them HOW it was listed ... that was different. The BB that I thought was the grave location was actually the section numbers they use when talking about an area. This cemetery has <> 50,000 graves and is split by roads into three sections. Once we find the right section, we walk the whole section before we find it. It is in almost the exact opposite corner as to where we parked our car. Opps, I thought that the people I was looking for here were husband and wife. They were not. So now we had to go back past where we had originally turned in and found the right section. So we walked. Walked for about 30 minutes before we found the one marker we were looking for. The other area of the cemetery has markers in the ground forming a grid, but I didn't have access to those numbers. The 2nd area did not have the grid part in place yet. NOW we are ready to head to the hotel. I've looked at a map and this street will cross the freeway in a few miles. GPS wants to save me 5 feet by having me twist and turn through the neighborhood streets. I go my way. That part went OK. But closer to the hotel, we get near the airport and the GPS stops talking. I don't know that so I keep going straight ... into the airport. Hey, it is an airport hotel. That adds an extra mile or two to our trip. 6th stop is the Country Inn. We could have stayed where we were, but this one is closer to the rental car return and has a hot tub. Instead of getting in the car for food, we walked to the Mission BBQ a few blocks away. Good and tender food. BB had chicken, I had pork. Blueberry cobbler was good too. Now, back at the hotel, we are noticing that we are in a flight pattern for the airport. Hope it does not keep us up tonight. Can't complain about that, it is an airport hotel. BB did look at the trips a few times. There had been a FL to AZ truck but it was a used one and we are not ready to go. Now there is a 100 mile trip that we may take tomorrow. Our way of saying we are 'waiting for work.' :) I got paid for my last trip, BB did not. Well she kind of did. Dispatch had put money on her fuel card right away for the first RV that didn't go ... and then put more money on her card for the 2nd RV that did go. They didn't realize that they didn't do until it came pay day. BB had realized it earlier today before I got paid. (while I am typing this, there was a tornado on the east / ocean coast of FL, a couple of hours away from us. Load board US - 117 IA - 1/0 MN - 6 WI - 2 No plan for tomorrow. No breakfast plans, no state park plans, no grave plans. We do need to either return our rental car or extend it. No work at home, no work to get us home. Likely we will stay here, maybe through the weekend. There is a company meeting near here on Thursday ... 2024 01 16 FL Walk in the park - Tampa River Walk The first thing we hear this AM was a plane coming in. Spent last night at the Country Inn near the Tampa airport. Plan was to call the local FL dispatcher at 8 AM when the 'office' opens. And I did. But this is an issue with this dispatcher ... the trip was gone yesterday and they didn't get around to removing it from the load board. :( So now we have no work and no plans for the day because it was supposed to rain. Radar shows a long, narrow band of showers coming in from the west but disappearing before hitting land. And then out of nowhere, a small cloud appears out of nowhere but goes south of where we are ... So both BB and I watch the load board all morning. We do eat breakfast at the hotel today. At a little after 11 AM, house keep knocks on the door. I yell that we are still here but a few minutes later they are back. So this time I open the door and say we will be out by noon. Only then did we look to verify that check out was noon, it's not. It is, or was, at 11 AM. So I quickly call down to let them know we will be out in a few minutes. When I go to check out, I comment on the good cookies ... as I am leaving, the person says "there will be more in a few minutes ..." I glance around. I've never seen cookies in the morning, only at check in. Back in the car, BB looks at the hotel receipt and it has amounts on it. It is supposed to be rewards points. So I go back in ... and there are cookies ... lots of cookies. There is also a tour group waiting for their shuttle. That may be why the cookies ... and my receipt was OK ... it is showing the amount that Choice is paying the hotel because we used rewards points. BB had mentioned the History Center a few times this week but today she finally decided she wanted to go. It is a lot less than the cost of the zoo, etc. And it is downtown. GPS was fun. It doesn't always warn me which lane to be in ... and it never did get us to the pegged parking garage. We finally parked next to where the cruise ships load. BB did a selfie and sent it to 'the girls.' ... and said 'bye.' :( A couple of interesting comments but one was right on it ... G'ma would never go on a cruise.' :) We paid for three hours at the lot and about two hours at the History Center. We only looked at two of the three floors and then it was time to eat. We ate at the Columbia Cafe. We each had a Cuban and BB also had a salad. Food took a while and was good, but ... then we both agreed that the best Cuban we have had was in Key West in some warehouse building. I had not looked before eating, but across the street where we parked at the cruse area ... there is <> a food court area with a dozen vendors we could have eaten at. The parking was pay with an app online. It was supposed to let us know when we only had 15 minutes left. It did not. For a while BB could not access the account so she started a new account as it first looked like the other one never started. Lots of time spent but finally added another hour and a half because it took us most of an hour just to get our food. (and there were not even a half dozen other customers) Now we had time so we walked the 'River Walk.' Nothing like the one in San Antonio. The advantage of this one is never having to cross the street for 2.6 miles. It does pass near at least one park and other places there are trees / bushes on both sides, but nothing 'neat' where we walked. Only saw four (likely) homeless people sitting on the benches. After that we noticed that most benches here are made so people can't lay down on them, they would need to sleep sitting up. The cost we be the cost of parking where you can find it. The walk is all paved and it most places is 6-12 foot wide. And all looked to be about six feet above water level. Lots of Water Taxi's and other types of boating options. By the time we were done there we didn't have enough daylight hours to get to Fort Myers. I did call the office and told them we would be at their FL safety meeting on Thursday so now we will be here two more days. It was about an hour to Sarasota and we could get there before dark. Comfort Inn. I could only eat half my Cuban so BB and I split that half for our even meal. Load board US - 105 IA -0- MN - 2 WI - 4 The only trip out of FL we have seen is almost 8 hours away and is only a four hour trip. Not something we can do after our safety meeting. We will keep watching the board. Tomorrow we plan on eating breakfast in the old town. Then visit a park and a couple of cemeteries. We have looked at a couple of botanical gardens but some are expensive. The only major free one we have found was up in Clearwater and now we are gone from there. We had thought of staying at the same hotel as the safety meeting but then BB looked at the reviews and now we are not. We'll stay somewhere nearby. 2024 01 17 FL Walk in the Park - Six Mile Cypress Slough Grave Days - Up about 7 AM - no breakfast as we are going out to eat later. And it was just over an hour to our next hotel so we were in no rush. Finally about 10 AM local we headed into old Sarasota for breakfast at a place called First Watch. Good breakfast, our lunch for the day. Before we left, I called our local dispatch to see if any of the RV's that came down for the show are heading back to IA. They are not. Dispatch wasn't too busy as they asked where we were :) (still in FL where it is warmer) 2nd stop for the day was a cemetery called Memorial Park. There was an office right at the gate and they were able to give me a map of the location. But ... I just glanced at the map instead of counting out the rows/graves. I started on the wrong row and then went in the wrong direction from there. Did end up finding it. 3rd stop also uses the Sarasota address, their National Cemetery. This one we have a location on so we do not need to stop for directions. Just to use the restroom on the way out. Did see some nice size turtles on the shore of a pond there. From here it was a few miles to Venice ... 4th stop was a church. And FindaGrave says there are only 100 people here but they do have pictures of the name markers. I see the 'garden' area that was also pictured and walk the area a couple of times but only benches and statues, some with names on them. Finally I go inside the church. Crews are working so most places are off limits but I do see someone sitting in the 'sound area.' As I get closer and they turn, I can see they are clergy. When I ask about grave markers, they say no. Everyone is placed in the garden in a biodegradable way. Then I mention what I had seen on FindaGrave ... Oh, those are just on a wall inside the church. ... I did get my picture, but we also talked about genealogy and what I was doing. 5th stop was only a few miles from here in Gulf Pines. This place did not have an office but the marker was unique enough that we were able to find it. And later we did see one of the grounds keepers. The place is all marked into little area's but whoever is upkeeping info on FindaGrave is not putting that info online. NOW we realize that even though we are 45 miles further from where we started this AM, we are also further from where we are going. And I hadn't looked close enough at a map to realize that being 20 miles from our next hotel ... the way the crow flies ... is going to take us an hour plus the way the roads go. ... and then there is an accident on what had been the 'fastest way.' But here, now, sunset is not until is almost 6 PM so we still have daylight hours. So our sixth stop is at Six Mile Cypress Slough. All boardwalk. We end up going against traffic/walkers. At one point I saw a guy with a '20# camera' and asked about it. Today he is going to take pictures of a horned owl. And because we re-routed our path, we come across him again ... with two others. And they showed us on their camera what they were watching. The owl was sleeping IN the top of a broken off tree, and with their lens' the face took up the whole camera. No idea what a camera like that costs. The trail was a circle and there were no signs that said 'one way' but anywhere there was a split, the words were only on one side of the sign. Parking was $1 per hour. We paid for two and used one. No admission fee. No change in elevation on the boardwalk. I'm guessing the boardwalk was wide enough for a wheel chair but not wide enough to meet most places. Did see one guy with a walker but that he could turn sideways to let people past. From there just a few miles to food. We eat at a place called Two Meatballs in the Kitchen, an Italian place. They did not have a sampler so I had lasagna. Right amount of spice, right amount of cheese and the noodles done just right. BB had fish something so I couldn't taste hers. Leaving, we have to drive past the Best Western where our meeting is tomorrow. Lots of cars so not everyone believes or reads the reviews. Another mile or so and we are at our Comfort Inn in Fort Myers. We had thought of staying here two nights but now BB has looked at the bank accounts and money has been going out a lot faster than it has been coming in this week. So we will likely find somewhere tomorrow night for about half the price. BB did <> watch the load board today. Only one good trip, out of SC going to TX. But we are 10 hours away. It was gone in minutes. There were other good trips in different places of the country but not here. Load board US - 119 IA - 3 MN - 2 WI - 5 There had been a bunch of pickups in NC coming back to FL but all but one are gone now. And there is one truck in NC going back to IA but it is used. Not sure it would pay to drive out of route to get and move it. The rest of the stuff in NC is heading up the east coast. ... the trip continues HERE |
