Fort De Soto Park in St. Petersburg, FL

We had a great time last night. Good sailing friends Ted and Linda Seefeldt and Pete and Pam Peters joined us here at Fort De Soto park. We got to eat good BBQ ribs and tell sailing stories. As the sun set in the west we saluted the day with the conch horn.

I got the group together for a photo, but the exposure seemed dark. Aren’t digital cameras great? You can see these things while you can still do something about it.

I figured it was because the open sky was in the background, so I decided to take the shot again facing the other direction. That did not help, still too dark.

So, I got the flash in the act and it seems like we finally got a good group shot. Good thing the iPhone4 now has a flash. 

Barbara has a birthday next month so we will get her a replacement camera so she can take over the photo chores again. She has issues with my picture taking.

The coffee maker woke us up this morning. Well, it woke Jocelyn up this morning since it was right next to where she is sleeping. We have seniority and claimed the bedroom. She gets the sofa.

The girls spent the morning helping Jocelyn learn to ride a two-wheeler, and after lunch we set out to explore the park. We saw several dolphins from the fishing pier and the pelicans were having a field day catching the bait fish that were trying to hide under the pier. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the beach with the girls hunting shells and me snoozing in the shade of a tree.

Life is good!

Fort De Soto Park in St. Petersburg, FL

We were off in a cloud of dust at the break of Noon. Did I mention we have not had much rain? We are taking Jocelyn (Barbara’s grandniece) camping!

We had an uneventful trip to Fort De Soto Park in Pinellas County, FL. The county has a wonderful park. The campsites are very private with plenty of foliage between them, and many open on to the water. Some of the sites are bordered by a sea wall that campers can tie boats up to. The park has a very large launching ramp area a short distance away, so many people do bring boats. The management of the campground does a nice job keeping the place clean as a whistle. This is our second time here as campers. We really enjoyed the last visit and fully expect to enjoy this one as well.

Rear of our campsite viewed from the high water mark. We are protected from high winds by mangroves, but there is access to the water if we brought the kayaks.

We are all set for dinner guests this evening. Hopefully it will cool off some by the time they get here. Typical Father’s Day picnic fare: Roasted Jalapenos, ribs, potato salad, baked beans.

Jocelyn prefers the A/C, but tomorrow, ADVENTURE!

Happy Father's Day to all of the Dads out there.

Bedroom TV Project

My latest project on the motor home was the replacement of the bedroom CRT TV with a new LED/LCD flat panel unit. The TV is mounted in a pivoting cabinet that allows the TV to stow facing forward, but be pulled out to face more directly towards the head of the bed for viewing. While it does not pivot a full 90 degrees, it does provide improved viewing.

The first order of business was the removal of the old TV and donating it to the guys in the office of the storage yard. The next, and perhaps most time consuming phase, was measuring the available space and coming up with a workable design providing a means of mounting a flat panel TV. As you can see, once the old TV is removed there remains an irregular flat surface and the front wooden frame. Not much vertical surface for mounting a flat panel unit, but the underlying steel framework is solid.

My solution was to build an elevated shelf that would serve two purposes:

One, it raises the TV towards the upper portion of the frame more efficiently filling that space, while leaving suitable space below the shelf for placing a DVD player or satellite receiver.

Second, it allows a solid base to support a vertical frame element holding the TV itself. The open area to the left rear is for access to the rear of the receiver or DVD player without removing it. Well that, and I did not have the right tools for cutting the complex angles required to miter in the piece that would be required to complete that fourth side. I have installed a piece of the same carpet covering the base as a light shield over that opening to eliminate distracting light if watching TV during the day. But, who does that?

We originally planned to use a 26” TV, but since we seldom watch TV in the bedroom we elected to economize and go with a 24” unit. The mounting will accommodate a 26” TV should we or a subsequent owner want one. Rather than try to shave away the raised square of fiberboard in the center of the shelf I elected to retain it to hold the future DVD player in place with Velcro.

Sanibel Island

Our final day was a relaxing one. Barbara did some serious shelling on the bar at Blind Pass. She sat in shallow water for two hours sifting through the sand. She followed that with another hour walking the shoreline ostensibly to dry out, but still more shells appeared. Satiated, I whisked her off to Poco Loco once again for gelato.

We pack up in the morning for the trip home. It has been a great trip.

Sanibel Island

Today was pretty much for the birds! And, the shells I guess.

This campground has a nice little aviary with a number of exotic birds. The pond also is home to a number of pretty cool waterfowl, too. Barbara spent a good bit of time with them this morning. In the shot below she found a Peach Faced Cockatoo that liked having its head rubbed. Think of a dog that likes having its ears scratched and will not let you stop. That was what this bird was like. When Barbara would stop the bird would keep rubbing its head against the change near her to ruffle the feathers. It worked every time. Barbara was there forever.

 

They also had two pair of Lemurs from Madagascar. Now these guys were cute.

We spent some time at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Sanctuary, but at midday there were very few creatures about. We were told that there was good shelling at Blind Pass, so we spent a few hours there. Barbara shelled and I did what I do best. I snoozed in a beach chair. Can’t beat it!

Heading back down the island we dropped in at Poco Loco for gelato. Oh, yeah! That was worth a stop! Mint Chip: my kind of lunch.

We rounded out the day at the southern tip of Sanibel where the lighthouse is. It is an unusual design since it is all metal. There was a large osprey at the top eating a large fish it had caught for dinner. Since bills do not have lips it is best not to stand beneath these birds when they are eating.

We spent a little time over at the fishing pier, too, watching some dolphins and then headed home for a libation. 

The weather was great: clear skies and reasonable humidity. Is life good, or what!

Sanibel Island

We were up at the crack of noon! A cup of coffee and a bit of yogurt and off we went. Luckily there is a self-serve gas station just as we left the campground, so we topped off before leaving the base. We needed to get to the Sanibel campground by four, so stopping for fuel once underway would not be good.

The traffic coming back to the mainland wasn’t bad, but a lot of the way the speed limit is only 45 MPH. It is a long slog, but the scenery is superb.

After the long eastward leg to leave the keys we did a 180 and headed west to the gulf coast via FL Hwy41, the Tamiami Trail through the Everglades. The scenery is much different since you are running through a trough in the trees the majority of the way. We occupied our time looking for alligators and other critters.

 We made it to Sanibel around three-thirty and set up camp. Barbara could not wait, so off to the beach we went in search of shells. She found a few, but the shore was pretty well picked over by the time we got out there. There is always tomorrow.

In the mean time there is always DWTS, the finale! Yep, even on the road.

Key West

Our last day in Key West was a great one. We got a nice long paddle in as we toured the east and southern shores of Sigsbee Island and a canal that cuts through the center of the island.

The afternoon was spent cleaning up our gear and getting the coach ready to depart in the morning. There was a potluck gathering late in the afternoon, so Barbara prepared her baked bean dish and off we went with our folding chairs. Turned out to be a nice group of folks. They ran the spectrum of ages and I suppose economic situations. Most of these people are living here long term. Some for months; others for years. Nine years in one case. The keys tend to attract an interesting mix of folks and Key West has always been known for the quirky ones. This campground seems to cover the gamut, and it all seems to work. We have had a very good time here, but we are off again in the morning. 

Next stop Sanibel Island. Barbara is on a mission to find some shells.