March 22 & 23 - Fri. & Sat

We arrived at our next site. Myakka RIver State Park in Sarasota. On the way here we saw a herd of Bison ( see pic) they look like buffalo. We also saw huge trucks filled with oranges picked from the groves (see pic). After we got all hooked up in our site, we went to check out the area. The park is located near a very nice section of town. Beautiful homes and condos. Most importantly it is just about 1/2hr from Siesta beach. We found a church nearby and they were having a fish dinner, so of course we went to it. The meal was delicious and we sat with some very nice people. It started raining on the way back to our RV and it rained all night. I felt sorry for the people camping here in tents.

March 21 - Thurs.

Well we finally got a warm,sunny, not a cloud in a blue sky day. So of course we spent the day at the beach! It was a great day, just a slight breeze. Richard found 1dime & 2pennies detecting. It got pretty hot sitting in the sun, so I had to at least get my feet and arms wet. Richard went in for a full body dip. But after spending our first full sun day ..... We are paying for it tonight! Yep, SUNBURN!! We are both red! So this is a short entry, because I am sore. Tomorrow is a travel day. After being here for 14 days, we go on to our next site.

March 20 - Wed.

The day started out overcast, but we decided to go to the beach anyway. We thought we would go to Lido Beach in Sarasota, about 2 hours away. On the way there we stopped for gas and a girl there told us about Siesta Beach which was a little closer and had a large parking lot. sooo - off we went to Siesta Beach. We got a real close parking place because by then it had started to sprinkle and was very windy. The beach had fine, white sand ( the kind Richard likes to do metal detecting in) but today it was pretty empty of people. We had our packed lunch there at a picnic table and Richard did a little detecting - 2dimes, 2 pennies, & a bottle cap. It was so windy we only stayed about an hour. It was early afternoon so we went to check out Lido Beach. It is in a very nice section of Sarasota, but the traffic was terrible, like driving downtown Chicago. It also was barren of people. Near the beach we saw a HUGE statue of "The sailor &the nurse kiss" ( the famous picture taken at the end of WW11) there were parking places by it for people to take pictures ...... So of course we did! It really is amazing how large it is ( see pics) we found out that a resident of Sarasota paid $500,000 to have it made in 2009, and donated it to the city. In 2012 a woman lost control of her car and crashed into it (no it wasn't me!) Her car hit the sailor's right leg and caused a crack by his waist. Structural engineers said there was fear that it would topple over. So it was taken down by cranes and shipped to New Jersey where the artist lived. It was recently brought back and re-erected. I thought that was interesting.

March 19 - Tues. Happy Birthday Richard!

Yes today is Richard's birthday. After a rain storm last night, this morning was overcast. We decided to take a ride to the Everglades. It was not what we expected there is a highway right through it. There was a place that was giving airboat rides through the Everglades, but the next boat was leaving in about 1/2hr and the sky was clouding up again. So we decided not to go. We started back to the campsite which was about 2 hrs away. We had planned to go out to supper for Richard's birthday. Several people had told us about a restaurant with great baby-back ribs not far from the campsite. Well they were right! The ribs were delicious, fell right off the bone and had a great sauce. The service was great also, very friendly. It was not a chain,but a family owned restaurant. I told the waitress, we were celebrating Richard's B/D and they came over to our table & sang Happy Birthday (ha -ha ) & the owner brought over cookies & cream ice-cream with a lit candle. After we got back to the RV, we took a 2mile bike ride ( to work off our delicious meal!)

March 18 - Mon.

Where oh where is sunny Florida??? The day started out a little overcast, but we decided to go to the beach anyway in hopes that the sun will come out by afternoon. We went to Lovers Key State Park to the beach which had the trolley from the parking lot down to the beach. Well the sun did come out for a couple of hours, then it started to cloud up. A lot of people on the beach started to pack up and head for the trolley, as did we. By the time we got to the car and started out of the park, it started pouring. At least we had a little peek of the sun for about two hrs. I relaxed and watched the waves and Richard found 21cents with his metal detecting, and got in a little nap. It pretty much rained for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We have been in FL for over a mt now and the weather certainly has not been warm & sunny very often! Oh we'll, maybe the next six weeks it will warm up! We have been enjoying ourselves anyway, but we really like beach time.

March 16 & 17 - Sat & Sun.

Sat was "lazy" day. We stayed around the campsite. Laundry had to be done - what fun! It would have been a good "beach day" it was a warm,sunny day, but being that we were down to our our last towel & underwear, laundry took priority. Afterward we took a ride around the surrounding area. We were sightseeing &talking and Richard looked at the gas gauge &we were almost on empty. We were out in the "boonies" & I remembered that I heard a ding a while back , but I thought it was on the IPad which we had with us. Actually we realized it must have been the gas warning light. There was nothing but forest around us. We were getting a little nervous ( I was a lot nervous!) Richard was trying to save gas by accelerating & coasting. We finally came to a town and saw a gas station, just in time! Our car has a 12gal tank &it took 11.71 gals!!! I guess the Praying I was doing paid off!!! We went to 5:00 mass and came back &had a cookout.

Sun. Happy St Paddy's Day! The morning we spent grocery shopping for supplies. There was a NASCAR race on t.v., so of course Richard had to watch it! I sat outside relaxing, reading, and watching the boats go by on the water, some large ones.The church we were going to, which is just a small, but very pretty church was having a corned beef / cabbage supper, so we had planned to go. It was a super delicious meal with strawberry shortcake for dessert! Yummy!! The people we were sitting by were very friendly, &made us feel welcome.

March 13,14,15 - Wed,Thurs,Fri

Wed & Thurs were twin days as far as weather goes. It was chilly & very windy. We'd we decided to do some sight seeing. We checked out some other campgrounds we saw (but it's hard to beat the one we are at now) We also found some other beaches. Besides the more popular beaches, FL has a lot of other beaches. Parking was great by the beaches because of the weather, they were pretty empty. On a warm day I'm sure the lots are full, you have to get there early to get a close spot. The closest beach to our campsite is about 1 1/2 hrs away in Naples and Bonita Vista.

Thurs we packed a lunch and took a ride to St Lucie where one of our reserved sites is. We found that there are several beaches about 1/2 hr from that site. One that we went to is in Stuart called if I remember, Jenson beach. It is in a very nice neighborhood. The parking lot is close to the walkway to the beach. Again because of the weather we got a close spot. We walked to the beach but it was extremely windy, the waves were very strong. We ate our lunch by our car in the parking lot where the wind wasn't as strong. We talked to a couple from New York, but also have a home here in Palm City. They gave us a lot of information. We were about 3hrs from our RV, so we had a long drive. On the way at a wayside in Moore Haven, Richard spotted an old style generating compressor, so of course we had to stop so he could examine it (see pic).

Friday was a great day! We finally got a warm day for the beach! We decided to go back to the one that had the tram ride from the parking lot. It is in Lover's Key State Park. I enjoyed sitting and soaking up the sun and Richard did his metal detecting. He fine today was $1.68, a zipper, a bolt and a fish hook!