Hello Tampa

Well, I made it to Tampa but, as seems the norm for the time being, not without difficulty.

Left St. George Island (reluctantly) on Friday.  Got on the road and had a strange noise and wobble in the buggy.  I was many miles on the Gulf Coast road going only about 45 mph, so it didn’t much bother me the first couple of hours.  But once I hit I-10 W, it was obvious that something was seriously wrong.  I was going to try to hold on until Lake City, but thought better of it.  Good thing – I got off the highway at the first exit I saw with a tire place sign – Jimmie’s Firestone.  Much to my relief, Jimmie’s surrogate, Glen, knew immediately what was wrong.  Not one but both of my front tires were separating.  I’d never heard of this; but I learned that  it does cause a feelable, seeable bubble in the tire, which is on its way to blowing or, at best, going flat.  And so the mystery of the tire in Chatanooga is solved.  Apparently all of my tires show little road wear, but are old.  The two front ones needed to go immediately, and Glen got them changed.  That’s 3 out of 6 that are now new on this trip, and I’ll have the other three (which  are safe for now) replaced before heading back north.  

And, to just finish bellyaching about mechanical trials and tribulations – my hot water intake started to leak the other day.  Held on until I got to Tampa to get it fixed and the good news is that the connection just needed some tightening (after a surprising freeze in TN).  Cost me ten bucks and I am very much looking forward to a hot shower in my own wonderful space.

Ah, the romance of being on the open road in an old jalopy . . .  But other than these things, the buggy has been perfect. 

Made it to my first Tampa destination yesterday, albeit later than I’d planned because of the tires.  This is an “RV Resort,” which I picked out because I knew I would be overdue for laundry by now.  And it was also a place where I thought I could get the water leak addressed.  Right on both points.

So, today I did laundry, hanging out with a couple of women -- one from northern New Jersey, and one from Gettysburg, PA – who were wonderful, and made me feel perfectly at home in this very friendly place, which seems to be all white, straight people with, of course, those matching dogs.  I did not get to the shuffleboard court (where I am determined to hang out – loved that game as a kid),  but I finally pulled my awning down and IT WORKED!! 

There are ponds through this place and tomorrow I’ll take pictures of some of the ducks on these ponds.  I’ve never seen some of them before.  But they are obviously well settled here and walk all around and through the campers, and fully enjoy the patios of the rigs parked closest to them (which seem to have no one at home -- good thing,; they do make a bit of a mess).

Also spent a couple of hours today listening the UK women’s basketball game with LSU, which our girls lost.  Not being able to see it, I really don’t have an opinion about what went wrong; but it did sound like LSU had BIG players.  (I won’t comment on some commentators’ views that the refs were particularly hard on UK . . .)  But I do want to tell you about being able to listen to the games on my iPhone!  There is an iPhone app – ‘I heart radio’ – which lets you pick up the UK hometown radio broadcast of the games (AM 630).  I am amazed by it.  Haven’t yet messed around with it enough to find out what else you can get, but I’m hopeful  that (at the very least) I’ll be able to get as much NPR as possible while on the  back roads. 

And speaking of the back roads – I have failed to tell you that all along the Gulf Coast Rd. (Rte. 98) there are signs warning of bears!  I found this very surprising and mean to look into what kind and how many there are in that area.  I was very sorry to leave that road – there was a little cottage in a town called Sopchoppy that had the most beautiful live oak complete with an incredibly rich dressing of Spanish moss.  I keep regretting not stopping to get a picture for you.

So, further south now, I am finally in the welcome warmth of the Florida sun and enjoying it greatly.  I will be happy to get back to the state parks after this hiatus at the "RV Resort," then moving to a motel for a day and doing my talk at the University of South Florida.  Even more, I cannot wait to meet up with Jennifer, Mead, and Janet  in Ft. Myers!!

I do want to say, too, that yesterday I went through the area south of Gainesville that was the site of that terrible pileup last Sunday.  Didn't see much, except for several signs warning of dense fog and smoke.  But there wasn't any.  Nor did I see anything on the southbound side of I-75, and I was out out sight of the northbound (because of trees) for just a little while. How can there be no obvious signs of such a tragedy?  

Some pictures tomorrow. . .