Monday January 11th 2021

Today was my first travel day of the new year. For a change it was good travel weather. It was a warm cloudy day with only a little wind.

Hooking up to depart Lake Manatee State Park isn’t easy. I have to move the car to the day use area so I have room to hook it up to the motorhome. Then after walking back to my site I can finish getting ready to depart. Before I can drive the motorhome to the car, I have to stop at the dump station to empty my holding tanks. Today it took over half an hour to wait for two vehicles ahead to dump and move on. It was three minutes after the 1PM checkout as I pulled out of the park.

I chose to avoid Interstate 75 and stay on US 301 for my travel day. The interstate is usually very heavily congested during the middle of the work day. I probably made the wrong choice. I had to deal with the backup caused by two accidents, two construction zones and several miles stuck behind a school bus. The number of traffic signals was also a pain to deal with. It took a little over an hour and a half to complete the sixty five mile drive.

I’m at Hillsborough River State Park for the next two weeks. This is my second visit. The park is located northeast of Tampa on US 301. It is an older park with narrow roads and weirdly shaped campsites. The site I’m on was very difficult to get backed into. It is on a narrow bend in the road and is angled poorly for getting backed in. A neighbor was nice enough to assist with directions. It saved having to get out of the drivers seat and check clearance around the motorhome multiple times. The site I had last time I was here was equally awkward. The location, near Tampa, is what drew me back. I had planned to attend the Tampa RV Super Show this week when I booked last February. With the pandemic, I won’t be keeping that plan even though the show is still on.