Friday January 8th 2024

Today warmed up quickly into the mid seventies after a cool start near fifty. The sun was out all day. Overnight and tomorrow morning another cold front arrives with lots of rain. The weather is on a roller coaster with a lots of steep climbs and quick drops.

While I was out exploring the area today, I found myself a little southeast of Tampa. I decided to take advantage of the location and go a little further south to the Tampa Electric Company Manatee viewing facility in Apollo Beach. Since it was a cold night there were lots of manatees taking advantage of the warm discharge water from the power plant.

I have been to the facility several times, but the last time was in 2019. They were closed during the COVID years and I wasn’t in the area during the cold months last year. Since my last visit they have expanded the facility a great deal. There is a new building near the overflow parking lot with new trails to the manatee viewing facility about a half a mile away. At the manatee view area along the canal to the power plant they have upgraded the boardwalks and added a new section of pier into the canal.

Today there were dozens of manatee in the canal. I would guess there were more than one hundred, but I only counted to twelve a couple of times before giving up. As you watch they gracefully move below the surface and pop their heads up too breath every few minutes. Once in awhile a manatee will come well out of the water showing lots of back before diving showing its tail as it dives.

I really enjoyed the viewing today. There were more manatee visible than I usually see. The new trails, facilities and landscaping were also nice to see. Many other people were there to see the manatees today. The overflow parking lot might well have overflowed at some point today. All of the kids out of school and along with the snowbirds combined with a nice day that started off cold made a near perfect storm of visitors.

Back at the campground this afternoon the park filled up for the weekend. There are a number of groups of friends on adjoining sites as well as lots of campers with kayaks for exploring the river. The day use area and trails weren’t as busy as they were earlier in the week, but I imagine they may be tomorrow and Sunday. The Great Blue Heron was in about the same place as the last couple of days.

Thursday January 4th 2024

It rained off and on all night, but by morning the rain was gone. In its wake was a cloudy raw morning. The temperature gradually climbed out of the fifties toward the sixties. Around 2PM the sun made an appearance allowing the temperature to peak in the mid low sixties, but the breeze kept the real feel raw.

Today was basically a chores around the rig day. I got stuff picked, did a little cleaning as well as some cooking. The vacuum cleaner remained in the basement storage today, but it needs to make an appearance before too long. I also need to visit the washing and drying machines in the park before I leave. Today I just filled the laundry bag to make room in the hamper. Life gets in the way of living.

There weren’t as many people along the trails today. This is probably because of the weather. It was nice not to have competition for each opening in the brush along the river. Unfortunately, the wildlife was also staying home today. I saw one Great Blue Heron and one turtle on my return hike. The turtle waited for the sun to come out and warm its favorite log.

The campground had about the same level of turnover as yesterday. The pattern should change tomorrow with the arrival of the weekend. Based on the car window tags that indicate departure dates, many of today’s arrivals are staying for the weekend and I suspect tomorrows arrivals will as well.

Wednesday January 3rd 2024

There was less than 3 hours of sunshine today. The day began cloudy with the temperature around fifty. Without any help from the sun the inside temperature in my RV home was slow to rise. The sun didn’t make an appearance until after the lunch hour. The temperature quickly climbed to the seventy degree mark, but by 4PM the clouds associated with the next cold front had arrived. Shortly after 7:30 in the evening light rain started to fall. The forecast calls for rain all night.

During the three hours of sunshine I took my longest hike of my stay so far. I didn’t cover any new ground, but rather did the entire south bank trails along the river in one session. The wildlife wasn’t as cooperative today. There were fewer turtles taking in the limited sun and I didn’t see any alligators on this walk. Today seemed to be the day for domesticated animals. Every other group I met on the trail seemed to have a dog or two. I saw everything from a little Yorkie to a Doberman.

There continues to be a lot of turnover in the campground. It looks like the volume of turn over from Monday and Tuesday continued today. Once again most of the sites were full by evening. There seems to be something different about the campground occupancy this winter. I think there are more short term stays this year. That might mean fewer people succeeded in getting long reservations on the first day of availability, which was my experience.

Tuesday January 2nd 2024

It should have been obvious to me. My campsite is in the woods. The sun doesn’t reach my RV until it is higher in the sky. As a result, the temperature inside my RV home doesn’t rise as quickly. This morning it still felt dark at 9AM. The sun didn’t start to warm the inside until after 10AM. Even with electric heat on breakfast was chilly. I refuse (for no good reason) to put the gas furnace on for a few degrees. On the opposite end of the day, the trees blocked the sun earlier than sunset. It was getting dark about an hour before the actual sunset.

Today I walked the trail along the river closer to the entry of the state park. I drove to the parking lot for the “rapids” and walked the trail from there. I saw more wildlife today. There were lots of turtles on logs and I even saw one small alligator on the far bank. Several verities of water birds were along this stretch of river and one interesting surprise. A Red Shoulder Hawk flew into a tree over the river and watched the world go by for a few minute while I took its picture.

There was a lot of turnover in the park again today. It may have even been more extensive than yesterday. By this evening the departing visitors had been replaced by new occupants of the sites. The site beside me was one of the turnover sites. The new residents arrived in a motorhome around 2:30PM. They started setting up outside more than you usually see with a big motorhome. In addition to the outdoor rug which is relatively common, they put a table cloth on the picnic table and started to string lights around the site. They even wrapped the lights around a tree. I don’t know how long they plan to stay, but I hope it is more than overnight.

Monday January 1st 2024

Happy New Year

The day began foggy. The TV weather people are blaming the fog on last night’s firework. Something to do with the smoke particles caught by a temperature inversion producing the fog. For whatever reason it was a gloomy start to the day. Around 11AM it started to clear. The temperature finally peaked around seventy degrees after starting in the high forties.

I was up at my regular time this morning despite ushering in the New Year in front of my TV. Today was dedicated to getting settled in here at Hillsborough River State Park. I got my outside setup tasks complete before setting out on a hike around the campground and along the river. Checking my blog history, I was last here in January of 2021. There have been a few changes since then. The most obvious is the a many new fences. They block off river access along the banks that do not have official trails. The paths I recall were pretty well established, but you could clearly see they were produced by people bushwhacking through the area. Now these areas are blocked by fences with posted signs attributing the prohibition to environmental protection. It is more likely safety fears hiding behind the advertised reason.

This morning I followed the trails starting in the day use area about a mile up river along the river. They still haven’t fixed the bridge over the river damaged by hurricane Irma in 2017. The suspension bridge a few hundred yards up river remains the only way to the other bank. I didn’t see any wildlife on my first walk of the day. The birds, turtles and alligators must have still been sleeping off the New Year celebration, but there were plenty of people around. Later in the day, on my second walk of the day, I spotted a couple of Great Blue Herons. One of them was cooperative with respect to pictures.

The campground had a lot of turn over today. The people that have to return to work tomorrow all departed today. Most of the schools are out until next Monday, so there are still a few vacationing families here. Later in the day most of the empty sites were filled.

Sunday December 31st 2023

Happy New Year

It was a Florida chilly morning. The overnight temperature was in the low forties. The bright sun brought the temperature up slowly. By afternoon it was in the mid sixties.

I spent the morning slowly preparing for travel. I prepared the bedroom as soon as I got out of bed then had breakfast before working on other parts of the RV. Around noon I moved my car over to the day use area. It provides space for connecting it up for towing without blocking traffic. Once I walked back to my campsite I brought in the slides, lifted the leveling jacks and drove the motorhome to the dump station. After that I met up with my car and mated it with the coach. I pulled out of Lake Manatee State Park a few minutes after 1PM.

I chose to avoid Interstate 75 and drive north on US 301 since my destination is on 301 just south of Zepherhills Florida. It may or may not have been the right choice. The road was a lot more developed than I remember. Along with the development came traffic lights. The traffic lights support all the traffic I encountered. Interstate 75 would have allowed me to avoid most of the traffic lights, but it often turns into a parking lot near the intersection with Interstate 4.

It didn’t matter in the long run. I arrived at Hillsborough River State Park at two thirty. This is an older state park that I have stated at twice before. The campsites have been updated with 50amp electric and good water pressure, but the roads are still gravel and the sites are far from uniform. Some sites are big rig friendly and others are a challenge. My actual site is ok. It is close to a neighbor on one side and backing in from the narrow road was a little challenging. Once I was situated and setup it turned into a fine site.

The nice thing about this park are the trails. There are hiking trails on both sides of the Hillsborough River. There aren’t as many alligators as other rivers like the Myakka River, but I recall seeing a few on past visits. Over the next two weeks I will check out a few of them.

Saturday December 30th 2023

The weather this morning was cloudy and gloomy, but by noon the low clouds burnt off to a nice blue sky. The afternoon was a clone of yesterday with a few more degrees of heat added. The high temperature was in the mid sixties today after an overnight low in the forties.

Once the weather cleared I set out for a little exploring in the area with the idea of making it out to the gulf beaches. The traffic had a very different idea. I ran into stop and go traffic requiring multiple cycles to get through most every traffic light. It was so bad that I assumed it was caused by an accident or breakdown. Unfortunately, it was just traffic volume. Getting anywhere was a very slow task. Traffic didn’t improve after I crossed under Interstate 75 as it often does, so I crossed south from state RT 64 to state RT 70 hoping for better traffic conditions. It was just as bad maybe worst.

The volume of cars with out of state plates has increased dramatically. Looking around while stopped in traffic there were times that I didn’t see any Florida plates. It is probably a combination of vacationers and snowbirds. Only some of the cars with out of state plates seem to know where they are going and a few of the others don’t know how to get out of their own way. Being out on the roads without a specific destination or mission was a bad idea. I returned to my RV home after a brief stop at Bennett Park. This time I was able to say hello to the pair of sandhill cranes I’ve seen before.

This is my last full day at Lake Manatee state park. Tomorrow I’m moving north to the Tampa area for a couple of weeks. Checkout here is at 1PM so I will take my time getting everything packed up in the morning. It is less than seventy miles to my destination, so I should be able to be off the road before the New Years Eve traffic gets on the road. Having to move on New Years Eve was bad planning on my part.

Friday December 29th 2023

It was a beautiful day. The temperature was in the low sixties with plenty of wind out of the north, but the humidity was low and the sun shined bright. As long as you had a few layers on, it was a good outdoors day.

I did a lot of walking around the state park today, but not much else. It was a very lazy day that didn’t generate any good blog worth adventures or pictures. My only significant observation for the day was that the campground is full and many of the occupants are now from well out of state. Pennsylvania, New York, Missouri and California were among the license plates I observed. I guess that means snowbird season is in full swing.

Thursday December 28th 2023

The rain that had been forecast all week arrived last night. Around 10PM it started to rain lightly. It continued overnight, through the morning and into the early afternoon today. Around 2PM the rain dried up and the sky started to lighten. For a few hours this afternoon outdoor activities were possible, but another line of rain arrived as the sunset.

With the clearing sky, I got out of the campground for a drive to Bennett park. I wanted to take a few pictures of the big wading birds. They had other ideas. After walking all of the paved trails, I only saw one Anhinga. The birds might have been visible from some of the grass trails, but they were a little wet for my tastes. The sixteen hours of light rain filled many of the low lying areas.

Traffic this afternoon was heavy. The backup to get on Intestate 75 northbound was about a mile long. Thankfully, I wasn’t getting on the intestate. From Bennett park the northbound lanes on I-75 are visible. They were filled with stop and go traffic. There is construction on the road north of the congestion and there is a large regional outlet mall at the next exit. Both of those are known to cause backups. Traffic on the the visible area of the southbound lanes was also very heavy, but it was moving at highway speeds.

There was a big turnover in the campground today. The people that came in for a few midweek nights started to give way to the weekenders. I suspect that the couple of sites that seem to be empty tonight will fill up tomorrow.

Wednesday December 27th 2023

The weather didn’t want me to do the things I planned today. The nearby gulf coast was fogged in last night. I’m about twenty miles inland. The fog didn’t extend this far, but by morning there were thick clouds and occasional light rain. The forecast called for a partly cloudy afternoon.

Once the light rain let up and it looked like it was clearing in late morning, I headed out for the beach. I’ve been here for more than a week and I haven’t visited the Gulf of Mexico yet. Mother Nature didn’t think that was a great idea. As I was on my way the clouds darkened and it started to rain harder than it had all day. Rain at the beach isn’t my idea of fun, so I moved on to my second plan element of the day. I stopped for groceries at Walmart.

The shopping went fine, but I was puzzled by all the new shopping carts. They are different and I don’t like them. The child seat is a built in cage above the original cart height. This raises the height of the handle six to ten inches. It doesn’t feel natural and it makes reaching into the cart from that direction impossible. The number of times I had to check my action and walk to the side of the cart to put something in the cart was excessive. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable the height is for shorter people. It is unlikely these new carts are cheaper than the originals, but they may be “safer” for kids in the seat.

By the time I got out of Walmart the rain had stopped. The clouds were starting to clear. Unfortunately, with a load of groceries including a few frozen items, I couldn’t continue my trip to the beach. It was necessary to return to my RV home with the supplies. A trip to the beach will have to happen on another day.

Lake Manatee attracted a lot of men in boats today. There were nine empty boat trailers in the parking lot this afternoon. All of the boats I could see on the lake were on the far side. The fishing must be good. On my second walk of the day just before sunset there was only one empty trailer remaining, but there were six people fishing from the docks.