Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 79

Judy had her medical appointments in San Francisco today. Everything went well and we are waiting for the CT scan results.  We were able to get in to see the doctor a little early and got out of the city before the evening commute traffic.

We are eating out tonight at a local BBQ place we have been to before.  We will head for home in the morning.

We changed our mind for dinner at went to Joe's Taco Lounge in Mill Valley, another favorite area restaurant. We had great Mexican food and were back in the RV by 8:00 pm.

Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 78

As we were leaving the RV park this morning it started raining, fairly steady, and continued to do so for the most part until we turned west towards the coast at Tracy, CA. 

Bakersfield in the rain during the morning commute actually wasn't too bad as we headed up US 99 for a while before cutting over to I-5.  The drive up I-5 was marginally better than the high desert although there isn't too much to see on the west side of the valley besides a lot of AG activity and open spaces.

The skies cleared as we turned west at Tracy and the traffic through the east bay area and over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge was heavy, but could have been a lot worse.  We arrived at the Marin RV Park just over the GG Bridge about 3:00 pm.  We stay here when we bring the RV for Judy's medical appointments and will be here for two nights.

Our son Kevin, who lives in Sausalito, is on a business trip to Atlanta this week so we will not see him this time.  Nevertheless, we are going into Sausalito for dinner tonight at one of our favorite restaurants, Salito's Crab House.

Judy has a full day of medical appointments tomorrow in SF then it is on to home on Thursday.  We're ready.

Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 77

We got an early start today from Needles under a beautiful sunrise. 

Day 77 Pictures - Needles 

We wanted to get a head start on the wind which is always bad across this stretch of I-40W to Barstow.  It is high desert with absolutely nothing here except open land and hills/small mountains. There were not even any cows or an occasional ranch in the distance to see.  As expected, the wind was there although it could have been worse  as it was essentially a quartering headwind.

The drive over Tehachapi from Barstow wasn't too bad and we arrived at our stop for the night in Bakersfield around 2:00 pm.  It is a nice park with lots of orange trees where you can pick the oranges (when they are in season).  We picked up a few groceries at the local Walmart Neighborhood Market and will be eating in tonight.  The plan is to get another early start tomorrow as we navigate our way up I-5 and through East Bay traffic on I-580 to our last stop in Marin before Judy's medical appointments in SF on Wednesday and then home on Thursday.

Day 77 Pictures - Bakersfield

Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 76

We got an early start this  morning, leaving the RV park in Casa Grande about 8:30 am.  We were actually staying south of Phoenix at the intersection of I-8 and I-10.  We took the so-called 'Phoenix By Pass", heading west on I-18 for about 60 miles to Gila Bend, then heading north for about 35 miles to I-10 W, totally bypassing Phoenix.  The road was virtually deserted and we made great time getting around the city.

After travelling west for awhile, we turned off I-10 before coming to Quartzsite, AZ, then travelled NW to Needles, CA on I-40 just west of the Colorado River.  We are staying here tonight then on to Bakersfield over the mountains at Tehachapi tomorrow.  

We are not unhooking and are eating in again tonight.  Actually, the temperature here at the moment is 96 degrees and we are not even leaving the RV.

Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 75

We got an early start today, leaving the RV park in Las Cruces about 8:30 am.  It was easy driving under clear skies and no wind.  We topped off the gas in Deming, NM and continued west on I-10 along "drive-by country".  We made good time and only encountered a little traffic congestion in the Tucson area.

We are staying at an RV park at the intersection of I-8 and I-10 south of Phoenix.  The plan is to head west on I-8 for awhile then head north intersecting I-10 west of Phoenix.  It is a few miles longer than driving through Phoenix, but much better, time-wise, and certainly less stressful dodging urban traffic, even probably on Easter morning tomorrow.

The park where we are staying, Las Colinas RV Park is an "Age 55+ Senior RV Park" . There are a lot of permanent modular houses and RV sites with what appear to be permanent residents.  It looks there are about a dozen or so overnight pull through spots with full hook-ups.  We are the only ones here in the overnight sites at the moment.  It is very quiet, even though we are just off the freeway.

It will certainly be a quiet night for us,  We are not unhooking and are eating in tonight.  It will be an early-to-bed evening as we rest up for more miles tomorrow and our stop for the night in Needles, CA.  We are ready to get home.

Florida Spring Training 2017- Day 74

We got a fairly early start at 9:00 am under clear, but windy skies.  The good news was that it was mostly a tail wind.  The road was clear and we made good time to Las Cruces, NM arriving at 1:30 pm local as we gained an hour - we are now in the Mountain Time Zone.

It was "wide open spaces" again with a 80 mph speed limit.  One thing we always have to remember when travelling in this area is to keep fuel management in mind.  We rolled into Fort Stockton yesterday on just about an empty tank of gas.  Today, even though we filled up before we left Ft. Stockton, we stopped in Van Horn, TX (about 120 miles further west) to top off the tank.  Even though there may or may not be any "Law West of the Pecos", there certainly aren't a lot of gas stations between Fort Stockton and El Paso along I-10.

Although we said we were finished with sightseeing on this trip, we decided to drive into Mesilla, a historic Mexican area just south of the RV Park to look around, have a drink and possibly stay for dinner.

The town is a more-or-less preserved historical community centered around an old town square and the San Albino Basilica, a historic Catholic church.  The town features a variety of contemporary boutiques, restaurants, unique stores, galleries, etc.. The plaza and surrounding area have a traditional adobe look and many of them are original/restored buildings from the early to mid 1800's.  There were also several vendors set up in the plaza  selling local crafts.

The history of Mesilla dates back to the early 1800's as several trails came through the area and the town became a transportation and commerce hub.  The town reached its prime in the 1870's then declined when the railroad was routed through the neighboring town of Las Cruces.  Today, Mesilla is essentially a place for tourists to visit as well as place for locals to gather, with activities centered around church services and events.  It appears they also have entertainment and special shows regularly scheduled in the Plaza throughout the year.

On the way into Mesilla we visited the mother of all spice stores where they sell among other things, bushel bags of dried chili peppers  (They had five different kinds of peppers, graded by degree of hotness).  They had lots of other things including bags of ground spices, spiced nuts and many other things Hispanic in nature that are really hard to describe in a few words.  You would have to see the place to fully appreciate it.

We had Margaritas and dinner at a great Mexican restaurant on the plaza , La Posta de Mesilla, before returning to the RV for the evening.  We will drive on to the Phoenix area tomorrow.

Day 74 Pictures - Mesilla

Florida Spring Training 2017- Day 73

We left the RV park in Austin about 9:00 am this morning.  As the park is in the NE section of town in the suburbs, we had to head into downtown Austin and go south a little bit to pick up the highway west to I-10 (US 290).  Of course, we hit  rush hour traffic (maybe a lot of people go to work at 10:00 am here - I guess it could be Texas state government workers or maybe University of Texas people).  So, it took us a little while to get through town, but we did so without incident and headed west through the Texas hill country passing LBJ's ranch and driving again through Fredericksburg where we had spent two nights on the way east.

When we turned west on I-10 the skies were overcast and we had a few sprinkles along the way.  We are now into "wide open country" and the only excitement is how bad the wind will be and from what direction, how many trucks will pass you at speeds above the speed limit and where is the enivitable road construction. Although I have to admit, with an 80 mph speed limit on the road and Texas Highway Patrol vehicles lurking behind billboards (actually there are no billboards but their cars are hard to spot in advance), we didn't have a lot of vehicles roaring past us while we were going 70 mph.

So, we cranked out the miles and arrived at our stop for the night, the Fort Stockton RV Park about 4:15 pm.  We have stayed here many times and it is an "oasis in the desert" so to speak as it is half way between "somewhere in west Texas and somewhere else near New Mexico".  Nothing has changed much except they are not doing their specialty country style ribs in the co-located Road Runner Café anymore.  Nevertheless, we are eating dinner there tonight.  We are going to bed early in order to get an early start in the morning.  Right now, the weather looks good for the next few days going west.

Florida Spring Training 2017- Day 72

We slept in a little after a long and tiring day yesterday.  Judy did the laundry and we had a late lunch at a BBQ place down the road (Donn's).  It is a "locals" sort of place and the ribs and brisket were delicious.  It is definitely a "no frills" restaurant, that while short on ambiance, had very good food.

After resting a bit the plan is to go downtown to see the bats.  Here is some information about the bats that have become a major Austin tourist attraction:

From March to October (typically), 1.5 million bats emerge nightly from narrow but deep crevices in the underside of the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge. They usually start to emerge from the bridge around 20 minutes after sundown.

In June, the female bats of this species of Mexican free-tailed bats, give birth to one tiny pup. The pups feed from mammary glands located under the mother’s wings, not on the chest as in most mammal species. 

The pups are usually ready to fly by mid-August, which means the black cloud of bats emerging from the bridge is even more impressive during this time. In fact, the size of the colony virtually doubles because almost all of the bats that roost at the bridge are female. The males of the species don’t play any role in child rearing and usually roost in separate colonies in Mexico.

A redesign of the bridge in 1980 created crevices on the underside of the structure that were the perfect size for cozy bat homes. At the time, many Austin residents despised and feared the bats and tried to have the colony eradicated. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and now Austinites love their bat colony. They also welcome the flying mammals’ voracious diet. The bats consume up to their weight of bugs nightly.

We did see the bats.  After resting after lunch, we drove into downtown Austin before sunset and waited with a fairly large crowd to see the bats make their evening foray into the sky.  Sunset was at 7:58 pm local here tonight and almost like clockwork swarms of bats left their nests under the bridge about 20 minutes later and headed out in search of insects.  There were a lot of them but it was hard to get any good pictures. The light was not ideal for my camera and they were moving really fast.  Nevertheless, we did see them once again.

After the bat show, we went across the street to an Embassy Suites Hotel for a drink before heading back to the RV park.

We drive to Fort Stockton, TX tomorrow.  Our sightseeing is about done unless we see something interesting and we have time to check it out.  From here, it will be just overnight stops until we arrive in Marin next Tuesday.

Day 72 Pictures - Austin - Bats

Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 71

We had an interesting trip today from Lafayette, LA to Austin, TX.  It was a long drive of 380 miles plus travelling through Houston (never easy).

We got underway about 9:30 am after getting gas. The skies were cloudy and it started showering in Lake Charles, LA, about an hour west of Lafayette.  It was then light rain, pretty much off-and-on as we continued west.  Just east of Beaumont, TX around 11:30 am traffic on the Interstate, I-10, came to a complete halt.  The best we could tell from Internet traffic reports, there was an accident about 5 miles ahead of us.  As we sat there surrounded by big trucks and other vehicles we subsequently discovered a big rig was on fire and the highway was closed until the mess could be cleaned up.  The only movement was lane compression as people pulled out of line and tried to either back down the shoulder/safety lane or turn around and cut across the grass between the road and Interstate access roads and or frontage roads and go the other direction.  There was no police/DOT presence and/or traffic control anywhere in sight that we saw.  It was traffic chaos of the first degree with people trying to change lanes as small openings in the lanes appeared and others trying to flee the scene by going in the other direction when they thought they could.  It took us 4 1/2 hours to clear the accident site, mostly sitting with the engine turned off.  There were no other options other than just sitting there.  (At least we had a bathroom and could eat lunch while waiting.)  Another factor was a huge line of thunderstorms and heavy rain that passed through while we were waiting.  With all the daily traffic on I-10, there was no telling how far the traffic was backed up behind us while all this was going on - a true traffic nightmare.

We finally passed the accident site about 4:00 pm on a frontage road adjacent to the Interstate.  The highway was still closed and they were continuing to clean up the mess.  As the time was now about the time we usually stop for the night, we still had over 250 more miles to go to reach the RV park in Austin where we were staying.  We decided to continue on and see how far we could get before reaching our endurance limit.

We got off the Interstate just west of Beaumont and headed for Houston, skirting it on the northern-most loop around the city, then headed cross country to Austin, pretty much in occasional rain with water on the roads.  We kept going and final arrived in Austin around 9:30 pm after a 12 hour travel day.

The plan for Wednesday is to relax a little, do the laundry and find some good BBQ to eat for lunch/dinner and maybe see the bats as they leave their home under the bridge at sunset.  The rain has stopped but the skies are cloudy and the temperature is in the high 70s.

Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 70

We went on a swamp tour today at Lake Martin, just south of Beaux Bridge, LA (about 7 miles from the RV park).  We went on the same tour several years ago with the same outfitter and we wanted to do it again.  The lake doesn't have a discernible shoreline as cypress and tupelo trees are growing in the water along the shore.  The lake is home to at least 2,000 alligators, cottonmouth water mocassins, numerous birds, fish, and other assorted wildlife.  There is a lot of fishing going on as well as permitted duck hunting in season.  Several established duck hunting blinds have also been built in the lake.  It is definitely a multi use area with three swamp tour operators who regularly take tourists out to experience this very special habitat .

The tour today was outstanding.  We had a knowledgeable guide ( a Cajun named Bob) who was not only funny but had a lot of interesting information about the lake and all the critters who call it home.  He said he has given over 1300 tours. The weather was great, we had a good group on the boat (mostly from France, England and Greece and a guy from Africa who knew about crocodiles) and we saw just about everything the lake had to offer (except for the snakes which was O.K. with us).  Without question this is the best swamp tour we have ever been on and we cannot imagine how anything else could be better.  The tour lasted two hours and the pictures can describe what we saw better than I could ever do.

Day 70 Pictures - Swamp Tour

After the tour we travelled into Lafayette and had lunch at a recommended Poor Boy sandwich shop called the Olde Tyme Grocery.  It is located near the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Campus (the Ragjn' Cajuns).  We each had a half Poor Boy sandwich and a praline for desert.  They were very good and an authentic taste of Louisiana cusine.

Day 70 Pictures - Olde Tyme Grocery

We had dinner in the RV tonight after another day of excellent adventure.  We have a long drive to Austin, TX tomorrow and a two night stay there.  After that, the sightseeing is over and the rest of the trip will be the long ride home from there, staying one night in each place along the way.

Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 69

We filled up with gas after leaving the RV Park and got on I-10 heading west about 9:30 am. It was a little breezy but not too bad.  What was bad was the traffic.  It was heavy all the way with trucks, tailgating vehicles, old people out for a Sunday drive and the usual complement of high speed "weavers" not using turn signals and ignoring speed limits.  Perhaps it is considered a sign of weakness to use them.  After all, NASCAR doesn't need turn signals and they can go as fast as they want to win the race.

We arrived at our stop for the next two nights, the Bay Bayou Wilderness Resort about 1:45 pm.  We have stayed here several times in the past and it is a good place for overnight stops along the way either east or west.  We are going out for dinner tonight at our favorite Cajun restaurant in Lafayette, Prejeans.

We have a reservation for  a swamp tour tomorrow in the bayou near Beaux Bridge, a town a short way from here.   We have taken the same tour several years ago and are looking forward to a return visit.  That will be the highlight of the day with other activities TBD depending on time and energy.

Postscript:

We had a great, calorie laden meal for dinner at Prejeans tonight: crawfish enchalada, seafood gumbo/rice, a crabcake with andouille sauce, hush puppies and maque choux (Cajun corn dish) washed down with a local beer, Abita Amber (Judy had lemonade).  There was also a local band playing Cajun music.  We will sleep with a heavy stomach, but it sure was good.

Day 69 Pictures -  Prejeans for Dinner

Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 68

We traveled down the west side of Mobile Bay this morning to Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the Gulf at the southern end of the bay.  It was a pleasant 25 mile drive down the west side of the bay then over a two mile long causeway to the island. The island is heavily wooded and there are a lot of vacation homes, and what appear to be a number of year round residences. We also saw a lot of evidence of sport fishing and perhaps surprisingly, not a lot of typical Gulf Coast beach town commercial activity.

We initially went to the east end of the island where there is a ferry dock that provides ferry service across the bay to its eastern side.  Our first stop was a visit to Fort Gaines, one of 38 forts built along the East and Gulf Coasts prior to the start of the Civil War.  There is also a similar fort (Fort Morgan) on the the east end of Mobile Bay; both forts were built to guard the entrance to the bay.  They were occupied by the Confederates during the Civil War and were part of the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864.  In that encounter, a Union Navy force, commanded by Commodore David Farragut, defeated the Confederate forces.  famously stating (although historically undocumented) "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead".

The present day Fort Gaines is run and maintained by a historical foundation.  It is not a large fort but it has been restored pretty well.  It certainly is in a strategic position at the tip of Dauphine Island and it played a large role in the Battle of Mobile Bay.

Day 68 Pictures - Fort Gaines

A highlight of our visit was watching a demonstration of blacksmithing/metal working by the resident fort blacksmith.  He was very knowledgeable about a wide variety of subjects regarding the Civil War, antique armaments and the technical details of working with steel.   We sat there fascinated for an hour or more listening to him and watching him make a small metal fish and then a BBQ meat hook out of a steel rod.  They were truly works of art and we were fortunate enough to be able to purchase both the fish and BBQ hook from him when they were done.

Day 68 Pictures - The Blacksmith

We then traveled down the island a ways for lunch at a restaurant recommended to us.  The restaurant is located on the beach at a country club with a golf course and pool.  The facility has seen better days, probably in the 60s and 70s as reflected in its architectural design (strangely designed circular buildings in a somewhat peculiar arrangement).  The restaurant was basically a golf course snack bar. The food was O.K. but nothing special.  Although the views of the beach and the Gulf were good.

After lunch we visited the Audubon Bird Sanctuary on the island.  The area has about 4 miles of trails as well as a small lake and access to the beach.  We walked out to the beach, took a short beach walk then walked back on a trail on the other side of the lake.  It is a nice area - we saw some birds but no alligators in the lake, although we did see some turtles.

Day 68 Pictures - Audubon Bird Sanctuary

We then drove back to the RV after a long but enjoyable day.  We leave tomorrow for Lafayette, LA for a two-night stay.

Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 67

We got on the road around 9:00 am this morning and stopped along the way for gas and a truck stop mocha.  We then drove west on I-10 to Mobile, AL.  It was an easy drive, sunny, no wind and light traffic.  We made good time and arrived around 1:30 pm local at the Shady Acres RV Park after gaining an hour when  the time zone changed to Central DST.

We then decided to do a little sightseeing since we arrived with time to do so.  One thing we wanted to see was the Battleship Memorial Park.  The park is home to the USS Alabama, a battleship built in 1942. It first deployed to the North Atlantic for convoy support duty then in the Pacific Theater where it participated in nine battle actions until the end of the war. It was decommissioned in 1947 and placed in the Reserve Naval Fleet. It was then towed in 1964 from Bremerton, WA, to its present berth in Mobile Bay.  

The park also has a large display of historical military aircraft and equipment, mostly from WW II onward.  In addition, there are several memorials to veterans including a Korean War Memorial and a Vietnam Memorial listing the names of servicemen and women from Alabama who died in the conflict. There is also a WWII submarine, the USS Drum, on display (on land).  The  park is really well done, the battleship is well maintained and is a fitting memorial to all those who served. 

There was a fair-sized crowd at the park for a Friday afternoon including a lot of veterans and their families.  We also noticed a group of Boy Scouts heading towards the ship as it was closing and we were leaving. In talking to one of the escorts, he said the scouts were having a dinner, meeting and sleep over on the ship tonight.  Neat!

Day 67 - Pictures - Battleship Memorial Park

After we left the park we headed down the causeway for a short distance and had dinner at a seafood restaurant that had been recommended to us, Felix's Fish Camp Grill.  We had a great meal then headed back to the RV park.

 

The park is a little rustic and quirky but nice and the amenities are fine.  When we arrived, a sign on the office door said the manager was out on-site and to call a listed telephone number.  I did and a guy showed up about 5 minutes later.  I said I had a reservation so he took a 3 x 5 notebook out of his pocket and checked a number of hand written entries.  He couldn't find mine. despite having my having called once to make the reservation and again last week when we had to delay our departure.  No matter, he said he had sites available. Then he said "lets go pick out a site".  So we walked down the road a little, I found one that looked O.K. and he said "its yours.  There didn't seem to be any site numbers that I could find but again, no matter, we're here.

The plan for tomorrow is to travel down to Dauphin Island at the mouth of Mobile Bay, south of where we are staying. It looks like there is a nice beach, a nature preserve and an old fort - three of our favorite vacation attractions.  The weather should be in the low 70s, sunny and a light breeze.

Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 66

A front came through early this morning (4:00 am) with thunderstorms and lightning.  It was a fast mover however, and by the time we got on the road by 10:00 am the skies were clear, but windy.  We had to get gas in the RV and top off the propane before we left plus the usual breaking camp routine.  It was a little later departure than we planned but it usually does take a little longer than we think it will.  Maybe we should adjust the departure planning time lines a little (or get up earlier - which is harder to do since DST and darker mornings for now), but optimism abounds.

The ride to Tallahassee was uneventful although it was quite windy with a crosswind most of the way.  We are staying at The Tallahassee RV Park.  We have not stayed before. It is not too far off the freeway (I-10) but very quiet.  It is an older park - the sites are a little close to each other but it is very nice and perfect for an overnight stop.

We go west on I-10 in the morning to Mobile, AL.  Every time we drive by Mobile we say we need to stop there sometime.  Well, this time we are going to stop, spend 2 nights there and see what there is to see.

Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 65

Well, the truck is fixed.  We picked it up about 5:00 pm and turned in the rental car.

We had the RV washed this morning, picked up some supplies for the trip and had dinner in the RV.

Everything is packed and ready to go tomorrow.  We will get gas in the RV, top off the propane and head for Tallahassee.

We are hoping for dry roads and tail winds but this time of year in the south you never know. We will take it easy and try and stay out of everyone's way.

Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 64

We are still waiting for the truck to be repaired.  The latest estimate is tomorrow afternoon.  We were hoping for today, but they are still working on  it.

Judy did the laundry this morning and I worked on breaking down our outside arrangements and getting  everything loaded up.  All we have to do now is unhook, load the truck, get gas in the RV and top off the propane.  We will also have to pick up the truck when ready and return the rental car.

We had lunch at Steak-and Shake (24 meals under $4.00) and Judy made shrimp fried rice for dinner.  We made a batch of sangria for dinner last night and finished it up with dinner tonight. We also had ice cream for desert with raspberries and chocolate sauce.

We are getting the RV washed on-site tomorrow morning and will get a few food supplies for the return trip while waiting for the truck.  Hopefully everything goes as planned and we can get on the road Thursday morning.

We are ready to head home.

Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 63

We pretty much just hung around the RV today and started to get things together for leaving.  The auto repair shop is working on the truck and repairs should be completed tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest.

Tomorrow is laundry day (didn't we just do that?) (last Tuesday)  I'll also be breaking down our outside setup and continue working on getting the the RV ready for a Thursday departure.  It looks like we are finished with  sightseeing until we get to Mobile, AL on Friday/Saturday.

The Tampa summer weather pattern is starting to kick in.  It hit 90+ degrees today and the humidity is here.  It is now air conditioner time.

Our delay may also have a few benefits as severe weather in Louisiana yesterday might have affected our planned trip into that area, originally scheduled for tomorrow.

No pictures today

Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 62

It was a quiet day inthe RV park today.  We slept in, I cooked some bacon on the griddle outside and did a few chores around the RV.  In the afternoon, I ran a few errands and Judy took a nap.  It wasn't exactly life in the fast lane today.

We went out to dinner tonight at Cody's Roadhouse just down the road.  It is a "peanut shells on the floor" kind of place with good food and reasonable prices.  We have eaten there before and it was worth a return trip.

There is not too much else planned before we leave. The auto repair shop called Saturday and said all the parts were in for the truck and they are hoping to have it ready by Tuesday. That is good news.   If so, it looks like we will be still be on track for a Thursday departure.

No pictures today

Florida Spring Training 2017 - Day 61

Well today was the first day of our unplanned lengthened stay in Oldsmar.  We decided after breakfast to check out "Oldsmar Days". This is an annual event to honor the history and heritage of the city which has been going on here every first weekend in April for the last 51 years.  It is a three day event that kicks off on Friday night and runs through Sunday afternoon.  There is entertainment, food booths, arts and crafts for sale and various organizations and business advertising their services and products.  There is also a full set-up carnival with kids rides, haunted houses and midway games (e.g. knock-over-the milk bottles, etc.).

The event also hosts a major display of restored antique cars, in this case Oldsmobiles. Unbeknownst to us, Oldsmar was originally started by the inventor of the Oldsmobile automobile and founder of the Oldsmobile Motor Company, Ransom Eli Olds.

Ransom Olds purchased over 37,000 acres on the northern tip of Tampa Bay in 1916 in what is now present day Oldsmar.  His plan was to turn the area into a major community as it was about half way between Tampa and St. Petersburg before bridges across the bay were built. The town was originally named R. E. Olds-on-the-Bay. The name was later changed to Oldsmar. In 1927 the name was changed to Tampa Shores, and finally in 1937 it was changed back to Oldsmar.

The car show today had about 50 restored Oldsmobiles, many from several Florida Oldsmobile car clubs and some from other parts of the country.  This is apparently a big deal and major event for classic Oldsmobile owners.  There were certainly some really beautifully restored cars, most of which were from the 50's, the high point of Detroit "big iron" cars.

A major highlight of the event was the Saturday morning parade, a very nice small town event with lots of families in lawn chairs catching Mardi Gras bead strings, assorted candy selections and trinkets advertising various local services and businesses.  The antique Oldsmobiles followed the usual complement of assorted politicians, most sitting on the back of convertibles.  Local businesses and organizations also had floats and people in various costumes walking along the parade route.  There were also a lot of public service agencies in the parade with fire engines, police cars and medical vehicles with their lights on and sirens going.  The only thing missing was a marching band.  We had a good time enjoying the parade and even caught a few strings of beads.

After the parade we had carnival food for lunch that was actually pretty good.  We then walked around awhile and decided to go somewhere else to relax and have a cool drink. We ended up at a restaurant/tavern down the road and had a glass of Sangria while decided if we wanted to do anything else today.

On the way back to the RV we decided to make a quick stop at The Oldsmar Flea Market, billed as the largest in the south.  We had been there before and nothing has changed.  It undoubtedly has the biggest selection of "stuff" for sale that is on the fringe of commercial respectability. You name it, they had it, new or used, clean or dirty and who knows where it came from.  You could also buy a reptile, get a hair cut, a massage, eye exam and maybe even  a colonoscopy in the back somewhere.  We didn't buy anything although the produce stand fruits and vegtables looked pretty good.

Oldsmar Flea Market

We did a lot of walking and standing around today so we were back in the RV by 3:00 pm. We will have dinner in the RV tonight and go to bed early.  It was a busy but enjoyable day.

Day 61 Pictures - Oldsmar Days