Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 31

We arrived at the ball park about 11:00 am today, had our complementary bloody marys, talked to our usher buddies and took a short walk around the park.  Judy did not walk all the way around as she is still nursing her sore leg.  Lunch was Italian sausage sandwiches with the “works” (onions and peppers) and a shared lemonade.  The weather was excellent – 84 degrees, lots of sun and little wind.  Alas, the game was not as good.  The Phillies only had 5 hits and lost 6-0 to the Detroit Tigers.  A disturbing trend is emerging.  The team cannot hit and shows little life.  It may be a long season for their long-suffering fans, but we still have hope the season will not be a complete disaster.

Dinner was in the RV after drinks and snacks on the patio.  We had pizza for dinner tonight, nothing fancy, but very good.

Day 31 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 30

We went to the beach today, travelling over to Honeymoon Island State Park, just north of Dunedin.  From there we took the ferry over to Caladesi Island, a small island managed by the Florida Park Service. The ferry ride takes about 15 minutes and is just for passengers, as vehicles are not permitted on the island.  There is a public marina, a concession stand and several picnic areas.  You can also rent kayaks, but the main attraction is a 4-mile beach on the Gulf of Mexico side of the island.  It is a great beach for looking for sea shells as there are many different varieties and a lot of them.

We have been to the island twice before and have always enjoyed dipping our toes in the water, beach walking and just relaxing in beach chairs under an umbrella you can rent while there. To keep the crowd moving I guess, your stay on the island is limited to 4 hours.  You can actually stay longer or leave earlier if you want to but your return ticket is only guaranteed for the specific 4 hour time period after you arrived. Other departure times are on a space available basis.  During the season (now) the ferries run every half hour so it has never been a problem for us to leave early or stay late.  They keep track of how many people depart and arrive the island and the count has to match at the end of the day.  The only people who can spend the night are state park staff, maybe a few concessionaire employees and people sleeping on their boats in the marina.

Four hours was about right for us today so we were back on the ferry at 2:30 pm with our obligatory bag of sea shells found on the beach. Its’ not like we needed more sea shells but it’s sort of like going to Mardi Gras and catching beads. Perhaps it’s the thrill of the hunt or something.

After we got back to the mainland we stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at another Frenchy’s Restaurant just off of the causeway from Honeymoon Island State Park.  We then came back to the RV, planning to go to bed early tonight.  We will get back to baseball tomorrow and Wednesday.  The weather remains good but the humidity is starting to increase.

Day 30 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 29

We didn’t go anywhere today.  Judy was resting her leg although she did do the laundry (I helped carry things).  She is feeling pretty good and the pain medicine is helping. 

My big project for today was to unhook the RV and drive up to the office and get the propane tank in the RV refilled.  We had about 1/3 of a tank left but we would have to have filled it before we leave for home. We are not using that much propane and try and do most of the cooking outside.  We also don’t use the propane heater in the RV, but use a small electric space heater for heat if needed. The only consistent use is the hot water heater. Today was a good day to deal with refilling the tank and one less thing to do before we break camp. 

We spent the rest of the day reading and cooked steaks on the grill for dinner.  More reading after dinner and then to bed.

No pictures today.

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 28

Judy awoke this morning with a sharp pain in her lower back and hip and a numbness running down her leg to her foot.  So, we went to the ER at the hospital in Dunedin to have it checked out.  It was diagnosed as pressure on the sciatic nerve (sciatica).  They did a complete series of pelvic and back x-rays and confirmed there was no fracture or disc compression.  The treatment is prescription pain medication, heavy duty IBP, taking it easy and no heavy lifting, etc.  We were in the ER (they call it the Fast Track area down here) for about 4 hours, leaving there about 2:00 pm.  The facility at the hospital was very nice and the medical staff competent and attentive.  The medicine quickly kicked in and Judy is not feeling very much pain this evening, although there is still some numbness in the leg.

Since we didn’t go to the game today (It was a lousy game anyway – the Phillies lost again 4-2), we decided to have a late lunch in Dunedin followed by an ice cream cone and a short walk down to the city pier.

We were back to the RV by 5:00 pm and skipped dinner since we had just eaten lunch.  The next baseball game is Tuesday but we’ll see how Judy feels before we make any plans for the next two days.

Day 28 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 27

We left the RV park a little early this morning to have breakfast at Lenny’s.  The place is always crowded on game days and, as expected, we had about a one-half hour wait to get seated.  The menu is extensive with huge portions and lots of east coast food selections.  The crowd was mostly Phillies fans with a few Yankee fans here-and-there.  A roving balloon-guy was also making the rounds making funny balloon hats and animals for the kids and the young-at-heart.

It was cloudy again this morning and the forecast was for partly cloudy skies with a 10% chance of rain.  When we arrived at the stadium the temperature was 69 degrees, overcast and the stadium lights were on.  It started to drizzle just before the game started and turned to rain by the second inning.  They finally stopped the game in the third inning and put the tarp on the field.  We decided not to hang around during the rain delay so we left and came back to the RV.  The rain finally stopped at the stadium and the game resumed after a one hour delay, but we didn’t go back.  They lost anyway, 4-1.

It remained cloudy the rest of the day and the threat of more rain still exists.  So much for the 10% chance of rain.  We went out for comfort food tonight at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant down the road.  It is much cooler tonight and still drizzling.

Day 27 Pictures

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 26

Well, we didn’t make it to the beach today.  We slept in again and took our time getting up and having breakfast.  It was also pretty gloomy this morning, not cold, but overcast and it cleared up in the early afternoon.

So, we “stayed home” today.  Pat continued to work on his on-going issues with the wireless printer and Judy relaxed, reading and sewing and offering encouragement about the printer issue (i.e., why don’t you just buy a new printer?” etc.).  The problem was finally resolved by connecting the printer to the computer with a cable.  Electronic mysteries win again, although I think the problem is with the RV park Internet server.

We ran a couple of errands after lunch and finished the afternoon off with cool drinks at the local Starbucks.  Dinner was spaghetti and salad in the RV.

The baseball game tomorrow is with the NY Yankees again.  The plan is to have a late breakfast at Lenny’s before the game.  It is a local restaurant near the ball park that caters to Phillies fans and features Philadelphia food choices (e.g. six kinds of sausage, scrapple, pork roll, etc. on the breakfast menu, all served in extra large portions.) The complementary Danish baskets however are excellent.  The waitresses all call you “Hon” and have east coast accents.  If you are down here from Philadelphia for the baseball and warmer winter weather, you feel right at home.

No pictures today.

Arizona/Florida Trip - Day 25

Not much to report today.  We slept in, Judy got her nails done and we both got haircuts.  We ate lunch out and came back to the RV.  I am struggling with getting my computer to talk to my portable wireless printer and wasted much of the afternoon trying to get it do so without success.

Dinner was hamburgers in the RV after tequila, wine and appetizers on the patio.  We’re thinking about going to the beach tomorrow, but we’ll see in the morning.  That is the great thing about retirement, you can usually be flexible without having to rearrange your schedule and worry about what you didn’t do.

Here are a few pictures from around the RV park:

Day 25 Pictures