We left the Florida Key's Thurs. morning thinking we didn't have far to drive. Maybe about 4 hours. It started out as a pleasant drive, then we were on I-75. Lots of road work and one long delay of about 50 minutes due to a roll over accident. Then about 30 minutes later another roll over, luckily it happened not to long before we came upon it so we didn't have a big delay this time.
It was late afternoon by the time we got to the Sarasota Rv Resort in Bradenton. Nice park but tight spaces to get into. We had half of our street out there trying to help Joe back in. There was a car parked in front of us that was making it very difficult and no one was available to move it to make things easier. Once in and set up we were ready for a beer. That evening I was wondering why the fifth wheel was squeaking so much. The back legs were not on the cement solid and we had the front legs down quite a bit so the next morning we had to hook back up and move forward just about 3 inches and also add more blocks under the front legs. Now we are very solid and don't have to worry.
03/20
Friday we went into St Petersburg to visit with my nephew, Doug and his wife Joy. The drove over to visit us when we were in Tampa so we went to see them this time. You have to drive over this long, high bridge to get to St Pete's. Not liking heights it made me a little nervous.
We had a great time at their house. We still had a lot to catch up on after our last visit. They have a very nice house and a beautiful backyard, including a hutch of bunnies. Later they took us to Biff's Burgers. What a great place. It is very much a locals hangout. There was a car show going on and a band playing inside. The hamburgers were really good. Before we knew it we had to say good by. They were very fun to hang out with and we will miss them. We will be visiting my niece, Alma, in Sept at Myrtle Beach and we are hoping that Doug and Joy will be able to join us. It would be fun to have all of us together again.
03/21
I am a little tired from our trip to Bradenton and St Pete's so we didn't do much today. We are going to the car races tonight at the De Soto Speedway. It is a little bit of a drive and the track is suppose to be a 3/8 track but it is a small one. Sprint Cars are just one of the divisions racing tonight. Also racing were mini stocks, pure stocks and street stocks and a few others. The racing was fast an pretty good until the big accident. It was a very scary accident. Two pure stocks ran into each other and then a third really plowed both of them. Now the scary part, all three cars burst into flames. Two of the drives dove out the drivers windows quickly but the third car and fire all around it. He did climb out the passenger side window and we all held our breaths. When he came out of the flames he was on fire. What a horrible moment. He finally dropped to the ground and started rolling until they could start spraying him. I felt sick and almost wanted to leave, but they announced that all the drivers were fine no one even had to go to the hospital. I hope I never have to see something like that again. By 11pm the races were over and we were on our way back to the rv park.
03/22
Sunday morning we decided to drive to the beach for breakfast, to our surprise we couldn't find a restaurant that was open. We were doing the whole loop from Bradenton to Sarasota and back to Bradenton, we finally found a small place to have breakfast in Sarasota. I was happy because I was really hungry by this time. It was a really nice drive all around the bay. Later in the day we went to the movies to see Insurgent, not a bad movie but it didn't follow the book very closely, so I was a little disappointed. The Regal Theater was pretty cool, the first unusual thing about it is you pick your seat out when you buy your tickets. So all seats are reserved. The second cool thing is all seats are lazy boy type recliners. I have never been so comfortable watching a movie before.
03/23
I am having back trouble so today is spent at the Chiropractors. The one I had an appointment with we could never find it, even after talking to them for directions. The map on their site had us about 25 miles the wrong way. So I cancelled it and remembered there was a chiropractor next to the Regal Theater. We just walked it and hoped he could see me in the next couple of days. He did better than that, I filled out the forms and had to wait a bit but he was able to see. Really nice Dr, and I was happy with the adjustment. Just to make sure all was well I went back Wed afternoon for another adjustment. Don't know when I will have another chance.
03/24
Today we are driving out to Ft De Soto. We have to cross the big bay bridge again, the one we had to drive over to go to St Petersburg. They have an RV park Joe had thought about staying at, but after the long drive we are glad we didn't stay there. You are in the middle of pretty much no where. It is right on the water and beautiful, but if you need anything from town it is quite a drive not to mention the tolls you have to pay.
The first thing we did was find a nice place to have a picnic lunch. The gift store/snack bar had places to sit out of the sun and look at the bay. It was perfect. The white sandy beaches are really beautiful. After lunch we went to walk around what is left of the fort. All the building were built to close to the water and were washed away during the many storms in the early 1900's. What we did get to see is the defense system they had for protecting Tampa.
03/25
Today we are going to explore Anna Maria Island. Again trying to find a place for breakfast. The first pier we stopped at had a restaurant but it didn't open until 11, so we searched further.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Chiropractor and getting ready to leave Bradenton in the morning.
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