Visit with Bill & Carole

After trying for a month to set up a visit, we finally made it down to Largo, which is just north of Tampa to visit Bill and Carole. We used to vacation in Gulf Shores, AL with them over 25 years ago. Then one of their sons married Mark's youngest sister. They were also at the lake for years, but have been living in the Tampa area for the past eight years. They live in a 55+ community about 5 miles from the beaches. I'm terribly jealous! After Carole made us sandwiches, we hopped in their van and headed off for a tour of the area.

We got to see several beaches. The first was Redington Beach, where they used to rent numerous houses for several years before buying their current house. The houses they always rented were within a very short walk - as in just about 100 yards of this beach.

While we don't have a picture - I at least took my shoes off and got ankle deep in the water. It was NOT warm.

We then hopped back in the van and headed farther south to St. Pete beach in St. Petersburg. Again, very beautiful, but full of shells. It would be impossible to go barefoot at this particular beach. Mark and Bill checking out the shells right next to the jetty.

After driving around for a couple of hours, we headed back to their house to get our truck to head north. We ended up staying too long and got stuck in the downtown Tampa traffic, but it didn't matter - we had no where to go. Fortunately we filled up - found a cheap station for $3.59/gallon. We've seen diesel as high as $3.79.

Our return trip turned into a four-hour trip due to traffic, a spectacular rain/wind/lightning storm, a stop at Chili's for dinner, and a stop at the grocery store. We finally made it back to the trailer just after 8:00pm. It's been a long day, but a good one. It's always nice to visit with old acquaintances. Fortunately, next year when we visit we'll be just an hour north of them.

While we were fearing what was going to be awaiting us because of the storms and the power outages across the state today, the floor was dry, and the power which had been off at some time, was back on.