Travels along the Gulf Coast

Hello friends,

I've traveled over to the Gulf coast of Florida to hang out for a bit. 

I left Clermont on January 10th and headed over to Clearwater.

I took Route 60 / The Courtney Campbell Causeway to get over to Sand Key Park in Clearwater. Courtney Campbell Causeway is a bridge stretching across old Tampa Bay from Tampa's Rocky Point Island to eastern Clearwater. It's approximately 9.9 miles long with two elevated bridge spans to allow watercraft to pass through. Wow! It was really awesome to drive on that, with the water surrounding me on both sides for such a long time.

I spent the afternoon at Sand Key Park. Ninety-five acres are located on Sand Key, which is a barrier island between the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida mainland. Clearwater Pass, leading from the Gulf to the Intracoastal waterway, separates the park from the busy resort area of Clearwater Beach. It was perfect for me, with a big parking area, and just a walk through the mangroves to the white sandy beach.

A pirate ship off Sand Key

 I stayed at a Boondockers Welcome residence in Clearwater for a couple of days.

It was a nice place. The owner, Sherrie, had a cool fishpond inside her house. She had a nice pool area outside, but said the fish would get grabbed by birds if she had them outside. I found two great coffee shops while I was there. One in Clearwater was called Southie Coffee. https://southiecoffee.com/ I liked the music items throughout the place. The other one was The Haus Coffee Shop, in Largo. It's advertised as' a lofty cafe with a rustic-chic vibe serving espresso-based drinks, pastries & casual fare.'

 . Both had their own unique character.

The indoor fish pond at my first Boondockers Welcome place

Southies Coffee in Clearwater. Loved it! 

Another great cafe in Clearwater, FL

I mentioned Boondockers Welcome in my previous post. 

Its a program where home/land owners who want to open their property to RVers to stay overnight or longer, create a profile on the BW website, and then RVers can reserve for 1-5 nights, depending on the property owner's desire. Both parties set up their  profiles so they can connect. Its a great way to meet people and help each other out. Love it!

Next I traveled up the coast to stay at another Boondockers Welcome home in Hudson for four days.

Mikie Gallagher was the host at this one, and he was such a great guy. Hes a medically disabled veteran who opens his home up to travelers. It has become an important part of his life, and I I felt very welcome there. I had such fun with his two little dogs (Bostie and Delta). I even had dinner with Mikie and friends in the house the first two nights, and on the last night I went out to dinner with Mike and his brother Tom. I went in the pool one morning. We were all going to go to a nearby shooting range for practice, but the range was full during the time it would have worked for us. Darn. Oh well.
Good people. A great experience for me..

Many egrets were near and on Mikie's property

Today I hit the road traveling southeast from Hudson toward Wachula.

 I passed through a road called Bellamy Brothers Parkway. Kinda cool. Not the road, just the name.
I will be settling in at a place called Peace River Campground tomorrow, and  plan to be there for about ten days. My friend Cheryl from Vermont is coming to visit. We are working on a project together and I'm looking forward to spending time hanging out with her.

I have started publishing articles on a platform called Medium.

If you get a chance to read them and  hit the clap button, and follow me if you're interested, it would be super awesome. It will help create a small income for me as I'm traveling.
Here are the links to the articles:

https://medium.com/@scapizzi36/my-year-of-changing-it-all-49e4443f794b?source=friends_link&sk=be3a7354c74d882c04699ed36647a371

https://medium.com/@scapizzi36/my-awesome-life-without-alcohol-72c0da166d7e?source=friends_link&sk=42c6aeff487e2a87a74b1ceccc4caa81

Lots of love to my family and friends up north.

Stefani

A different kind of Holidays for me

Me & Mom in Paris.(Just kidding)
 It's a mural at Jaqueline's)

No snow here. 

Sunny, palm trees, and beaches. My first holidays out of New England and it felt strange. I definitely found myself missing Vermont and my family. Different. I spent a few  days and a very quiet Christmas Eve in Indiatlantic with my mom. We hung out and had fun. I loved Jaqueline's Bakery and Cafe in Old Melbourne Beach Village.

I headed to Palm Coast on Christmas day.

I made it in time for dinner at my friend’s house. Andy made a spectacular dinner in English tradition, including the Yorkshire pudding, mincemeat pies, and a dessert called bakewell tarts. There were Christmas Crackers at each table setting, which                                                                     were fun to crack open! 

                                               Of course Andy helped me with a few little projects 
with Aretha. 

                                                   Thanks again Andy! And thanks Maura and Rachel for 

                                                 the afternoon espressos! That was great!.

Christmas Dinner

I visited St. Augustine for the second time in my life. 

Although it was brief, I really enjoyed walking through the village streets and seeing the Castillo de San Marcos again. St. Augustine is located on the east coast of Florida and is the oldest continuouslyinhabited European established settlement in the United States. If you haven’t been, I highly recommend it.

Castillo de San Marcos
Oldest and largest masonry fort  in U.S.A. (325 years old)

Oldest wooden schoolhouse in U.S.A. (318 years old)

I also visited Flagler Beach in Flagler, FL. 

The sand is cinnamon colored with limestone crystals and occasional Coquina rocks. They are soft rock formed by the accumulation of sediments (specifically limestone) found on the floor of the ocean or other bodies of water. Coquina rock is found only in the southern coast of the United States and in New Zealand.

Flagler Beach Pier

I spent New Year’s eve at a place called European Village in Palm Coast with my friends

 and some of their friends.

On January 2, I headed back to the Thousand Trails Orlando Park

I will be staying here until the 10^th. I’ve generally figure my way around this park now. I lost my way a few times the last time I was here. The perimeter is about two miles, which is a nice bike ride. Lots of great people. I stop and visit with people and get to pet dogs. I went to the karaoke/line dancing thing here the other night. The karaoke part was sometimes good and often funny. The line dancers were well practiced and in sync. Although I like the challenge, Its probably best for everyone if I just don’t try to join in...

Aretha and Yellow Bike going strong

I rode my bike to the clubhouse the other day.

 While I was inside, it began to downpour. Apparently it was expecting to rain for the next few hours. Bummer. I hadn’t checked the weather. A staff person lent me a rain cape and I ran out to the bike rack and brought yellow bike inside. They let me put it in a locked room until the storm was over. So nice of them. Then someone offered to give me a ride back to my place on the other side of the campground. Another person here took me to the store yesterday, and yet another neighbor came over to try to figure out my antenna connections in case I wanted local TV. That is just a snapshot. Everywhere I go, I continue to find very kind people and just what I need. It amazes me.

So far, most of the campgrounds I’ve been staying at are in the Thousand Trails network.

 I am a member of the Thousand Trails club, and it has been a great choice for me. The modest annual fee paid for itself by early November, so I’m literally staying at them for free now. I spend quite a bit of time researching different things, including how and where to stay for free while I’m traveling. I have generally figured out how to do it. The only place I have paid for so far was Ocean Breeze Resort at Jensen Beach, which was still 50 percent off because of another program I belong to. Perhaps it was a little splurge, but well worth it to me. State and national parks and a program called Boondockers Welcome are more options I plan to explore.

At the moment I have plans in Florida through the first week of February. From there I am working on a plan to head west toward New Orleans.

Good-bye for now, my friends.

Be well. Look for the good if you can. Remember that although there are many dark and difficult things out there, there is light and kindness too.

Stefani