Last night when we arrived at the Cracker Barrel, we were hesitant about parking for the night. After all, we had just been kicked out of a Wal-Mart that we felt was safe and accommodating when we arrived. There were no dedicated RV parking spaces like they usually do and there were also no other RVs here. We circled for a couple of times before deciding to settle into a corner of the lot.
Our short 2-night stay at Saint Joseph Peninsula came and gone way faster than we had hoped. This is definitely a spot I can see myself spending at least a week at next time we are in the area. With still a handful of places to see in the panhandle before crossing over into Alabama, we headed back towards the mainland and kept on moving westward.
Saint Joseph Peninsula State Park is at the end of the peninsula right across the bay from the town of Port St Joe. We thought hard about whether or not we wanted to come here as we did not know what kind of phone reception and internet we might have here. We took a chance and it paid off handsomely.
Last night was the coldest night we have had in a long time. It is definitely not shorts and t-shirt weather around here anymore as it dipped into the 30s for the first time for us since the Carolinas back in October. Hopefully this is just a cold spell that will pass as we intend on keeping our summer clothes around for as long as we can.
When we got here yesterday, we got our spot for just one night with the second night as an option and I think we are going to exercise that. Tomorrow, some Canadians are coming to stay for awhile. The rates are setup here that monthly stays are highly encouraged. We are paying $38 a night including taxes and Good Sam discount but the monthly rate is a mere $500.
We are once again in road mode. That means we don’t have plans to stay anywhere longer than a couple of days with boondocking nights in between during transit days. We really haven’t been in this mode for a few months and it is kind of exciting to get back into it.
Finally we have completed all of our obligations here in St Petersburg. We have had a lot of activities in the last few days since we got here. It started with our TV debut on WFLA, then our sailing day on the water with Kyle and finally yesterday, we drove up to Weeki Wachee for the big girl’s 6th birthday. We are here for one more night tonight and things are starting to slow down.
Dear Ava,
Today you turned SIX! And today was the first time you ever had a birthday in the Airstream. For every one of your birthdays, you knew exactly what type of party you wanted. But this year was different because this year you wanted to be totally surprised. How adventurous of you! So Mila and I gladly put on our party planning hats and created a butterfly party just for you, complete with wings and with an Airstream full of pink balloons. By some miracle, your little sister didn’t spill the beans and you were completely surprised in the morning when you opened your eyes.
One of the main reasons why we met up again with Kyle here in St. Petersburg has to do with what we are doing today. A few months ago, I found out that Kyle had taken sailing lessons at Charleston, South Carolina. Well before I was into Airstreaming, I was an avid sailor and had owned a handful of sailboats in my past. After chatting about boats for awhile, Kyle and I decided that since we are both spending our winters in Florida, we should get together and do a day charter.
We are glad to be back at Fort De Soto today with the Mish detached and ready to relax for the next few days. With the TV appearance out of the way, we are now free to make as big of a mess as we’d like in the Airstream.
For the last couple of weeks, we have been corresponding with a facebook friend about our visit to Tampa. Some of you might have heard of Matt and Rebecca of Boxfotos. Matt kindly offered to give us a tour of his workplace which happens to be WFLA of Tampa. They are also the NBC affiliate of the greater Tampa area. We have never been on a tour of a TV studio so we gladly accepted his offer.
Last night we spent the night alone at a Cracker Barrel. Well, we thought we are alone until we woke up to find out we had neighbors. This is actually an overflow/RV parking lot for the Cracker Barrel that was across the street from the actual restaurant. We were a little hesitant about parking here because the restaurant parking lot says “no overnight parking” but this lot across the way only had a phone number for the local tow company on it so we figured it was safe.
