Paddle: Little Manatee River

We are camped at Hillsborough River State Park and will be here about six nights. The heat wave has broken. After more than a week of highs in the mid 80s and lows near sixty, it has now cooled significantly. Last night it was 42 degrees at our camp and the next few days promise lows near 40 with highs in the mid 60s. My cold and infections are apparently over, and I am coughing up the last of the crud in my lungs. Dorcas is well.

Dorcas bought a new camera this week and has been taking pictures of everything that moves and most things that don't. The remainder of our trip should be well documented.

Today we paddled the Little Manatee River, about thirty miles south of Tampa, with our friend Ken. We put in at the US 301 bridge and paddled downstream about five miles. The run began narrow and very shallow and ended wide and very shallow. The river was fairly low; the gage indicated about 35 cfs and the median flow here is about 50 cfs. The water was clear and there was a white sandy bottom. We took a break at Little Manatee River State Park about half way down the run. It was a very enjoyable paddle; maneuvering around the sand bars is not unlike paddling in the Piedmont of North Carolina. We saw little wildlife, but did gather some pretty nice tangerines from a tree on the river bank. As we were gathering this feral citrus I asked Ken if it was bad form to gather citrus from the roadside at an obviously abandoned orchard. He said it was a bad idea. In fact it is a felony to be in a citrus orchard after dark. Watch out for the grapefruit gestapo!

After the paddle Dorcas and I went over to the Manatee Viewing Center at the Tampa Electric Big Bend Power Station. There were about a hundred manatees out in the warm water discharge canal, but they were pretty far out and could not be seen very well. It was a nice visit, but we have been able to get better looks at manatees in the springs.

We had breakfast and dinner today at the Crown Club at Lazydays. As we plan the remainder of our week in the Tampa area, a primary objective is to catch as many meals at the Crown Club as we can. It is a joy to be here when our coach is not in for service. We ate dinner with a very nice couple who have been here for two weeks while their coach is being serviced. The nice thing about the Crown Club is that even if your coach service drags on for weeks, you don't care.