Farewell to the Crown Club

When we bought our coach, it came with a two-year membership in the Crown Club, Lazydays' posh haven for their high rollers. We had never heard of the Crown Club before buying our coach and certainly did not consider ourselves high rollers, but we have since learned that the Crown Club is a really nice perk. It serves breakfast, lunch and happy hour, which includes drinks and heavy hors d'oeuvres, six days a week, and is totally free to members. We have made it a point to spend as much time in the Tampa area and eat as many meals in the Crown Club as we can. I figure in the last two years we have taken close to 100 meals at the Crown Club. But alas, all good things must end; our membership ends today. Today we said our sad good byes to the servers and the chefs. The only way to renew our membership is to buy another high-end coach from Lazydays. We won't do that, although many others do trade frequently, partly to remain members of the Crown Club. There are a couple of positives to this tragedy. First, we can now tear ourselves away from the the Tampa area and see the many other fine parts of Florida where we have never been. Second, our waistlines will thank us.

Good bye and farewell, Crown Club.

Coach Service at the Crown Club - NOT!!!

On Tuesday we departed Torrey Oaks and traveled north to the Crown Club at Lazydays for a scheduled service appointment. Our appointment was for Wednesday, but the Crown Club offers complimentary camping in the Crown Club campground for the night preceding your service. They parked us right at the front door to the Crown Club clubhouse, where we first enjoyed lunch and later enjoyed happy hour. There were two items on our service list: a DOT recall on the side marker lights on our coach and a refrigerator recall on our Dometic refrigerator. As it turns out, neither item was completed. Country Coach, the manufacturer of our coach has been closed since mid-December for an extended furlough. Country Coach is in serious financial distress and it is possible that they will not reopen at all, at least not under the current management. Our side lights were ordered from Country Coach the first week in November, but were never shipped. Lazydays has been unable to locate another vendor for these lights, so no new marker lights for the Whitleys today. This is not really a big deal. These would be additional marker lights, mandated by the Canadian government when Country Coach received authorization to sell new coaches in Canada. If/when Country Coach reopens, we'll get it taken care of. The second service item, our Dometic fridge recall was not completed either. Lazydays had originally told us our refrigerator was subject to the recall, but when we arrived, they said they had learned it was not affected by the recall. I'm not yet convinced that we're not subject, so I will talk to Dometic directly later. This is a safety recall; some cooling units have developed an ammonia coolant leak, resulting in an explosion and a fire. Not pretty. So, after two foiled service events and a night of free camping and free meals, we received our complimentary coach wash (life is good!) and we moved 1/4 mile to Rally Park. Where we would be parked until Sunday.

At Rally Park we immediately ran into many friends with Safari TREKS. We were registered for the winter rally of the Southeast TREK Fun Club, from Thursday through Sunday. A little over 50 coaches were registered for the Rally. Most were TREKS, but a few, like us, arrived in SOBs (some other brand). We enjoyed the fellowship of our many TREK friends and attended a few technical seminars. We took Matilda to the dog park every day and let her enjoy the fellowship of all her canine friends. Tonight we won a door prize for dinner for two at Cracker Barrel. Actually this prize was first won by our close friends Dave and Audrey, but since Audrey was drawing the prizes, and in fact drew her own name, she put it back into the hat. Thanks Audrey!. Tomorrow we depart Rally Park.

On the Move .... a Little Bit ... Sort Of

Today we departed Thousand Trails Peace River and moved a whopping eight miles north to Torrey Oaks RV and Golf Resort, near Bowling Green. This is the same place where I played in a pickleball tournament earlier in the week. On the way up we stopped at Wal-Mart and topped off with 41 gallons of the cheapest diesel we have ever seen: $2.169. We had acquired a two night/three-day free pass for this park while at the Florida RV Supershow. Torrey Oaks is a deeded lot RV community and is actually very nice. We took a very low-pressure sales tour of the facility and were fairly impressed. Actually, we have been seriously considering buying a deeded RV lot somewhere in Florida, but are not sure exactly where we want to be or how much we want to spend. Lots here are not cheap, starting at about $50K, but the facilities are very nice and well-kept. Whatever we do, I doubt we will buy an initial offering. Ideally, we can find a deal on a bank repo, or a seller desperate to sell to avoid foreclosure. They are practically giving away houses and condos down here, but I don't know yet if that situation extends to RV lots.

We will just kick back and take it easy here for a few days. They have some nice pickleball courts here, and I plan to play tomorrow and Tuesday. Dorcas plans to check out the fitness room. On Tuesday we will move back to the Tampa area and enjoy the Crown Club until our membership expires on Jan 31. Bummer!

Paddle: Peace River

We had not paddled since leaving the Withlacoochee State Forest area almost three weeks ago. That's way too long! The temperature was on the rise, and we are camped right on the banks of the Peace River, so it was an obvious choice: we paddled on the historic Peace River. Our friends Dave and Audrey, who are also camped at Thousand Trails, followed us to our put in at the river bridge on SR 664A near Bowling Green at Paynes Creek Historic State Park. Dave and Audrey returned our car to the campground, where we would take out. We were pretty comfortable letting them drive our car since they were the original owners of that car and put the first 60,000 miles on it. Dorcas and I had a very relaxing and enjoyable paddle of about 11 miles. Matilda was well-behaved and had no out-of-boat experiences. The river flow was low, about 53 cfs, but not as low as it was when we paddled this same section a year ago (41 cfs). We scraped bottom a few times, but had no real difficulties. We saw a number of red-shouldered hawks and an osprey, as well as several pileated woodpeckers. We also saw a large number of wading birds including great blue herons, little blue herons, green herons, limpkins, ibises and egrets. Unlike last year we saw few turtles and no alligators, probably due to the recent cold weather. The clear shallow water revealed many fish. We saw alligator gar, catfish, bass, tilapia, mullet and snook. Most amazing were the suckers that carpeted the bottom of the river. They layed on the bottom of the river in schools of hundreds and didn't move as we drifted over.

Life at Thousand Trails Peace River

We came out OK in the lottery for an uptown site. There were 16 sewer sites available, and we scouted them all. When our name came up, we got the third site on our list. We like to get the shady sites when we can, and did so this time. Unfortunately during most of our stay here it was unseasonably cool and a sunny site probably would have been more comfortable. I usually played pickleball each morning and each afternoon, sometimes four and five hours a day. Dorcas' primary activity was walking the trails with Matilda and finding Matilda playmates. There is a small fenced puppy playground where the dog folks would gather and let their dogs loose. Dorcas and Matilda made many good friends there.

I worked very hard on a particularly frustrating project that has baffled me since we left home. Faithful readers will know that I recently installed new digital TVs in the coach, front and rear. Since the day I installed the TVs I have been very disappointed with the reception on both TVs. Neighboring coaches drew in many more channels than I did. Something was definitely wrong, but since both TVs received the same channels, I knew it was not the TVs themselves, but rather the antenna or cabling. I didn't worry too much about it when we were at Rally Park, because we had cable TV service there, but at Peace River we had essentially zero digital reception, and we were getting bored on those cold nights with no TV to watch. Our TV antenna has a built-in amplifier and our video switch box provides 12vdc to the antenna via the coax. Or at least that's the way its supposed to work. When I climbed on the roof and checked the power at the antenna head, it read only 5vdc. OK, that is the problem, but why? My coach is equipped with a video switch box that routes input and output signals to and from the TVs, VCR, antenna, DVD player, etc. That video switch box is designed to provide 12vdc to the amplifier in the antenna head, but it wasn't working now. That was disappointing because a year ago I had replaced the original switch box for the same reason. Now I had no power supply for the antenna amplifier. When the first switch box failed I had installed a supplemental power supply to replace the one from the original switch box. When I replaced the defective video switch box, I took that power supply out, and left it at home. I made some calls and found out I would have to drive over 60 miles (TTPR is in the middle of nowhere!) and pay almost $50 for a supplemental power supply. Being rather frugal and patient, I called my friend Jim, who went by my house, retrieved my spare power supply there and mailed it to me. It arrived two days later, and took about 10 minutes to install. WOW!!! We are now getting over 25 crystal clear digital HD stations, even though we are over 60 miles from Tampa and Orlando, the likely origin of most of the transmissions. Digital TV is GREAT!!!

Today I played in a pickleball tournament at Torrey Oaks RV and Golf Resort, just a few miles up the road from Peace River. First the men (about 14 guys) played a total of five games, switching off partners after each game. I never did understand the scoring system, but it may have involved some computation of points scored and opponents' points scored for each game. Apparently I didn't place. After the men played, the women's tournament began. Since there were not enough women (only four) to have a meaningfully tournament, some men also played in order to fill out the brackets. In addition to the women's results, this round also produced a mixed double result. My team won every game in this round, but I was awarded only a second place ribbon. Go figure.

As I said previously, it has been unseasonably cool here, as it has been across much of the US. Early in our stay here evening lows were typically in the 30s although we had a few nights in the 20s. Farmers have been fretting about their crops, particularly the strawberries and vegetables. Highs were generally in the 50s or low 60s. The worst of the cold is now passed and temperatures are more seasonable. We certainly can't complain about the cold. Temperatures have been in the teens with even a few single digits back home. We'll take this relatively mild weather any time.

SUPERSHOW!!!!

Last year we attended the Florida RV Supershow in Tampa and had a big time. This year we did it again. Tickets are $7 and good for two days. We left Rally Park about 9:00 yesterday morning and moved 6 miles to the Florida State Fairgrounds, the venue for the Supershow. We would spend the day looking at rigs and visiting vendors for gizmos and junk, and then spend the night in the parking lot on the grounds. The next day we would do it all again. Despite the recent economic downturn there were many RVs and vendors at the show. The crowds also seemed to be almost as big as last year. It seems that there were more compact trailers and smaller motorhomes than usual but fewer big rigs. While we weren't looking for a new motorhome, people said there were deals to be had and sales were being made. We saw a lot of very interesting trailers and coaches with some pretty neat innovations, particularly clever use of space and large storage space.

There are vendors of all types and we bought a few trinkets and parts. There were also representatives from many campgrounds and resorts and we picked up many coupons for free or discounted camping. One buy that was somewhat an impulse was a Verizon air card. Dorcas and I are internet junkies, but have depended on free public wi-fi for internet access when we travel. That usually works out pretty well, but sometimes we have difficulty getting online or it is very inconvenient to do so. We decided to get the air card to give us another option when public wi-fi is not practical. Another big advantage to the aircard is that we can use it when rolling to check traffic conditions, upcoming exit services, weather reports, etc, as long as we have a cellular signal. With the rebate, the air card modem was free, and we have 30 days to back out of our commitment if we don't like how it works for us. We have been re-considering our total communication options for some time now. Since we are gone from home about 8 months of the year, it doesn't really make sense to keep cable TV, cable internet service and a land phone line working at home. If we keep the air card, we will likely give up our Roadrunner internet service at home and maybe our land phone line as well. With the new digital TV service and the wide range of programming that comes with that change, we may give up our home cable TV too. If we make all these changes, the air card will actually save us $$$. That's always a good thing.

We are, however, considering one big ticket purchase. Davis Cabinets, Inc. had a booth at the show. Davis Cabinets specializes in custom cabinetry for the RV industry. We talked with Shaun Davis about building and installing a credenza/computer station for the wall behind our dinette table. Our coach is relatively small and interior storage and work space is at a premium. This improvement would expand our storage space considerably and give us a good place to work on our computers and keep our printer set up. Currently we keep the printer in the wardrobe and set it up as we need it. Davis Cabinets can match our cherry wood, the Corian pattern and all our knobs and drawer pulls. At this show he is taking measurements and orders. He will build the cabinets at his shop in Oregon and bring them to the FMCA convention in Perry, GA in March for installation. We are awaiting a quote before ordering. I know it won't be cheap.

Another very interesting sight at the show was the Prevost display. Prevost is a Canadian company that makes high-end buses and chassis shells for high-end motor coach conversions. They had a raw shell on display at the show, something I had never seen. It was a complete body and drive train, but with a raw unfinished interior. There were no cabinets, fixtures, appliances, house wiring, plumbing, tanks. No nothing, just bare aluminum, wood and steel. $600,000. This is the product that a motorcoach converter would receive and transform into a finished product that would typically sell for $1MM to $2MM. Very cool.

We finally left the Supershow about 6:45 tonight, well after dark. Unfortunately they lock all the gates but one at 6:30. And that one gate is very difficult to find if you don't know where is. We followed every "Exit" sign we saw but each one took us to a locked gate. It took us about 1/2 hour, 3 turnarounds and several un-Christian words before we found our way out of the fairgrounds. After that it was smooth sailing as we traveled about 70 mile south and east to Thousand Trails Peace River, near Wauchula. We arrived at Thousand Trails about 8:30 and were checked in by the ranger on duty. Thousand Trails Peace River has a fairly unusual system for assigning sites to new arrivals. About 200 sites are in the flood plain close to the river, and have 30 amp service and no sewer. During peak periods all new arrivals must take one of these sites. Then your name is placed on a list and the next day you attend a lottery of sorts for any recently vacated sites among the 200 remaining sites with 50 amp service and sewer. Between 12 pm and 1 pm it is difficult to drive through the park without running over new arrivals, paper and pen in hand, scouting for prospective sites, should their name come up.

We found a nice level spot and settled in for a late supper of soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

From the It's-a-Small-World Department

While at Rally Park at Lazydays we ran into a number of old friends. It was good to visit with Safari TREK friends Bobby and Doris. The last time we saw them was at Amana Colonies in Iowa last summer. We will see them again at a Safari TREK rally later this month. The Florida Coast Alongs, a local Country Coach club, was having a rally at Rally Park, and attending were old friends Rich and Debbie, fellow members of the Southeast Country Coachers. Ironically, we will be attending a Florida Coast Alongs rally in February. We also met former Country Coach owners Jim and Dana, whom we previously had not met. However, it turns out Jim and Dana are neighbors and close friends of George and Jackie, who we originally met in Montana and who winter in Florida. Faithful readers will remember that Jackie works at Disney's Magic Kingdom and invited us to several Disney parks when we were here last year. Amazingly, Jackie frequently works the Disney attraction "It's a Small World". So true.

Photo of the Week

The macaw said "Look at the colorful plumage on those goofy tourists!"

If only just one of the goofy tourists had been wearing a red poncho, this would have been the perfect photo.

Busch Gardens Part IV - Finale

Today was forecast to be cool and rainy, but it was also the last day of our Busch Gardens seven-day pass. It was not the best day to visit the park, but, as they say, there is no tomorrow. Actually rains weren't expected to come in until after noon, so we wanted to make the most of it before the weather turned. Also, this would be our last chance to enjoy complimentary beer in the park. Later this month that perk will end forever.

The first thing we did when we arrived was to sign up for the Brewmaster's Club, a beer tasting experience, for later in the afternoon, when we knew it would be raining. We did the Brewmaster's Club a week ago, and technically, you can only do this once every 30 days, but they are bending the rules quite a bit this month with respect to complimentary beer. Later we just wandered around the park, mainly watching the animals. The rains came, but didn't diminish our day at the park. Busch Gardens offers a rain check, so to speak. If it rains, they will give you a pass for another day in the park. As we left the park we stopped at Customer Relations and picked up a pair of passes good for another day anytime within the next 12 months. Sweet.

Another Day Gone to the Dogs

We visited the Mango Dog Park again today. There we met a guy with collie/Australian shepherd mix. Callie was really cute, and she and Matilda bonded immediately. Callie's tail was docked, but it was still over 8 inches long. I don't understand why they would dock it, but only dock it half way. Callie's owner was a bush pilot in Alaska until a few months ago. Callie was born and raised in Alaska and grew up with a team of sled dogs. She was cool.

Busch Gardens Part III

It was another beautiful day in the park. We were once again blessed with fair weather and light crowds. Dorcas reneged on her roller coaster commitment. I rode solo on Montu, but later Dorcas did ride with me on the Scorpion, a rather small ride, but one which draws an impressive 3.5 Gs. Ironically, we waited over 1/2 hour to ride the Scorpion, while one could just walk on the major rides, such as Kumba, Montu, Sheikra, and Gwazi. It is probably for the best that we rode no more coasters. I have been experiencing an inner ear ailment, and I felt ill after both rides, in fact, I felt poorly for the remainder of the day. I will probably ride no more coasters this trip. In order to recover from Montu, we rode on the Serengeti Express, a steam engine train ride that circles the park and travels through the Serengeti plain, where many of the larger animals roam. This ride draws minimum G-forces and cruises at about 8 mph, a good old folks speed. We stayed on for two laps, about 1.5 hours. I did convince Dorcas to do one more water ride, the Stanley Falls flume ride. This time she was better prepared and only got a little wet. I was in the front of the log, so I got a little wetter.

Photo of the Week

Matilda was initially very timid at the dog park, but after a few visits she is really starting to come out and show some mettle. Here she is challenging a great Dane, the biggest, baddest dog in the park. The other dogs watch with great interest. Story at 10:00.

Busch Gardens Part II

Today we completed the second round of our Busch Gardens marathon round-robin. After a fulfilling breakfast at the Crown Club, we entered the park shortly after they opened the gates at 10:00 am. It was a beautiful day, and we had a wonderful time. We met several animal keepers and are starting to become well known by the staff there. We are on a first name basis with Dave, the piano player in the Hospitality Beer Garden. Not that we spend a lot of time there ...

We didn't ride a roller coaster today. I guess we'll have to make up for it the next time. Actually, I took Dorcas on the Congo River Rapids. You know, she's a paddler chick, right? No problem, right? Actually, she got a little wetter than expected, ... even before going under the waterfall. She was wearing denim pants and a cotton sweater and got soaked. Shouldn't a paddler chick know better? I thought so, but she was miffed at ME. Like it was MY fault she wore heavy cotton. I suggested we go on a roller coaster next so that the wind could help dry her out, but she didn't appreciate that suggestion either. I just can't win.

A Day in the Park

We recently learned of the Mango Dog Park, only about 1.5 miles from Rally Park. Matilda has had little significant interaction with other dogs since we left home, and we have not had a good opportunity to let her run, so off we went. It turned out to be a very nice park. It was very large, probably close to five acres, and had separate areas for large dogs and small dogs. At our only other experience in a dog park, Matilda was tentative and reluctant to engage the other dogs. She spent a lot of time running away and cowering under a picnic table. Today was no different. She was just too shy and scared to play with the other dogs. Then Bailey arrived. Bailey is a miniature Aussie just a little younger than Matilda. Matilda bonded with Bailey, and they played together pretty hard. After that Matilda was a little more receptive to playing with the other dogs.

I expect we will bring Matilda back to this park several more times before we leave.

Photo of the Week: Killer Duck

You gotta watch out for those killer ducks. They'll "quack" your windshield.

Happy Birthday to Me! Busch Gardens Part I

Today is my birthday. What better way to spend my birthday than to spend the day at Busch Gardens? Dorcas and I really enjoyed Busch Gardens when we were here last year. So much so that we went three days. LazyDays offers a discounted 7-day pass for $58. That's admission every day for seven consecutive days! I don't think we will make it every day, but we do hope to go every other day, for a total of four days. We really enjoy watching the animals and can spend a great deal of time just watching the critters. And then there's the beer. Busch Gardens has historically offered complimentary beer to visitors. Anheuser-Busch Inc. recently merged with (or was absorbed by?) European brewer InBev and recently announced it would end its practice of passing out complimentary beer samples. Dang . Thankfully, this travesty will not be implemented until near the end of January.

It was a cool and cloudy day at the park today. We experienced one short storm, but otherwise it was a very nice day. The crowds were light and lines were non-existent. We saw most of the shows, most of which were the same as last year. It is nearly impossible to get Dorcas on a roller coaster, but since it was my birthday I got her to go on Gwazi. I don't think she regretted it ... much. I then explained to Dorcas that our seven days at Busch Garden would be the seven days of Myron's birthday, much like the twelve days of Christmas. On the first day we would ride Gwazi. On the second day we would ride Gwazi and Montu. On the third day we would ride Gwazi, Montu and Kumba. And so on. I don't think she bought it.

It was a great day at the park. We are looking forward to many more.

We Can See Clearly Now!

Yesterday we departed Cypress Glen Campground at Withlacoochee State Forest and moved about 40 miles south and west to Hudson, Florida for a service appointment. We arrived Sunday evening and parked outside their locked gate for our appointment scheduled for the first thing Monday morning. Country Coach and many other manufacturers use a double-pane thermal window made by SeGi. SeGi windows have a horrible reputation for losing their seal and fogging with moisture between the glass panes, often within only a year or two after manufacture. When we bought our coach, two windows showed significant fogging, and LazyDays replaced them at their own expense. Attaboy LazyDays! Since that time another window has fogged, the one in the entry door. Since that window is necessary for good vision while driving, it is an important safety consideration to have it promptly replaced. However, with the recent economic downturn, many coach manufacturers have curtailed operations. Suppliers, such as SeGi have also shut down, and won't sell directly to the consumer anyway. Besides, who really wants to pay big bucks for new SeGi windows when they still have sealing problems and are prone to fail again??? Not me! On the Country Coach users' forums we learned of Suncoast Designers in Hudson, who will rebuild and repair existing windows for significantly less cost than replacement. Their primary business is building custom windows for residential construction, but with the downturn in that business and the increasing occurrence of failed RV windows, they are starting to promote the RV business.

At 6:30 am the gates opened and a flood of workers and another RV roared through. We got up and moved into the compound and met Jeff, who explained the repair process. They first remove the window/frame assembly from the motor home, which is pretty simple in the case of our entry door. Then they disassemble the window frame to remove the glass assembly. Then they separate the dual panes and remove the old seals. After that it gets fun. First they run the panes through a conveyorized machine that washes and dries the panes. Next they install a new seal and sandwich the two panes together and run the assembly through another conveyorized machine that cures the seal. Just prior to setting the seal they apply a little positive air pressure between the panes. SeGi uses a vacuum on their windows, which apparently contributes to their failure. Finally, they put it all back together and re-install the unit in the coach. Looks great. I have read on the forums that with shipping and installation, a new replacement SeGi window runs over $1000. Suncoast Designers got us out for $120. They were super-nice folks and very professional. If you need your windows repaired, check 'em out.

Today, after our window service, we moved another 40 miles south to near Tampa. We are camped at Rally Park, the on-site campground for LazyDays. When we bought our coach LazyDays gave us 20 coupons for free camping at Rally Park, and we still have 19 nights remaining. As it turns out, our Crown Club membership will expire on January 31, so we decided to blow our coupons as our membership expired. This means free camping, free meals and free happy-hours until January 31 or until our coupons run out, whichever comes first. Sweet! Actually, we will stay here only 9 nights before leaving, but we will be back for 7 nights just before the end of the month.

Just after checking in we ran into old friends. George and Irene have a Country Coach of the same model and floor plan as ours. We first met George and Irene at the Crown Club as we were buying our coach two years ago. Since then we have seen them at several rallies, and we are both members of the Southeast Country Coachers. George is very knowledgeable about his (our) coach and has been very helpful when problems arise. We also met Jim and Luci, who are at the Crown Club for some warranty service. We met Jim and Luci at the Crown Club last year shortly after they bought their new Monaco. Since then we have kept up with each other via e-mail, and we narrowly missed each other while passing through Michigan last September.

One objective while we are in Tampa is to spend as much time at Busch Gardens as we can. Hopefully we can get a few paddling days in too.

Paddle: Chassahowitzka River

We last paddled the Chassahowitzka River almost exactly two years ago. While paddling the river that day, we were talking to LazyDays on the phone, negotiating the deal on our current motor home, which, obviously, we did end up buying. They tell us paddling can be a dangerous sport. One can literally drown or be eaten alive by an alligator. Apparently one can also drown or be eaten in a more figurative sense (i.e. financial drowning or being devoured by high-pressure RV sales staff). Oh well. Actually, Dorcas and I are very happy with our purchase and have used it extensively.

The put-in for this river is at a county park at Chassahowitzka River Campground. They charge a modest $2 to launch your boat. Unfortunately, it was a beautiful Saturday and the boat traffic on the river and at the spring was fairly heavy. There was a manatee at the boat dock, who apparently was a frequent resident. We paddled upstream a short distance to a small spring complex that was filled with swimmers. We then turned down-river and paddled into the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge. We largely avoided the main channel and most of the motorboat traffic and zig-zagged through the back-channels, behind a number of small islands. We picnicked on the shore at a sandy beach, where Matilda got a chance to play in the water a bit. On our return we paddled about a half mile up Baird Creek. Baird Creek is spring-fed and eventually becomes a very small, clear, sandy run. We paddled as far as we could and then walked a few hundred feet further. Later we learned that if we had gone another 50 yards we would have arrived at a very pretty spring known as "The Crack". On the way out I was attacked by a swarm of no-see-ums or sand flies. They bit me all over my arms and legs, but apparently avoided Dorcas altogether. Based on past experience I know I will be in for about a week of red whelps and an excruciating burning itch. Time to go to Wal-Mart and stock up on anti-itch cream.

Paddle: Hillsborough River

Today we paddled one of our favorites: the Hillsborough River near Tampa. At the put-in we ran into an old friend, Joe Faulk, proprietor of Canoe Escape, a canoe livery outfit that works the Hillsborough River. If you ever want to paddle the Hillsborough, contact Canoe Escape and they will take care of you.

The weather today was cool and breezy, but I'm sure it is a lot better than our friends in NC had for their New Years Day paddles on the Black River and the Dan River. Alligators were scarce, but we did see a few. We also saw some otters and some turkeys, but they didn't hold still long enough to have their pictures made. The Hillsborough is an excellent birding river and we saw the usual assortment of ibises, herons, egrets, limpkins and a wood stork. Matilda did fall in once when we bumped a snag, but she was quickly retrieved before she attracted any gators.

Paddling a favorite river is certainly a great way to start the New Year!

Paddle: Homosassa River

We continue to enjoy fine Florida weather. Before daylight this morning it was a brisk 33 degrees, but by 9:00 it was again shirt-sleeves and shorts weather. I cooked a brunch consisting of pancakes and sausage for Dorcas, Bob, Donna and Charlie. This evening Charlie is frying a turkey for the crew. Dorcas and I will break out a bottle of champagne to bring in the New Year, although we will likely be finished celebrating and in bed by 9:30.

Yesterday we paddled on the Homosassa River. The Homosassa is an excellent place to see manatees. We had hoped that with the recent cold snap the manatees would be in the spring. We put in at a public boat ramp about a mile downstream from the spring and paddled upriver. We did see a few manatees, but not as many as last year. Apparently most of the guys stayed out in the Gulf this day. We saw a few bald eagles and a few ospreys, as well as a wide assortment of other common Florida birds. Others in our group spotted some otters and a porpoise. The clear shallow waters also revealed a number of fish, including a small sting ray. After turning around, we paddled a short distance up the Halls River. There we lunched at the Marguerita Grill, which has become a tradition when we paddle this river. Back near the put-in there is a tiny island with some captive monkeys. On the way up the monkeys were rather bashful and stayed hidden in their trees. On the way back, Matilda barked at them and got them riled up. They came down to the water and bared their teeth and made faces at Matilda, while Matilda continued to bark. Great fun!