Steve usually gets up in the morning between 6:30-7 AM. He immediately gets on the computer. The Wi-Fi at Bay Bayou was offering an intermittent connection. He found that the Tilt worked much better and he was on AT&T's 3G network, offering their fastest connections speeds. We spent the early part of the day setting up the systems in the trailer, getting used to how things operate/function.
This part of the trip included a family visit. So, we went over to my sister Sally’s and brother in-law, Gary’s house. Sally was not home from work yet and Gary gave us the tour of their new home. During the tour, we checked often to see what Sarah and Rosemary were up to, only to discover that Rosemary had decided to take a walk on the pool’s thermal blanket. We inherited the dogs from Bob & Joe. They used to have a pond which was about 6 inches deep and Bob said she would often walk through it. I guess she looked at the blanket and water thinking, “I can walk on that”, only to discover that walking on the blanket was not the same thing as walking through the pond. She looked panic stricken and the blanket was moving under her, she was getting nowhere fast. Steve grabbed the blanket and she walked towards him, grabbing her harness he pulled her free. Westies are not known for their swimming ability and we have not been able to get either of these dogs to go near a lake or ocean. 
Sally had arrived home from work. My other sister, Ann and her husband John had arrived. John is a gourmet chef and we had a great meal with everyone. We enjoyed chatting for the evening and returned to our “new home” to sleep in our own bed. That is one of the major reasons we love traveling in our 5th wheel; our own bed to sleep in each night. We have grown tired of hotel rooms, strange beds, sheets and glassware that may or may not be clean.
Tuesday we planned a ferry trip with Ann and John from Honeymoon Island to Caledesi Island. Caladesi Island is the third best public beach in the country, just behind two beaches in Hawaii, according to a University of Maryland study. It is very beautiful! We relaxed on the beautiful white sand, watching the birds and the tourists “shelling”. It was nice to spend the time with Ann and John. We had not really spent much time alone with them since they got married 2 years ago in Jamaica.
We invited everyone to the 5th wheel for dinner that evening. So, we returned on the 3:30 pm ferry and stopped at Publix supermarket on our return to Bay Bayou. We had a good meal. Everyone enjoyed seeing our new home. Gary suggested that maybe they should have moved into a trailer since they both love camping. John continually remarked about how spacious and comfortable it was for him. He’s 6 ft 3” and said he was amazed at how high the ceilings were and that we had a king sized bed.
The next night we headed to Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City, a neighborhood in Tampa, for dinner and their famous flamenco dancers. Our friend David had recommended the restaurant and indeed the food was wonderful and the show was entertaining. They do have several restaurants throughout the state. The guys were cute and the women attractive!
We were home in bed and sleeping by 10:30. We can’t believe how tired we both feel. Traveling is wearing us out already?
Authors bio is coming up shortly.
