Florida 2008 First trip of the year.

Be sure click on the pictures that you want to view in a larger format, because they all can be enlarged.

Our 2007 View "J" once again gave us a wonderful place to live and travel in. The price of diesel is going up and in PA we paid the most which was $4.09 and 9 tenths. Who would have ever thought it!!!



Well we finally got to head south for a couple of weeks and enjoy the change of weather. We headed down through Atlanta, GA so we could visit Jamie and Melissa. We stayed at a state park called Red Top Mountain, because of the red clay like dirt that is there. We are still trying to get it out of our shoes and carpet!

Here is a shot of our campsite over looking the lake there.







From here we headed for the Florida panhandle, which took us through Tennessee and Alabama. Turned out to be a pretty long ride and took us all of eight hours, but we did get to see a few sights along the way. This was a camp ground that we saw.


Did get to stop for some GREAT BBQ at a real pit BBQ.




We ended up at a wonderful state park called St Joe's, we planned to camp there for a week, but woke up to reports of tornadoes. Here are a few pictures from the park and a few shots of our trip from there down to Cedar Key.(where we spend a couple of days) This is a shot of our campsite.

This is a shot of the really crowded beaches here.
They even had nice boardwalk trails through the swamp and woods.

We didn't go swimming being the water was a bit cool, but here are the warning flags that were up. They would read medium hazard and dangerous marine life!!!
We ended the day with a beautiful sun set and couldn't imagine there being tornadoes arriving tomorrow.


The morning arrived and away we went headed south along the west coast of Florida for a camp ground in Cedar Key, which is a small island a couple of hours north of Tampa.

Here is why we would like more solar panels......

Here we are finally set up at Cedar Key.
Here is a shot of our next door neighbor, it was a 62 Chevy pulling a 62 camper and both were as clean as a dinner plate.


Here is a picture of our neighbor on the other side, I think this might also be a 62 model.

Here are a couple of shots we took in the town and beach area of Cedar Key.



From here we headed south to St. Pete, where we stayed in a KOA for a couple of days, because we couldn't get into Fort De Soto. We would get up each morning and spend the day out at Fort De Soto park.

This is our campsite in the KOA, it is more like a parking lot and they hit us over seventy bucks a night for it.
But they did have a great little church.



It was all worth it when we could head out to Fort De Soto and spend our days. Here is one of our spots that we found.
Plus great Kayaking.

Also good beach walking.



We took a chance and called the Red Coconut, which is in Fort Myers Beach and asked if they might have an open spot. The good new was.....YES!!! So away we headed. Here are a few of the sights on the way to the Red Coconut.








We spent a lot of time out at Carl E. Johnston Park while we were in Ft Myers Beach. It is a county park with a tram that takes you out to the white sand beaches and it also has great kayaking and bike trails. Here are some random shots from the park. The first shot is where we like to kayak.


These are sea beans.

They even have a beach just past Carl E. Johnston Park that is just for dogs. The people and the dogs LOVE it!!!




Just across the road and also on Lovers Key is a boat launch that we have named pelican Dock, from when we would take our kids there, many moons ago. We were lucky enough to be there when there were plenty of pelicans and a rainbow!!!


Well all good thing must pass and soon we were headed home. Here are a couple of shots we took along route 27, which winds it's way through central Florida.




From there we headed north on I95 and saw a few more interesting sights....


Then I saw it......a guy who was really handy with wood and loves a do it yourself project!!!


We headed north and then hit the most dreaded state of PA, which always takes 4 hours to get through, heading north or south. Then without notice we found a reason to love PA!!! An old time dinner where you can get turkey croquets with real mashed potatoes with that creamy white gravy! Homemade cookies and pie and thick cut homemade bread served on your table. A place that has been lost in time and you feel like you have stepped back into the 60's. Old couples in the booths and the juke box at each table for you to select songs.





Thanks for taking a look and I hope to be adding more trips and pictures in the very near future!!!