Lake Manatee SP (Jan 25-Feb 7)

Wednesday - We had another quick trip here and got settled in around noon. Skip and Shirley joined us.
Thursday - The four of us drove to Nature Coast Landing RV Resort to take a second look at site 36, which we really liked, but didn't walk all around it, because it looked like someone was on it. We really, really liked it and had the owners come over to make an offer to buy, which was accepted. We will move our MH onto it Feb 8. We sre very excited. You can check out the park on their website: http://www.naturecoastlandingsrvresort.com/
Friday - We enjoyed another thrift store shopping spree.
Saturday - Skip and Shirley left a day early because rain was forecast to come in tonight. We drove over to our ponds in Lakewood Ranch to fish, but it was very slow. John had a nice one on that got away.
Sunday - Great service again.
Monday - We walked here a few times. It was very windy, but a little warmer than yesterday and full sunshine.
Tuesday - We joined a group of fellow campers and workers at our host's Deb and Dan's site for brats and other tasties. We had a great time and lots of laughs around a warm campfire.
Wednesday - Friends, Tony and Linds met us at Linger Lodge for a nice lunch our on their room overlooking the river. After, we went back to the lakes in Lakewood Ranch where we have fished before. At one point we both had a bass on at the same time, and also caught a few others.
Friday - We returned to the Lakewood Ranch lakes and walked quite a ways to try out a lake on Hidden River Road. We got nearly all the way around before Joan caught a decent bass, with John following a little later. Joan was using the usual finesse worm and John was casting a foam hopper on the 6 wt.
Saturday - We met some nice folks at the coffee including a couple from Weeki Wachee who were here for the first time.
Sunday - We will really miss this church with the awesome music, preaching, and fellowship. We enjoyed Super Bowl 51, if not the outcome. We wanted Atlanta to get one.
Monday - Stayed close to camp and said so long to Guy and Nancy and Dave and Pat. Got some things done around camp including John's haircut.

Little Manatee River SP (Jan 11-24)

Wednesday - Easy trip here with twenty miles of back roads. They blocked off the path to the restrooms from our site. Boo! Also, the dirt on the site pad is really chewed up.
Thursday - Today was laundry day, since there are no facilities it's our previous spot. We drove to E.G. Simmons County Park and fished from shore, wading up to our knees. It was a perfect day there, except that nothing was biting. It is never a good sign when there are no locals fishing.
Saturday - We hiked three miles on the Little Manatee River SP trail that starts off Hwy 301 north of the park entrance. It is a really pretty trail along the river, but care must be taken due to the number of  exposed roots.
Sunday - What a wonderful contemporary service at 8AM this morning at Sun City Center UMC. The music was among the very best we have heard anywhere and the message so very meaningful. Afterwards we went to O'Briens farm for their excellent BLTs. They were quite busy, but we got served quickly. On the way back we checked out Ft. Hamer Park to see if anyone was catching. John talked to a man who had caught a 27" redfish.
Monday - Today is our friend Judy's Birthday, and we were invited to meet her and John's former pastor, Jeff at Parksdale Farm in Plant City. There was a good crowd there, but MLK Holiday probably didn't make a lot of difference. It was great seeing them and many of their friends.
Tuesday - John thought we needed to try Emerson Point at the mouth of the Manatee River. When we got there, we were encouraged because we saw pelicans feeding on bait. Sadly, though, we only caught junk fish. We talked to several fishermen who shared similar stories. It is a great place to kayak, anyway.
Wednesday - Although a new RV is not in our plans, we decided to go to the Tampa RV Supershow. We met friends Jim, Suzanne, Bob, and Kathy and had a great time. The traffic getting there was not fun, however. Although there were many nice units, we didn't see anything we liked better.
Thursday - We haven't been to Apollo Beach for awhile, so we decided to fish it from shore. We saw some action, and one guy caught a small cobra, but we were limited to John getting one real good hit. We enjoyed the beautiful day and spot anyway.
Friday - We watched the peaceful transfer of power today. Very impressive!
Saturday - We put the kayaks in at Coquina Beach, on Anna Maria Island with Brad who works at Mote Marine and about six other paddlers. Sadly we saw many dead fish caused by red tide. It was a beautiful paddle, but quite windy. On the way back, we ate at Tide Tables Restaurant overlooking the Inland Waterway. Great food and service. We had fish tacos.
Sunday - Another awesome service. We rode out some significant storms. Thank you Lord for keeping us safe.
Monday - We met our friends Jim and Suzanne at Walmart in Zephyrhills and drove up to Inglis to Nature Coast Landing RV Resort to check out sites. We also showed them some places to check out when they come up to Rainbow Springs SP. we also had lunch at Shrimp Landing in Inglis. We came here several times when we were at Gulf Coast Landing RV Resort.


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