Fishing Again and Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Yesterday we went fishing again. Up at 5:30am and we arrived at our fishing spot around 6:30am. This time we went back to the Skyway Bridge. They have a fishing pier, however, we stopped beside the road to fish.

Don't bother me - I'm Fishing!














Is this the big one?














Nope!


Ed had a ball yesterday morning. He caught 18 of these small fish. Of course they all went back in the water.


We arrived back home around 2:00pm. After a nap we went out to Chili's for dinner.

Today, we went back over to Clearwater Beach to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. This aquarium is a little different. They are a non profit organization whose mission is to rescue water animals and rehabilitate them so they can be released back in the wild. Sometimes the animals are so hurt that they can't be released because they would not be able to survive. They also have a lot of volunteers that monitor the sea turtles eggs. They put little cages over the nests to prevent them for being destroyed. They sit by the nests from 9:00pm until 2:00am at night waiting for them to hatch. Once they start hatching, they count them, putting them in a dishpan, and then they build a trench on the beach, put them in the trench and get them to the water. The sea turtles need to put their mark on the beach. They will come back to this same beach in 30 years and lay their own eggs.

This is Stubby!

Stubby has no front flippers. He can not dive to the bottom so he has to be hand fed. They feed him, and all the sea turtles they have there, squid that they fill with greens.




They most famous quest is a dolphin they call Winter. He got caught in a crab trap and lost his whole back flipper.


This dolphin is Nathanial.

Nathanial was found beached with his mother about 3 years ago. The mother did not survive and because a dolphin calf stays with his mother for several years to learn to survive, Nathanial never got the chance to learned this.

It was a fun day. Very interesting. Maybe someday we will be in a place where we can volunteer in a place like this.

If we ever are so lucky as to volunteer to help sea turtles survive and get to the water, I know someone who just might come and help some. Right, Kim!!

Fishing and the Skyway Bridge

We are searching for things to do here in Clearwater that don't really cost much. Yesterday we went fishing. Yes, we did get up at 5:30am and left here at 6:00am. It was still dark when we arrived at the Pier. We were there for about 4 hours. Didn't catch anything.
Dusk over Tampa Bay














Sunrise over Tampa Bay














Sunshine Skyway Bridge
Today we drove a little further south and over this bridge. We found a better place to fish so we will get up at 5:30am again tomorrow.

This bridge is a cable-stayed concrete bridge. Its 4 miles over Tampa Bay. According to Travel Channel this is listed as number 3 out of the top 10 bridges of the world.

Wish us luck as we fish again tomorrow!

Homeless

We have turned over our home for its make over and we had to leave. We are staying at an Extended Stay America in Clearwater, Florida. We miss our home!!
We have a kitchen here (2 burner stove, full refridge, and microwave) so we can cook simple meals. It's not bad but its not home.
Yesterday we found a pier in St. Petersburg where Ed can fish. (He brought his poles) We are getting up at 5:30am tomorrow to go fishing there.

Today we went over to the gulf side to a Seabird Sanctuary. They rescue seabirds. Most of the birds were in averys. These pictures are of some that just come to visit I guess. They are flying free around the sanctuary.


A Gray Heron


A White Heron


Pelicans
and
Seagulls
Can't find out what the other bird is with the long beak.
It must be some kind of gull.


So we are going fishing tomorrow. Wish us luck!!

Just an Update

Things have finally settled down a bit so thought I would update everyone. We left Camp Freightliner last Wednesday and drove to the Savannah Georgia and spent the night at a Camping World. While there we discovered that we had developed a leak in our hydraulics that works the jacks and slide outs. We arrived at Classic Coach Works Thursday afternoon. We picked out the new carpet and material for the sofa and dinette. We are also getting those items reupholstered. Things will look very different when we get it all finished. (Will post some before and after pictures when its all finished.) They let us stay there on Thursday night and Friday they fixed our hydraulic leak. We are now at Sanlan RV Park. We will be here until next Wednesday. Here are a couple pictures of the area we are in.

This little pond is just behind our motorhome. We see these "Caution Alligator" signs at all of the lakes around here. When we picked this site (Ed had to be out in the open so the satellite would work), I asked the man at the desk if there was an alligator indeed in the pond. His answer was "Yes I think there might be a small 3 foot one in that pond." Needless to say I will not be getting close enough to verify that!!

Camp Freightliner

We were up this morning at 6:30am so we could get everything put away. We had to unhook the electric and pull in the slides. They come to get your coach at 8:00am and take it into the bays to be worked on. There are a lot of people waiting for service, some were here to take the 2 day seminar they give on the freightliner chassis. They only have electric service here but they do have a dump site with water. Looks like a giant gravel parking lot. This morning after they came and took the coach, we went out to breakfast. They have a very nice waiting room and we came back and read for a while. We then went back out to kill some time at WalMart and Big Lots.
They finish up right at 4:30 and brought the coach back to same place we were parked. They did find a leak in the transmission which they fixed and we did get the generator serviced since we have been using it so much. All in all we are very happy that we came here. We now have the peace of mind that the coach is in good repair. Now we are on the Florida. Hope to be there by Friday.

Goodbye to Massachusetts

We left Springfield Friday around 1:00pm. We had a great time but it was time to leave. It was getting COLD! We had to use the heat a lot. Nights were getting down in the low 40's. Even though it would get up to the low 70's during the day, because we were in so many trees, we never got warm. The site would be great in the middle of summer. On the way down the mountain I took this picture of the bear on the mountain!

Pretty clever right!

We have traveled through New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia. We now sit in a Wal Mart parking lot in Winchester, VA. Tomorrow it is on the Statesville, NC. Then on to Gaffney, SC for our appointment on Tuesday.

September 10, 2008

These times in Springfield have been fun. Saturday evening we went with friends to the American Legion Hall to sing Karaoke. Ed and Charlie had fun singing and joking and reminiscing about the "old days". They have been friends for over 60 years and Ed sang at Charlie and Arlene's wedding. Sunday we went to Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut with other friends Bill and Mary Jensen. Man that place is huge! Never saw the whole place. But we enjoyed the time we spent with them.
Monday, Ed finally got a chance to play golf. I dropped him off and then went off by myself to get a pedicure, do some laundry and go to a park I have wanted to stop at.

Sometimes when you go through these little towns, you find interesting things. This small park was a memorial to Anne Sullivan. She was born here in Agawam, Mass. Anne Sullivan was the teacher who was responsible for teaching Helen Keller. This sculpture is titled "Water".











Tuesday, we again spent some time with Charlie and Arlene. Good friends we will miss them.

Wednesday, we had an appointment to get our microwave looked at. Guess it is time for a new one. Looks like it would cost just as much, so when we get to Florida we will have a new one put in. In the meantime, I am learning to cook in our regular oven.
Tomorrow we are going to Forrest Park in Springfield and we will be leaving here on Friday afternoon. We are sitting under a tree that is dropping red berries on the roof so before we leave on Friday we will take the time to wash off the roof.

Quiet Times

For the last few days we have not been doing much of anything except visiting friends in the Springfield area. We did take a drive to the cemetery, drove down the old street. People were looking at us strangely, thought because we had VA plates on the car. Found out it had been changed to a one way street and we were driving the wrong way! It was a very narrow road.
While driving around Springfield I did get Ed to stop at the Dr. Seuss Memorial Garden. There are sculptures of his most famous characters. Here I am with the Grinch and that's Ed with the Cat in the Hat. Of course that is Horton in the center.


Today we are trying to prepare for Hanna to arrive. Expected later this afternoon. Hopefully we won't flood out. But we have put everything that was outside away for the duration.

We are going to dinner and to sing Karaoke with friends this evening.

Laundry; Fenway and Moving Day

This is a catch-up blog. Even we need to rest and catch up on laundry and chores around our home. So that's just what we did all day Monday.

Tuesday was the day I had been waiting for.
On our way to Boston, we took a little detour to Concord, Mass.
This is the old North Bridge in Concord where the "shot heard round the world" was fired. British troops were in Concord to seize control of a store of artillery that was close by. But, thanks to Paul Revere the militia knew they were coming. They were waiting on the hill, and were only going to protect their land when they saw smoke coming from Concord. They thought the British were burning Concord and started marching and engaged the British at the bridge. This was the start of the Revolutionary War.


Then it was on to Boston and FENWAY PARK!! It was a great night. I was very surprised that it wasn't bigger. It is one of the oldest parks in baseball.
It was a great night and when we left the Red Sox were beating the Orioles 11to 1.
It was a once in a lifetime experience.

Guess we will be having a lot of "once in a lifetime" experiences.

Today we moved from Boston to Springfield. We will be here for 10 days visiting friends and seeing some sights. I will post some pictures of the area soon.