02-27-18 Today we started out for Key West. We stopped at the Dolphin Research Center to look around and spent several hours there. They are constantly giving talks about the dolphins and sea lions there. They offer several programs like swimming with the dolphins, feeding the dolphins, and meet the dolphins. I chose to do "meet the dolphins." I put my and in the water with the other participants and the dolphin swam by and let us run our hand over it's back. Then we each got to shake hands with the dolphins. Their skin is very smooth! They have an amazing place here. Most of the dolphins have been born here with a couple of rescued dolphins. They are free to leave but stay here. They aren't required to do tricks; they seem to like the interaction with people and learning new things. For example, at my dock, there were two dolphins interacting with us. The trainer did a little training session with them, asking them to swim on their backs, nod their heads, jump, etc. They were praised when they did what was asked and when they didn't, the trainer just said, "Oh well, I guess you don't feel like doing that today." They get their fish rewards no matter what. While we were shaking hands with the dolphins, one of them swam off to see what was going on at another dock where a group was swimming with their dolphins. She came back when she felt like it. And got her fish.

Our camp site it terrific. Here is a picture. We have our own dock with a tiki hut on it, which you can see in the background.

Here is a view from our dock.

Tomorrow we leave for a campground near Ft. Lauderdale. We hope to get together with Ron Borgio while we are there.

02-26-18 Went on a glass-bottom boat cruise to see the coral reef. Couldn't see much. Got sea sick pretty quickly once the boat stopped over the reef and started bobbing around. Note to self: Bring the Zofran next time.

We did see the African Queen though! This is the authentic boat used in filming the African Queen in the Congo with Bogart and Hepner. It is available for private trips. The brochure says it was used on the Victoria Nile and Lake Albert in Africa to shuttle cargo and passengers until 1963 when it was sold. I got a couple of pictures!

02-25-18 Yesterday, we left Quail Run and arrived six hours later at Florida City Campground. It is run by the city. They don't take reservations, but assured Bob on the phone that there would be a site for us. Now we know why.

We arrived at Florida City at 3:30 p.m. but the office was closed already. We asked one of the residents how to proceed. They told us that we should select a campsite, set up, and someone from the office would contact us the next morning when the office opens (whenever that might be). The campground is divided into two areas, one with water, electric and sewer and the other with just water and electric. However, the dump station is out-of-order with no resolution in sight. Hmmmm.... We walked around the section with sewer hookups and found the place is pretty much a slum. Although they said there was a 30 day stay limit, there aren't many campers that look like they have been moved in the last 20 years. They have sheds, additions, junk cars, permanent PVC connections to the sewer outlets, piles of junk, lots of stray cats and a lot of sketchy-looking people hanging around. The trash and broken glass all over the ground along with the smell is unpleasant at best. So we moved over to the area with no sewer hookups. It was better, because there was hardly anyone around. With no place else to go, we decided to stay for the night and look HARD for another place in the morning. This morning, Bob found a place on Key Largo that had one site available for four nights and we took it. As we were packing up, we realized the trailer beside us has his sewer hose just laying on the ground with lots of green grass at the end. We hoped he's only dumping gray water, jumped in the truck and pulled out. There was a guy going through the dumpsters. The office was still closed.

So, here we are in a RV condo resort. Expensive, but at least I'm not worried about finding our truck on blocks with no wheels tomorrow morning. Our site is on a canal with our own little tiki hut complete with grass roof. We ate dinner out there tonight! This afternoon we went to a place called Robby's who sells a little bucket of fish that you can feed to the tarpins. This is Bob's arm. Some of those fish must be almost five feet long!

02-21-18 We are still at Quail Run RV Resort. There isn't too much to do in the area, so we are just looking around. Last night I played bingo with a big group; I didn't win anything.

	Today we took another walk around the park. We found the big-rig with the smart car carrier. It is all painted in coordinating colors. The tractor has enough space between the sleeper cab and the 5th wheel pin to drive the smart car up and travel.
	We are slowly filling up our state map. On our way back, we will add South Carolina and West Virginia.

02-18-2018 We arrived yestereay at Quail Run RV Resort where we will stay until Saturday. We have had trouble finding campgrounds any further south, so we will stay in the Tampa area. We made reservations at Colt Creek State Park for next week.

Quail Run Resort is nice, but not the kind of camping we like. The sites are very small and campers are on top of each other. Outside, there is the hum of multiple air conditioners instead of crickets and tree frogs. I heard them talking about a stolen golf cart at the office this morning. On the positive side, there is a heated pool, activities, a community center, and a full laundry. We heard about a very large 5th wheel camper here pulled by a large truck. It has a cab, a sleeper. Behind the sleeper and in front of the pin for the trailer, there is a space that the owner stores a smart car. We will see if we can find it tomorrow.

02-16-2018 A quiet day today. Hillsborough River State Park is lovely. It is very quiet, which we like. The weather is beautiful; over 80 degrees both yesterday and today. A huge 5th wheel parked across from us this afternoon. It has three axles and must be at least 40 feet long! I'm glad I don't have to back that one around!

02-15-2018 Arrived at Hillsborough River State Park today. We are here for two nights, as that was all that was available. This weekend is a President's Day weekend, and we had a terrible time getting reservations for Saturday! After three hours on the phone with all the campgrounds full, we had just about decided we would have to head back to Georgia or someplace. I finally found a resort with one site available for Saturday night. (Resort = expensive.) We have to move to another site on Sunday morning, but we were able to stay another five days. We will see what we can find for other campgrounds, but we are finding that southern Florida is pretty well booked with snowbirds. We are close to Busch Gardens, so we will probably visit there.

02-13-2018 We left Blackwater River State Park yesterday, just in time. After five inches of rain in 36 hours, roads were flooding and we had to leave by an alternate route out of the park. All night I expected the rangers to evacuate the park as the rain was relentless! The water was half-way over the road on the route out.

We are in Suwannee River State Park today, another nice state park. We took a hike up the Suwannee River and saw cypress trees, palms, and some kind of white lilly-type flower.

02-10-2018 We arrived in Holt, Florida, yesterday. We are at Blackwater River State Park, another great state park bargain for camping. Nice sites, clean facilities, quiet. While Bob was out walking the dogs, he overheard the rangers looking for an alligator that has been seen wandering around. Guess we had better keep the dogs close!

Today we went to Gulf Breeze Zoo whice was very nice. Here are some pictures:

02/08/2018 Today we took a little road trip along the coast. We had a nice lunch. We met a sherif and asked him where to have lunch, somplace the locals go. He sent us to "Dat Kitchen," a little ugly place that served great food! We had a seafood dinner and ordered some gumbo to go. I expecyt it weill be great!

The Biloxi Lighthouse was erected in 1848 and was one of the first cast-iron lighthouses in the South. It is the city’s signature landmark and has become a post-Katrina symbol of the city’s resolve and resilience.

The cemeteries around here have above-ground vaults. Estelle explained how they work. They are owned by families, and one person can be placed in the vault every two years. The body disintegrates in the heat. When the next family member dies, the previous occupant is swept into a bag and stored in the back. There are storage vaults on the grounds to be used if a family member dies within two years of the last, and a body can be "parked" in there until the two years are up.

The bridge over St. Louis Bay was destroyed by Katrina. It was replaced in only one-and-a-half years.

02/06/2018 We are in Mississippi tonight, at Shepard State Park. It is an older park, but clean facilities and the sites ae large. We have water and electric hookups. There is a NASA facility here in Mississippi that Bob and I may see it tomorrow if it is something we can do in the rain.

We had a little issue with the camper the other day. There is a safety feature on the 5th wheels that engages the brakes if the trailer separates from the truck. It is simple, just a wire that you attach to bed of the truck with the other end attached to a device attached to the trailer. If the two separate, the wire gets pulled out of the trailer device, the brakes deploy, theoretically stopping the trailer before it destroys ten or fifteen cars. Anyway, the wire got bound up in the trailer hitch, we turned a sharp corner and it pulled the braking device out. Yep, we were dragging the trailer down Bonabel Avenue with the wheels locked. It slowed me down a bit. We had to drag it to the side of the road, raise the trailer to get the wire out of the hitch, and plug the braking device back in. Off we went again.

On Sunday night, we went to another Mardi Gras parade. It was much larger than the first one we went to. In total, we walked away with over 26 pounds of beads and other loot that the people on the floats threw to us! Who knew watching a parade and begging for beads could be so much fun! Estelle said we did much better, that our first "haul" had been pretty pitiful. Glad we redeemed ourselves.

02/03/2018 Here we are New Orleans! We have been busy since arriving. Yesterday, we went to the aquarium in the center of New Orleans, which was very nice. We had lunch in the French Quarters at Johnny's. We shared a seafood Po-Boy, which was delicious. We didn't mean to be here for Mardi Gras, but here we are.Last night, we walked a mile down Bonnabel Avenue to see a Marde Gras parade. It was the "kids" parade, filled with high school bands and dance schools. There were also lots of floats. We got a pile of beads, although Estelle tells us we didn't get that much. We were going to go to another parade today, but it is raining. Maybe later. Here are some pictures.

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