We didn’t take any pictures on Feb 11! Steve did have an adventure: his bike’s front tire blew out!
First I replaced the inner tube because the valve stem was cracked. 30 seconds after inflating the replacement inner tube, the tire itself blew out from the rim. Loudly. I was able to get a new inner tube and tire at the local Walmart. The inner tube had a Presta valve, and I have never used (or seen one used) before. But I like the Presta valve, mostly because it has a threaded metal valve stem so that a nut can secure the valve stem to the rim. Now the inner tube is easier to fill. But after fixing the tire, I only took a short bike ride to confirm that there were no other problems.
On Feb 12 Steve took a 14 mile bike ride to Fort Hamer and beyond! The road had bike lanes on both sides, so even though the road was busier than the bike ride to Rye Preserve, I felt safer since I had my own space.
Also on Feb 12 Vicki went to St. Petersburg to get her hair colored. She also stopped at Dan/Andrea’s place and picked up Dan’s wonderful Taylor guitar. She played it as soon as she got back to the RV.
Greg and Barb joined us in the evening, after putting up with some horrible traffic going between St. Petersburg and Bradenton. We gave them a quick tour of the RV. All tours of the RV are quick, there isn’t a lot to see. Afterwards we went to Pier 22 for dinner. Pier 22 was a wonderful restaurant, the food was excellent and the view was awesome since the restaurant overlooks the Manatee River.
Feb 13:
Vicki and Steve drove to Sarasota to visit the Ringling Museum. We were only there for a couple of hours so we will need to go again to see the rest of the exhibits. We only had a chance to see the miniature circus and the exhibit that described the different roles of the entertainers. The detail in the miniature circus was incredible, I think it has over 50,000 pieces. And it made me appreciate the effort that went into getting a circus into town for a one day show. We are in awe at how rock stars can transform an arena for a single night’s show, and repeating the process daily in city after city. The circus would do the same thing, on a much larger scale! The circus involved 100 train cars, 1500 people and animals that would arrive in a town in the morning, set up the big top and other areas, have a parade down main street, and have a show with multiple acts going on simultaneously. I remember seeing a couple of circus shows a long time ago, and I could be talked into seeing another one today.
After taking 2 hours to return the rental car (traffic, dog hairs and Uber all conspired to make that a long ordeal), Steve and Vicki went to dinner with their neighbors Tim and Andrea at a local restaurant; Speaks Clam Bar. The Mai Tai at Speaks Clam Bar was on par with the Mai Tais from Hawaii! And the food was awesome! We enjoyed more seafood (2nd night for seafood in a row for us.)
Afterwards Vicki played a few songs, accompanied with her new best friend Taylor. We all enjoyed the evening, especially since we were in Tim and Andrea’s new screened room that kept out the biting bugs.
V-my wonderful son Dan – I told him how much I enjoyed playing his Taylor and he asked if I wanted it. I thought he was kidding. Mind blown! I said I would borrow it for a season and return it to him. It is delightful to play. I promised to play it daily and I’m doing it. Now I just have to remember all the chords and words to all those songs that I sang for many years when I was entertaining for Happy Hour bar crowds. I’m still a bit rusty on some of those barred chords but it’s coming back. Tougher than riding a bicycle.
Great dinner with Greg and Barb, right on the Manatee River. Beautiful full moon and lights reflecting off the water. We really enjoyed the Manatee Winter Quarter RV resort and all the activities and all the really sweet, friendly people. Next time, we will probably stay closer to St. Pete/Treasure Island as the traffic back and forth to see our peeps was tough on them and not great fun for us. Rush hour felt like ALL DAY and into the evening.
Tim and Andrea were a lot of fun as well as our neighbors on either side of us and the ladies in the water aerobics class. We will be catching up with one couple from Fairlawn/Akron area when those snowbirds fly back home. We are truly blessed to cross paths with so many terrific people.