Another Winter RV Trip has ended and I'm now back home

 I have been very busy since I got home but now finally got some time to finish my 2024-25 Blog.

My last post was my last week at Cypress Glen and I was heading to Hillsborough River State Park outside of Tampa. The campsite I was supposed to stay in for two nights was not available so I got another which was available for only 1 night. I came early in the morning and they let me sign-in but not go to my campsite until 3 PM. But the did let me launch my kayak. So I paddled upstream until it was too rocky and then went down river and planned to eat lunch at Dead River Park. Well they had a boom across the river about 1/2 mile before the park. I had to turn around and ate my lunch on a sand bar. The river looked clear of fallen trees but maybe they haven't cleaned up that park yet.

The next week I met up with my three daughters in Tortola, BVI. I flew out of Tampa, Pam who is in Cape Coral for the winter drove to Miami airport to fly from there. She met up with Joan and Meg who flew in from Cleveland. I got to Tortola and rented a car and met them when they got there an hour later. I rented the same beautiful beach house on Cane Garden Bay that Peggy and I had rented with 3 other couples in 1998 & 1999. It is the only house on this popular beach filled with restaurants and one hotel.

Cane Garden Bay - British Virgin Islands

This is a link to some pictures and a slide show of our BVI trip. If you click on the first picture you will get a slide show, or you can just scroll through the pictures.

Our BVI Trip Slideshow

After I flew back to Tampa, I did one more bike ride near Ocala on the Cross FL Trail, then I stopped at Ocean Pond Campground in Osceola National Forest to check on the driving conditions when heading back north to Ohio. I usually stay a little longer but found out that if I left on Friday I could make it home by Saturday with sunny skies and no rain. When I got back home it was 70oF and sunny. I drove 550 miles in 10 hours to Wytheville, Va on Friday and 400 miles to home by 1pm on Saturday. Traffic was light except for Charlotte, NC.

I left home on 11/10/24 and just got back home on 3/15/25, 125 nites on the road. Things went smoothly and I did a lot on biking, over 700 miles but only 70 miles of kayaking including my week in the BVI. Everything went as planned but other than visiting Pam in Cape Coral. I never had any other friends come down and visit me this year. So I'm rethinking what I may plan for next year. Maybe I should sell my RV and just rent some houses near where I usually camp and invite friends to visit me there.

Another Week at Cypress Glen Campground on Silver Lake

Just before I left Lithia Springs last Monday, 2/24 for 6 days at Silver Lake I found out that I needed to stay an extra day since my Hillsborough River two day reservations starting on 3/2 was cancelled but I could still stay for one night. I was heading back south again to Tampa to fly to the British Virgin Islands on Wednesday. That’s why I picked that campground.

Of course site 47 that I was going to would not be available for that extra night. I lucked out since site 48 would be available for one night, so today I moved over one site. I choose this site since it is the closest site to the boat launch and also has a great view. I was here for 15 days in December on site 46. So all 3 of those sites are good but #47 is the best.

I’m always thinking about Peggy and today I swear I was seeing double.

But I never did paddle this week; I decided to do a couple of long bike rides on the beautiful trails instead.

The 46 mile Withlacoochee State Trail runs from near Dade City to near Dunnellon, FL, and there is a newer 10 mi trail that starts in Brooksville and intersects the Withlacoochee Trail near our campground. 

This makes it easy to get in 3 different 25 mile round trip bike rides shown on map. I needed to get a haircut so I wouldn’t look too shaggy on the upcoming BVI trip and luckily a few years ago I found a good barber shop 1-1/2 mi after the end of the trail near Trilby toward Dade City.

Even though my rides were mid-week I was surprised how many cyclists were on all three sections. When they first opened the Good Neighbor trail I hardly saw anyone, this time I’ll bet I saw 25 riders on that trail on Friday.

So tomorrow I head a little south on US-301 and maybe I can paddle on the Hillsborough River. Then a few more miles and I'll leave my RV at the Tampa airport large vehicle parking lot. They charge the same as I pay for camping and they don't have any hookups. My solar panels will keep my refrigerator running and my bateries charged for the week I'll be gone.

Ending my two weeks at Lithia Springs

Lihia Springs - Spring & Swim Area

The weather was a little above normal for my first week but normal or slightly below for the second week. 

When it cooled off I finally got a chance to wash all the winter dirt from the RV and wax it. It looks great now.

Since the river was so low I didn't attempt to paddle again. I did get in 3 long bike rides throughout the Fish Hawk Trails.

Peggy on Hillsborough River (2015)

I got an e-mail from Hillsborough River State Park that the campsite I reserved for 2 days on 3/2-3 is still closed from Hurricane damage but I could stay one night on another loop.

I leave tomorrow, (2/24) to head an hour north back to Cypress Glen Campground on the Withlacoochee River for one week.

I don't take near as many pictures like I used to do when Peggy and I travelled to Mexico and Florida. I was reading some of my old trip blogs and came across this slide show of a trip with Peggy 10 years ago. Click this link: Florida Slide Show then click on the first picture to start the slide show of our trip, it wasn't that much different from my solo trip this year, but I sure miss Peggy's continuous quest for adventure and her great meals and companionship.

Great Campsite at Lithia Springs

Sat 2/6 was my last night at EG Simmons Park on Tampa Bay. I had two weeks of great weather and no sand fleas. I’ve been here a dozen times in January & early February and only ran into them one time. I think that’s why this campground is not full all the time and much easier to get into, even in peak season. They do not take reservations, so early birds usually can get a site.

My next campground is Lithia Springs which is another Hillsborough County Park. It is very popular and almost always full, so you need to get on the waiting list by 8 AM if you hope to get a site.

So since I needed to do my bi-weekly grocery shopping I couldn’t get there early unless I overnighted nearby on Super Bowl Sunday. I stayed at the same Valrico Lowes store when I was here in November. It’s quiet and they have good wireless internet.

I left Monday at sunrise but found myself second in line when I got to the park. However that worked to my advantage. He chose the only available site at 8am and I waited until some other sites would empty after the weekend. I got site #45, which is the best large secluded campsite in the parks as you can see from the pictures. It overlooks the Alafia River but is a little steep getting to the water to launch my kayak.

I like this campground for a couple of reasons. A great friendly campground host Chris from IL, a scenic river with lots of wildlife to paddle with no crowds and access to over 30 miles of winding bike trails through an upscale housing development.

Click Picture for big map

Chris has always helped me out with a shuttle, to do any downriver trips since I don’t bring a car and it would be hard to use my motorhome. The water level early in the season is usually good but since the hurricanes they have had a drought and the river is only 100 CFS.

So on Wednesday I decided to just put-in at my campsite and paddle down and back up the river to see if the shallow areas are passable.

I paddled downstream to near Bell Shoals bridge without hitting any shallow shoals, but if I had set up a shuttle it would have been much easier to keep on going to the take-out at the Brandon Boat Dock. That would have been about a mile longer than doing an up & back. 

To get back upstream I had to paddle back up about 5 shallow rapids and found that one was too shallow to paddle up so I had to get out and line the kayak back to the top of the rapid. So next time I'm just going downstream.

But I'm glad I did not paddle downstream from Aldermans Ford. 

When I got back I met a paddler from Sandusky, OH that had just come down from there and it took him 4-1/2 hours. He had to carry his kayak around 4-5 trees that blocked the river.

Signing off from MoonPieTown

These are my plans for the next month

Finished my 1st week at EG Simmons County Park on Tampa Bay

The forecast is finally calling for warm weather and my reservation at WPF ended on Saturday 1/25/25. The plan is to drive 100 miles north to Tampa Bay and see if I can get a campsite at EG Simmons County Park. They do not take reservations and I heard that since the hurricanes all of their sites may not be available because of power problems or trees that need to have branches removed. 

I needed to get propane and grocery shop before I got to the campground, which delayed my arrival until noon, but that is the checkout time anyway.

There were a few sites available and I got site #70 which is just down the line from the picture I posted in my last blog.

You can paddle here on their canoe trail within the park or you can paddle out into Tampa Bay going north to Apollo Beach or south to Bahia Beach as long as there are no storms or windy days. I’ll probably try all options on sunny days to get some exercise.

You can take a 6 mile bike around the large park on the paved roads.

There are lots of residential streets nearby to ride your bike but there are no designated bike trails. I like to ride over to Bahia Beach or Apollo Beach and bike through the upscale neighborhoods or shop at the nearby grocery stores.

One place I like to ride is to the Manatee viewing area about 8 miles away in Apollo Beach. There is a large power plant that discharges warm water back into the bay. The Manatees love the warm water. If the bay temperature goes below 70^o they head here by the hundreds. The bay, after the cold spell, is only in the 50’s.

When I was getting ready to leave a big truck from the Manatee Hospital rolled up to return a small Manatee back into the water. I swear I saw Peggy trying to help walk the Manatee down to the bay, since the 14 volunteers were having a hard time carrying it.

Peggy at Julies Fish House

Peggy used to love going out for a Grouper dinner at this popular outdoor restaurant only an easy 3 mile bike ride from our campground.

I found out that it has been closed since the hurricanes. I happened to be riding by yesterday and they were having a grand reopening and the place was packed.

I got a menu and since I had been there 2 years ago the menu hasn’t changed and the dinners all went up by only $1.

I thought I would add the map below to see where all the places are that I wrote about, at the south end of Tampa Bay east of St. Petersburg.