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.