This week's events - Day 1676 (Year 5, Day 207)

Zephyrhills, FL

On Thursday (Jan. 24th), we took a ride into Tampa.  Jessica was on a business trip there, so we decided to meet up with her for dinner.  It was a 35 mile trip which took us an hour to get there!  It was mostly on 2 lane roads with a lot of traffic and congestion.

I was not at all impressed (in fact, disliked) the area we were in (known as the Westshore).  Tampa is rather large, so I won't pass judgement on the entire city, but this reminded me very much of any cramped urban area, such as parts of Queens or Brooklyn, with no consistency of storefronts, very little parking, lots of traffic, crazy drivers.  Just not a pleasant place to visit.

We did have one little bit of excitement, however.  Prior to meeting our daughter, we needed to make a side trip to a Trader Joe's and Whole Foods to stock up on some items that are very hard to get, and these were the closest locations to us.  In the parking lot of where the Whole Foods was (part of a mall or huge shopping center), is a Total Wine store.  It seems that Budweiser is having a nationwide promotion and is taking their Clydesdales around the country (recently, we received a video from my sister-in-law who lives in NYC, showing the horses in her neighborhood.  We also saw a news clip showing the horses in a local parade, and I heard from a friend that they were out West a few weeks ago).  The last time we saw them was at their stables in St. Louis, in 2010.  This was kind of fun, seeing them all hooked up, with the golf cart following behind picking up the poop.

I took a video while we were waiting for the traffic light to turn, so we could get a better look, but sadly, it did not turn out well at all.  But I do have a few photos.  Unfortunately, these photos were taken when the horses were being taken off the carriage and brought back to the trucks, so you can't get the full extent of the glamour and glory of these magnificent animals.  For example, the photo below shows only 2 horses hooked up to the carriage, but there were actually 3 rows (6 horses) before they were dismantled.

  

Today (Sunday), one of the residents (Carol) arranged a pot luck get together in the greenhouse 2 "doors" down from us (actually looks more like a big tent, and there are picnic benches, not plants, inside).  Although it was a miserable, all-day rainy day, the party still went on, as we were assured the tent did not leak and it had doors that closed.  There were many wonderful food choices, although I could not eat any of them (I brought some hard boiled eggs and grape tomatoes).  We made a vegetarian chili. 

Group photo (although a few people were missing).  Of course, this event reinforced how this place is not like a standard campground filled with overnighters, weekenders, vacationers and a few long termers, but rather is a close knit community.