Peyton wins and we get on the road again

The Superbowl went our way!  All Vols have held Peyton as the best thing that has happened to our football program and since 1998 he is the reason to watch the NFL (except for the Titans).  If this is his last rodeo he will go out on top and we love him for that too.  Britton Colquitt and Malik Jackson also did us proud.  While here we have also enjoyed watching the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire primary leading up to the Presidential election next November.  When we leave here we will not have reliable TV for a while so we are enjoying it while we have it.

   This is our last week in Dunedin (for now) and we really have enjoyed it here.  We biked along Victoria Drive and Santa Barbara Lane and saw the beautiful homes and moss covered trees that made us fall in love with this area 10 years ago.    Tomorrow we have a weather window (this weeks’ gale force winds and 40/50 degree weather will go away) so we should have a comfortable week to travel towards Ft. Myers.  Soooo…we have vegetable soup in the crock pot,  bagged up the bikes and did our last load of free laundry for a while.  We have gotten to know Eddy and Linda Johnsen aboard Spiritus here—he is the weather guru putting out a weather advisory for all members of the Great Loop members on when to make the big crossing across the bend from Apalachicola to Tampa.  This is a big thankless favor to all boaters and he is just that nice.   They will head south tomorrow as well—we hope the La Niña will turn to warm/calmer weather.  In the mean time we heard from the O’Donnells that they left us to find 3 inches of snow and 15 degree weather in Nashville—everything is relative.  

Typical home waterfront on Victoria Drive

We loved this mural in the entranceway of a home on Santa Barbara Drive

 
 

We love our Peyton

 




Superbowl pancakes with our Canadian Maple Syrup--yum.

Gasparilla and the O'Donnell's

Hello from Gasparilla!

Gasparilla was fun and gave us a chance to visit downtown Tampa as well as join in the invasion from the pirates.  We caught a few beads and did a lot of people watching and were entertained.  We went early and left about a half hour before the end of the parade (10am to 5pm) so we did not have to contend with bad traffic.  The weather was absolutely perfect so we will chalk this one up to a big success.  On Tuesday, Terry and Julie O’Donnell drove down from Nashville—we took the big boat out for a cruise down the ICW past Clearwater to Bellaire –it was sunny and very windy –a very pleasant ride. Yesterday was a stormy day  so we drove down the coast from Tarpon Springs to Passé Grille and did some site seeing of our old haunts from Katie’s college years down here—fun times. They drive to Sea Grove to visit Julie’s brother and his wife today—we will miss them a lot. 

Floats were elaborate

 

Pirates invaded from the sea (along with hundreds of pleasure boats)-
 notice the crowds of people in the crows nest- that is where I would want to ride

 

People watching was great--this was a dad and his 2 visiting children from Austin, TX

 

Terry and Julie were great fun

Marina Life

We went to a movie (13 Hours) on Tuesday afternoon because it is “Seniors” day and we can go for $6 each.  It was a packed house of Seniors for the 4pm movie— the lousy/expensive popcorn may convince me to take out my big purse and put in some party mix like the couple in front of us.  While it may be rainy some days, the temps here in Florida have not dipped too low—like Tennessee-- and we are getting used to retirement life.  This weekend is Gasparilla in Tampa which is Florida’s answer to Mardi Gras—the 2 day event celebrates the legend of Jose Gaspar (nicknamed Gasparilla), a mythical Spanish pirate captain who supposedly operated in southwest Florida. The festival was founded in 1904 by Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla — the prominent bunch of Tampa citizens who were the first to dress up as pirates to "invade" the city. The all day street festival will feature a parade  from 2-5 tomorrow on the waterfront and they will throw beads and doubloons  and the pirates come in from the water beforehand (some revelers have left the marina this morning), so we are looking forward to a big day tomorrow.  We will go by car but the pictures of all the boats in Tampa Bay from years past is pretty impressive—we will take lots of pictures.  

Snowy Egret--pet here at the marina

 

Eddy Johnson and his wife are here at Marker 1 with us--he is the weather guru for Loopers crossing the gulf

 

Yes, Fitz has long sleeves on but after hearing about the Snowpocalpse in
 Tennessee and up the East Coast we know we are lucky

Tennessee Pirate Flag--Elizabeth and Charley who gave it to us would have been proud--It helped us show our colors the entire trip

 
 

I had to repair the flag



In the mall (movie venue) we watched the skaters practicing

Snow and ice at home—Gale winds and storms in Florida

I have got to say, I do not miss the snow and ice.  We sit in dock so the winds and rain do not really threaten us like they would if we were anchored out--but we are watching the weather both in Tennessee and Florida. We took a field trip this week to visit Naples/Bonita Beach and our friends’ aboard Fugitive home in Tarpon Cove.  It was a welcome vacation to a dirt home and we met Janis’ fascinating parents.  As a hobby and to follow the tradition of 5 generations before them, they spend March extracting maple syrup from the trees on their property near Blind River on the North Channel in Canada. They explained the process and had wonderful pictures of them in the process.  Plus they gave us a bottle—awesome.   We hit their hot tub with a vengeance and went to dinner in old Naples at Café Luna.  Great fun. As true to our old ways--we took no pictures We were not tempted to  shop at the huge outlets we passed as we traveled 3 hours up and down the interstate but we had a couple of sunny days and  light traffic.  We came back in time to show Janis and Brian our adopted home of Dunedin and then get them on the waters southward.  We will miss our running buddies-- they are going to be in the Bahamas for the month of March—not this year for us but we will catch up with them some time.  Last night was a weather window for crossing the Gulf so now we have a fresh bunch of Loopers in the marina.  Sonata that we met in Chicago and Corsair who traveled up the Cumberland to Nashville with us have come in and we are glad to reconnect with them.  Now we have a windy, rainy weekend ahead to watch the Broncos and the Patriots, the Basketball Vols and watch the weather reports from home. 

Dogedin?!--Dunedin loves dogs--we had a great dinner at Casa Tina beside this dog mural

Holden loves the snow

7 inches and still snowing!

Our snow angel

Settling in

The Gang went shopping in Tarpon Springs

Tarpon Springs is the Sponge Capital of Florida

At high tide the streets of Tarpon Springs flood

Now that the holidays are put to rest, we are settling in here at Marker 1.  Our friends, Brian and Janis from Fugitive (and Guelph, Canada-- http://guelph.ca/) crossed from Carrabelle last week so we have some running buddies here for a little bit.  They had a rough crossing with 2-5 foot waves and it took them 24 hours—it will take Janis a little while to forget that particular ride.   On Friday, we all went to Tarpon Springs (only about 10 miles north of Dunedin) had some good food and shopping. Sunday we had a perfect 75 degree, sunny day Terry and I we went out to Caladesi State Park (about 15 min. dingy ride) to enjoy the beautiful beach and soak up some rays.   Gale warnings were issued last night  and a big storm came in and it was amazing how high the water got some people were stuck on their boats until the rain stopped and the wind calmed a little.  We were very glad we were not anchored out—the winds got up to 40mph here and they had tornadoes south of us in Sarasota/Siesta Key.  This el ninja is playing havoc with the weather -- we are thankful for our secure dockage. 

The beach at Caladesi is beautiful

 

Caladesi is just outside Dunedin but you can only get there by water

 

This bird (a Tern-I think) was having a small fish for lunch
 

 

Love the beach art

 

Winds got so bad here at the Marina that they put all the pool chars and tables in the pool--smart

Transitioning from Looping to Squatting

We are in Dunedin, Florida--Marker 1 Marina until Feb. 10th.  The is the first phase of squatting.  This has been a special place for us since Katie was in St. Petersburg for college.  It is a charming small town and has 44 miles of a flat bike/walking trail called the Pinellas Trail  from Tarpon Springs to St. Pete.  This weekend was the Art Festival in Downtown Dunedin --they closed all the streets and we rode our bikes into town.  It was terrific. 

Vivian’s advice on retirement—let it come to you.  Same advice I would give someone starting the Loop—let the trip come to you.  It is easier when you have destinations before you and you have weather, waves and other forces of nature dictating the pace but the fact of the matter is that you can usually just stay put and you will always have the next port you want to get to waiting for you.   This squatting retirement is a little different in that you must be self-motivated and set some goals for each day. Right now I alternate b/t thanking my lucky stars and keeping up with Fitz. Terry has joined a gym and so far enjoys going there in the mornings.  This is not my usual thing but I could get to the point where riding my bike into Dunedin or up to Tarpon Springs would be good.  The weather is nice and we are located such that we can walk or ride to a lot of places.  The Loopers are all starting to head from here southward--it is getting a little chilly and they have places to go and people to see.  We say good-bye to them rather wistfully--they are in for a great adventure. 

Sunny Days--learning to squat

We take the dingy out and find fun little islands.

Deserted Jama Island showed signs of people coming there for bon fires.

Yummy treats at the Street Arts Festival

We love to see different types of art

This won our vote for favorite at the Festival--photo's transferred to tiles then framed with very light-weight resin substance--indoor/outdoor art

This was a picture that was embroidered in silk--gorgeous

Wrapping It Up

Left this huge Manatee behind at Marker 1 for Christmas in Tennessee

We flew to Nashville for a wonderful Christmas on the 17^th and quickly immersed ourselves into family.  This was a quicker trip than expected because the Tennessee Vols are in the Tampa’s Outback Bowl on New Year’s Day (and this area is our homeport right now).  Julia and Robin graciously allowed us to stay at their Lakehouse near Cookeville, Tn.  so we can be near the grandkids and still close enough to Nashville to see Nick and our friends. 
 The Leeton Clan gathered for a weekend of festivities:

Leeton and Holden were on good behavior--they know Santa is watching
 

The Clan

We spent Christmas Eve at the Barksdales' party:

Julia always puts on a great spread.

Girlfriends

We have spent every Christmas Eve with these friends since 1985



The Piñata is always a highlight.

 
 
Spent Christmas morning in Cookeville with the family:



Katie and Scott took us all in 

 Santa was good to us and then it started to get under 60 degrees so we returned to Marker 1 on Dec. 29^th.

Cold front and nasty weather came into Center Hill

Holden , Fitz and I had to go to the dock, see the Gilliams and pay homage to the full moon

 The Outback Bowl was an awesome experience:  Elizabeth and Charley came in and stayed in Dunedin on the 30th and Julia and Robin arrived on the 31^st and stayed just down the road about 10 miles in Clearwater Beach.   The Vols got a great win against a higher ranked Northwestern and we got to experience it with some of our best friends. 

Tailgating with the Orange

 

Great seats on the 3rd row

 

New Years Eve with the Barksdale's and the Deitrich's

It is now 2016, a time for renewal and moving to the next phase of our life.  We finished the Loop--what now?  This winter we will live in Florida moving south when it gets cold or even chilly.  I need to learn how to be retired –suggestions welcomed. Terry has always wanted to spend winter where it is warm and we can now do this.  We are lining up friends and family to come visit --Terry and Julie O’Donnell will come in on Jan. 19, Katie and the kids are visiting for Spring Break and we have a promise from our sisters –Thelma and Louise- to come for a stay. 

 First order of business—wrap up the Loop focus of this blog.  It was set up specifically to chronical our Loop and while I will review the different parts of the trip to add some pictures (during the first part of the trip blogspot did not upload the pictures very well) and correct spelling/grammar, I will not make any more Loop specific additions.  There are sites that offer to make your blog into a book-we will eventually have that done. The blog does, however, serve another role in that it is an occasional post card to family and friends on where we are and how we are doing. Plus, I find it very therapeutic to download/organize our pictures and journal our experience of the time.  This is a great backup (plus a good reference for correcting each other’s stories).  We joke that when we are in the nursing home 30 years down the line we can read about our experience and smile even in the fog that will be our minds   Many thanks to all you who have kept up with our travels, shared advice, corrected errors but mainly for caring.  The Loop is a trip of a lifetime and we have many people to thank for making this happen—we are blessed.