From Recreation Plantation we made the short drive to Port Richey in the Tampa area. Pat’s brother and sister and their spouses had rented a house in New Port Richey, we have a niece that lives in nearby Oldsmar, and friends from Key West (Butch and Linda Kurfees) that live in New Port Richey. How many more reasons do you need to visit the area?

We stayed at Sundance Lakes RV Resort. As with many other parks in Florida there was plenty of room for us as many of the Canadians that “snowbird” had to stay home because of the pandemic. Sundance Lakes is another nice park. They normally have plenty of activities going on, but due to the pandemic, the pace was much slower than normal. The big benefit of this particular park was we are within an easy bicycle ride to Pat’s family’s rental and a short drive to Butch and Linda’s house.

One of the first things we were able to do was watch our nephew, Jeremiah, play football. It’s always fun to watch him, sometimes more fun to watch his mother cheering him. The highlight of the game was Jeremiah making an interception. I was so lucky to have the camera shot framed at just the right time!

Throughout our visit, we got together for drinks, for meals, and just hanging out. We always have a good time when we are together.

One day we all car-pooled to the Town of Crystal River to watch the manatees at Three Sisters Springs. The manatees migrate in and out of the springs as the weather changes. During the cold winter, they head for the warm fresh water and when it warms, head back out into the Gulf of Mexico. Normally Pat and I watched from our kayaks. This time we were on the boardwalk and got a different perspective from the higher vantage point.

Pat’s brother, Geri and his wife, Marcia, were considering getting a new RV and they joined us to check out some of the larger RV dealers east of Tampa. We had a good time and I got a big laugh from the posters at the IHOP where we had lunch.

On March 21^st we packed up and took the short drive to Rock Crusher RV Park in Homosassa to spend more time in the Crystal River area. Rock Crusher RV Park is a high-class facility and the site we were assigned had been upgraded with pavers and had a storage shed at the rear of the lot.

We spent a lot of time in our kayaks. After all, that was the reason we came here. First we launched from Hunters Spring City Park and paddled to Three Sisters Springs. Three Sisters appears to be the most popular manatee viewing site in the area and has suffered from being so popular. State Park personnel limit the number of people that can enter the spring. This was one of the periods when no boats were allowed in, so we could only watch from the main channel. I have fond memories from about twelve years ago when we visited Three Sisters and there were only a dozen or less in the area. The next day we paddled in the Homosassa River. We paddled pass Monkey Island and then to the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.

On March 25^th we were on the road again, this time to Tyndall AFB near Panama City, FL.