The Ray Adventures: Tampa, Oregon & Panama City

It has been a busy 2 plus weeks plus a little procrastination is why this newest blog is so slow in coming. We are at Tyndall Air Force Base, 12 miles east of Panama City, Florida. Tyndall AFB's mission is to provide combat ready F22A Raptor pilots and personnel. The base opened in 1941 as a gunnery range becoming an air training command in the 50's. It is fun to watch and hear the jets flying low over Fam Camp but sometimes when they fly directly over the coach it scares Luci, not normally afraid of loud noises, making her hide under the table.

Tuesday, Sept. 29, Gary and I agree, Tampa is one of our "favorites", MacDill Fam Camp is also one of our "fav's", located right on Tampa Bay. Outdoor Rec rents everything water, from boats, canoes, kayak's, and paddle boards. We have enjoyed watching manatee's rise to the surface, snort and I assume take a breath before disappearing under the water. I always thought manatee's were just fresh water mammals.

Wednesday, Sept. 30 I had to be up by 3 to get to the airport by 4:30 for my flight to Oregon. The good news was I got to Portland by 11:00. The first leg, to Dallas, was smooth and uneventful, I was able to get an aisle seat, the next leg to Portland I was squeezed between two "big" people, very cozy and warm. I picked up my rental car, grabbed a quick bite before heading to see Georgie, my hairdresser of 17 years. It was so good to see her plus she fixed my lousy haircut. Yea!!!! After picking up our mail, seeing the CPA I went over to Chris's new house, they just got the keys the night before. Much work is needed but the house has good "bones". I'm staying at Charlotte's again, after she got off work we went out for broasted chicken in West Salem then back to Chris's. Got back to Char's house about 9, and just died, I took off my shoes and pants and crawled into bed, it had been about 21 hours since I got up.

Thursday & Friday I had whirlwind days of doctor and dentist appointments, lunch with Sharon, helped Chris by washing down walls with TSP and happy hour with Char at a new whiskey tasting bar in Salem. ( I had red wine)

Saturday, Oct. 3, My date, Linda, picked me up for the drive to Lincoln City for my 50th class reunion. Linda went to grade school through the 7th grade in LC. The picnic was held at the Community Hall in Depoe Bay. It was great seeing everyone again, that is after I read their name tag. I was so embarrassed, I hardly recognized anyone. How did they all get so old?    I nearly froze to death even though it was a beautiful day, my blood was thinned out from the hot Florida weather.
Saturday night the dinner buffet was held at the new high school, catered by the culinary art students. All I can say is, they need to go back to the books, the best part of my dinner was a half baked potato. The old high school had pictures on the walls of previous graduating classes, my brother and sister included. I had wondered if the tradition continued. I was so happy to see they had, I found my siblings and my class easily. After the dinner Linda and I went to Ron's house to spend the night. Ron's Mom and mine were best friends, he was like a brother to me, only 2 months younger we had fun playing together. He remodeled his parents home on Devils Lake beautifully, we felt like queens spending the night there. We talked so late we over slept, missing the reunion breakfast. Oh well.

Sunday, Oct. 4 We had Egg McMuffins before heading back to Salem. We stopped by Chris's for a quick visit to check on their progress, they had ripped off the deck, ripped up carpeting, started to tear up the parquet floors and painted a bedroom since Friday. They have picked out beautiful bamboo flooring that has to acclimate to their house for two weeks before they can start putting it down. My friend Joan is going to have a heart procedure on Monday, she has A Fib, they will stop her heart then restart it, she is very anxious, as would I. After Linda dropped me off I went to visit with her.

Monday, Oct. 5, After a morning doctor appointment I had lunch with my Red Hat quilting group. I sure miss those girls, most of them are very talented quilters, somehow I slipped into the group. Twice a year we go to the coast for Quilt Camp, 5 days of quilting, overeating and maybe a little wine. Later I spent the evening watching the Seahawk game with Carol (girl football chum), I screamed, paced and covered my eyes, finally the Hawks squeezed the win out.

Tuesday, Oct. 6, I talked with Joan, the procedure worked, her heart is back in normal rhythm again. What a relief. I had my last doctor appointment, I passed all my tests. I visited with my old neighbors, Brian and Susan (Seahawk season ticket holders) and Edie, 94, is still as sharp as ever. Gary's sister from Michigan arrived to spend a few days with Gary.

Wednesday, Oct. 7, Now that it's time to head back to Florida I think I've adjusted to Pacific time. I'm taking the red eye back to Tampa, giving me an extra day to see family and friends. Char and I had a bite to eat before I headed to Chris's (to watch her work) and Portland for my 11:55 flight. Gary and Suzanne had a great day at Epcot, she has never been to Disneyworld before. Poor underprivileged girl. Luci went to Epcot too, to daycare. The daycare opens an hour before the park and stays open for an hour after. From the sounds of it I'm not too sure who was the most tired, Gary, Suzanne or Luci.

Thursday, Oct. 8, I landed in Tampa about 11, my bag however liked it in Dallas, it stayed there. It was great to see Suzanne again. Luci gave me the cold shoulder, how dare I leave her plus she likes Suzanne best! We walked around the park, she had never seen a manatee, they were back in the boat basin. Suzanne rented a fishing pole from Outdoor Rec, she caught a ray of some kind. She didn't want to be like Steve Irwin so was very careful removing the hook. Manatees are a marine mammal, also known as a sea cow because they graze on grass underwater, they can grow to 13 feet long and weigh up to 1,300 pounds. And they are "cute".

Friday, Oct. 9 Gary, Suzanne and I rented paddle boards in the morning before it got too hot, I have done it once before but G & S hadn't. I was the only one who fell in, all that was hurt was my ego. We paddled around the beach area when a manatee swam under Suzanne and surfaced a few feet in front of her. WOW! Later she went fishing again, this time only catching small perch.

Saturday, Oct. 10, Suzanne went fishing first thing, again, only small perch. She really enjoyed standing on a rock casting into the Gulf. She's going home today with a nice sunburn to show her friends. We took her to the airport after lunch for a 3pm flight. We decided to check out Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which is close to the airport. Bad idea, a University of South Florida football game was scheduled to start at 3:30, we beat it out of there before we got caught in game day traffic (again). We made our way downtown to the Riverwalk along the Hillsborough River. An Octoberfest celebration was a big draw, we skipped the party choosing to take the walk. So beautiful, not as extensive as San Antonio but more beautiful. Time for dinner, we wanted a restaurant on the water, after reading the restaurant reviews we chose Whiskey Joe's, the reviews were right, the food was good but the service was lousy. The view was nice, we watched jet skiers scoot about the bay, we could see MacDill in the distance.

Sunday, Oct. 11, We were supposed to leave today, we were able to extend for 3 more nights then they will kick us out. It is so nice here, today we spotted two bald eagles circling over Fam Camp and most of the time we spot Spoonbills and Egrets in the ditch along side the road. Today is International Earth Cache day, we almost forgot, about 6 we went downtown to Rivergate Tower, a 31 story cylindrical tower made from French and Texas limestone, the shape is round to symbolize optimism. Locals call it the limestone beer can. Earth caches have several questions listed in the description, after finding and answering the question you e-mail the cache owner with the answers to get credit for the "find". The Riverwalk is beautiful at night too, Luci was with us as we walked along the water, lights on the canopies change colors as well as buildings on the other side.

Monday, Oct. 12, We said good-bye to our neighbor Keith, a Lt. Commander in the Navy Reserve, from Spokane, he owns a watersport rental company in St. Petersburg. He's heading home to his wife and girls. What a nice guy, he took Gary fishing while I was in Oregon. We took Luci to Picnik Park dog beach, she had the greatest time, our goal of wearing her out was accomplished. A couple of days ago our BBQ's igniter rod went out, Gary had Googled Traeger dealers in the Tampa area finding one in a mall. No luck, out of business. We happened upon an outdoor kitchen store that had a sign "We now sell Traeger's"   We could not believe our luck, they had on in stock. We would have starved to death I cook most of our dinners on the BBQ.

Tuesday, Oct. 13, The main reason we came to Tampa was to see the Raymond James Stadium on our quest of visiting all the NFL stadiums, this made 25 out of 31. There are only 31 because the New York Giants and Jets share Met Life Stadium. Our 2:30 tour, led by Jason, was one of the better tours. We saw all the usual places, the feature that makes this one special is the pirate ship and "town" at one of the end zones. Walt Disney Imagineers built the Caribbean style façade concessions. How fun! I would hate to be seated right in front of the ship when they shoot the cannons. After the tour we drove to Madera Beach to Smuggler's Cove for mini golf. At the first hole is a group of baby alligators, most of them seemed pretty grown up to us. My game was "off" Gary beat me by 5 strokes. Gary put away our outside things in preparation for our departure Wednesday.

Wednesday, Oct. 14, We really hate to leave here but we must, we have reservations in Rockport, Texas starting Nov. 2 for the winter. We left about 10 for the 145 mile drive to Rocky's RV park just outside of Perry, in the middle of nowhere it seemed like a good spot to stop. What a nice little park for an overnighter. Beats Wal-Mart except for the $30.00

Thursday, Oct. 15, We fueled up at the station adjacent to the park, $2.48 a gallon for diesel, that seemed comparable to the prices we'd seen on the way in, however, about 20 miles down the road we spotted a station that had it for 20 cents less a gallon. Bummer! We arrived at Tyndall AFB, another 145 miles, a little before 1pm.  The nightly rate here is $25.00 more expensive than most but still a bargain. On the Fam Camp door was a sign warning about bears in the area and what to do if you encounter one and not to leave food or garbage outside or leave your dog unattended. Our space is located right next to the start of the nature trail, after dinner Gary wanted to walk Luci down the trail, I didn't think it was a good idea so we just walked around the park. We'd like to go to the beach but right now there is a "red tide" which happens when naturally occurring algae bloom out of control producing deadly toxins to fish and other marine life, can also cause respiratory distress in humans. Fish by the thousands wash up on the beaches.

Friday, Oct. 16, We left for the Panama City Beach area for some lunch at Fishale House, a brew pub, yum, the water was delicious, Gary tried a local "brown" he enjoyed along with a spicy tuna roll. Off to min-golf for my redemption, no such luck, my game was really off, Gary beat me by 8 strokes! When we turned in our clubs the lady told us we could play another 18 holes for $5.00. I still had visions of beating him. I did by 4.

That's it for this week(s), enjoy the pic's.

TTFN

Gary and Pam