Jan 25th to 28th - Thonotosassa

Jan 25th - Sun - Thonotosassa
With the return of warmer weather, we moved a couple of chairs into the sun this morning to enjoy a cup of coffee. After breakfast/lunch, we joined Carie & Gary for a bike ride around the park and then we all decided to join Billy & Lauri at the pool. But before we went, we cleaned, masked and touched up the rust on the bike rack with spray paint. I guess it’s a combination of 27 months of traveling, humidity and some salt spray in the Florida keys that is resulting in rust.
At happy hour at our place, we all decided that it was time to go for pizza at Ci Ci’s - the pizza buffet place. Gary & Carie have a fold down console in their pickup so they emptied the back seat and we all squeezed in for the ride to Zephyrhills. No one ate too much (yeah, right!!) and we all enjoyed our dinner.

Jan 26th - Mon - Thonotosassa
It warmed up enough (at least 60 by 10 o’clock) for water exercise class this morning. There had been a problem with the pool and it was very warm - 91 degrees!
We had talked about the group going on a canoe trip but we all decided that nearly $50 for a 2 hour paddle was a little pricey so we packed lunches, loaded our bikes in trucks and went for a bicycle ride. We discovered a 6.7 mile trail between John Sergeant county park and Hillsborough River state park so we unloaded the bikes and then took one truck back to the county park so we would ride only one way. The trail was unpaved and had several sections of loose sand so it was a real workout. Luckily, the last 2.2 miles were paved to give us old folks a break. We saw 2 armadillos - one was quite curious and stood up on it’s hind legs to try to see us.
When we got back we all headed for the pool and the hot tub. Then a short happy hour at Gary & Carie’s before parting for dinner.

Jan 27th - Tues - Thonotosassa
After water exercises and breakfast, we and Billy & Lauri headed for Costco. Costco has a liquor store right beside the regular store and the prices are very good (½ gallon Scotch $17, ½ gallon Vodka $12) so we decided to stock up a bit as we don’t know what the prices will be down the road. A quick stop at WalMart and then at a produce stand for some strawberries. Gary’s birthday is today and “the group” will have dinner together at Gary & Carie’s. I made strawberry shortcake so I baked the biscuits and sliced & sweetened the berries when we got home. Also cut up a pork loin that Lauri & I split and washed up romaine lettuce. And it was already time for happy hour!
The weather cooperated so we could sit and have dinner outside. Gary & Carie made a buddy burner so we enjoyed that as well. Very nice dinner and evening.

Jan 28th - Wed - Thonotosassa
Before exercise class, I gave Dolly another bath and flea dip treatment and vacuumed. Only a few fleas left so have to keep at them. I sent Terry to the store so after exercises I could mix up marshmallow & cream cheese dip for the rest of the strawberries. Then the 6 of us set off for Clearwater Beach in Gary & Carie’s truck. It is quite a long drive (an hour). The sand is very white and fine, the weather was warm but windy. We left at 3 and drove to Cody’s Roadhouse restaurant in Brandon to take advantage of the 2 for 1 fajitas again. It was just as good as the first time, most of us ate too much and groaned all the way back to the park.
Terry & I went for a bike ride around all the park roads to settle our dinner a little.