Today was a really great day. After coffee and breakfast this morning we headed off about 1000 for a hike at Myakka State Park. We did three separate hikes including the River Trail and wow did we had the jackpot as far as birds went. Least Bitterns, Red Shouldered Hawks, Barred Owls, Snowy Egrets; we really saw a plethora of species today. Unfortunately, it’s too late tonight for Neil to process the photos so that part of today’s activities wont’ get posted until tomorrow. We got back to the rig about 1530 and had a shower and a short rest before we headed out for our evening out.

After that we met a couple of new friends here at the BoonDock Bar and Grill…Sparky and Eldo are fellow full timers and have their own blog at http://whereseldo.blogspot.com. They’ve been full timing in a 40 foot Class A since 2010 and like the lifestyle as much as we do. Eldo is retired from working in the RV industry and Sparky is a retired school teacher. Neil has been following their blog for a year and a half or so; we’ve exchanged numerous emails with them regarding Apple products, Macintoshes, RV life and assorted other topics; and today we finally got together for what used to be called a meet and greet in the Navy.

We spent an hour or so at the bar talking rigs, where we been, where we are going and the like and then headed out to Pinschers Crab Shack for dinner. None of us had been there before but we had fish and chips, crab alfredo, and crab cakes and all was good along with more beer. The smoked fish dip starter was great as well…thanks to Sparky and Eldo for ordering that…nice and spicy and good eats as Alton Brown would say.

Here’s a shot of us at the restaurant…notice that we all have beers (well, except Sparky who had a Coke™ but she said she was a lightweight and none of the rest of us were going to dispute that with her…after all she’s a retired teacher and we didn’t want it to end up on our permanent record. (Actually, Eldo has two beers; but then it was 2 for 1 all day every day so that ‘splains that. Neil and Connie had a single 2 for 1 and shared…and then she dragged him off before he could order another one.)

We stayed around there a couple of hours swapping lies and then headed home for TV and bed. Neil was gonna process the photos from today’s hiking but he’s too lazy, it’s too late, and he had enough beers so his get up and go just got up and went. Our waiter did notice that Eldo had a Notre Dame hat and Neil had his Alabama hat on and then we went down that rathole for a couple of minutes what with the recent BCS National Championship Game. Each of us forgave the other for their unfortunate taste in teams to root for…largely out of self preservation for while ‘Bama might have come out on top this time that doesn’t always happen and losing is bad enough without anybody rubbing it in; Neil has been on both sides of the score in the past and surely will be again in the future. Sparky and Eldo might be headed for Colorado in a few months as well…which means potentially more beers down the road; although neither of us have our Colorado plans set in concrete yet, their rig needs to stop by Red Bay, AL to get some work done at the Tiffin plant and ours has some work scheduled at the New Horizons plant in Junction City, KS so who knows what our actual schedule will turn out to be.

It’s always nice to meet new friends who enjoy the same life we do.

Cyas.