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There was definitely no sleeping in this morning. The crack of thunder woke everyone up well before 6am on Thursday. Here's a screenshot of what WeatherMeister.com said was coming for us.  The morning sky at sunrise was not what we were used to.   The rain and wind luckily weren't all that bad. Peter and I decided to stay in our tents to do what we do best - act as ballast to keep things put.  The morning panorama shot of HBC.  One last pass of the vendors to grab whatever freebies Peter could fit within the W&B of my RV. We visited our new friend, Andre, at AeroTronics.com.  The snowbird John (C-FNLV) was a great neighbor to have besides being Canadian ;-). Can't wait to see you at Oshkosh, John! Enjoy the rest of your winter in FL!  Can you tell Peter and I shop at the same store???  Saying goodbye to our amazing hosts Mary Jane and Stephanie was the hardest part of leaving SNF. These two took such good care of everyone in HBC. It was bittersweet to hear that Mary Jane was stepping down as chairwoman of Homebuilt Camping. The good news is we are still in good hands with her niece, Stephanie, taking over for her next year! I believe Mary Jane has been the chairwoman of HBC for over 20 years, and she took over the roll from her parents. It's great to see Stephanie keep this great responsibility in the family, and also great to hear that Mary Jane will still very much be a part of HBC in the future.  The Blue Angels were scheduled to be in the airshow today, and the show started earlier today than the other days so Peter and I needed to dry off from the morning storms and pack up quickly! Luckily for us we had just a quick 20 minute flight. I think we spent more time taxiing at KLAL than we did int he air over to KCLW (Clearwater Airpark). Of course the epic takeoff performance of the RV-7 was in the shadows of the jet who took the runway ahead of us. Why couldn't it be a 172?!?!?!  The storms earlier today cleared out the skies nicely. It was a picture perfect trip over to Clearwater.  Super simply flight path over to Clearwater. We just needed to keep north of Tampa's class B. No reason to talk to ATC to get any short cuts on such a short flight in perfect flying weather.  Clearwater beach.  Turning base at KCLW. The winds today were pretty stiff - 15G25 right on down the runway.  Yuck! I needed a decent amount of throttle to taxi through the wet "grass" at SNF which kicked up some sand all over the left side of the RV. I might finally be forced to clean the girl when I get home!  We parked here for 3 nights while we started the second half of our vacation. The people at Clearwater Airpark couldn't of been nicer.  The second half of our vacation is what we needed to justify the first half of our vacation. Apparently Peter's wife and my girlfriend (who are best friends) thought it was awful selfish of us to come to FL and enjoy all that Lakeland has to offer without them. They flew down to Tampa yesterday and met us this morning. Since we somehow knew they'd be a little late, we decided to have a little fun and surprise them with us wearing matching outfits upon their arrival.  The next 2 days involved a bunch of fun and relaxation. Sunset Beach just north of Saint Pete Beach lived up to it's name - a great place to catch the last glimpse of the sun for the day.      Day hiking at the Weedon Island State Preserve - How many SNF freebies can you spot in this picture??!?!?  Just absolute torture over here!  Another sunset with adult beverages.  The true gem we found was Indian Rocks Beach. Dear Dynon - these lovely models will gladly increase your sales double digits!  Our humble beach abode was conveniently located walking distance to Mastry's Brewing Company. We all had a blast playing adult Jenga! 
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Last Modified: August 13, 2023 |