Day 17: Ocala to Naples

We left the motel behind an avid LSU fan in a Jeep with LSU flags flying on 4 sides of the vehicle and two giant ice chests hooked to the tailgate. The game didn't start until 8pm, so I guess they had a day-long party. That was probably just as well, because I don't think they felt like partying after the game.

We drove for about 5 miles and turned off for our first stop of the day. Having persuaded Jim under protest to stop at the Superman Museum, how could I complain about stopping at the Don Garlit's Museum of Drag Racing. The cost of admission was $15 and Jim was leery, but this got us into the Drag Racing Museum and a Classic Car Museum (Fords). Both were excellent. There were only three other people in the museum, so it was like a private tour. Worth the stop and money.

Next we decided to detour through Tampa on Interstate 275 to see Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg. We were glad it was Saturday, as we went through the downtown district -- Tampa is a big city. Then it got interesting. We went across a 7 mile bridge over the Old Tampa Bay into St. Petersburg. The bridge seemed to be at water level -- almost like you were driving on the bay. Then we went through another big city. We saw a very long and interesting looking bridge in the distance -- this was the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Like the Astoria bridge -- but about 16 miles long vs. 4 miles. The center part was arched so that ships could get by. Just as we got on the bridge approach we spied a sign for a "rest area."

Hoping to get at an angle where I could take a picture of the bridge, we exited and pulled into a park that was right on the Ocean. There were some rocks piled up on the shore and lots of fishermen in the water, children and adults swimming in the water, and fish jumping, again and again. The water was a beautiful blue and we watched sailboats and motor boats passing by. Then two children ran across our path to find their brother who, they said, had caught a fish with his bare hands. This is definitely the BEST Interstate rest stop we have ever encountered.

But we could not see the bridge from there, so after getting our fill of sun and surf, we started out toward the exit and saw a sign that said "fishing pier." So off we went. The pier was long and packed with fishers of all sizes and genders. I finally got a view of the bridge and a picture. Fishing was very good and everyong seemed to be having a great time. Jim talked to one of the fishermen. They were catching lots of different fish, but I think the jumping ones are called tarpon, or Silver Kings. They are about the size of Salmon and are plentiful in the bays of south Florida.

We arrived in Naples about 3:30 and found Jim's uncle's house with just one wrong turn. We tried to go around the block and discovered that is not easy to do in Naples. Twice we turned right and ended up going into gated communities. Problem is that there are many gated communities, golf courses (Naples has more golf courses percapita than anywhere) and canals -- lots of people live on the water here in swamp land. Elevation of Naples is 9 feet. Anyway we made a U turn and retraced our steps and were successful in reaching our destination. We will stay here three days or so.