BBQ and Bluegrass Bash

Sarasota, FL      High:  85     Low:   67

Sounds like a great combination, doesn't it?  Lots of BBQ, chicken, ribs, pork, and brisket. Fifty championship BBQ teams.  Let's offer $15,000 in cash prizes. Let's throw in a chili cook off even though it's HOT, HOT, HOT! Thirty different chili teams! How about a dessert bake off, to determine who has the best desserts in Southwest Florida? Let's have some bagpipes. And let's hear some bluegrass! Entertainment by the 2012 Recipients of the International Bluegrass Music Association for the best instrumental group, the best banjo player, and the best mandolin player, THE BOXCARS. And everything except for the food is FREE! Woo-hoo! It's the 4th Annual Suncoast BBQ Bash!  It had a little bit of everything.. Outdoor living booths, community corner, where Venice's businesses are offering products and services.... Muscle cars....

Cloggers.....

Crazy vendor stands.....Seriously, this is one crazy lady...Crazy like a fox! Or a bison head! Lots of folks checking out this stand....

You like your chili spicy hot? Sparky says, NOT! But she sampled some great chili that wasn't so spicy with four kinds of meat, and four kinds of beans today..(I'm gonna make sure I batten down the covers tonight! laughs E.)..Eldy's stomach doesn't always handle greasy or spicy food, so he passed on the some of the more tantailizing deep fat fried food, like the Oreos, and amazingly, Sparky did, too! Everything deep fat fried...Ugh!  Or...  Yum! Depending on your opinion and dietary preferences....

But Eldy did try some chili....so-so....he said....It was hot enough to make him sweat! The weather, that is.....

Lots and LOTS of BBQ choices....looked like some award winning stuff at the different stands...pulled pork, ribs of all kinds, and southern food to go with it. They even had gator tail....Sparky eyed the deep fried key lime cheesecake, but was a good girl and passed on it....

After Sparky saw this, she kinda lost her appetite for anything pork.....

How about this name for a BBQ joint?

They had a cornhole tournament going on, officially sanctioned by the American Cornhole Association. Bet you never knew there was one! We didn't!...Thought that was mainly an Indiana "Hoosier" thing! But here it is in Venice, FL. This guy is pretty confident of his skills at corn hole. If you haven't seen this game, it's just throwing beanbags at a slanted wooden stand with holes in it. Not much to it, but it's fun.

Everything related to grilling and BBQ was there...Grills....smokers, etc., and rigs devoted to the topic.

The sheriff's department was there with some robot demonstrations...

We ate, we wandered, we watched a little entertainment, and then we headed home.....Another nice day in Paradise!

Happy Earth Day 2013

Sarasota, FL       High:   83     Low:   64

We didn't do much today! It was one of those hot days, with a threat of rain, where you just decide to lay back and take it easy, so we did.

Sparky just got done reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a true story about a poor Southern black woman tobacco farmer back in the '50's who went in for a checkup for abdominal pain, ended up having ovarian cancer, dying and whose cells were taken from her without her knowledge. Scientists know her as HeLa, the most famous cells in the history of medicine. Her cells were the first human cells grown in culture that survived and propagated until there were enough of them to weigh more than 50 million TONS and they continue to grow and be cultured today. Her cells were used without her family's knowledge and contributed to studies for a successful polio vaccine, cancer causes, and helped lead to other important discoveries in medicine. Her cells launched a multi-million dollar industry that sells human biological materials. Her family never saw a penny of it. The journey from her illness to her family today is intertwined with America's history of the treatment of African Americans and medical quandries today involving human biological materials--the donation of body parts, DNA, etc. to medicine. It's quite the story!

We've been down to karaoke a couple of times in the past couple of weeks. Every Friday is karaoke night. The guy that looks and sounds just like Willie Nelson shows up now and then. He does a wonderful job and it's just great to hear him each time he comes. The talent here in the park is quite amazing! Sparky can sing, (I can NOT, admits E.) but she doesn't have the nerve to get up with all the great talent that comes to karaoke each week. It would take three or four glasses of wine, and the last five minutes of the evening to try and get her up there.....So she's gonna pass this season, and just enjoy the talents of others. In the meantime, she's compiling a list, "Oh, I could sing THAT!" and "That's one I think I could do!" while Eldy quietly remains politely silent and is NOT one to say, "Well, why don't you get up there and just do it, then?!"

Sometimes we just go for a drive around and look for spoonbills and gators in the Lakewood Ranch area. It's a beautiful area with lots of wildlife and where we've seen beautiful birds and gators in the past. They haven't been around lately, the birds or the gators, so we'll keep looking.

Sparky heard that Myakka River State Park has a place inside the main park called the Deep Hole, and there are supposed to be HUNDREDS, well maybe, if you're lucky you'll see that many down in this area. The park only lets 30 people go at a time to see them. You have to go into the state park to get a permit right when the park first opens at 8:00 AM, then you have to find the entrance to a dirt road that will lead you to THE HOLE.  You hike two miles in along a dusty, dirt path to get to the hole, and two miles back out. Or, we think it's possible to canoe or kayak close to the area if the waters in the area near the hole haven't receded or dried up. That's what another person has stated. Sparky and Eldy just don't feel like doing a hot, dusty, dirty hike in bright sun with no shade to see a bunch of alligators and it's been too dry for a river trip to get close. We see at least one gator every day, but this WOULD be cool to see a WHOLE BUNCH, like HUNDREDS (so they say) at one time! So for the adventuresome, hike loving individuals who tolerate the Florida heat just fine, GO FOR IT! and please report back after you've done it.... Here's a staff photo from the Herald Tribune of Sarasota to tease anyone interested in finding this deep hole....

Actually, after a little more investigating, you might see right around a hundred gators in the deep hole, depending on what time of year it is. Apparently, the hole, which is estimated to be about 140 feet deep, attracts gators like insects to a lightbulb, but the numbers fluctuate wildly. If there are a lot, it's probably because it's the best place around to find a mate with that many choices! Best time to see gators is February, March and April...in the summer, they will be underwater trying to cool off to get away from the heat, just like Sparky and Eldo and the rest of us......

It's Earth Day and we are trying to do our part to conserve and save energy and recycle. Sun 'n' Fun has a huge recycling program here in the park. They recycle just about everything except hazardous materials. So, we hang our little bag in the motorhome, crush our cans, save our papers and magazines, and dutifully make trips twice a week or more down to the trash recycling center. Every little bit helps. It's amazing how much trash two people in an RV can generate! GEEZ!

In honor of Earth Day, here is an amazing photo of something Sparky and Eldo probably won't get to do in their lifetime for a number of reasons, but Linda and Howard of RV Dreams are...the North Coyote Butte "Wave" near Zion National Park in Utah...Isn't it beautiful!? You see places like this on your travels and until you see them, you can't really believe these geological formations exist they are so weird and wonderful and awe inspiring! So many beautiful, spectacular places in our country, waiting to be explored....And the RVing lifestyle is the perfect way to do it!

Robinson Preserve Bradenton, FL

Sarasota, FL       High:  87    Low:   70

Finally made it to Robinson Preserve today....We had heard a lot of nice things about it and so we checked it out. Hours are from sunrise to sunset. It's located on the northwest side of Bradenton at 1704 99th Street West. It's Sparky's kind of place--hiking, biking, an observation tower, a canoe-kayak launch, non-motorized bike trails, fishing off the piers and bridges, and wildlife viewing. It's a beautiful place....

Big ducks in the ponds, egrets and herons flying around....multiple bridges to ride or hike across....We took a little 10 minute hike today to the observation tower from the entrance gate....

It's an interesting tower with four corners sculpted into animal life, the fourth one had been broken off. Hope it wasn't vandalism!

There's a beautiful view awaiting for you at the top with a nice ocean breeze usually blowing. We could see the Tampa Bay Bridge in the distance, and even the Tropicana baseball stadium the skies were so clear. We saw standup paddlers coming through the bridge.....Sparky's camera batteries died after about two shots, so camera phone photos will have to do!

It was wonderful to look down below.....

They have a fitness trail at Robinson Preserve with six stations if you are so inclined to work out doing jumping jacks, a balance beam pull ups and dips, crunches, leg exercises, push ups and stretches. As today was 88 degrees, Sparky and Eldo decided NOT! They have seven walking/riding trails that range from 0.19 miles to 3.08 miles....so plenty of variety for short hikes or longer ones. We were wishing we had brought the bikes, but didn't. Sparky has arthritis in her left foot and ankle, and the old knees are creaking mightily, more so in the heat, it seems, so going for a long walk on a hot day is not as appealing as it used to be. Riding her bike? Yep! That will work for next time we come.

With the kayak launch, you can paddle to the Manatee River, the Perico Bayou and Palma Sola Bay.

The welcome center at the preserve is a beautiful historical house called the Valentine House.

There's some history of the area inside, and an interesting story how the house came from someplace else....On a barge by sea, and on land to get to its current spot at the preserve.

A volunteer was talking about a nest of bald eagles at the other side of the preserve, and the babies were just learning how to fly. We wanted to see them, but not wanting to walk all the way to the other side of the preserve. It was really really hot and there was no shade. Now if we had had our bikes, we would have ridden in a heartbeat to see if we could see them.

We would definitely like to come back to Robinson Preserve, we just don't know if we'll have time!

On the way home, we attempted to have a lunch at Star Fish Seafood Company, in the historical fishing village of Cortez, in Bradenton. It's a really really old place where the locals hang out, and the food is highly rated on Yelp and a couple other places. It looks like a dumpy little place from the outside, you are in the heart of the historical fishing village right at the docks with the old fishing boats. But it's one of those gems where people come by the bunches to try and get in there to get some really good seafood.

Word has gotten out about how good the food it, and it was JAMMED when we got there at around 1:00 PM. The place opens at 11:30. The place is so old and quaint, there's hardly any place to sit to meet the demand of those wanting to sit and eat. A few tables set up at the back of the fish market, and that's it! It has the kind of atmosphere like you feel you are sitting outside in a shack just outside the market, like where maybe they used to go for cigarette breaks when they first started selling their fish up front at the market. It's grown to be so popular, that they added tables out along the dock, and then some more picnic tables to the right out in the sun to the left of this photo below.

As much as we wanted to try it, the line was too long to place your order, and there was no place to sit, it was so busy. You place your order at the window, and they bring your food out in boxes, like to go food....The food looked WONDERFUL, but we decided to try it another time when it wasn't so busy. You probably have to get there when they first open or late at night, closer to closing...Hours are Tuesday thru Saturdays 11:30-8:00, and Sundays and Mondays, 11:30-3:00 PM. Mullet was their specialty, two portion sizes, at 7.50 and 10.50. Lots and lots of seafood choices....among them pompano fish, shrimp and grits, and most of their seafood is harvested by Florida fishermen. Sandwiches ranged from 5.95 to 12.95. We'll definitely check this out again if we can before we leave.....

A nice day, and it was gone before we knew it.....See you later.......

An Ordinary Day?

Sarasota, FL        High:  86     Low:  69

Another great morning for a bunch of pickleball games for Sparky. On the way home on her bike, she saw this leatherback turtle. He had his head wa-a-a-y up in the air, sunning or expectantly waiting for what that lady on the bike was going to do. Sparky got close enough to take a quick photo on the phone, and as soon as he heard that "CLICK!" he turned around and boogied into the water. Sparky thought turtles were SLO-O-O-W, but NO-O-O-O...that turtle scuttled so fast, she couldn't believe it! Ever  notice how turtles sunning on a log or anywhere up for air dive so fast when you come around? Even if you are stealthy, like Sparky, they still skee-daddle as fast as they can, plop, plop, plop off logs when they see Sparky's gliding kayak coming when she's trying to get a photo......Do they have good eyesight? Can they feel the vibrations of people coming?  Just wondering......

Eldy went off to investigate Sarasota on his own and to pick something up for Sparky, saving her LOTS of money as HE went to Michael's instead of her to get the one item which would have turned into TWENTY, must-have, can't- do -without items if Sparky had gone. :-)

Sometimes, a calm, ordinary day turns into a little something unexpected, like a chip clip flying off a bag of chips and wedging itself between two slides and disappearing! STOP, LOOK, and LISTEN. HOLD EVERYTHING! The priority is to get that object out before 1) we forget it's there, 2) it stays sight unseen till you start to bring in the slides and you hear the horrendous crushing noise and wonder if you are damaging the slide as it makes mincemeat out of whatever has fallen under the slide. So-o-o-o-o, how to get this little chip clip outta there?

First, out came the flyswatter....using first one end, then the other, first Sparky, then Eldo attempted to move that little booger into a spot where it could be seen and retrieved. It took two attempts and a lot of teamwork holding the flashlight to move it into position. Success! NOW we can see it. Now, HOW do we get it? It's too far to reach down into the space....See that little red clip with the black tip? Eldy was yelling, "DON'T DROP THE PHONE DOWN THERE TRYING TO GET A DAMN PICTURE!"

A string or loop with a slip knot was considered. AHA! Sparky had an idea..."We need one of those grabber thingies that people use to pick up roadside trash!" She headed down to the welcome center, thinking, naw, they won't have those in the office. They DID! Woo-hoo! Battle half won....

After a couple of attempts and more teamwork, (Harumph! Sparky kept grabbing the flashlight out of my hand trying to do it all herself! She's so damned independent, grouses E.) Sparky nabbed the chip clip. It was NASTY down there in that space. Time for cleaning the motorhome in the not-so-usual places!  And we think we might invest in one of these little handy dandy picker uppers for future uses or other such times we might need to retrieve something. You just never know....(Is there something else down there I should know about, Sparky? wonders E. ) Uh, nope, honey!    Bye for now.......

Winding Down....And the Nose That Knows

Sarasota, FL      High:  90     Low:  68

The park has really emptied out.....

Activities are slowing down and some are ending...

It's getting harder and harder to find people to play pickleball with...But Sparky got in five games this morning...The rest of the day was spent moving a little bit more slowly and fitting in a nap in the afternoon!

We've still got a week and a half to go, and we hope keep fairly busy. Sparky wants to visit Tree Umph! An Adventure Course in Bradenton..."The ground is overrated..." "Climb, swing, zip, jump all while 15-60 feet in the air"...Hanging nets, wobbly bridges, tarzan ropes--YEAH! Sparky's idea of fun, Eldo's not so much...  :-)  Fun doesn't come cheap, but it sure sounds like fun. An adult ticket is 49.95. Whewee! If you go early at 8:30 on a Saturday morning, the ticket drops to 34.95. Sparky may not be doing that after all. She really likes different stuff like that...

Remember Sparky wanted to do the water balls at Sun 'n' Fun? Well, it's too late...too close to the end of the season, Sun 'n Fun is not having those any more...darn! So that's why Sparky wanted to try the Tree Umph place...But it's pretty expensive!

Sparky wants to go see the Robinson Preserve...We'll be doing that soon, on a day that's not so hot. The weather guys are saying this is Florida's summer weather a little early...Whew! The next few days are supposed to cool down, so that will be a good time to go.....

Later Sparky worked on her breast cancer people pins for Relay for Life in Elkhart, IN. Then part of the day was spent investigating smells....Uh, when you live full time in an RV, you become more acutely aware of smells..."Do you smell something like a burning smell, hon?" "Um-m-m-m, no, do you?" "Well, I think I do, I think it's coming from the back." A couple of months ago, that's how Sparky discovered the ceiling fan capacitor had gone bad,  had overheated and caused the smell. Sparky used her nose to locate it and smell problem solved! Today there were a couple of weird smells...

"Gosh! What is that SMELL???" Sparky exclaimed, coming inside the door this morning. "

"I dunno, but you can sure smell it! Geez, that's really bad!"  said E. It was a strong rotten eggs, sulphur smell. We looked everywhere, and finally, we decided it was the black tank needing to be emptied. In this hot weather, the contents were really cookin'. Ewwwwwww!  No bathroom jokes here, thank you very much! We're on a two week cycle usually for dumping, after our gauges quit working a couple of months ago. They lasted two years before conking out, which is better than a lot of people's gauges on their RVs. Guess we  just got lucky with them. At any rate, it was time to do the dumping thing again. This time we used a sprayer to thoroughly clean the black tank. That's Eldy's specialty, although Sparky knows how to do it, too. After dumping the tanks, the smell went away...WHEW! How do we know when it's time to dump? Two weeks is usually when the sound of the water in the toilet changes as it is getting more full. About three days before the two weeks is up, Eldy closes the gray water tank to fill it for flushing the black tank, and we're good to go.

Later today...another smell...a burning smell...Eldy said it was an electrical smell, Sparky said it smelled like burning paper. Immediately, we started checking. We checked all around the rig, inside and out in the compartments, then Sparky decided it was coming from a source other than our place. She hopped on her bike, noticed that two sets of neighbors had grills going, and figured the wind was wafting some questionable smells our way. Not sure whether they were burning their dinner, or burning some papers in the grill, but that smell went away very quickly as well. You never know, with an RV, where and what is going on with regards to smells, but Sparky's nose is pretty reliable! (Sparky has fine tuned her nasal expertise from years of fine dining, laughs E.) Sparky is always on high alert when a new smell occurs in the rig....You never know what it might be and it's important to check it out, even if it is usually nothing! Which is a reminder to regularly check your monitor systems in your rigs. We test our smoke alarm detector on a regular basis. All Eldy has to do is make popcorn, or Sparky gets the frying pan going on high heat, or a lot of cooking steam goes into the air, and the alarm goes off!

And that's it for today.....We'll see you later....

Where Have All the Shark Teeth Gone?

Sarasota, FL      High:  84     Low:   70

Sparky has had trouble ever since she got to Sarasota, finding shark teeth at Venice Beach or Caspersen Beach, and that's where all the shark teeth are supposed to be...Well, here's an inside tip---they aren't at the beaches, they've all been snapped up by collectors in preparation for Venice's annual Shark's Tooth Festival! 

Just kidding, there are still plenty of teeth to be found at the beaches. You just have to have the right wave conditions to wash them into shore, or some little sifters to help you find them more easily, and/or lots of patience. And since Sparky expects to find one within five minutes of combing the rock ledges at Caspersen Beach, or a few minutes of looking at Venice Beach, she hasn't found one yet. But today....WOW! There they all were! All kinds and all different sizes...from little ones for 1.00 each....

To BIG ones...the megalodon teeth, the prehistoric ones selling for big bucks, from fifty to several hundred dollars!

All festivals seem to start to look alike after awhile, especially the crafts...But here are some new ones we saw today...night lights made out of beer bottles...Sparky immediately thought, is this a good idea, promoting alcohol awareness in an application which is usually used with young children? (or it could be in a bathroom, adds E.) Not sure who the buyer would be on this one or even if it's a good idea? Maybe in a bar room as mood lighting? Or in a craft brewery with their own bottle brand of beer? Hm-m-m-m-m...He wasn't selling very many that we could see, so maybe others were kind of wondering about that. He also makes wine bottle wind chimes and wine bottle hurricane lamps, so that makes more sense.

One of Sparky's favorites was the Coin Carver...This guy, Rich Bartholomew, out of Venice, FL was selling jewelry made from coins. He hand cuts out parts of these little coins and leaves fine coin details. He uses what looks like an ordinary coping saw but with special German blades. The coins were absolutely gorgeous and how he manages to cut out micro portions of the coins to leave the significant detailed parts left is AMAZING! He uses coins from all over the world to create his pieces. Sparky was so intrigued by them she forgot to get one. She wanted a dolphin one!

How about getting a crab or lobster stuffed for your Florida home? It was here...Ross Jones of R.J. Oceans will create unique pieces from your seafood catch if you didn't want to eat it. Anywhere from 20.00 to 2,000 dollars gets you a unique looking piece. Here's a 25 pound lobster caught off Cape Cod stuffed and ready for your Florida (or Maine) wall.

As always, Sparky was people watching...This little girl sitting right across from her had a messy piece of pizza, hm-m-m-mmmm....what to do?

Dive in headfirst, no hands!

Lots of things to do for the kids. A rock wall clim, an "army ops" exploration inflatable setup. You know that bucking bull ride that adults do sometimes? They had a shark ride with a mini "kick" to it for the kids.

Then there was the chainsaw massacre, er, chainsaw sculptures vendor...and a sign that confused Sparky a bit.

Year old fish? What significance does the age have to do with the chainsaw carving? Is Sparky missing something here? (Probably, smiles E.)

Want some mako shark teeth? Thirty bucks...

Lots of gemstones, dyed agates, sea glass, and fossil shells like these cool ammonite ones....Sparky would get some and put them under glass on a cocktail table or breakfast table.

Gator heads? Gotta 'em at the Shark's Tooth Festival! But Sparky didn't buy one.

And of course, Landshark Lager was here.....

And lots of people were here....

We enjoyed the festival, but not the location. It was right next to the airport, on dusty, dry fields. It was hot, and the dust and dirt was everywhere. Had it been at a nicer location, we would have enjoyed it more. Until tomorrow.....

Eldo's 65th Birthday Bash

Sarasota, FL      High:  87    Low:   69

It would be fun to say Eldo got a little wild and crazy on his 65th birthday, but in actuality, it was a quiet one....We went out to breakfast this morning at the Broken Egg, 'cuz they give you a free breakfast on your birthday. In all the times we've been there, the well known ESPN announcer, Dick Vitale, has shown up AFTER we have left, or wasn't scheduled to be there, or was busy announcing during basketball seasons. Today, on Eldy's 65th birthday, we pull in the parking lot behind a Mercedes convertible. It was Dick Vitale! If you are a sports fanatic, you might have wanted to shake his hand or get an autograph, or purchase one of his books to support a search for a cure for pediatric cancer. He was pushing hard for us to make a starting bid at 100.00 for an autographed basketball, which looked pretty cool, but we had to politely decline this time....Sparky is so NOT into sports that she has no clue who the guys are on each side of Dick, and until she came to Sarasota, she had never heard of Dick Vitale. (Sorry, Dick!) Eldy got to shake his hand, so the day was off to a nice start....

Off to Palmetto to see replicas of the Nina and the Pinta, the famous historical ships Columbus had on his expedition to sail to the Americas.  If you paid 8.00, you could go on board. Sparky and Eldy chose to look on from afar....The ships were side by side in the harbor. Hard to imagine over 100 men crammed on each one of these little ships coming across the Atlantic Ocean...Seeing these things up close and personal bring history so much closer to home and much more real-- a true testament to the courageous spirit of early explorers.

Checked out Coquina Beach on Anna Maria Island, a beautiful beach and very crowded today with families out on a  Sunday picnic and beach outing.....Off to dinner at Barnacle Bill's early diner dinner special--11.99 for steak, mashed potatoes and a beautiful mixed greens salad...Where's the cake, you ask? We didn't do dessert this evening...We were too full! Eldy was happy with his birthday dinner, he's not really a cake person....And finally, we headed over to Floribbean, in downtown Sarasota, another nice club where a 17 piece jazz band was playing, the Jazz Band Project--Shane Chalke, one of our favorite trumpet players told us about it, and he was there. It was great!

A wonderful way to end the birthday boy's day, and to top it off, when he got home, Steve Arvey, our favorite acoustic/blues guitarist, sent Eldy a YouTube video of him singing "Happy Birthday" from Ocean Blues!  It's been a great day!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, Eldy says!