Florida - Day 19 - Tampa and St. Petersburg

Hillsborough River State Park, Thonotosassa

Saturday, 4 February 2023

today's route

more detailed view of route

We left that farm campground at 10:20, by which time the farmers market was in full swing.  There were cars and people everywhere cluttering up the campground exit.  Considering the campground has more than 100 campsites, you'd think this place would have a safer, more sensible route so the sometimes very large and cumbersome RVs could leave without dodging lots of market customers and little kids wanting to visit the petting zoo.  But we managed to make it out without hitting anyone.

I stopped for gas just before I-75 ($3.33/gallon) and drove north for a half hour.

I'd picked a route that I hoped would let me see some of both Tampa and St. Petersburg.  As far as I can tell, this whole area is a massive metro area (almost 2.9 million residents in 2020 and still growing) where the towns all run together.  But Tampa is primarily on the east side of Old Tampa Bay, connected by several very long bridges to St. Petersburg and Clearwater on the other side.

Before noon on a Saturday, traffic was stop-and-go in Tampa, and I had trouble following Google's directions because streets weren't always named what Google said they were named.

I saw a billboard that said, "Can a billboard end antisemitism?

                                         No, you're not a billboard."

Clearly another one in the series I mentioned seeing in Miami.

We crossed the bay using I-275, aka the Howard Frankland Bridge (3 miles long).

Across the bay in St. Pete, I was following some seriously involved directions to a recycling dropoff site, figuring I'd once again been played by Google with its insistence on taking strange side roads for the shortest route to someplace.  On the way I stumbled across a small park, it was 12:30, so we stopped for lunch.  While I was walking Dext I thought I saw the turn for the recycling place down the street, so at 1:15 we went down there and, sure enough, it was the place.  They let me leave everything I'd saved, including the little plastic berry containers.  So that was great.

We went back down the street to a grocery store and a nearby pet supply store (which didn't have anything I needed).

We drove north through Clearwater and then crossed the bay again on the Courtney Campbell Causeway (10 miles long).  We had a great view of Tampa as we crossed.  (And by the way, aren't I getting better at this bridge-crossing thing?)  This causeway is unusual for having long areas of a park that includes beach (or at least sand), picnic tables, swings and parking areas and so forth on both sides of the road.  And they were seriously popular on a pretty day like today turned out to be.  People everywhere - fortunately, all off the road.

Back in Tampa, I passed the 13th Judicial Circuit Court and saw an incredible and unusual statue.  I couldn't stop to take a photo and now I can't find anything online that isn't copyrighted.  It keeps being described as a Lady Justice statue, but it really doesn't bear much resemblance to what we usually see - a blindfolded woman holding scales and a sword.  This woman has a blindfold that's so thin she can very likely see through it.  One of her hands is held up, while the other is held lower and cupped, but neither has anything in it.  Her dress is different, her hair or headgear is different - she's just different.  And striking.  Clearly I'll have to go back to Tampa sometime and take a photo to put here.  In the alternative, you can see her if you use the Google streetview for the address 800 E Twiggs St in Tampa, at the corner of Twiggs and Jefferson.  That's the only clear view I could find.

I passed through lots of neighborhoods, Jackson Heights for instance.  I passed a Bausch & Lomb plant - I've sure used a lot of their products since I got my first pair of contact lenses in the 10th grade.

I noticed that all over the area there were sidewalks along major roads like US-301.  I don't know what the area's metro transit system is like, but at least pedestrians and bicyclists can operate in relative safety.

We got into our campsite just before 5:00 after dumping the waste tanks.  I walked Dext and, just before 6:00, I discovered my electric connection had stopped working.  When I called an after-hours number for the campground, the guy told me power was out all over the area, and he too wanted it to come back on so he could fix his supper.  And it did come back at 6:30.

By the time I'd fed everybody, I was nearly exhausted.  Two out of the last 3 days involved some heavy driving and it about wore me out.  I was glad I'd reserved this spot for 2 nights instead of my usual 1.