Clearwater, FL (11/11 - 11/30/23)

After a couple of Harvest Host stays on our way, we moved farther east and south to Palm Harbor near Clearwater, FL. We stayed at the Clearwater/Lake Tarpon KOA Holiday to be used as our launching point to get to the beach and ride the trails nearby.

On our way to Clearwater, we stayed the night at an animal rescue Harvest Host that was near Fanning Springs where the Nature Coast State Trail was located. This picture was where the trail crossed the Suwannee River. We were able to ride about half of this trail while here for the afternoon.

The trail ended in a nice park on the south end in Chiefland. Our Harvest Host was conveniently located just about a mile from the trail.

After the ride we had dinner on the Suwannee River at Suwannee Bell Landing for more seafood for us!

Our favorite beach in Clearwater was the Honeymoon Island State Park where we could relax on the warm days. Here we purchased the annual pass for FL state parks since we knew we would be visiting the parks while we wintered in FL this year.

Another view of the calm and tranquil seas this day.

While we were here we were also lucky enough to be able to meet up with some former Sherikonians (Kim and Linda) and the three on the left are from the Class of '85 Middletown Knights.

We rode our bikes through the Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park where we were surrounded by turtles. Here is a friendly guy who came right up to less than two feet from me, surprising me with his boldness, making me flinch which made him stop his charge. This trail was fairly new and in great condition. It is part of the FL Coast to Coast trail that traverses the state from St. Petersburg to Titusville. It is made up of existing trails and a series of connectors to make it a contiguous trail across FL.

Another trail we rode that is part of the FL C2C is the 46-mile Fred Marquis Pinellas rail trail that runs through Clearwater and St. Petersburg. This trail is also a member of the Rail Trail Hall of Fame. To view our progress on our march to ride all of the HoF Trails, see my HoF Trail status page.

At the beginning of the Fred Marquis is the Tampa Bay at the St. Pete Pier.

This is another view of the bay from the trail.

Since we were fairly close to the Villages, FL, we also took some time to visit family (Mom-Diane, Step Dad-Ron) for a great Thanksgiving.

If you are interested in seeing the history of where we have been since we went full-time RV'ing, see my Google maps on my blog site.