Manatee Springs State Park, Chiefland, FL:  Foggy, warm, and humid this morning.  After some breakfast we started putting things away.  Hooked up, stopped by our hosts, Deborah and Wayne to say goodbye and we’re on the road again by 10:30.  After a short stop in Ingles for breakfast we were in our park and set up by 2:00.  Fortunately, we remembered to affix our Sunpass thingy to the windshield last night, because from now on we’ll be using the Florida Turnpike a lot.  And it is a great convenience.  Speaking of which, while we were on the southbound lane of the turnpike we encountered a tortoise crossing the road.  We managed to go over him without hitting him.  Hopefully the car behind us did the same. Talked to my sister briefly who we’ll be visiting while we’re here.  She sounds horrible.  Has a sinus infection.  We will definitely keep our visits short. Going to a restaurant tonight that Mike saw featured on the show “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.”  It’s called Skippers and it’s in Tampa somewhere.  We entered the address into our GPS system and it took us right there.  Only about 10 minutes away.  And this place had a lot of character.  Reminded us of Ricky’s Blue Heaven Café in Key West.  Mike got barbecued gator ribs (gasp) and I had black beans and rice.  I tried the gator ribs.  They were excellent!

Our host, Deborah, and her dog, Buddy.  This feral dog was rescued from an avocado orchard near Miami at 14 weeks, along with some other feral dogs.  Deborah and her husband, Wayne, adopted him.  He's now 11 months old and is the best dog.  He's a little wary and loud noises scare him, but he is a charmer.  Deborah and Wayne have worked with him a lot, and he understands sit, down, stay, leave it, etc.  Amazing!