• Passing a car

    Sounds painful but really it wasn’t.

    We were tootling along GA 121 when we encountered someone out for a Sunday drive on Saturday. Going 45 in a 60 zone is bad enough but then the speed decreased to 40. Time to do something!

    Things don’t happen quickly in the Barge. Given our acceleration is usually furlongs per fortnight, I figured our passing distance was several miles.

    When all was clear as far as I could see, I put the pedal to the metal and tried to attain Warp 8. And she shook her butt a moment, dropped into second and did exactly that. By the time I looked in the mirror there was a cloud of black smoke like an old F3 loco going uphill and no slow little car to be seen.

    I was really surprised. This was no stately procession; this was 10 tons of a rocket ship.

    Barge my ass.

     

  • Happy Traveler RV Park, FL

    Happy Traveler RV Park has 224 FHU sites, mostly back-in, can accomodate big rigs, good wifi, the usual showerhouse and pool, three laundry rooms and cable TV at some sites plus a nighttime guard at the gate.

    Site # 130

    Site # 130

    We’d selected it because it was handy to getting some work done on the Barge; I-75 is a couple of blocks away and US-301 is just around the corner. At the corner of Fowler Ave. and US-301 is a Winn-Dixie and a liquor store.

    This park is one of those from back when US-301 was a major highway and everyone heading south to Tampa and points south came down US-301. There’s a couple of other big old-style parks in the Thonotosassa area. These days it’s mostly seasonal and permanent residents.

    The Pool!

    The Pool!

    Happy Traveler had in the past a reputation of containing lots of junky campers with all sorts of stuff scattered around and under them; that’s all gone now. When I called for a reservation the manager made it clear that if our camper didn’t look decent we’d be turned away and there was no scattered stuff anywhere in the park. The facilities were very clean and the maintenance folks were often doing battle with the oak leaves.

    One of 3 Laundry facilities!

    One of 3 Laundry facilities!

    Which brings up the topic of the oak trees. Lots of them. I moved the satellite dish all over the site without any luck. Fortunately the free wifi was fast and stable.

    Happy Traveler Cafe!

    Happy Traveler Cafe!

    The sites are variable; some are suitable only for small campers while others are rather wide and some are pull-through.

    There are a few activities such as card games in the clubhouse; we don’t do any activities other than walk around and photography. One nice thing is that the cafe is open Friday and Monday serving some decent inexpensive meals.

    Although many folks at the park were seasonal and longer campers everyone was friendly.

    Rental Cabins!

    Rental Cabins!

    The park was very quiet during the work week because many people went off to work and there were no children around.

    We liked Happy Traveler so much we stayed an unplanned second week just to relax after our repair-shop visits and to just take it easy.

    Happy Traveler RV Park
    9401 E Fowler Ave, Thonotosassa, Florida 33592

    813-986-3094 / 800-758-2795

    www.happytravelerrvpark.com