We left after reviewing the directions
from Mapquest on how to get to the ports. It was a Sunday
morning around 8 am. We went right downtown Tampa, along
narrow streets. The traffic was not bad at
this time of day. I would never ever recommend taking any
size
RV this way during business hours. Congested, congested,
congested at the port. There was a very small parking lot
for
RVs but the gate was closed at this time of day. Our 40 ft
RV would not have fitted in there anyway. After going
around the circle, we found the parking lot of some
businesses on the left hand side of the street. One of the
guards from the port came running up to us saying that we
could not stay there. When he found out we were only going
to be there long enough to load some passengers on the
ship he let
us stay. We got everyone and luggage loaded to the ship in
2 trips, using our Honda mini-van that we tow.
Then we left to go to Bay Bayou Campground northwest of
Tampa following the Mapquest directions again. We did
not have any problem but did have to go through downtown
Tampa again. Bay Bayou is a very good campground. If you
ever go there, please turn left inside the lot. There is a
sign that says "keep right" but each large RV we saw
that actually turned right got in a bind with the front of
the RV up side of the fence and the tow car at an angle
and hard to
get loose.
We stayed in Tampa the whole week taking different
directions each day to explore.
We really liked Tarpon Springs where the
greek sponge fishermen live and work.
We also liked Honeymoon Island. There was a small charge to get on the
island and the first sign we saw was that rattlesnakes
live on the island.
We visited Lazy Days RV center but did not check out any
new RVs. This was our first time to Lazy Days. It is huge.
We also visited Bates RV center
which sells Dynamax RVs. We did go into one of the larger
ones .It was beautiful. The owner had a used Prevost and
matching trailer for sale which I would love to own.
We also visited the RV dealer that
sells Freightliner and Haulmark designs the RVs. It was on
hillsborough st. It was very, very nice. My son-in-law
owns a trucking company and one of these RVs would be
right up his alley.
Well, Tampa was nice, but it is now time to pick up our
friends and head home. I am putting these directions here
only so I will not forget them. These are from the port in
downtown Tampa to the I-275 to head north.
Starting at Channelside near the Tampa Aquarium parking
lot:
Turn left on Kennedy
Turn right on Ashley (sign is 275)
use right lane at the 75 - 4 sign
at the split use left lane 275 to Ocala
take 75 north to home.
We traveled a total of 2,178 miles in the RV round trip
to/from our home.
We enjoyed the trip and hope our friends had as much fun
on their cruise.
We left Tampa around 9:30am and arrived at our daughter's
house in Greensboro around 11:30pm on Easter Sunday. There
was very much traffic all the way home but it did not
rain.
