Slowcarfasthouse had the good fortune to hang out in Tampa for a while. It is so awesome to hear from people and be invited to visit! A while back we were contacted by a guy that Mike went to school with in New Hartford, NY. We have been in touch since then! Finally, we are in his area and the re-connect was immediate. (*You might say we resigned ourselves to resigning the friendship*) We have had some fun times with Chuck and his family. We even had the opportunity to fly the youngest son, Ryan out from college for a long weekend. And WOW did we see some great stuff!
The fun started with a hockey game, of course! 
The Tampa Bay Lightening lost, but it was fun anyway!
The next day we did van projects and made a short trip to Lakeland, Florida. That is the location of Florida Southern College and an AMAZING collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture. Learn more about this great designer here https://www.artsy.net/artist/frank-lloyd-wright We strolled the campus and snapped photos. I was in awe of the unique walkways, buildings and features.
In downtown Lakeland we spotted this cool sculpture of a man balancing on a wire with wind chimes. 
and had a yummy dinner. Whew what a full day. Our time here also included a trip to a strawberry market with the most amazing, fresh strawberry deserts and tons of plants for sale. 
We also went to a really cool Italian market and took this goofy photo and bought delicious food. 
We saw kite surfers at one beach on the way to another beach.
We strolled Siesta Beach and then sat along the canal at Chucks friends house.
Ryan leaves today (we will stay a bit longer). It has sure been fun having him here while we visit with these great folks.
A few more days of Tampa area, and then off to the rest of this peninsula. The weather has been great and the fun just keeps coming!
You guys know you are more than welcome to come stay with me when I get set up with the tiny house. There will be plenty of room, and you won’t have to sleep in the van. I plan on having a full to queen size bed and a loveseat or couch that people can sleep on (my current loveseat has a pullout twin size bed I would use when couples come to visit.)
I cannot believe how great Ryan looks. Wow!