Dadventure! Just the guys roadtrip...

[Martins HeirCon]

If you find yourself in Largo at breakfast time, you gotta eat at Doc's. Just don't plan on wanting any lunch! The menu says "Come Hungry!"

The place is run by the family of a young optometrist that came sown for a vacation in 1975. He caught the "Keys Disease" and hasn't made it back to the mainland yet!


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[Martins HeirCon]

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[Martins HeirCon]

We barely made it to Pennekamp for the 9:15 sailing of the Spirit. I highly recommend the trip. It was Dad-friendly, with an air conditioned salon where the glass-bottom viewing wells are.



He regaled me with tales of how he rarely saw daylight when he was on USS Independence.


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[Martins HeirCon]

After leaving Pennekamp, we shopped for some supplies and managed to score a site at Bahia Honda SP for Monday night.



I dropped the Trillium and plugged in the AC, then we went exploring. Bought some local Mangrove snapper and I got to paddle the Horseshoe quarry on Scout Key.

The reason we stopped short here 35 miles out was to catch the ferry to Pigeon Key today (Tuesday). Worth a viait to tour the hundred year old facilities.

.


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[Martins HeirCon]

Tonight we're at NAS Key West, on Dredger's Key.



I snuck in a good long paddle while Dad napped.

Attachment 1


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[Martins HeirCon]

Wednesday we toured Fort Zachary Taylor on Key west



Note the guns used for fill. When the fort was "modernized" in 1898, the top two tiers were removed and new batteries erected on top.


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[MC1]

Originally Posted by Martins HeirCon

Oh my LORD, call the towing police! I wonder what the owners manual says about this??

Attachment 87803

Along about Gainesville spotted this cool teardrop behind a 'Vette


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Vettes seem to make great TV's.......

[Martins HeirCon]

And why not? A Vette is just a Chevy pickup with a fiberglass body kit!


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[Martins HeirCon]

Yesterday we left Key West at 6 AM, bound for Lithia, FL. Along the way we stopped at Big Cypress preserve



When we arrived at Lithia Spring Park, we found the spring and the river closed due to flooding. There were plenty of sites available, but danger of more flooding in the campground. Add to that the displaced snakes crawling everywhere and I decided to decamp. We landed at Simmons Park in Ruskin, FL, right on Tampa Bay.


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[Martins HeirCon]

The critters here are less sinister.



The coon and cats were just calmly foraging together ( in the dumpsters).


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[Martins HeirCon]

Well, we made it back home safely on Saturday evening. Roughly 2250 miles in 8 days.

I had a great time with Dad, got to see some new places, and also some familiar places from a different angle.
Spent too much, ate out too often, didn't really camp much but that's ok. Not everybody relaxes wide open like I do!

The only camper problem was on the final morning when I forgot to roll the tongue jack up fully. Snagged it on pavement edge and bent the tongue flange. I'll fix that right up.

Averaged 14.5 MPG, that's consistent with my other trips with the 4Runner towing.


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[David Tilston]

Please do post your fix for the tongue jack. I have the same problem. Not because I forgot to crank it up, but just because it hangs down too far.

[Martins HeirCon]

I'm not sure my tongue jack is like the original. I added a coupler with the 3-bolt flange in the center when I cut off all that monstrous tongue extension.
Speaking of that extension, I worry that my tongue is bent upward from that extra leverage. The tongue isn't level with the frame. Consequently, the jack, which is at a right angle to the tongue, isn't perpendicular to the ground when the trailer is level. Make sense?


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[David Tilston]

Makes sense, but I have the same kind of tongue jack.

Do you think your frame is bent?

[Martins HeirCon]

I do. It just points uphill to the coupler when the trailer is leveled.
I added the reinforcing plates per the recall, and am always checking for cracks, but It just looks goofy.


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[Martins HeirCon]

I have access to a frame machine, I may get a wild hair and flatten it out.

As far as fixing the jack flange, I thought I might add a reinforcing plate, just cut out a matching part to weld across the bent area.


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[David Tilston]

My brother recommends extra washers on the front bolt, under the jack flange.

[Martins HeirCon]

Well, if I don't straighten the frame to be level, I'll distort then reinforce that 3-bolt area to make the jack hang plumb. Actually from the way it's bent now, I just won't quite fully straighten it!
I've had other trailers in the past with similar jack setups, and it seems to always end up bending in that area.


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[Raff]

Looks like you had a great trip. Priceless moments with Dad. Looking forward to retracing some of your route.


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