tampa, florida - for real and for rest

so, i'd already been through tampa twice - once on my way into florida, and again on my way up the gulf coast before meeting up with my relatives back on the atlantic side.  finally i had the chance to return to the gulf side to visit mike for a longer time as promised and not have it be so rushed!  it became the most restful visit i'd had in the four months of my journey.

i desperately needed a significant break from the constant travel.  i take plenty of breathers as i go, but none of them really count as a recouping break.  the only day in the last four months that was more than a simple rest was my day in death valley when i was in the middle of nowhere and decided to not go anywhere, not interact with anyone, and simply read a book.  that was in early january.  i was again due for another slowdown.

my plan was to spend at least a week with mike.  it turned out to be a whole two weeks of fun and rest in the tampa and st petersburg area with mike and kelly!

i'll post a couple blogs about what i did in that time, but part of my rest included not worrying about keeping up this blog or getting photos of things i did or even having to keep track of what i did.

hopefully i'll incorporate real breaks into my journey more often.