Life is Good in Tampa Florida - MacDill AFB Campground

(Tampa FL) 72 degrees, blue sky, ocean breeze

The weather is now absolutely perfect.  It's been much colder than anticipated leading up to this point but at last this is heaven.  We are now camping at the MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa Florida.  It is a fantastic military campground with lots of amenities. We have a full hook up site for two weeks.  Sites are close together with not a lot of the "it" factor.  However, the price is great at about $21/night and our neighbors are very nice.  In fact, everyone seems very friendly. 



Our campsite



You can stay longer but there is a rotation system that involves moving to dry camping, partial hook up and then full hook up every two weeks. There is some way you can make reservations a year in advance and stay longer,  but I'm not sure all the details about that option.  We called two weeks prior and were able to reserve this site for two weeks but after that we will have to do the rotation system. 

It is a very large base (over 5000 acres) and campground.  The beach is less than a five minute walk from our site with a nice restaurant.  I love this beach and hope to spend a lot of time here working on my tan, reading, kayaking, and enjoying the sunsets.  The retirement life sure is hectic! 



Beach near campground



Beach Restaurant



There is an active social schedule with crafts, day trips, and even a dinner club if you are interested.  A schedule to left at your door each week.  Most of the activities and mail room are handled by a large group of volunteers. This is a very organized place.  The commissary (grocery store) is huge with great variety.  The best we have seen to date.

The only downside would be the Internet access and cell phone service.  It is very slow including mine with Verizon.  I had to go to the library to write the blog today and catch up on email. There is also a long 25 minute drive from the campground to get off the base. 

According to the website the "MacDill AFB is the 6th Air Mobility Wing which provides day-to-day mission support to more than 3,000 personnel in its immediate command, along with more than 50 Mission Partners comprising over 12,000 additional personnel, to include the United States Central Command and United States Special Operations Command . It is a force capable of rapidly projecting air refueling power anywhere in the world. MacDill also bases the Aircraft Operations Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose NOAA Corps flies "Hurricane Hunter" missions in WP-3D Orion and Gulfstream IV aircraft."  General David Petraeus is stationed here.   We have found security to be very tight here for obvious reasons.

For now we have been staying close to our campsite.  John has been cleaning the motorcoach and doing lots of maintenance.  I've been cooking, walking Jimmy, and reading.  We took a long walk yesterday on a trail at the campground. It was a pretty walk out to a lake and eventually led to the golf coarse.  Some of the forest was very dense and it made us realize how difficult it must have been for explorers when they first arrived here. 

We met this guy along the way.  He was very busy trying to find something to eat and barely noticed us.  There is a lot of wild life right in the park.  Last night John saw a huge great horned owl. 



We plan to go explore Tampa and St. Petersburg soon.  I think we are really going to like it here.