3/1/2022 – 3/11/2022
I haven’t been doing much in the past couple weeks. I was planning on doing a medical study that would keep me here for the rest of the month, but I got deferred. Ashley booked her flight based on that so she will be flying in at the end of the month. I’m kind of stuck here until then.
Anyway, on the 28th I did some exploring around the city. I went to the Hindu Temple of Florida first. This is a modern temple built to look like the old Hindu temples. It was closed so I couldn’t go inside, but it was pretty neat anyway.
My next stop was Raymond James Stadium, the Bucs stadium.
I realized that I was way overdue for an oil change so I found a Walmart and hung out there for an hour or so and ended my night at Florida Brewing Co.
On the 29th I wanted to check a few other breweries off my card. I started at Bru Growler Bar, This place specializes in as you’d expect, filling growlers. I tried a couple local beers and then moved onto Keel Farms Ale and Cider. This place was a winery that also made some beer and ciders. I tasted a few of their wines and they were not for me. The cider was good and the beer was fine. After that I went to what turned out to be my local bar, Brew Hub. These guys brew their own stuff along with a bunch of different companies beers. They even brew for Drekker.
I didn’t really do anything for the next few days. I did want to watch the big UFC fight though. I found a bar in Lakeland, FL that was showing it, Duke’s Brewhouse. This place was like Twin Peaks. Mediocre food, but the scenery is good. There was this middle aged drunk trucker there that was being loud and stupid. I had to move away from him and the other guy by him told him that he didn’t want to talk to him anymore. I moved next to a couple big into the UFC. They had a friend that always had ringside seats and have been to a ton of them.
I happened to look up how much tickets to the Players tournament cost and decided that they were cheap enough to go check out. I got a ticket for Wednesday. I drove up on Tuesday so I could check out the parking situation and where to sleep for the night. I found a strip mall about a mile away from the course that I figured I could park in for the day. Since it was only Wednesday I figured they wouldn’t be towing. I found a place to sleep for the night and looked at the tickets closer and found I could upgrade my ticket to get access to the Deck. This is like a VIP area with free beer, wine and soft drinks.
I got there at about 11AM, I got lost on my way in so that took an extra 30 or 45 minutes. When I got in I walked around half of the course. I stopped and watched a few of the bigger names. I stopped by the 17th and they were having a mini challenge for the caddies on that hole. This is the hole that is on an island. I hung out for a while there and made my way to the Deck. I’m so happy I upgraded my tickets. It was totally worth the extra $25 to get access. I got my money’s worth just from the free drinks. It was so nice to be able to sit on chairs in the shade and watch either holes 16 or 18.
Just as I was walking to the front half of the course they blasted the lightning sirens. I was just going to wait it out on the Deck, but they shut that down and kicked everyone out. I made my way to the exit and it was starting to rain. I’m glad it mostly held out until I got to the van. I happened to be parked next to a restaurant/bar so I went in to wait out the rain. I ended up staying there the entire night. They had great specials and trivia bingo. I won a $5 bar tab on one of the rounds. It was an excellent day, even with the weather.
Earlier in the week I got my house batteries tested in the van and found them all to be shot. Replacements would’ve cost around $600 so I looked around for lithium batteries. I found some on eBay and Amazon. I called all the local places. I was deciding on one from Amazon or building my own pack with individual cells and parts. If I were at home I totally would’ve gone with building my own, but without a permanent address it’s hard to get stuff shipped to me. I made friends with the GM at Brew Hub and he let me ship a battery to their address and I could pick it up there.
So, it gets delivered there today. I went to the gym and made supper before I go to pick it up. When I get there the GM had just left and didn’t hear anything about it yet. I asked the server to give him a call. I talked to him and will hopefully find it tomorrow morning.