Thursday, February 19th, was a busy day for Jerry Robinson. After provisioning his 40-foot-long, 50,000-pound, 8-wheeler bus for a week, he and his wife, MJ, hit the road in the stainless steel vintage WanderLodge for a rally in Fort Meade, Florida.

“It’s not an RV,” Robinson is quick to specify. “It’s a bus. It’s the same kind of bus that rock bands used in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s to crisscross the country. They’re built so durably that that’s what they all used.”

Robinson’s vintage restored bus is indeed a relic from the late 1980s. The bus itself was made in 1988, and has since been retrofitted inside to mirror a luxury late ’70s interior, complete with marble tile in the kitchen suite, vivid colors, double closets, a full bedroom with a queen-size bed, a full bathroom, and three AC/heating units.… Read More

Water. Bruce Denson grew up on it (in the form of a family lake house in Ocala National Forest). He currently has a bunch of it in his Snell Isle backyard (in the form of a brightly tiled swimming pool and shimmers-in-the-sun Smacks Bayou). And he’s found a way to weave it into the lives of the troubled individuals he encounters in his role as a criminal defense and DUI attorney (in the form of… well, we’re about to get to that).

Bruce is so all about H20, in fact, that he even created a red-hot stand-up paddleboarding event, the Florida Cup, that’s winning raves along the Gulf Coast and far beyond.… Read More

Sara Pennypacker is the award-winning author of illustrated children’s books that are funny, touching, and real. The themes running through her stories are the enduring ones: friendship, family, loss, joy, and independence. In a booming and competitive market for children’s literature, Pennypacker has earned an international following of diehard fans. Her genius lies in creating characters you instinctively root for, love, and remember long after the book ends.

Pennypacker splits her time between Cape Cod and St. Petersburg, where she and her partner, David, are busy remodeling their home in the Old Northeast. “I love it here,” she said during our backyard interview on an overcast winter’s morning.… Read More

It was a chilly January morning in The Tampa Bay Metro area. The air temperature was about 54° as the sun was starting to rise over the Bay and the water temperature was just above 60°. Most people wouldn’t even dream of sticking a toe in the water, but on Gandy Beach, 150 men and women had donned wetsuits and were getting set to dive in for a very good cause! It was the 6th annual Tampa Bay Frogman Swim, a charity fundraising event that benefits The Navy SEAL Foundation. This charity has a four-star rating by Charity Navigator and has been certified by Charities of America as a “Best in America” Charity.… Read More