VAN 12-Park Tour Jay B. Starkey Park
4 March 2023
VAN 12-Park Tour Part Three brought us to Jay B. Starkey Park in Pasco County. This park holds a special place in our hearts as home to the annual Remembrance Love Walk. The first annual Remembrance Love Walk was held here on 11 February 2023 with over 125 participants who walked to raise money toward awareness and prevention of suicide.Â
Mother nature offered cloud-spackled blue skies and a cool breeze this early March morning. Just what we needed as we circled up for the Pride Strength Training Warm-up session. Jeoffrey Walters, a personal trainer with Pride Strength Training, provided free exercise bands and great tips and techniques to warm up our muscles before heading out on our adventure.Â
This park is unique in offering rentable cabins and RV parking sites and is a popular park for large walking, running, and biking events. Bikers especially love Jay B. Starkey as the park connects to the 42-mile paved Suncoast Trail via the 7.5 mile paved trail within the park. There are also 7.5 miles of equestrian trails complete with a corral and watering trough.Â
Time Together
Part Three of the VAN 12-Park Tour brought together friends, veterans, service dogs, and counselors to share some time together along the trails. We all gathered together in the large open field that is sprinkled with protected turtle nesting areas. There, we enjoyed a warm-up session with Jeoffrey Walters, Pride Strength Training personal trainer. We were all grateful he wasn’t too hard on us.Â
After the warm-up, we took off on the paved trail where we came across participants of the Stop Addiction 5k. Our walk mirrored the recent 1st Annual Remembrance Love walk, a 2.2 mile round trip hike to represent the 22 veterans lives lost each day to suicide.Â
Be sure to visit the VAN 12-Park Tour schedule and plan to join the team for future tours throughout Tampa Bay. We will explore parks in Pasco, Pinellas, and Hillsborough Counties on the first Saturday of each month.Â
At each tour, VAN will provide “I Was There” tickets that participants can collect in exchange for great prizes at our Tour Finale in December. Participants who tour four or more parks with us in 2023 will receive a special event medal and T-Shirt in December!
Join Us Next Time
We hope to see you at our next park tour, which will be at Sawgrass Lake Park in Pinellas County. We will welcome special guests, Pride Strength Training, to conduct our warm-up and Vanessa Martin with Martin Security Services to give us photography tips. Bring your camera! See you there!
VAN 12-Park Tour Schedule is on our Website! Click HERE to ACCESS
