With our first week behind us and over 300 miles covered by eight skinny tires we have all become very well acquainted with our saddles and looked forward to a day off. We had a spa day for the bikes, nursed a bum rash, and drained our legs in preparation for our trek through Northern Florida. Weaving through the big cities and cruising the straight rural roads in Southern Florida, the wildlife I notice most are the birds. Long necks, short ones, bright feathers, bland colors, all types spending the winter in paradise. Unfortunately that happens to be the most common type of roadkill I have seen in the sunshine state (yes, sometimes I ponder about such things like roadkill while biking 6 hours a day), which I find odd because birds are suppose to fly fast and dodge oncoming traffic unlike the curious raccoon and squirrel in the northern states which I am more accustomed to. Word of advice for Florida motorists...watch out for the birds and bicyclists.
Stopping in through Palm Beach Gardens we got to stay with Stephanie's family and have a first weeks ride celebration. Thanks Marti, Debby, Katie, Jen, and Rien Ray for the warm welcome, route reckon mission, and highway lunch buffet. We also got a Palm Beach County Police escort on the busy Route 80 for 15 miles to Okeechobee Lake. Keeping the road safe for us and a brief reprieve from traffic was much appreciated!
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| Palmer Girls and Rien Ray |
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| Road Side Buffet Frenzy |
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| Palm Beach County Police Escort |
Thank you Real Bikes shop on Route 41 in Venice, FL for hooking us up with new tires. I foresee fewer flats in the future. You guys are awesome!! And a big thanks to the Coastal Cruisers for referring us to David Reynolds at Real Bikes. It was so nice to meet you all. Venice is a great bike friendly community and beautiful town. You are all so lucky to have a town with bicycle and pedestrian lanes as great as this with a beautiful legacy trail to ride on.
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| Coastal Cruisers before their Saturday Ride |
Bum Blog: 5 out of 10, not so hot. Eshhk... I'm working on it
Posted by Stephanie
Hello Ladies:
ReplyDeleteLove seeing all the pictures and following the first few days of your trip - let me know how we can help/support when you arrive in Austin - we can host a meal/your night/come join you out...just tell us how we can help! Miss ya Jeanie!
Kristin and Ryan