...and so good to see Dave and Sandy again! I wish I had a photo here of Sandy and Dave together (and Abby). They have been such good friends along this Great Loop trip. They (and Abby) stopped by for the May 2 Bon Voyage party before I departed. Then Rick and I visited them at their incredible cottage in Ontario last Aug 3. Now they have been gracious hosts here at their new FL home, right on the Intracoastal Waterway. They have done airport runs for us, took us grocery shopping, provided scrumptious home-made dinners (and the post-ride lunch yesterday), Sandy made homemade Key Lime pie last night, they've helped at this marina...they are THE BEST! Looking forward to visiting them again and again.
I arrived on Sunday after a wonderful 10 days with Janet. The 5th graders were actually happy to see me back in the classroom! And Rylee, Janet's 6-yr-old granddaughter, was glad to have her Barbie playmate back when we had her for a weekend.
Yes, this was our turn-around point yesterday on our ride. The bridge we're on was the only time it wasn't completely flat. We did have a headwind for the first half, but then got the tailwind home. Still, my legs felt like jelly when we were done, since 50 miles was farther than I've gone for the past year. In this picture we're not all that far from Cape Canaveral where the shuttle departed last Thursday.
This picture I took last Feb 16 when we first arrived. Dave drove Lee and me on the wide, hard beach. They let you drive right on the beach! The Daytona car race originally was contested right here on the beach. By the way, when Lee and I arrived, it was "race week". The Daytona 500 was three days away, and the place is jammed with spectators for the entire week leading up to it. We barely made it through the crowds to the airport last Feb 17.
This is a picture of a campground along the Waterway, south of New Smyrna Beach when Lee and I arrived last Feb 16. I just wanted to show that not EVERY location along the Waterway in Florida is high-priced mansions and mega yachts. Mostly yes, but in a few spots, they have "regular" old homes and more modest boats.
Here's a picture of Jerry, Dave and me at the end of yesterday's ride, in front of Dave's home.
Then Rick and Beth arrived in the early afternoon. Dave took us to the grocery store and had to wait patiently while we took the cart down every aisle to provision the boat for the next month. We'll head out later this morning. It's been storming outside since 7 am, but now it's stopped raining. It'll be a great day as the adventure continues, toward St Augustine, the oldest town in the USA (founded 1565).
No comments:
Post a Comment