Saturday January 24, 2015 to Saturday January 31, 2015

We spent Saturday, making lists of things we need to get done this week before heading out towards the start of the next leg of the Grand Adventure (Southern Tier of the United States). We ordered the maps from the Adventure Cycling Organization, got the bikes in for a service and bought all the food and camping gas etc. we needed for the next leg.

It was a busy week getting ourselves organized. We took our bikes to Suncoast Trails Bike Shop who did an awesome job checking the bikes out. We needed quite a bit of maintenance done to them, but at least they did a good job and the bikes are ready for the next 15,000 kms!

We have decided not to go to St. Augustine to start the Southern Tier. It would mean cycling 200 miles east to St. Augustine, so we decided to cycle straight north up to Tallahassee and start the Southern Tier from there.

I had a bit of a cough leaving Cuba, I thought it was the pollution on my chest, but no I had a cold. I spent a day in bed trying to shake it, but it just had to work itself out of the system. I generously passed it on to Ralf, who also took to his bed for a day.

The weather was quite cool in New Port Richey. I wasn’t sure I had enough clothes to put on to stay warm.

On the one warm day we had during the week, Gail and Bob took us to Tarpon Springs. Tarpon Springs is famous for its sponges and sponge diving.

I had to laugh at this bicycle, there was a shark sitting on the seat.  The guy sitting on the bench reminds me of an old Greek guy.

The weather has finally warmed up and we will be heading out tomorrow on this leg of the Grand Adventure.

We were going to head out today but Ralf was not feeling up to the ride. Ralf is still suffering from the cough, but we have to get going at some stage.

It was really good staying with Gail and Bob for the week. They live in a nice community in New Port Richey.  There was a small pond in the park and we saw a variety of birds: Sandhill Cranes, something that looked like a cormorant airing his wings, and lots of other water fowl. They also got lovely sunsets.

Bob and Gail really looked after us, from making sure we had the drugs for our colds to driving us all over the place to pick up our supplies for the next leg. I can’t thank them enough for how they helped us.

I was able to Skype all my family in England and my sister in Cyprus. It was good to talk to everyone.