Monday February 2, 2015

A short ride today due mainly to the fact that we had a warmshowers in Crystal River. The other reason to stay in Crystal River is the fact that the next major Town with accommodation is another 80 kms down the road!

We started of at about 9:30 am the weather was warm but with an ominous grey cloud hanging over us. Within 30 minutes into the ride the heavens opened and it continued to rain all morning. It only stopped as we were coming into Crystal River!

The route today took us along Highway 19. It is a four-lane divided highway (2 lanes each way) with speeds of 55 mph to 60 mph! Not a worry we had a bicycle lane for the first 16 kms and then a wide well-paved shoulder for the remainder of the way. All the vehicles gave us plenty of room even though we were on the paved shoulder they still moved over into the other lane.

Bob had told us the road wasn’t too busy after Spring Hill and it wasn’t. Despite the rain it was a good ride. However, he didn’t warn us that we were passing through an area that had bears! Bears in Florida who knew!

By the time we found our warmshowers host’s bicycle shop we were cold and wet, but not too miserable. Although Fred had offered to host us, we weren’t sure whether we were going to have to pitch the tent. Fred immediately put our fears to rest and said we would have a warm spot to sleep in. That meant no pitching the tent.

Fred welcomed us into his shop and put the kettle on straight away for a good hot cup of tea. He was waiting for his sister and brother-in-law (Nellie and Larry) to come back to the shop and then they would take us to his house. We chatted to Fred, he has done quite a few bike tours, and it was interesting to hear about them, especially as some of them took him through the areas we will be going through.

Ralf loves bike shops and he had time to check out every thing in the store before Nellie and Larry arrived. The only thing he bought were two rubber booties for his bike stand and some conditioning wax for the Brooks saddles (the other tin of wax melted in Australia).

We headed to Fred’s house and had a lovely hot shower. We dried our wet clothes and had a great chat to Nellie and Larry. They were farmers from Missouri – they rent their land and have decided to do some travelling.

Before we came over to the house Fred was telling us that it was nothing fancy and he had only just moved in so things were not in their place. We assured him we would be o.k.

Nellie made a wonderful dinner for us all chicken legs, potatoes and green beans. Good home-cooking, it was lovely. Ralf and I, as usual, cleared the dishes, washed and dried the dishes. Nellie wanted us to sit down as we were guests. We told her that we always do the dishes at our warmshowers hosts as this is the only thing that we can do to show our appreciation and thanks for being hosted.

We chatted the evening away and were in bed on the futon mattress in the living room by 10:30.

We were expecting Floridian hospitality and got mid-west hospitality instead.