Sunday February 1, 2015

I woke up early, excited that we were going to start cycling again. We left Gail and Bob’s at 9:45 am, a little late but the weather had warmed up and I didn’t need to wear my knee warmers or a jacket.

Ralf is still not 100%, but we really had to start cycling. The route today was flat along a dedicated cycle way adjacent to the Suncoast Highway. We cycled through Starkey Park and then joined the Suncoast Trail.  Starkey Park is a State Park that used to be a cattle ranch many years ago, but it is now a park with camping and pavillions for picnics and BBQs.

It was a really good way to start our Florida leg, a flat ride, dedicated cycle route and the sun was out and it was warm.

We did have a bit of wind, which kept changing directions. The last 30 kms or so we had a tail wind, which was very nice. People were friendly as we cycled along. Although to hear some of the comments as we passed them were quite funny. “That’s a lot of weight”, “Jeez” and “Oh shit”

It felt good to be cycling again. We passed this tree which had a lot of wind chimes, they sounded really nice as we came up to it.

We headed up to Spring Hill, there were two warmshowers in this Town, but unfortunately neither of them could host us. On arriving in Spring Hill we found a cheap hotel and went out to have lunch. It was the first time we have had “fast food” in ages and we were like amateurs the poor girl behind the counter had to explain everything to us. I am guessing she had not come across anyone like us in a long time.

We popped into the supermarket, and bought some supplies for tonight’s dinner, which we will be cooking in the hotel room!

Tomorrow we are hoping to stay at another warmshowers, but it isn’t looking too promising. Another hotel stay, I guess. This could be an expensive trip, especially as the Canadian dollar has taken a dive.