BICYCLES February 26, 2009

We crashed pretty early last evening and woke up before the sunrise today. I have stopped printing pictures of sunsets because they always contain the same boats! However, the sunrise obviously has different sailboats!

Tom heads out early for the Marina to catch up on the news he missed last night. We made a lot of progress getting Catrina back to our usual set up but she stills needs to be cleaned. Debbie got out the 409 and shop vac and went to work. When Tom returned she was finishing up the windows. He got out the acetone and went after the last yellow cedar nut stains from our neighbors tree at Crystal River. Now we are ready again for guests!

After lunch and a 15 minute “digestive” nap, we head for the Marina and our new bikes. First we head a mile up the main drag to K-Mart and look for head lights. We don’t find any we like. Debbie has her backpacking one at home but we may need a light now for after dark riding home.

At the laundry yesterday, Debbie heard about a bike trail to the Atlantic Shore from between Publix and K-Mart. We found it and discovered where a lot of the locals live and where the kids go to school. The beach area is landscaped with bathhouses, plantings and cement trails. The sand is very firm and made up of large grains. It is beautiful and littered with people sunbathing!

We walk the three block length to Sister Canal where Tom points out a Gemini like his old one. We sit on a bench under a palm tree and wish we had brought drinks and lunches.

The ride back into the wind is a little more work and we realize we have not been active enough. We get a few things at Publix and head up for a nap before dinner.

We are not the only ones with bikes at our Marina. The biggest problem is finding a spot for two bikes on the stands!

Dinner was served by Pat and Colin on Lady Margaret. We sat at a table with linen on the top fly bridge and watched the sunset and the boat lights glow all around us. Pat prepared a first class meal of spinach salad, lime tequila chicken, baked new potatoes and asparagus. To top it off she added yogurt and strawberries to our pecan pie. We learned that Colin is an electrical engineer and Pat a dialysis nurse and their home port is Hamilton, Ontario. After dinner we learned a new dice game - Farkel.