April 21 Florida Bike Safari Day 7

It rained again last night after we went to bed. In fact I think it rained all night. The dorm where I am staying has a tin roof and the drumming on the roof was really loud. The dorm is under one of the huge live oak trees so even after the rain stopped there were huge drops coming off the tree.

By 7:30 when we were ready to hit the road the clouds had cleared off and it turned out to be a beautiful day. Jim was headed home today so he rode with us to the first turn and then headed on back to Live Oak to get his car. The rest of us continued on up the road. We were riding the 66 mile loop and although we weren’t in any real hurry it was fun challenging the hills and getting warmed up. The rain had raised the humidity to close to 100% and my glasses were fogging up on every breath.

Ernie was with us and kept us entertained with his constant flow of stories and antidotes. So the miles flew by and it wasn’t until around the 45 mile mark when Don announced that his knees were starting to hurt that we realized we were still just flying along.

Tonight is rib night. They have been smoking the ribs for a week now so they are going to be so good. The band is set up and the corn pot is being heated up, and the keg of beer is sitting in a huge tub of ice. This has to be cycling heaven.

Tomorrow is the last day and Don and I ride back to Live Oak and the bolt for Orlando and our flight home. So I probably won’t get a post off until Friday or Saturday.

Terry