In Florida!

The last time I really did any blogging, it was for the benefit of my mother (who enjoyed reading of our exploits any time we took a vacation). She's no longer around to read them, but I might still have a friend or two that might be vaguely amused with our adventures, so for that person... here we go again!

It's Monday night in The Villages, Florida, and I'm sitting in a Starbucks working on a mocha and this blog entry... and I'm finding the mocha much more satisfying! The sun is down, and the village square is hopping with people milling about, most of whom are 55 years of age or older, as this is a retirement community (a HUGE one).

We flew in to Tampa on Sunday, arriving at Valerie's father-in-law's house around 5:00 PM. I immediately set to work getting the tandem out of the case and reassembled, and by 7:00 PM we were on the road to the Hard Rock Casino for dinner. Valerie covered the money we both invested in the slot machines, and walked away with about $20 more than we started with. That's better than the usual outcome!

The plan was to get up this morning and hit the road, so we'd have most of the day to ride. But my father-in-law's computer was giving him some problems in the e-mail department, he had gone with a new provider a couple of weeks earlier and to top it off we discovered that the phone numbers had been botched. The one that was to be disconnected was still in service, and the one that was supposed to become the primary business number wasn't working... leaving us to wonder if over the last couple of weeks any potential clients called, only to get a “number not in service” recording.

Anyway, after working with that all morning and getting a new e-mail client set up along with the new account and the old (and making sure that all the addresses were able to send and receive), we finally hit the road around 2:30 PM. My usual homing pigeon instincts were not at work today, and I blew right past the exit that I needed to get off of I-75 and onto a smaller country road. (Okay... I just didn't recognize the landmarks. Senility, perhaps? I'm in the right place...)

I did recognize the next exit, and knew exactly how to navigate my way back to The Villages by finding US 301 South... and the rest is history. We made it, opened up the house and quickly got on the bike and got in a paltry 15 miles before the sun went down. Tomorrow will hopefully be a little better for us in the mileage department. The more riding we get in before Friday, the better. The reason we're here is for the Florida Tandem Rally, put on by the Florida Panthers. (A tandem club here in the state.)

And the photo? These are the two other forms of transportation that we use when we're not on the tandem. There are a lot of folks who drive golf carts here, and I'm more than happy to join their ranks! So... until next time... here's wishing folks in cooler climates the best! We're enjoying having a final taste of near-summer temperatures!