Kevin and I headed to Tampa Friday night to visit my sister Kimberly. After about 4 hours in the car, I was excited to arrive at her apartment :) We got there super late, so we didn't do a whole lot except go to sleep. We had been planning on a bike ride for Saturday, weather pending. Things looked pretty good Saturday morning, so we headed to Dunedin for a little adventure. Little did we know that it was going to turn into a GREAT adventure. We rented our bikes from a very nice guy who (mis)informed us that it would take about an hour to ride to Tarpon Springs (sponge capital of the world) if we were riding at a leisurely pace. So, with that, we headed off on the bike trail. (After taking a picture of course...which the bike shop owner was actually excited to take!) It was a perfect day with a light breeze that made the ride pretty nice. After about a hour, we thought we should be getting close, but everyone we asked along the way made it seem like it was just around the bend. Hahahaha. Granted we did stop once or twice to fix a pant leg, look at the random gorilla habitat, or try to spot a manatee, but we were riding at what we thought was a good pace and it took us about 2 hours to get there. Talk about a sore behind :(
Once we locked our bikes to the fence, we headed for a Greek restaurant for some food. The food was great, the waitress not so much. But we enjoyed our meal and walked around the street fair for a little bit before continuing our journey. Just as we started walking back to our bikes, it started sprinkling. YIKES! We decided that if we rode "like the wind" according to Kevin, and didn't stop, we might be able to make it back before it got dark. So, we hopped back on our bikes and within about 2 seconds the rain started. At first this was kind of funny. We were trying to ride hard, but my legs felt like they were going to fall off. I said about a million prayers that we would make it. I felt like it was a race against time, or that I was on some sort of reality show where I had to meet some challenge. Hahaha. Side note- before we even started back on the journey I began feeling sick, which is not new to me because most things make me feel sick, but this was not the time nor the place :( Nobody else was sick from the food, so I figured it was just my weird stomach. Just imagine trying to ride your bike as fast as you can, when you feel like you have the flu or something, and you need to go to the bathroom (sorry if that's too much information), and it is pouring rain, because yes, it was pouring after about 15 minutes.
It was quickly getting dark and we had only gone about 5 miles, we figured? (Another side note- this "leisurely" bike ride turned out to be about 10 miles each way. ) We got several rude comments about how we needed lights on our bikes (obviously, but thanks for telling us). At about mile 8 we pulled over to a covered bus stop because the rain was getting harder and it was very dark, and we were heading back into the trees on a bike trail that was not lit. We figured that was not the safest choice. So, instead we called a cab to come and pick us up. We waited at a gas station, and of course the bathroom was out of commision!! We took some rather hilarious pictures, which Kimberly has on her camera, so those will come later. The cab driver was very nice and helped us try and load our 3 bikes into the trunk. Hahahaha. We knew we couldn't be more than 2 miles away from our destination, but we ended up using our bike lock chains to lasso the trunk shut so we didn't lose a bike. Kimberly also took a picture of that :)
The cab driver said that when he got a call from "Kevin" with a bike, he thought it was his drunk "friend" who called on a regular basis, just out on a bike adventure. He was relieved that it wasn't THAT Kevin. Hahaha. Anyway, we made it back safely and pulled in just as the bike shop owner was coming back to put his bikes in the store. I was worried he was going to be mad when he saw his bikes piled into the trunk, but he seemed fine with that and more concerned that we made it back safely :) It was a great adventure and one that we will definitely not forget.
When we got home Sunday night, Kevin summed up the weekend perfectly when he said that it was "great food, great company, and great adventure." Thanks Kimberly for a great trip and hopefully we can do it again soon.
This is the only picture I have for now, but just wait for the pictures that are yet to come!!
