Florida. February 23, 2016.

Jan showed up at 7 to see if we wanted to walk. It was 65 degrees out and look how she was dressed! I am amused every day by the people who act like it's cold out!

Dianne and I set off for our bike ride and met Jan and Mark on the way out of this community. Jan had removed her sweat shirt by then, but was still dressed toasty warm, as was Mark. They're both from New York originally, but like Dianne they're fully acclimated to Florida.

Since Dianne was hit by a car a year and a half ago she has become much more careful when biking. We rode the sidewalk and side streets until we got to the start of the bike lane, then rode the bike lane until we reached the Pinellas Trail. We took the trail to Tarpon Springs and then took surface streets out to Fred Howard County Park. This is the beach we visited with Toby and Adam a couple of years ago.

We stopped for a comfort break and I got a text while we were there--Kathie's plane was having mechanical issues and she was worried she would miss her connecting flight.... then I got another text that her flight was cancelled and she was in line to rebook. The wind picked up by the time we were ready to leave, and of course it was a headwind.

We rode into Tarpon Springs to look for manatees but did not see any today--it really is pretty warm out and did not cool down overnight. They usually come in to get warm.  We followed the Pinellas Trail to the extension on Keystone Rd., against the wind all the way. I remember a couple of years ago when they were building this part of the trail. It's such a relief to ride out of the traffic on these busy roads!

We rode the trail along East Lake until it ended and then had a harrowing couple of miles in heavy traffic on the way home. Total mileage for today: 30 windy miles.

Finally I received another text from Kathie with her updated flight information. She had originally planned to land here at 2:25 and now would arrive at 5:25. OK. We went home and took showers, ate lunch and played Scrabble until it was time for Dianne to drive to the airport.

Kathie arrived and we had dinner and wine. Life is good! Tomorrow after swimming she will put her bike together and we'll do a shakedown cruise to make sure she's ready to ride Thursday.