March 11, 2018. 40 Miles.

Rain was predicted for today, so we were thrilled to see the sunshine this morning! We started out on our usual biking route, out to the Pinellas Trail and north to Tarpon Springs.  We stopped at Spring Bayou and saw the manatees were in.

We biked north out of Tarpon Springs on the Pinellas Trail, taking it to the Keystone Rd. Trail. Instead of turning on the East Lake Trail we decided to explore the new section of Keystone Trail and see where it went. We saw this buffalo on our way...

The Trail turned into Booker Creek Reserve, where we saw a lot of cows and a few other species, including tortoises. This one was crossing the bike path in front of us.

The Trail came to an abrupt end, but some local folks told us that it is eventually going to connect to Starkey Park and the Suncoast Trail.

We saw one sandhill crane on our way out of Brooker Creek Reserve.

We took the new section of Trail back to East Lake Trail, stopping for a comfort break, and then stopping to take a photo of a bottlebrush tree--if these grew in Michigan you can believe I would have one! 

While taking the above photo a cyclist caught up to us and stayed with us when the trail ended. At a (long) red light we began a conversation. He is Dan from Ottawa, Ontario, and is staying at Dunedin. Dianne offered to lead him back to where he came from on the safest roads available, so we rode him to Countryside Mall.

We went our separate ways after that. But he is interested in some of the bike trips we've done, like the Natchez Trace Parkway... we hope to hear from him again!

 I finished my bottle of Middle Sister wine tonight... I guess it's time to go home!