East Coast Greenway Ride

As we proceeded northward in Florida, my birthday coincided with our arrival at the Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth discovered centuries ago.  It is still providing refreshment and that dream (fantasy?) of reclaiming our youth.  I was pumped! I imbibed the magic elixir and waited impatiently for my youth to return.  Then I was informed that it would take 24 hours.   It has been a long 24 hours.  Three streams were gushing from the fountain, and I chose the middle one.  I think it was the placebo. Canopied streets draped with Spanish Moss (neither Spanish nor moss) ringed the area around the 500-year-old site.   Peacocks strolled the grounds and were quite vocal about our trespassing. A demonstration of the cross-bow showed how the Spanish dominated their lands.  Explorers used older weaponry during their travels since funds were scarce and these weapons were cheap.  They had few cannon and a few powder muskets that were more finic...

  The sunrise was worth bowing to from our campsite in Melbourne on the Atlantic.  However, as sailors note, "Red sky in the morning...sailor take warning!"   As we started out in the morning in the magic sleds, the sky revealed its plans.  We were glad to be driving, and what could be better than a lighthouse tour in St. Augustine! It was a thousand steps to the top ( or maybe it was 100!), but the views of St. Augustine and nearby homes were awesome. The lighthouse museum was loaded with a history of sailing and boat models from earlier times. Here is a shop on site where boat building was performed.  Overall, a good rainy day excursion.

  We awoke to a quiet foggy morning hoping to find some breakfast.  As it turns out we weren't the only ones looking for breakfast. On the road again, it was slightly comforting to see that the road crews were thinking of us and reminding drivers that we were also on the road.  Road work ahead seemed to force the cars to share the bicycle lane so that was slightly uncomforting. And we all had to share the road with the land crabs.  They must have been taking a break because we didn't see any.  Some of us rode 20 miles and others 30 + miles. When we reached the Melbourne RV park right on the beach, Sarah and Randy immediately got chased by rogue waves.  The water temp was perfect and everyone was enjoying the Atlantic. Sarah, Randy, and Beth stock a Sandhill crane that soon had enough of the game and took flight. We all continued a mile walk on the beach to rendezvous with the Ocean 321 restaurant for dinner. We had a fine dinner including octopus prepared b...

 One of the great things about RVing is meeting new neighbors every day.  Here Sandy is sharing with John and Vivian, the plans of the day as were are about to embark on Palm Beach, Fl. Palm Beach lake trail led us through manicured hedges and views of the harbor. Shade was abundant and we took it all in. US 1 lured us further north over the Palm Beach port. A late lunch brought us to the Loggerhead beach grill for a tasty mahi-mahi salad and great times. After a 67 mile ride along a busy US 1, we ended at the Fort Prince RV resort.  As the sun headed over the horizon, the gator hunters started their stroll.

A dearth of internet access and much fun riding, and eating lead to blogless days.  We experienced a thunderstorm at the Big Pine Key that lasted through the night. The next morning sunrise was windy, wet, and not sparkling.  Since it was still raining, we elected to visit the Dolphin Research Center.     We did ride 25 miles in the afternoon and ended in Homestead, Fl for the eve.  There were sights.  :>)   We were so excited about finding an ice cream shop.  This is the before shot.  Within a minute we discovered the ice cream shop was closed.   It closes on a Monday twice a year and we were there during one of those two Mondays!  The after shot will not be part of the blog!  A farmer's market further up the road allowed us to restock the larder. The next day Randy and I moved vehicles ahead while the gals rode the South Dade Trail.   On the starting line, Sandy, the racer took on the sloths, Beth and Sarah....