It’s finally warm enough to ride!
We did have to drive two days south for that to be true, but whatever it takes, right?

My aunt and uncle are fortunate to live just a few blocks from one of the best rail-trails in Florida, the 38.2-mile Pinellas Trail. The path runs from St. Petersburg to Tarpon Springs, passing through several towns and some nice scenery along the way.
Dunedin

We started from our hosts’ home in Palm Harbor and headed south yesterday. Our choice of direction was determined by the fact that my Uncle Bill was volunteering that day (as he does twice a week) at the National Armed Services and Law Enforcement Memorial Museum in Dunedin.

We arrived there about 6 miles into our ride and Uncle Bill gave us the abridged version of the museum tour. They have several large rooms of artifacts and weapons from the history of the law enforcement, the military, and firefighting in the U.S. and beyond. I particularly enjoyed the variety of period uniforms, including those of Mounties and Bobbies.

After our museum stop, we continued south into Clearwater. This section has many crossings of small roads, most of which are either four-way stops or stops for cars only, and some busy roads, which require the bicyclists to stop and wait for an opening. Fortunately, the section still has some wildlife, like this Great Egret we saw right by the path.

Hungry, and feeling the fact that we hadn’t had a decent ride since October, we turned around ten miles out. We headed back to Dunedin, where we stopped at Casa Tina Mexican Restaurant for lunch. Food was tasty and authentic, but we definitely could have shared two lunches among the three of us.
The ride back was mostly uneventful, though we did come across a school as it was letting out. No children were injured as we passed, and the many crossing guards were helpful to us in avoiding the “parents picking-up” traffic.
It’s almost hard to believe (being Florida), but the last few hundred meters back to the house are uphill. Ouch. On the plus side, this was Rebbe’s longest ride–probably twice as long as any of his previous rides–and he did quite well with only a little crying (and some resistance when he had to get back in after lunch).

The day finished with home-cooked chili made by Aunt Doris and a nice visit from my cousin Bill and his wife Cindy. Lovely. Life is good.