Many miles, many smiles

My friend Dawn was originally scheduled to fly into town late afternoon on Thursday. Due to some plane issues her arrival got bumped back all the way until around 10 PM which was bad for her. For me it meant I had an opportunity to jump in and play with my Thursday night VB group. I wound up playing doubles all night. It was tough on my body. I played pretty well but walked out of there with a slight limp after I bent my knee further than it normally will go on it’s own.

I ran home, took a shower and then rolled back out to the airport to pick up Dawn. She was tired from the long day but still carried the same smile and high energy she normally does. She told me about the trip on the drive home which included her plane in California having to quickly get a fuel pump issue fixed and then her missing her connecting flight in Denver by mere minutes.

When we got to the house she unpacked as we continued to talk about the latest and greatest. I did not go to sleep until close to 1 AM. I left my 6:30 alarm intact for some dumb reason. Dawn was already awake as she is not a big sleeper. She was excited to get out there and start seeing things as she had never been to Florida before. The plan for Friday was to ride in the morning and then take her to the airboats in the Everglades during the afternoon.

The ride was fun and funny. For whatever reason Dawn and I bounce off each other well. I took her around one of the local routes I ride often. The video captures most of the silliness, which there was a lot of.

The airboat ride was fun as well. I took Dawn to Wootens, where I take all visitors. I have not been to the airboats in a number of years as I have had very few out of town guests in that time span. The ride was windy, loud and a little wet, just as I remembered. Dawn seemed to enjoy the experience. Later that night we grabbed dinner before hitting bed late, once again.

On Saturday Dawn had coordinated a ride with a group over on the east coast. We pulled out in the Tacoma with it loaded up with two wheels and all of the associated gear which there was a lot of. I knew a couple of guys involved in the ride as they had driven over to Naples years ago to ride with me. We had a hybrid plan for the day. The group wanted to ride all day and into the night. Because of Elsa that would not work for me so I was going to have to break away early and take a train back to our starting point. We met up with the group which totaled around 13 riders and rolled out.

Riding in the greater Miami area is a different type of experience. Most of the riders carried cameras as well as noise makers to alert drivers. Most traffic control devices were ignored. Evidently euc groups take on funeral procession rules where we would just roll past vehicles until our entire gang was past. Some drivers did take offense to the behavior. There was one really close call but luckily nothing bad happened. I tried to keep myself wedged in the middle of the pack wherever possible so I had bumpers in front and rear.

Late afternoon the group rode with me to a train terminal in Miami so I could get back. The group was filled with good and interesting people. I said my goodbyes and hopped on my train, with my wheel and gear. I received a number of side glances and double takes, as expected. Once I arrived at the Lauderdale station I had to ride another 8 miles to get the parking garage we started at. I was already tired but manged to complete the 1:45 hour drive back across. Dawn and some of the crew rode late into the night. Their ride in total exceeded 100 miles. Thank goodness Dawn was riding my Sherman S which has a big battery.

On Sunday morning Dawn came back across the alley with Wayne who was one of the leaders of the group ride. He was interested in doing the swamp ride. Dawn was extremely excited to try this. Recently the swamp has had flooding issues where you can only go so far reasonably. I was not really sure how this would go. It went long and crazy.

We manged to do the entire loop and saw a total of 78 gators along the way. A new record for me. Repeatedly we encountered gators on the path, some of which required riding right next to as you can see in the picture. Wayne was very freaked out by this at first. Dawn was not, she is rather fearless when it comes to these types of challenges. We did the entire 13 mile loop which takes a long time because you are riding so slow. Dawn LOVED the ride which I was happy about. I need to edit that video tonight.

Sunday night Dawn and I did a nearly 3 hour live stream. It was probably the most funny live stream I ever did, thanks to her. It was yet another late night.

Dawn was flying out Monday afternoon so we took it easy, sleeping in later than the other days and then having a late breakfast on the way to my returning her to the airport. I gave her a big hug and thanked her for coming. It was an action packed but fun visit for sure. Hopefully she comes back again someday to go again.

Monday after returning I had a whirlwind of things to do, including two of the ride videos. I didn’t get to bed until close to 11 and slept like a rock last night. I have another short week ahead as Troy and Jess arrive Thursday. Back to back visitors is something that never happens in my world, normally.