The first day of our bike tour across Florida

Journaling:
Sunday we began our 5-day bike tour across Florida. While we knew Ginger and Tom would be there, it was a nice surprise to also meet up with Marianne and Brian, with whom we had shared the Ohio tour. What with also having Diane and Ron leading, it felt like a group of friends. Everyone else on the tour were also pleasant biking companions.

We were picked up at the Tampa hotel and shuttled to a park in St. Petersburg where we got our bikes and our first pep talk. It was a little chilly in the morning, but the sunny day warmed up nicely. We cycled past sleepy Sunday morning neighborhoods and across a large bridge to our picnic lunch in Largo. The highlight of the afternoon ride was being close to the beach, then through the cute town of Dunedin, lively on a sunny weekend, before finishing up at the far side of Tarpon Springs.

At the end of our first day, we were treated to dinner at the Tarpon Turtle Grill. There's a gorgeous deck on the water, but it was too cold to use it. We'll have to try it some time when we're in Florida again.