Mar 5 - a surprise visit

As planned, I went for a bike ride, shortened so that we could make our 3pm appointment at the Smyrna Yacht Club. When I got home, Sandy said that Ched Miller had emailed that he was at Heathrow FL ... ever heard of Heathrow FL ? ... and did we want to get together for dinner. Well, it turns out that he was about 45 miles away. Absolutely, Sandy replied to him, and if it works for you how about a boat ride ? Well, he flies back this morning so dinner was going to be the extent of our visit.

Ched used to be a client when I was gainfully employed. He works at Raytheon in Boston. Sandy has met him before -- we've gone scuba diving together in the Florida Keys and in May of 2007, the day after my ride across the country, he took us for a boat ride out of Amesbury MA; we met his wife Elaine for lunch and had dinner at their place. Jeffrey and I have been to his Mom & Dad's place on the Jersey shore and we had dinner with Ched and his daughter Ashley at a restaurant at the University of Pennsylvania when she was touring campuses. Time flies -- his daughter is about to finish her internship (medicine) and his son Derick -- Jeffrey's Age -- got his college degree, worked for a year or two, and is now back at school getting his Pharmacy degree. Ched is really the only client who I've stayed in touch with ... well, there was one other ... Don Mines of Boeing who passed away.

It was an interesting experience having dinner with Ched and Ashley way back when. I forget the name of the restaurant, but it was an eclectic Fusion-type deal where you order very small portions of things and then share. Well, Ched eats nothing but meat and potatoes; Ashley is a strict vegetarian. They managed to find things on the menu that worked. So after I talked to Ched yesterday, I called him back and asked if he eats fish ... and he said that he can ... so I picked up some grouper; Sandy made mashed sweet potatoes, green beans and salad. Ched had fish and potatoes. He'll survive. He said that he liked the grouper -- his mom cooks flounder for him so it's not the first time that he's had fish, obviously !

Ched arrived at 6:15 and left around 9:30. His flight this morning is at 10:30. He was regretting that he had not planned to stay longer ... had not even realized that he was going to be this close to us until he saw a sign saying "Daytona Beach 45 miles" as he turned off the Interstate on the way to his hotel. Earlier in the week he was in Sarasota FL, making his way up to the Orlando area (Heathrow), the night before last.

Changing topics -- of course the other thing that we did yesterday was attend the orientation session at the Smyrna Yacht Club (SYC). There were three other couples attending along with board members of SYC. The next step in the process is for pictures that they took of us yesterday to be posted for 30 days in case any other members object and then the Board accepts our application at a monthly meeting. However, in the meantime, we do have a temporary card so we'll start to use the facilites. They have many activities in which we can partake -- dinner/dance once per month (not really my style); cards ... perhaps; sailing lessons and activities -- quite likely starting next year; organized boating trips north and south on the intracoastal waterway -- definitely yes; an excellent dining room & bar with great prices -- definitely yes; tennis -- not unless we take lessons somewhere which isn't likely to happen; etc. etc. It's a not-for-profit with 500 members -- that would be close to 1000 members including spouses), 30 full-time employees and it's been around since 1928.

An interesting side benefit is that our membership entitles us to entry at yacht clubs around the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. I had not thought about it until now but that might even include the RCYC -- the Royal Canadian Yacht Club on the island in Toronto Harbour. There are, of course, many clubs in Florida and it would us to work our way around the state. Now all we need is a boat that we can sleep on ... hmmm.

Obviously I'll write more about this in the days to come. We'll use our temporary membership so that we can get the feel of the place before we head north. We'll probably go over on Sunday ... if I've recovered enough from Saturday ...

Speaking of which -- tomorrow is my 400k ride. I'm not staying overnight there, opting instead to drive there prior to the 5am start tomorrow morning. It will take me about 1.5 hours to drive there so it will be roughly a repeat of the 300k ride from Melbourne FL except for the additional 100k ... and a later finish. For the 400k ride from Gainesville and the two 600k rides, I've booked motel rooms. They start earlier and it's a longer drive to and from.

Tomorrow's ride, thankfully, will be warmer than the last. The overnight temperature is supposed to be in the 50's and the high during the day over 80. Excess clothing will end up in my rack pack. I'm mostly geared up ... a little nervous as usual because this distance is a new experience. How many fig newtons and gels can I consume in 18 hours ? -- a lot ! I may not have mentioned it before but fig newtons have become one of my ride staples. They are not as heavy as granola bars, not as hard to digest, and they come in 2-to-a-pack servings. That's perfect -- typically on my regular rides I'll open up one of the packs at mile 20, eat one cookie, eat the next cookie at mile 25, a gel at 35, 45 & 55 and then back home at 70. I've stocked up with gels to see me through the summer. The cookies are cheaper than the gels and are more readily available, obviously.

I have not written about alligators -- seeing them is not quite the novelty that it once was. I do see them in the park though, at least one each trip if I head west towards Titusville. On the ride where I went over the Kennedy Space Center parkway I kept an eye on the large ditch beside the parkway and saw many alligators ... big alligators ... clusters of big alligators ... Well, I had to look up what a group of alligators is called and it's referred to as either a "congregation" or "pod" -- pod seemingly more for a group of young. Well, one congregation of big alligators that I saw was probably praying for a bird to land in their midst.

I had written about the controlled burning that they've been doing in the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. That is still ongoing but the areas that were freshly burned (and still smoking) a month ago are totally green now, at least at the roadside. Under the pines and palms away from the roadside it's still black since that growth is thicker and taller. I'm sure that when we're back later in the year it will be hard to believe that it was black. With regular rain and strong sunlight over the spring and summer, growth is quick.

That's it ... I'm not likely to provide another update until sometime Sunday unless I have time and inclination in the wee hours before leaving for the ride.

Oh -- Sheryl has confirmed that she is coming and has booked her flights. She'll be here March 27-30, hoping to be here at the same time as Carol and Allister. That should work out quite nicely and guess what ? -- I don't even have a ride that weekend !