GTD 2016 - Day 9

Lake Wales, FL to Clearwater, FL

After a great night's sleep we were ready to head back to Clearwater via a mostly different route.  We arrived at the hotel from the north and today we departed the hotel and went south to Highway 60.  Other than the short time on Highway 27 the rest of the day would be on Highway 60.

Outside of Bartow and Brandon the ride was in the countryside.  I always enjoy seeing the horses and cows and goats...in the countryside.  As nice as it is it is always nice to get to a city and take advantage of the vast amount of services.

Qinggela went way ahead of me today so after lunch it took quite awhile to catch back up to him.  I finally did outside of Brandon and was able to get a refreshing cold drink out of the cooler, the sun was direct and very hot as it rose in the east behind me.

When I got to a traffic light in Brandon it felt as though the back of my legs were on fire, that seemed strange.  I took a look and I noticed that a heat rash had taken over the back of both legs, thus the burning sensation.

I immediately called Qinngela and told him to meet me at the Ford Dealership.  When he arrived I located my sunscreen and coated the back of my legs.

Not long after Brandon I was in downtown Tampa.  Since it was Saturday it was a bit quiet and quite a nice ride through the Business District.  I passed by the University of Tampa and then stopped for a Starbucks break.  You can generally count on finding a Starbucks when you are close to a College.

I was excited about what was to come after Starbucks, a ride across the Bay on the Bike Trail.  As I have noted before, I love to ride along the water!

After soaking the environment of the Trail Ride across the Bay we reached Clearwater, not far from our stopping point for the day which would be at the Starbucks not too far from First Christian Church (Clearwater).  There we would wait until we could connect with our host family.

We had arrived early afternoon so it was an hour or so before our host family was available.  That gave us time to enjoy a Starbucks drink and snack and connect to their wifi.

Our host family finished up their Saturday business and met us at the Starbucks.  I loaded up my bike and we followed them to the house.  Upon arrival they suggested that we put the bikes in their garage for safe keeping.

We moved in, cleaned up and enjoyed dinner with them and some other friends from FCC.  We talked about the plan for tomorrow which included me riding, in full cycling gear, from the host home to the church where they would welcome me and have me share.  They really wanted to do this up right which is exciting.

We visited with the host family a bit after everyone left and then called it a night.  This was a very encouraging visit!