Day 3. Sunday, April 23 – Tampa to North Sarasota, Florida
Sunday 23 April 2017
The morning was thick with humidity, so 72° seemed much warmer than our previous mornings. We took a roundabout tour of the city, past (the backside of) Ybor City
and several industrial neighborhoods before making it out of Downtown Tampa. But the city was (almost) void of traffic, so the pace was easy and unhurried.
We traveled south on a very well used and abused industrial road, slowly pedaling up bridges and past the Port of Tampa. Aside from the waterways we climbed and a couple of very nice neighborhoods,
there was little to see, but traffic was light and the morning quiet.
Two and a half hours in, we stopped for breakfast reinforcement from the meager offering we had earlier. Refreshed again, we continued in the quickly warming day through Palmetto and over (another) bridge into Bradenton.But the road was now busy and our shoulder gone, so we were whisked along with the traffic. Also, a waffling breeze would occasionally come from behind and take some strain off our constant pedaling. When it happened, the swirling breeze and sometime cloudy sky was a relief.
as the direct sun was brutal.
Thankfully, with a little wind assist, we made it to our hotel, shade and air conditioning a little after 1:00. With the day being pretty boring for sites, our facilities flowers were a welcome smile to end the day’s ride.
We spent the next couple hours trying to secure rooms for the next several days. Once done, all that is left is Dinner……Ah, what a glorious time of the day! After checking out a couple of the choices that looked good on the web, we ended up at a very local joint. Truth be told, thanks to our travel companion, Bobby, he’d seen it earlier and suggested it when we came up without a place to eat. The seven layer Lasagna was amazing, as was the Stromboli and pizza. Pretty sure dinner was more than our 54 miles burned off, but it was So worth it!!