{"id":19951,"date":"2017-04-22T20:37:44","date_gmt":"2017-04-23T00:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=19951"},"modified":"2017-04-23T18:03:40","modified_gmt":"2017-04-23T22:03:40","slug":"day-2-saturday-april-22-port-richey-to-tampa-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tourdebocrie.com\/?p=19951","title":{"rendered":"Day 2. Saturday, April 22 \u2013 Port Richey to Tampa, Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

What a brilliantly gorgeous morning, cool temperatures (68\u00b0)\u00a0with\u00a0lightly painted wisps of clouds filling the sky.\"\"<\/a>\u00a0We had just a short ride down our busy highway from yesterday, before we turned onto the road that would take us closer to the coast. \u00a0Instantly the cars became few\u00a0and the scenery improved dramatically, past marinas, \"\"<\/a>parks and through the darling town\"\"<\/a>of Tarpon Springs.\"\"<\/a> After about an hour, we picked up the well used and quiet,\"\"<\/a>scenic\"\"<\/a>and colorful \"\"<\/a>Pinellas Trail,\u00a0\"\"<\/a>that effortlessly dropped us\u00a0into downtown Clearwater. \u00a0But we could not come this far without\u00a0seeing Clearwater\u00a0beach, so\u00a0back out on the road. \u00a0The causeway\u00a0\"\"<\/a>had\u00a0a wide shoulder (and very high bridge) \"\"<\/a>that led us to the barrier island and\u00a0tourist filled beach, \"\"<\/a>complete with all the trappings.\"\"<\/a> \u00a0But the “sugar sand” is something you only find on Clearwater Beach, truly gorgeous.\"\"<\/a> \u00a0 During our short ice cream and drink stop on the beach, the clouds had built and offered welcome cloud cover\"\"<\/a> for our bike back over the bridge and the six mile slow trip through and out of Clearwater. \u00a0To cross\u00a0Old Tampa Bay, we once again had our own pathway. \"\"<\/a>\u00a0But we had missed grabbing lunch first, so\u00a0the\u00a0ten miles across was especially long and slow.<\/p>\n

The first food stop on the other side, Whiskey Joe’s\u00a0was\u00a0colorful \"\"<\/a>and delicious.\"\"<\/a>Once refreshed, we made our way through downtown Tampa, past the Shriner International Headquarters\"\"<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0to our motel, directly across from The University of Tampa.<\/p>\n

After a large and late lunch, we opted for a salad for dinner;\u00a0\"\"<\/a>reality is, we saw this \"\"<\/a>on the menu and opted to save room. \u00a0Thankfully, they were out of the desert, so we opted for an after dinner drink.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Seriously<\/em>……..you did not<\/strong> really think that we drank a pitcher of Ketel One, did you<\/em>! \u00a0Although, after 53 miles, we deserved it……but we didn’t<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\t\t