Cycling Again!! - Sunday - August 22, 2011

Saturday night, we decided that Sunday morning would be a good day for Nancy’s first bike ride since her shoulder surgery. Her doctor advised her not to fall down for at least six weeks as her shoulder needs some time to heal properly (duh). Well, it’s not quite six weeks, but Nancy was anxious to go, so we did!

I pumped up the tires, oiled the chains, cleaned the bikes up and loaded them in the Tahoe Saturday evening. We left the house just before 6am and drove to Huntington Beach State Park. It wasn’t even sunrise yet – yeesh! Anyhow, within minutes it was light enough to start pedaling with the lights on the bicycles flashing.

Riding before the sun rose.

View across the salt marsh at dawn.

Crossing the Causeway at Huntington Beach.

We were very careful not to pedal too hard and we stopped frequently so Nancy could take pictures of the wildlife. We saw the usual birds and gators.

We road the bike path and turned onto Sandy Island Road where we had to stop and let a family of wild turkeys cross.

When got to Sandy Island Boat Landing, we rested again and of course, more pictures.

Boats used by the Island Residents to go back and forth.

View down the canal to Sandy Island.

Took it nice and easy on the way back.  We love riding Sunday mornings as we have the road to ourselves.  Well almost... here we shared it with the Geese.

We returned to our starting point and got the bikes loaded into the car.  Nancy needed one last photo.  This is what we see from our parking spot.

Atalaya Castle – One of these days we will take you on a photo tour of this interesting place!

But for today, it was time to head home. It was a great 17 mile ride and Nancy’s shoulder gave her no problems :o))

After getting cleaned up and a late breakfast, we drove to North Myrtle Beach to visit Tanger Outlets and Bass Pro Shop. We were on the hunt for a couple of wide brimmed hats we can use for kayaking and hiking. We both agreed that we needed them to protect us from the sun, rain and insects. Neither one of us normally wears a hat except visors, so this was going to be out of our comfort zone. We tried on tons of hats and laughed ourselves silly. Nancy said everyone she put on felt like a lampshade!! Finally, both of us found ones that were comfortable even though they really don’t make a fashion statement…well, on second thought, maybe they do ;o)) Regardless, as Nancy stated “we are long past the age of looking cool – let’s get hats that are practical.” We hope to test drive the hats this coming Friday on our planned kayak trip. Hurricane Irene may change those plans ;o((  However, we are ready for her with our NEW HATS :o))  We also bought some socks and underwear. I guess we now have all the important stuff covered ;o))

We rarely go clothes shopping and it is just as rare that we go out to eat. Today, we did both. After a meal at McAlister’s, we headed home laughing about the “hat” adventure. It turned out to be a wonderful Sunday, sharing lots of laughs, particularly about the hats.

What a great day!!!