Day Two, Ride to Boat

Today was our easy day. You need easy days too, and we were heading to one of our most anticipated stops of the week. More on that in a moment.


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After a quick stop at a local bike shop for more spare tubes, we hit the roads. We meandered through the roads of South Venice, two up, three up, whatever worked. My 9-year old quizzed me about social studies. How many judges are there on the Supreme Court? Is it part of the executive, judicial, or legislative branch? Who was the first women judge on the Supreme Court? Sandra Day O’Connor. Who doesn’t know that?

We only had 10 miles to go until we reached our houseboat. That’s right. We were staying on a houseboat! Our route took us through South Venice to Manasota Key and along the key to Englewood Beach. We paused long enough at Blind Pass Park to marvel at all of the beach umbrellas.

Beach umbrellas at Blind Pass beach

Manasota Beach Rd.

Hardened, veteran cycling crew enjoying Italian ice at Englewood Beach

We reached Chadwick Cove in no time. It was a fast and easy ride for my hardened veteran crew. We were definitely impressed and rewarded. The place was quaint and, well, totally awesome. The lady registering us was super friendly. And yes, we had rented a houseboat for the night.

Houseboat, our accommodations for the night

A great egret visits our boat

Put out your cigarette before entering

Jill arrived just as we were finishing up. The poor girl got the day off because she had been called in for an overnight emergency at work. As it turned out, this made the day complete.

At the advice of our hosts, we walked to a local restaurant, the Lock 'N Key. After telling them we were vegetarians, they were happy to accommodate. They whipped up a special meal, just for us, and it was fabulous - a salad with mozzarella and mango, pasta with artichokes and sun dried tomatoes, egg plant paninis. They even dressed up the boys’ waters.

Our waitress dressed up the boys' drinks - water

Jill brought her bike. So we took a family ride down to Stump Pass Park and then across the bridge on Beach Rd. to a local park. We managed to see our second and third dolphins of the trip - three dolphins in two days of *biking*. Not bad.

One of many bridges we'd cross, south of Lemon Bay

Our bikes at a local park on Placida Rd., near Grove City

There was only one thing left to do, dinner and sunset on the houseboat.

The sun setting at the marina