Last Official "Palm Tree Bikers" Ride of 2013

It's hard to believe, 2013 is coming to an end and so is this year's bike rides. Many of our members will be heading North for the Holidays so the next two Mondays for those of us hanging around are on our own.

I was able to ride today so I thought it would be good to get this post out ASAP. It was fitting that our ride took us to Fort Wilderness seeing that we're that close to Christmas. The campground seemed emptier than usual but we happened to see quite a few campers making the best of their Christmas spirit with decorations. I hope you enjoy the photos... I'll let them tell the story of the ride...  (Remember, if you click on the Photo(s) you can enlarge them.)

 

Before setting out we make a few minor adjustments. (Judy's trip odometer still isn't working!)

As you can see the morning was brisk. (I choose my words carefully here so I don't "rub it in" to our friends up North in really cold temps!)

Some of the best minds were at a loss.

 Another tweak here and a tweak there.

 

Pete led us on a leisurely trek about the campground.

and we happened to pass this site! 

 

The next eleven photos (one of which is "stitched" together) is on ONE site. The site is situated on one of the circles and opens onto the main road.

We passed by the front of the site but didn't realize is was all one site until we saw the site from the main road. The below photo is from the rear of the site.

 Walking through the site.

The below photo from the front of the site is three photos "stitched" together.

This must be awesome at night!

Below, the camper on the left is the owner. He stores all of this in a local storage unit. He camps here for (I think I heard) twelve weeks. I think he needs that much time to set it up and break it down!

Here is another site with a uniquely decked out Freightliner!

 

 Admiring a campers Segwey.

 The Wilderness Lodge always manages to draw our attention at the Holidays

 ...and it never seems to disappoint us.

We ate at The Wave and of the thirteen of us, I think most ordered the Reuben.

Our favorite Hostess Betty along with Brian, Mel, our server Beth and several Managers who visited our table says a warm hello and Holiday wishes to all of our riders both here and heading South after the Holidays!

 

 After lunch, Judy suggested visiting the "Gingerbread" Christmas Tree on the third floor.

 

 This little goodie below caught our attention. Think about this for a minute.... no matter how you cut this cupcake, you'll always see a Mickey!

 

 The Gingerbread Contemporary!

 

From all of us here we wish each and everyone of you a

 Merry Christmas

 and a

Happy New Year.

A Bike Ride and a Party!

Slowly our bike riders are growing in number. Some new faces and more to come the closer we get to the New Year.

I realize I'm supposed to show you pictures of us riding the trails but everyone speeds ahead of me and this is what I end up with! They look so relaxed, don't they. The poor fellow on the right just happened to be sitting there when I pulled out my camera. He's one of the local riders we see once in awhile.

 



 

Time to check out the store and say hi to our old friend who runs the bike store along the West Orange Bike Trail. 

 

 Don't we look soooo at ease and full of vinegar!

 

 Now here's something you don't see too often....

I hear that Joepy was in such a hurry to get in the photo he hopped off his bike and didn't take the time to set the stand!

 

 Well, there is a gator at the water's edge!

(He's not all that big! The photo is enlarged and cropped.)

 

We welcomed back Ray and Rose to our lunch. Many of you know that Ray had a serious fall this past summer and is still in the healing process. But you can't keep Ray (or Rose for that matter) sitting down! They flew down, had their car shipped south and just had to meet up with us for our lunch (and this party of course)!

 

 Below you see Ray proudly displaying his (illegal) Handicap Hang Tag! It's from NJ so he's got to get a blue one!

 

 Here's the right side of our table in the "Back Room" of the Winter Garden Pizza Company.

 Here's the left side of the table.

(Rose is telling Ray that he is not allowed to do his therapy at the table!)

 

Pretty soon we'll be needing a bigger room for our lunch!

 

It's Party Time!

 

It's also time.... time for our 1st 2013-14 Palm Tree Bikers "Pit Stop" party!

This party has an added twist to it. You may all remember that Pete and Joan celebrated their 50th Anniversary this past summer. Well, Steve suggested we make our "Pit Stop" party a perfect time to offer Pete and Joan, as well as Ray and Rose who have recently celebrated their 50th a hearty congratulations from the "Palm Tree Bikers!"

 Jim and Judy brought a yummy cake and Pat and Dave decorated.

(Which they had Steve stealthfully deliver it to our house!)

The decorations worked so well... we had to tell Pete and Joan that we decorated!

 

We spared no costs for our Christmas Tree!

Little did we know that we actually did surprise Pete and Joan. We found out that their planned 50th celebration was to be a complete surprise only to be found out by Pete and Joan thanks to a refrigerator note! (You gotta love those 'frige notes!)

But we, the "Palm Tree Bikers" pulled it off! Good one fellow bikers!

 

Congratulations Ray, Rose, Joan and Pete, 50 years together.

We'd like to acknowledge Steve for his suggestion to include this celebration at our first get-together of this season.

OK now,  let's get down to business.

The over-cast day and somewhat cooler temps (but a whole lot warmer than up North), were not going to deter us in our quest to enjoy ourselves. We shared a plethora of tasty morsels and an afternoon of  "catching up" with everyone.



 

 

 Thanks to Steve we enjoyed shrimp that lasted, oh about 3.5 minutes. (The empty plate is just behind the neck of the Egg Nog bottle.) Topping it off, Steve broke out his "real" Egg Nog! Steve did the honors... one for you, two for me, one for you, two for me! Anyway the bottle was cleaned out! (I'm still trying to figure out why Jim and Judy took the empty bottle home!! Hmmmmm!

 

Everyone had an enjoyable and fun afternoon. But, suddenly its 5:00 and someone just had to stand up and that was it. One after another we bid farewell as each in turn made their way to their winter home away from home.

 

Just one more thing. Pat and I were outside saying our goodbyes' and forgot about "Lilly!" She was being really quiet. For what seemed a very long time we couldn't find her. We bolted back to the door to check every one's cooler bags! We wondered why everyone headed out the door so quickly. We had to tell everyone, "Lilly" is not the door prize!  Fear not, she was snuggling with Darlene. Besides, you all know how much I enjoy embellishing my stories!

 

As for "Lilly" she'll have more to say about today on her Blog! We had to "fence" her in our bedroom! Actually, she did very well. She had a few barks for us but in all she did settle down and was pretty good for the afternoon. Once we all settled in after eating, Pat brought her out but had to hold her in her lap.... or Darlene did.... or Rose did! In any case she wasn't hurting for attention!

At Last!

I'm used to playing "catch-up!" This work thing is beginning to cut into my retirement. But the new role is fun and not all that tiring.

I've missed two bike rides but thanks to Judy I have a couple of photos to share with all of you.
Two weeks ago they headed out to Fort Wilderness and enjoyed a great lunch the Roaring Fork.

The next week they headed to Celebration. They enjoyed a lunch at the Cuban Club.

As you can see our group is growing as it does each year at this time.

I worked a split shift this past Monday and missed out on the ride but managed to enjoy lunch with our group. I heard that Bobby had a fall on the bike ride. She made it to lunch and she was doing very well. We're still missing some of our riders but they're with us in spirit.

 I think I'm going to get to ride next week.

DownTown Disney is undergoing some parking lot changes. They've taken out the parking lot from DisneyQuest to Planet Hollywood. There were a number of cranes raising various structures and now there are two large cranes left to raise the parking lot structure over the next year.
We've caught sight of a couple of the new Disney buses that "bend" in the middle. And now we are heading into the busy time of the year.

Boy, I've got to get out more so I have more stories for our blog.

We wish each and everyone of you a Happy Thanksgiving!

Another ride, another lunch... what else would you expect!

First off our group, growing in numbers, biked the West Orange Trail in Winter Garden. For some reason the ride seemed to go much quicker than normal. Either our egos got the better of us (cause only one of our group actually rode our bikes over the summer months (Jim)! OR, we couldn't wait to get to lunch at the Winter Garden Pizza Company! Either way, we made our rest stop and were quite surprised to hear the bike shop was selling the rental bikes at a great price. Jim was the most interested... although Pete hung in with him to check out the deal. We haven't heard if anyone was interested but it sure sounded like a deal. The bikes are seven speed and three years old and they're selling for $130.00.

 

 

Early on, Pete chatted with the shop employee. Most likely to see what was new.

 

 

As you can see, Jack was just a tad stiff and sore from the five mile half way point! With Judy's encouragement Jack made it back from the brink.

 

You'll all be happy to know that we all made it to lunch. Heck, ambulances or not we were determined to enjoy our lunch! Lunch was on the quiet side except for the sighs and whimpering due to our sore butts and muscles! ....Except for Jim and Judy of course, they're the only ones in shape!

 

We must've looked pretty rough when we pulled into the restaurant. We think they put our small group into the large dinning room to keep our sighs from affecting the rest of the customers! 

 

 

Well, life goes on and the urge for pizza got the best of Buzz, Darlene, Pat and I...

 we made a bee-line to......

 

 

Yummy! My Pie with red onions and green peppers! Now surely those of you who know of what I speak remember that great taste???????? 

Our HHR is aging gracefully. The odometer is a give away, but catching a unique milestone is something I never gave too much thought to.

 

But this number caught my attention.....

...not to mention the temperature!!!!

 

 

In other news, walking the dog the other day we happened to catch one of our locals catching some sun on one of our (believe it or not) cooler days.....



This fellow was completely out of the water and when I got a little too close he rose up on all fours and turned for the water. I must admit, while laying on the grass he didn't appear to be as big as he is until he turned. This guy is reaching the six foot mark!

(And yes, I held Lilly in my arms!)

Speaking of predators, one of my co-workers owns a 12 year old Yorkie. One day, in their back yard their Yorkie (Rudi, off the leash) and her husband were walking near their pool. The husband was hit by the wing of a huge hawk aiming for Rudi. Thankfully, hitting her husband caused the hawk to miss the target. Her husband said he never heard a sound as the bird dove on Rudi.

Lesson learned! Don't let small pets wander around off the leash even in the yard alone here in Florida!

 

 

 

And for the record....... there were no doggie bags for "My Pie!"