Wednesday, February 3, 2016

A Warm Day for a Ride in the Wilderness

A record 35 Palm Tree Bikers headed for the Wilderness for their bike ride today...Fort Wilderness that is. The cooler/rainier days headed north and gave us a chance reminder of just how nice the winter can be here in Florida.

With such a large group, Jim suggested we break into three groups of ten or so riders. Larry, then Pete followed by Jim to lead their groups on a relaxing pace around the campground. We also decided to dine at the Wave. We hadn't been there for some time and making reservations of thirty-five gave the Wave kitchen staff a chance to "gear up" for a busy lunch. We learned that our long-time friend and hostess, Betty, is enjoying retirement. We wish her all the very best in the years to come!

 
Mel and Brian are still working at the Wave and Mel was on duty for us today. We've not been to the Wave for what seems to be a very long time. Come to think of it this season seems somewhat "out of order" this year. As a group, the PTBs have added two new venues into our riding routine and some of our riders like to sample other restaurants near the trails we frequent.


 
Our ride around the Loops was relaxed and peaceful.
All three leaders set an easy pace and we took in all the campers setting up or breaking down.
 
Our boat ride over to The Wave turned out to be quite exciting. A number of us didn't make it onto the first boat so we (wisely) waited for the second boat. It just happened that the second boat was going directly to The Wave while the first was heading the reverse route. Fortunately, for those of us on the second boat we were treated to a surprise when Jim made out the Captain of the second boat.
It was non other than Captain Clark (of Gummy Bear Fame).
 
Below, Captain Clark quickly put us in our places and laid down the "law"!
That worked fine until he turned his back on us and had to "man the helm."
Obviously, Angela and Bill paid attention and did as they were told.
Aha! The first boat approaches and we were in the lead.
We relished the thought that after all, we were going to beat the first boat to the dock.
Try as they might, they were left in our wake.
 
See how stoic everyone is? Even Larry was humbled by our achievement.
(Note: the normally reserved group all began to wildly wave and throw greetings at us...they went "nuts" as it were. However, yours truly hit the wrong button on the camera and missed the photo op! Grrrrrr!!!!)
 
Riders, take your seats next to the Cast Member of choice... or the one you can get the discount from.
We were seated at one long table, all 35 of us.
 
Ah yes, one happy group.... come on Judy, turn around!
That's better
Our servers basically went around the table and yours truly just happened to be last. Actually, I got to enjoy my lunch while everyone else was done eating. That's OK because I caused the biggest ruckus because I forgot my Disney ID! With the help of the Manager and Judy we saved the day and everyone got to enjoy a fine meal at a lower price.

Waiting on the dock in the warm sun was enjoyable and we all got to take advantage of some good conversation.


 
We got to watch as a guest caught a fish and perform "C.P.R."
(Catch, Photograph and Release)


The "locals" weren't so thrilled and turned their backs on us as the boat captain returned the fish to the lake!
 
As our return boat approached we began to cheer when we saw that the boat was piloted by Captain Clark. What luck! With some hilarious banter back and forth we settled in for another fun filled boat ride... that is, until we saw that Captain Clark was being relieved by another Captain.
Our new Captain was good but he wasn't Captain Clark!



And that's how our Monday bike ride went.
We made it back to our parked cars and just as (Larry's) Judy approached their vehicle, Judy and her bike took a tumble. She was OK but we think the only lumps will be on Larry when they get home.
Go easy on him Judy, he needs to be able to pack your bikes next week!

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