Enjoying Florida by Motorcycle

There is a lot more to Florida than beaches and big cities. We reconnected with our Florida motorcycle friends this week, and spent much of our time riding the back roads of central Florida.

Fran and Patti know so many places to ride, and always find an interesting place to have lunch.

Paul's Diner in Wauchula, is one such place.  Every meal starts with a big bowl of homemade soup.

Central Florida has miles of citrus groves, 

Several varieties of row crops - this field is sweet peppers.

And many cattle ranches.  On a tour of Babcock Ranch one year, we learned that there are more cattle in Florida than in Texas.

We interrupted breakfast for this flock of vultures on our ride Sunday.

We stopped for lunch at Solomon's Castle

where they have a great outdoor dining area and even live entertainment.

This is a very popular bike ride - our group was 8 bikes.

Here we are on the side of a country road taking a short break.

We hated to end our ride at lunch time, so the very hardiest riders continued from Solomon's Castle to Anne Marie Island.

The Lutheran Church on Anne Marie Island has a big Osprey nest on the top of the spire.

Pierre and Nicole

Real and Lisle

Bob and Rosemarie

Fran and Patti

Ron and Rosie
All made the whole trip - starting in Englewood, heading into the middle of the state to Solomon's Castle, back to Anne Marie Island, and then down Longboat Key to Sarasota.

It was a lovely day in Southwest Florida in November.

Motorcycle Ride to Sarasota Islands

It has been a motorcycle riding weekend for us here in Florida.  On Saturday we went on the ride sponsored by the Methodist Church of Englewood to benefit the Helping Hands charity.  The ride was a roaring success, collecting over $11,000 and 4,000 pounds of food.
Click on the link to see us riding out (Ron and I appear at 1 minute and 30 seconds into the YouTube video)  Our friends Patti and Fran are on the beautiful yellow trike in the first part of the video.
Helping Hands Motorcycle Rally - December 3, 2011

Today we tagged along on a ride that Patti and Fran had planned to go to Anna Maria island with their Canadian friends (who are fast becoming our friends too!)

The day couldn't have been more perfect for a ride up Sarasota Key, then Longboat Key, then Bird Key, and finally, Anna Maria Island.

There are some amazing statues along Sarasota Harbor, but this by far the most impressive.

We still have a hard time feeling Christmassy when it is 80+ degrees outside, but this was a pretty impressive manger scene.

Lots of stuff going on, but we breezed past a truck pulling contest on one of the beaches, several flea markets, and lots of shopping opportunities and continued on to Bradenton Beach.

Where we stopped for lunch.  

Always nice to eat outside in the sea air.

Last stop, Anna Maria Island Pier where we watched the fishermen for awhile before stopping for an ice cream cone.

A nice lady on the beach volunteered to take a picture of all of us.

Unfortunately we had already eaten lunch because there is a restaurant on the end of the pier.

Another beautiful day and another great ride!