Bike Ride at The Villages

After the rains on Monday, we woke up to cooler weather on Tuesday morning.  Bonnie Waltman joined us for our walk this morning.  Here are the lovely ladies, Bonnie, Bonnie & Melissa:

And the good-looking guys...

aka Dim and Dimmer or Dimmer and Dim.   Their names change to suit the moment.  :)

We could see the female owl this morning.  Looked like she was burrowed down in the nest trying to keep her eggs warm.  :)

After our walk, the guys loaded up the bikes on Ken & Bonnie's CRV, and we drove to Sumter Landing at The Villages.  After parking the car off the square, we got on our bikes and began riding toward our lunch destination, Crispers.

We were riding along the Buena Vista Recreation Trail which is for golf carts, bicyclers and pedestrians.  The golf cart traffic seemed exceptionally heavy along this part of the trail.

We detoured off the trail and explored a section of The Villages with bigger and more expensive homes.

These homes backed up to Lake Sumter.

As we rode our bikes back on the Buena Vista Recreational Trail, we rode past one of the 43 golf courses in The Villages.

Not only are there plenty of recreational opportunities at The Villages, they also have a Lifelong Learning College where residents can take classes in just about anything from cooking to scuba diving.

Fortunately, most of the time the trail crosses busy roads like CR 466 via tunnels.  We crossed under CR 466 and parked our bikes at Crispers for a delicious lunch.  Chuck had the Signature Summer Salad...

...and I had the Southwest Salad.

They were as delicious as they looked.  Now, for a group picture before we eat:

Unfortunately, one of us (me) had her eyes closed.  Rule #1 for taking selfies:  always take two pictures.  After we finished our lunch, we laughed and talked and laughed and talked for almost another hour.

We rode our bikes on a different trail back to Sumter Landing so we could see a different part of The Villages.

Taking pictures while you are riding a bike can produce some unusual results:

We passed by another of the many golf courses.

The landscaping throughout The Villages is beautiful and always well-maintained.

We stopped at this lagoon...

...where we saw a heron standing in the marshes.

I rode on ahead a few hundred yards...

so I could take this video of my fellow bicyclers (and the busy golf cart traffic).

We rode across Lake Sumter...

...and paused for one last picture on the sidewalk of the bridge.

After 10.5 miles of bike riding, we arrived back at Ken & Bonnie's CRV and the guys loaded the bikes back up for the ride home.

Another beautiful day of bike riding.  Time to do a little pickin'...

...and grinnin'.

We arrived back at the campground in time to get in a game of Bocce and a game of shuffleboard.  We won't discuss who won these games.  :(  After dinner, Ken and Bonnie came back over for what ended up being a late night of card playing that didn't stop until after midnight.  There are just not enough hours in the day!