Christmas Week -- lots of fun

Christmas came as always and was a good time to reflect on the Birth of our Savior.  Pretty cool when you think that the God of the Universe took on the form of a man in order to pay the penalty for our sins. It is interesting to think of all the giving that happens this time of year and yet many people forget the simple truth in John 3:16 -- 
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son...that whoever believes in HIM might have everlasting life.  From the ruler of the Universe to a baby to the ruler of the universe.....he is the reason for CHRISTmas.

On the day after Christmas Michael had to feed Justin's fish in Gainesville ....so ... Bernice, Derek, Cayce's Dad (Randy) and I decided to go up with him and travel by bicycle -- 94.4 miles.   We met early in the morning with a light fog and some trepidation on Randy's part-- his longest ride before this was 55 miles.  Bernice & I rode the tandem which meant we led the whole way because it is too hard to draft a single bike with the tandem. It goes too fast fast downhill and not quite fast enough uphill.  Both boys offered to lead --- but they did not mind drafting us.


We stopped at Paines Prairie on the way up enjoying the warm weather and hoping to see some Gators. Nope not one in sight on the east side of the road. But the break was nice.   We made it to the apartment and got the fish fed.

Along the way we had a total of 4 flats Randy learned not to ride in the piles of debris in intersections. He was a trooper and pumped them up with out complaining. He did VERY well keeping up and did not complain once....all in all a good sport and a good ride under his belt.

On the way back across the prairie we saw a boatload of Gators. There were dozens of them sunning themselves in the near 80 degree sun.  Shortly after that we had a great lunch at a cafe called Blue Highway in Micanopy.  YUMMY!!!!

Our last rest  stop was in Anthony at the little BP convenience store. Sam is the owner from India and is VERY friendly. He used to ride when he lived in India and always makes a point to make our stops at his store nice. This day he gave us some fresh sugar cane which was tasty.

Randy surpassed his old record by nearly 40 miles and was still smiling so it was a good day for all of us.


Yesterday I went about 315 miles on the motorcycle with a group of friends. 10 bikes in all --- we cruised through north Florida to almost the Georgia line then looped back. It included a lunch and breakfast stop and PERFECT weather.