Derek's Graduation

June 6th 2009 Derek Graduated from Forest High School with High Honors. He was a member of the National Honor Society, the Engineering progra,and got a full scholarship for tuition and books for 4 years at the University of Florida. This is a shot of him dancing his way up the asile.

Here he is coming off the stage with his diploma.... we were kind high up so I had to use the 10x optical zoom to get these.

Here is the group of graduates. There were 544 of them. It was the biggest class ever in Marion county. There are 6 high schools in the county. Derek finished 14th in his class.

He had High honors.... National Honor Society.... Engineering Special Program...and a full tutition scholarship to the university of Florida. When he gets there his life long friend Mike Armstrong will be his roommate. It is amazing both of them got into UF. 24000 apply and only 6000 get in.... which may not sound impressive....but ... only REALLY sharp kids bother to apply there.

End of May ---Cycling

Recently Michael and Cayce made a trip to Tampa to visit their friend Jason who deals in bicycles online. They were able to get a great deal on a bike for Cayce. She is excited about riding and loves the Orange & Blue color scheme of the new Trek.

They were beaming after riding to visit us -as is evident by their smiles. She looks like a cyclist and is already riding 18- 20 + miles -- so the prospects are good for her cycling future. She has a good teacher too and that never hurts.

Derek is finished with High School and will graduate on June 6th. Here is a pic of one of his last days when he rode to school in a makeshift swimming pool in the back of a pick up truck. The good news is he is accepted to the University of Florida and did qualify for a full academic scholarship (covering tuition and some $$ towards books). In his class of 570 only 11 qualified for that level of support.

The rest of the pictures are from a 63 mile ride we did yesterday to benefit Hospice of Marion County. The first one shows what happens when you ride a tandem with single bikes. They line up like it is Talladegah to enjoy the big draft the tandem puts out.

Here are the boys and I enduring the heat for a photo opportunity.

At the bottom is a picture of two of my favorite clients Lil & Ruth who do tons of volunteer work in town and we there serving food to the riders

DC trip and misc.

Bernice & I went to Washington DC for a short trip Thursday to Sunday.... I am tired so this will be brief.

First off.... Thanks to everyone who has served in the military and played a part in securing our freedom.  I truly appreciate it.

We had a great time and saw most of the key tourist spots in the capitol area.

This is Stanley the Crawfish....Derek found him in the river he has lived with us for 6 weeks or so and has molted shells 3-4 times

Another excellent week....

Bernice & I found recently that at the end of our street if you traverse a small field you intersect with the Florida Trail. This has provided us with some interesting after dinner hikes. The wild flowers are in full bloom right now in the meadows along the trail.




Last Tuesday Michael and Cayce joined us on our hike. We went about 3 miles round trip down the trail and found a mixture of meadows and woods.




One place they made and easy crossing of a fence and you actually traverse through an occupied cow field-- fortunately the herd was through an open gate and down a bit when we passed. In watching where I was walking -- I noticed this cactus in bloom.





On Saturday we did a 48 mile ride with our friend Don. He says he likes following us on the Tandem. I think he enjoys the draft ---it was funny-- He said, " I feel really fit while following you guys -- not so much when I am leading"



On Friday Bernice & I did a 60+ mile ride in the horse farm area north of Ocala. It was pretty with all the farms, ponds and horses. Some of which get all frisky and want to run with you as you go by.....others do not even notice us









This coming week we will head to Washington DC for a conference I qualified for-- should have some good pics for next week.

derek pics

Friends.... Riding.... and Graduation

Last Sunday I left church on the Harley and went for a nice ride with a group of friends to a place called Sleepy Hollow near Floral City ..... It was great weather  and the Food was great.  We sat at tables under Big live oak trees & had lunch.  There was live music on our side of the river and some good Red Neck entertainment on the other side --- note the 4 wheelers.... it just went from Bad to worse the more beer they drank. 

We saw them get stuck / towed... and swamped in the river.

On this Friday Bernice and I went on a 61 mile ride all around the county.... we actually got in just over 2000 feet of climbing --- in Florida that is not easy to do.

On Saturday Michaels wife Cayce received her Masters Degree from the University of Florida. Congratulations to her on that Big accomplisment

Friends ---Bike Rides & Bike Rides

We had a good week at work..... Michael headed for NYC on Thursday night and is taking in the sights of the big city.

We went on 2 longer bicycle rides this week one 46  over the Moss Bluff Dam and the requisite Dam Diner ....continuing out through part of the Ocala National Forest.

On Friday night we went to a King of the Wing competition for the best wings in town. We went with a group of 10+ couples and had fun laughing and eating wings.  It was a good evening we met and rode there on the Motorcycles.


Saturday Morning we went on another 43 mile tandem ride around Lake Weir and saw many Motorcyles heading to the Leesburg Bike Fest. We pulled into a gas station for a rest room break and there were a group of 20+ BIKERS on their Harleys. I rode the tandem in the midst of them and asked if this was where we where staging to go to Leesburg???




I took photos of Bernice and I that were a few years older .....Enjoy !!!