Biking day

No tennis today, so we spent the day bicycling the General James A. Van Fleet State Trail. Florida has a wonderful system of greenways and trails for cycling, hiking, and equestrian use. Here's their description of the trail:

"The Van Fleet State Trail runs 29 miles through some of Florida's most scenic rural landscape. If you are looking to immerse yourself in wetlands and wildlife, it will not disappoint; at least one-third of the trail crosses central Florida's 322,690-acre Green Swamp. The Green Pond Road trailhead, near Mile Marker 10, marks the boundary of the Green Swamp, one of Florida's protected wetland and wildlife areas. From here on watch for feral pigs, armadillos, buzzards, and possibly an alligator or two basking on the trail's warm asphalt surface."

We had a great ride up and back, although it went a little too long for Mrs. B. Len went 60 miles, and I went 54, and I could hardly walk when we were done. Much better now though, after a long soak in a hot bath. We did not see much wildlife--Central Florida is real low on rain, and the swamp was pretty much dried up. But we saw a variety of birds, quite a few rabbits and squirrels, and a couple of large and very muddy turtles.

Tomorrow morning we leave early to fly to Boston, and the next day we have an all day meeting of disaster recovery folks covering all the New England states. This is our region, so it'll be a wonderful chance to meet representsatives from a lot of other agencies in the area.