About 30 buzzards which had been just inside the tree line took off at the same time as the three buzzards in the road. I have never seen so many buzzards in the same place without road-kill and I'd certainly never seen so many take off within 15 feet of me. It was awesome and a little scary.

Just before I turned left to head north toward Hernando, a dump truck passed me within a few inches of the white line marking the bike lane. He didn't cross it, but he did crowd the line. I got him back though. When I got to the red light where he was stopped, I crowded him back. I'm sure he felt threatened. Quite sure.

The north/south section along Rt 41 just before Hernando is a really nice bike path. That split into 2 bike paths at the left turn where I headed back to the west. Eventually, that bike path ended and I was left along side a road that was under construction with apparently no place to go. I looked at the map on my phone to see where I could head back and catch a north/south, but I didn't see anything that looked promising. Then, I looked up and saw a sidewalk on the other side of the street. As I crossed over, I realized that they had the entire far side closed off and the west bound traffic was being redirected to the east bound side. That left the freshly paved west bound lanes all to me. Lucky me! Other than a grater and a water truck that I had to avoid, it was smooth sailing all the way to the next left where I turned back to the south.

It wasn't until I got to the last east/west section of Venable Rd that I had any bad passes. The first was a black pick up truck from Ohio. The second was a Honda CRV with Michigan plates. Doesn't that just figure? The CRV had a step ladder strapped to the back and it came within 2 feet of my shoulder. I yelled, but I declined on the opportunity to follow him into the Home Depot parking lot when I saw him go through the light at Rt 19. All-in-all, I give this ride an A++.

I drove out to Ft. Island beach and pumped up my 13 meter Fuel. Then, I went to get the rest of my gear and walk my lines. That's when I realized I'd forgotten to grab my harness. Feh. So, I deflated and drove back to my parents' house, grabbed my harness, and drove back. 40 minutes after I first arrived, I was back at the beach and pumping up my 13, again. I got in 7 miles of riding on the 13 and had some really nice jumps near the pier as well as out deep.

I came in to get a drink and take a break just in time for the wind to pick up considerably. When I went back out, I did so on my 9 meter fuel. That was good for 5 more miles of kiting before the wind shut off. And, when it shut off, I was luck to be headed in any way. Had I been out deep, I might have had some problems. This session wasn't without problems, though. One time, when I had jumped into the swim area (at a time when there were no swimmers) I had problems getting back out. I tried to jump over the string of buoys and landed right on top of one of the orange balls. They're not soft orange balls, either. That collision broke off one of my fins. Feh.