Everglades National Park

Riding a bike through Everglades National Park can be an easy adventure with some basic precautions. The simplest way to take a ride is just to go along the highway from the entrance near Coe Visitor Center to the campgrounds at Flamingo. It's just 40 miles, but 40 miles with stunning scenery and lots of wildlife. Alligators, vultures, roseate spoonbills, hawks, egrets, herons, swallow-tailed kites, and wood storks were just part of the critters we spotted on recent rides.

We aren't hardy souls. The Everglades can be very hot and humid. The biting insects are fierce during the summer months. We pick our time for rides in the Everglades with care. Here's our list of things to keep in mind if you plan to go:

• The first 8-9 miles of highway after entering the park are old and bumpy. Really bumpy. Graveler bumpy even though it is pavement. Beyond that the road is newly surfaced and excellent riding.
• There is no water between the entrance (Coe Visitor Center) and Flamingo. That's 40 miles, so bring lots of water or make arrangements for a friend to meet you along the way with some water. (Or use a hydration pack in addition to the water bottles on your bike.)
• Don't count on calling anyone on your cell phone. Most of the area does not have cell phone coverage. (Just remember to tell someone where you are going and when to expect you back.)
• There's always a light but steady amount of traffic on the road to Flamingo. In other words, you aren't leaving civilization, so it's a pretty tame adventure as adventures go.
• Bring a camera. The place is beautiful.
• Is 80 miles a bit too much? Consider driving in to spots 10 or 20 miles from Flamingo for a shorter bike ride.
• Still wanting something even tamer? Bike or drive to Royal Palm Visitor Center down a side road just a few miles inside the park. From there you can ride over to a relic of the Cold War, the historic Nike Hercules Missile Site. Not as much wildlife as the road to Flamingo, but if you are a history buff, you have the chance to see a well-preserved relic from the Cold War era.

Just remember it is the little things that make this ride enjoyable: carry lots of water, wear sunscreen, and don't forget the insect repellent, just in case!

Thanks to Tom Burton for taking this picture of Al and me last week on a ride with him in ENP. We have Tom to thank for introducing us to bike riding in ENP.

I love it when the coffee kicks in and I realize what an adorable badass I'm going to be today. (Anonymous)

Coffee is dandy, but what I crave on bike rides is the perfect biking fuel: espresso. But a good espresso can be hard to come by on a ride. Sometimes it's because a convenient coffee shop isn't in the area. And sometimes it's because we want a snack break at scenic spot like the beach, a quiet park, or a pretty view on a quiet rural road.

Well, our caffeine problem has been solved. Recently while picking up a few things at our local Publix grocery store we spotted a treasure: tiny thermoses made just for carrying espresso.

Al makes our espresso in a traditional stovetop espresso maker. He likes his espresso black with sugar. I like mine lightly sweetened and laced with steamy almond milk. Which means we own two little espresso thermoses for our bike rides so that we each can have exactly the mix we crave. Each thermos holds the perfect amount for a mid-ride break. The little thermos cap serves as your cup. (As you can see from the photo, it's the size of a typical espresso cup.)

Espresso. It can really do wonders for your attitude.

If you're old enough to have a job and to have a life, you use Facebook exactly as advertised, you look up old friends. (Jaron Lanier)

The Facebook kerfuffle sent me scrambling to keep in touch with old friends, friends who abandoned Facebook in protest. It turns out, finding easy ways to stay in touch (without Facebook) is difficult. Facebook is simple. For Facebook-adverse friends, I now use email, Whatsapp, Signal, and (gasp) snail mail to chat, gossip, and share a laugh or two. Impossible? No. Inconvenient? Kinda.

When I stopped posting Florida by Bicycle to Facebook, I started getting messages from friends and family checking to see if everything was OK with Al and me. Now I understand that they kept up with what we were doing in retirement by reading Florida by Bicycle. It was convenient and easy. Just watch for a blog post and check it out. Could they still keep up with us? Sure. Had I made it more inconvenient for them? Yep, I had.

So Florida by Bicycle is coming back beginning this month. And, yes, I will share the posts on Facebook.

I want to say here for the record, we may be thousands of miles apart and visit each other only online, but to the many friends and family who messaged to check on us: thanks, it meant a lot.