A longer and different day than anticipated

In the morning Susan cooked up eggs and sweet potato with onion for breakfast. Her husband George let me try out his Trike bike. I went around the block on it. It felt so different! I have to say, though, it was pretty comfortable sitting in the reclining position, but cycling uphill takes a whole different kind of muscle!

I headed out in at about 8:45 am. It had rained during the night and pavement was wet and trees glistening in the sun.

I had some serious wind to deal with, headwind. All day.
The first 40 km was the best since it was on the Withlacoochee trail which was away from traffic. Apparently it was an old rail line back in the day.
I followed Google maps suggested bike route, and wonder how it generated the route. The one road was just packed sand, which my skinny tires combined with the weight of my panniers couldn't do, the alternative was riding on a busy road with absolutely zero shoulder to ride on and into the wind, slow going :( not fun.
Apparently I'm below the frost line now. Saw some citrus groves. And cranes.

I got rained on, but not much, maybe just enough to wash off some of my sunscreen and make road dirt stick to my skin, which in turn made me not want to reapply sunscreen, which resulted in me burning yet again! Not cool.
I made it to Tampa, and it was one busy road after another. At some points I had bike trail, at others I road along the side of the busy road, and at yet other times I opted to ride on the sidewalk. I'm incredibly thankful God protected me on the road today because it was kinda nerve racking with so many cars rushing by!

Biked though the University of Southern Florida campus. It was a pretty cool place. Apparently "running with the Bulls" is a theme, as I saw a lot of artistic renditions of that.

The sun started getting to me and I was feeling more and more ready to be done for the day. My route led me into an area (the 'projects' apparently) that seemed unlikely for the family friends I had hoped to spend the night with to be.
When I double checked the address, I realized something wasn't right, so I found me a MacDonalds (thank you Garmin!) where I could get wifi and figure things out and connect. Turns out they're not in Brandon area but in Bradenton, which is another 70 Km's further south! Yikes! I was feeling like I was in a pickle, especially since I was already at 125 Km's! Definitely wasn't feeling up to dealing with traffic and sun anymore. I used Skype to connect and try figure out what to do.
I decided I would try, really last minute(!), to see if I could get a WarmShowers host that was in the area. I made a few calls and was able to find a couple about 15 Km's away who were happy to host me for the night. Phew!
I felt a bit like a prodigal, undeserving of hospitality because I had given so little notice, I would be happy to pitch my tent in their backyard, or sleep in my sleeping bag so as not to dirty the sheets! But when I got to Mike and Mary's place, Mary was more than happy to provide me with a lovely bedroom to sleep in, a warm shower and towels, and delicious food to revive me. It was already 5:30 pm by then! It had been a very long day and I had only really stopped for a bit a t the MacDonalds!
Seems like this trip is full of the unexpected! I didn't expect to have to do this last minute coordination! But God is so gracious in providing, opening doors, supplying all my needs!
By the way, fresh Florida strawberries are incredible! My hosts let me have my fill of them!
I was really anticipating having a rest day tomorrow, especially with the rain in the forecast, but now I am not sure what to do.