Day 11: To Pensacola

30 miles (48 km) - Total so far: 497 miles (800 km)

This morning we woke up, nice and warm, and remained that way for quite a bit. We weren't really in any rush to get out on the road. Plus, John and Lesa wanted to take us out for breakfast. And any bike tourer knows, you don't pass up a meal. We went to this nice place called Another Broken Egg Cafe. I liked the name. Haha. The food was delicious, and we had more great conversation over coffee as well. When we got back to the house, we got all our gear together to start our final leg into Pensacola where we'll be meeting with some more riders and making our big departure for the West Coast. John also decided to ride out with us for part of the trip.


So we rode out about 25 miles and stopped for coffee at a McDonalds, right before crossing bridge #3. While we were at McDonalds, I talked to Sara, our host for the next couple days. She's also the one who got the group together to make this voyage. She ended up being able to pick us up and take us and all our gear to her house. This made our planned 60 mile day much shorter. We were perfectly okay taking the ride as it was getting a bit chilly riding.

So we are going to be sleeping at Sara's mom's house. Then heading back to Sara's tomorrow to hang out during the "storm." We'll be in Pensacola until Monday, when we'll be leaving as a group of 6. We also met Ryan who's already biked 1400 miles, from virginia to pensacola. He arrived a cpl days ago and will also be part of the group to start.

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Day 10: To Destin

53 miles (85 km) - Total so far: 467 miles (752 km)

After updating last night, the wind started to pick up, heavily. I was thinking I might wake up with a tent that had been blown into pieces. When I finally did wake up, the temperature had dropped way down. It was so hard to pack everything up in the freezing cold (I really think it was 32 or less).

We had made plans to stay in Destin for the night, and knew we would be facing winds and cold, so we left rather early. The winds and the cold were both worse than we had expected. I think Carol and the wind were having a power struggle, while I was struggling with the cold. At one point, driving by a big hotel, I saw their digital sign said 9:01, 36F. Was not really that prepared for that. I still managed to enjoy some great beach views as we rode down Front Beach Road/98/30A. Some of these roads have so many different names, its easy to get confused.

After riding down the first island on the beach road and having it take a lot longer than it should have, we ended up getting on 98 away from the beach. It was a bit more direct, cutting out a few miles of riding. After what seemed like forever, we finally found a gas station with a store and grabbed some food to refuel. It finally started warming up when we got back on the road, well after noon. Warm enough to take off my jacket and head cover (balaclava?).

After finally reaching our destination, we were greeted by fellow CrazyGuy and CrazyGal, John and Lesa, our hosts for the night. They are just awesome! Great stories of their own tours, warm showers, laundry, a delicious home cooked Indian dinner, and a nice warm pullout couch(I let Carol have the bed)! They offered to bring us to the store to resupply and the use of any tools to work on the bikes. John also printed out directions to Pensacola where we'll be meeting a few more from the group, routing us the scenic way onto an island instead of just riding 98 the whole way. Amazing night.

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Day 9: To St. Andrews State Park

34 miles (55 km) - Total so far: 414 miles (666 km)

Woke up to the pitter patter of raindrops on the air conditioner. My first thought, "why is the weather channel always right about rain?" Then I stayed in bed for another 2 hours. At least the motel didn't go to waste. When we finally got packed and ready to roll, it was still coming down.

We ride down 231 for a ways, there's a pretty good shoulder for most of it. Then we get to this part that's under construction, I guess repaving parts of the road leading into Panama City. This part was horrible. The paving companies like to put up signs saying things like "Uneven Lanes" or "Grooved Roads." What they should say is "Touring Cyclists Find A New Route, Cause These Roads Are Gonna Knock All Your Gear, Joints, and Brains Loose." And the rain definitely didn't help any.



When we finally hit Panama City city limit, about 20 miles of rain riding, I notice it starting to slow to a light drizzle. We stop in an IHOP for some breakfast. I drank a full carafe of coffee to warm myself up. That's one good thing about IHOP, they leave a carafe on the table for you. The other good thing is the never ending pancakes. Haha. I had 2 eggs over easy, 2 strips of bacon, home fries, and 2 pancakes. Then another 3. I was gonna go for a third round, but thought I might not want to ride the remaining 15 miles. By the time we came out of there, the sun was starting to peak through.

We cruised over the bridge into Panama City Beach and banged a left. Rode for another few miles before hitting the end of the island and our campground for the evening, St. Andrews State Park. We got a site right on the water this time. Awesome.

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Day 8: To Youngstown

62 miles (100 km) - Total so far: 380 miles (612 km)

So let me start off by saying today was a failure for pictures.
1. We changed time zones, thought I'd see a sign. Nope.
2. Saw the coolest bike sign that someone drew panniers and racks on, while riding down a hill at 20+.
3. Went over a pretty cool bridge, but it was 2 lanes with no bike lane or shoulder.
So I only have 3 pictures to share.

This morning was absolutely frigid. And the sun was out all day. But last night must have gotten pretty chilly cause we were seeing frost on the grass as we headed out. We stayed on 20 pretty much the whole day, except for the last 6 or so miles when we finally hit 231 to start heading south. 20 was mostly nice riding, decent shoulder, quiet traffic, lots of woods all around. Near the end of it though, shoulder disappeared and traffic increased. We kept almost getting hit by these big logging trucks. Not that much fun. For lunch we went to this great mexican place. Had two enchiladas, a quesadilla, and a beef taco. About 10 miles later, we stop at a general store to get Carol a Coke. Only she doesn't have her wallet anymore. She forgot it at the mexican place. Now Carol was stopping for a Coke because she was getting a little sluggish, so there's no way we're riding the 20 mile round trip to get it. She tries hitchhiking for a bit, but no luck. Its not looking good. Then someone suggests she calls the sheriffs station, so she does. About 20 more minutes of waiting and a cop shows up with said wallet. And that was the excitement for the day.
Right now we're in this cheap motel (read: expensive dump) because the forecast is calling for rain, and if its right, I don't want to pack up a tent in the rain and let it get all nasty inside.

Panama City tomorrow, rain or shine!


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Day 7: To Hall's Landing

46 miles (74 km) - Total so far: 318 miles (512 km)

I think tonight may be one of the best night's camping so far. Just look at my setup in the picture above.

Anyway, today was pretty solid. It started off kind of early, waking up to freezing cold at about 630. Got all my gear packed and headed over to the main cabin for complimentary breakfast.(This KOA was awesome! Breakfast is not the KOA standard. Each camp is individually owned I believe, but this one was worth it.) 3 homemade waffles, oj, a few cups of coffee and a cinnamon danish. Great way to start the day.

Last night, we made plans to go off route for awhile. We decided to head down to Panama City and ride along the Gulf Coast for a few days before heading into Pensacola to meet a few more riders and reconnect with the Southern Tier. So today we took 27 directly west into Tallahassee instead of dipping down and looping back up into it, cutting out about 15 or so miles. The road was great, lots of hills though.


So we rode through Tallahassee and around the FSU campus. The stadium in the picture is FSU's.


We connected with 20 on the other side of the city and just rode that for awhile. We contemplated camping in the National Forest a little ways down the road for free, but not knowing what kind of accommodations will be coming from now to Panama City, I suggested we stay here for 10 bucks, with showers and restrooms. When we pull up to register, we ask how much(I had previously looked online and it said $10), the guy says free. Sick!
So I'm chilling lake side, just ate some pasta, had a cup of tea, gonna read a bit and watch the sun go down over the lake. Then take a nice warm shower and head to bed. For free. Can't beat a night like tonight, even with the Super Bowl goin on.


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Day 6: To Monticello

53 miles (85 km) - Total so far: 270 miles (435 km)

Right now, I'm relaxing on a very comfortable couch in a pretty sweet gameroom at KOA Kampgrounds-Tallahassee East. Its so much better than being in a tent for hours on end.
This morning, we were up and on the road by 6:45, had to use my headlight for the first time. The reason so early, we never set up our tents last night. We found a little pavilion and just threw our groundcloths on a picnic table, and used our sleeping pads and bags, so we had very minimal packing to do this morning.
Once the sun started to come out and light the day, we started noticing the very dark clouds hovering ahead of us. This was quite alarming, as it was forecast to be a beautiful day. After a few more miles, I felt a few light drops, so I stopped and threw on my rain jacket. With about a mile left to our destination, the skies just dumped on us. Of course this rain only lasted as long as it took us to get to Archie's, a small cafe/diner. We ate some breakfast and warmed up with some coffee, and went on our way.
For the next couple hours, the sky would not make up its mind. It'd be gray, then be clear, then gray, etc. Very annoying when you're on a bike. Eventually it cleared up and we had blue skies for the rest of the ride.
Along with the mixed up sky, we had crazy headwinds pretty much all day. Throw in lots of rolling hills and I feel like we did about 75 miles. Very spent. Tomorrow we won't be leaving anywhere near as early, as they have complimentary breakfast from 8-10. Plan on taking full advantage of that.

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Day 5: To Suwanee River State Park

32 miles (51 km) - Total so far: 217 miles (349 km)

So we rose with the rooster this morning to find the rain hadn't come yet. Dry ground meant we were riding somewhere. We were on the road before 8 and the skies were not looking good. Forecast was calling for rain by about noon, so we had a few hours to make it the 30 miles to the park. All along the way was nothing but farms and open fields again. The only gas station we saw had the crummiest convenience store so we couldn't even stock up. We pull up to the ranger station around 11 and talk to the ranger. Nothin around for about 5 miles, and we didn't want to chance get dumped on. As were walking out of the station, we start feeling drips coming down, so we jump on our bikes and start riding. Luckily we asked for a site as close to the facilities as possible, and we just rode through our site right under the bathrooms overhang to wait out the rain. It ended up raining for a few hours pretty hard. We showered and got cleaned up and up walks Roger. He overheard us talking to the ranger about food and said his wife was making some soup and crackers and to come on over to his rv. We ended up with some tomato soup, apple slices, peanut butter and crackers, and some hot cocoa. Really hit the spot. We went back by our stuff to hang out for awhile under the overhang. A few hours pass and Roger comes back with dinner for us, rice and beans, chicken, bread and butter, and a peach cup. The kindness of strangers has just been wonderful so far, I sure hope its like this the whole trip. After hanging out for awhile we met some others who were giving us tips on good places to camp and two ladies that were going kayaking on the Suwanee tmrw. Lots of cool people so far.
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Day 4: To Welborn

37 miles (60 km) - Total so far: 185 miles (298 km)

We woke up this morning with all intentions of riding about 50 miles to the next campground. We wanted to get going early, with rain in the forecast for late today and tomorrow. This prompted Carol to decide to leave ahead of me, so I wouldn't have to keep waiting for her at turns all day.She wrote down the first few turns and headed out, probably 20 minutes prior to me. I head out and am feeling pretty good, beautiful weather, open roads.

About an hour into the day, still no sign of Carol. Now Carol can ride, but there's no way she's still gonna be out of view after only 20 minute head start and 12 miles down. I reach a campground/convenience store and grab a few snacks and wait. After about 20 minutes, she finally calls. Missed a turn and went 2 miles outta the way. She finally reaches where I am and we start rolling down the road. After another 10 or so miles, she notices her tire goin flat. We stop and fill it, seems to be good. Another buncha miles go by and its gettin low again. She decides she wants to just swap out the tube, so we pull off into this little church parking lot and start working on it. Just as were seating the tire, a man pulls up. We start talkin. Turns out Jack has a pop-up trailer bout 1/2 mile down the road, vs. the campground that's still 10+ miles away.
We chose trailer. We went back to his house and met his wife, Cathy and dog, Bo, and Buster, our alarm clock.

We got to shower, do laundry, even got some dinner, chicken sandwiches, mac n cheese, and soup, with jello n cookies for dessert.
Good times.

We may try for Suwannee River State Park tomorrow if the rain holds out a little, or we may be here in this trailer again.

Life with no restrictions is pretty swell.
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Day 3: To O'Leno State Park

74 miles (119 km) - Total so far: 148 miles (238 km)

Today was awesome! Woke up this morning bright and early, before the sun was up. It was very chilly. Forecast looked good so we headed out by 8:30 hoping to get here to camp for the night.
We rode from Melrose into Hawthorne, where the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail starts. Man, I wish I knew where some trails like this were in NJ. It was about 16 miles of paved pathway, winding through trees, over creeks. And it was flat, for the first 12 miles. When we started getting to the Gainesville end of the trail it started to get hilly and curvy. The hills weren't to bad, but coming down with the curves was great, I wasn't sure how the fully loaded bike would handle stuff like this but it was solid.
Fact: LTJ is from Gainesville...rock city!
Allen wasn't feeling up to the challenge of what we thought was gonna be 60 or so miles to the campground, so he's stayin in a hostel in Gainesville. Me and Carol kept pressing on. Around mile 40, we stopped and split a brick oven pizza. Amazing. 4 slices each, and we probably coulda had another 4. By now it was about 2, and the campground office closes at 530, and we still had at least 20 miles to go. We start hammering. 34 miles later, we pull in around 5. It probably should have only been about 30, but I'm not good at reading directions. Well, I'm not good at FULLY readding directions.
Me:"we need Santa Fe Drive."
Carol:"ok, that says 441."
Me:"ok, let's keep going."
....2ish miles later..
Me:"umm, I think we needed 441"
Carol:"uh, why?"
Me:"well after it says santa fe drive, it says 441 joins the route."
Hahah, my bad. Maybe I should read ahead a bit.
Anyway, we made it. Real campground, got electricity hookup, showers(felt good), restrooms.
Heard rain for tmrw, so well see what happens.

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Day 2: To Melrose

18 miles (29 km) - Total so far: 74 miles (119 km)

Right now I am camped out behind a fire station in Melrose. There's an open lot behind the station that one of the firefighters owns, and they let people camp from time to time. 2nd night of free camping=Awesome. The rest of today=Major Fail.
It all started last night, when the skies opened up and it rained until morning. When we all finally got up, some thought it'd be best to try and wait out the rain. This led to about 5 hours of sitting around! Not cool, all of stuff still got just as wet as if we packed up in the rain. So we didn't end up leaving our campsite til 11:40. Then we had a 2-3 mile hike to get outta the woods, pretty much in mud. Thus, only riding 18 miles.
I actually wanted to keep riding to the next stop, another 10-15 miles, but I'm not too bitter since we got free camping. Tomorrow I fully intend to be on the road early and get in another long riding day.
Not many pics today, it felt like I was back in NJ. Lots of woods and farms.

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Day 1: St. Augustine to Etoniah Creek State Park

56 miles (90 km) - Total so far: 56 miles (90 km)

We headed out around 8 this morning, and decided not to follow the maps, riding on A1A down to route 206 near Crescent Beach instead. We passed through Hastings into East Palatka and got chinese for lunch. My fortune said "The human body was designed to walk, run or stop it wasn't built for coasting." Pretty fitting I thought. I don't plan on coasting this trip.
After lunch we crossed the St Johns river into Palatka on 100. We just kept on riding until we found this state park with some primitive camping. We had to walk about 2 miles through wet sandy road to get to the sites. We set up camp for the first night, had some grub, and I'll probably be asleep before 9.

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Day 0: St. Augustine

Got to Jacksonville early yesterday morning and picked up Allen from the train station. We drove into St. Augustine to meet Carol and go out to lunch. Allen and Carol are the two people I'll be starting this ride with, both of which I found on-line. Then Allen and I found a hotel to get settled into until we leave tomorrow. I ended up passing out around 8:30 and slept straight until 4, then fell back asleep for another 3 hours. This morning I returned the rental car, then we rode around the city for a while. We also decided to do the ceremonial tire dip today so we can just ride out in the morning. After the tire dip, we had a great spaghetti dinner at one of Carol's friends house. We're watching the Pro Bowl now, probably get to sleep early again. Hoping for an 8 o'clock departure.

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Florida Bound

So after much debate, I decided to pass on taking a train into Jacksonville. Lots of back and forth, along with last minute issues, and I went with renting a car and driving down myself. I picked up a nice Chrysler Town and Country minivan to make the trip. Gives my bike plenty of room to relax for the next 16 or so hours, before she rides 3000 miles across the country.
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