Gainesville

Day 51
Today was a long ride of 85 miles from High Springs to Palatka. Our route took us through Gainesville so in memory of our beloved Cita, Blake met me out on the Gainesville-Hawthorn Trail with three dozen pink roses .
It was a hard day for both of us and I am so glad Blake was there and we were together. I don't think I could have done it without him. I love you son.

We love you and miss you Cita

Blake comes to visit!!!!

Day 50
With only two days to go on the ride I have my second visit, Blake drove up from Gainesville during exam week at UF to spend time with his dad!
We decided, a bit late, to rent a canoe and take a short seven-mile paddle on the Santa Fe River. I had a great time. We hadn't paddled together since our trip on the Peace River many years ago. We laughed a lot and saw a gator (how appropriate, huh?) and approximately ten gazillion turtles.
After the river jaunt, we headed to the Great Outdoor Restaurant in High Springs for a wonderful late lunch. This is an area I'd happily return to.  Blake dropped me at the park and headed back to school. I'll see him tomorrow when I ride through Gainesville.

RO, Roland, Blake and PW

Tuna and Conch Fritters!!!

More North Florida

Day 49
Today took us on a lengthy 77-mile ride to High Springs from Madison. We crossed the Suwanee River and ended at the O'Leno State Park just north of High Springs. We're staying in "rustic" Cabins.. (HINT: no AC, ripped screens, bugs, and lots of good old Florida HEAT!). We have a rest day tomorrow, our last, which should be nice. and Blake is coming for a visit! Yahoo!
We have FIREFLIES!!!! Haven't seen them in ages! Cool!

The Suwanee River (in serious overcast)

heading into O'Leno State Park

Rustic Cabin

my suite

Day 48
Our ride from Tallahassee to Madison was only 48 miles but took us through some interesting towns like Monticello and Greenville. The courthouse in Monticello looked much like some of the turn of the century ones in Texas and Greenville was the childhood home of Ray Charles. While in town at our SAG stop we met a woman who had been friends with the famous musician. She came to Madison later that evening to entertain us with stories about both Ray Charles and herself.
We stayed at the North Florida Community College in the gym.. The school is a very nice campus with excellent facilities. The town of Madison caters to cyclists with long bike routes all around the county on little-traveled roads and many, many historic homes to see. Our route didn't take us along any of the 103 miles of surrounding roads so I'm planning to come back to ride here soon.

Courthouse in Monticello

another gym night...

Cities + Cycling = yech.....

Day 47
75.0 miles from Marianna to Tallahassee....
Today started as a nice ride with a lot of none too easy hills (who says Florida is flat???), crossing some rivers and passing through small towns and then deteriorated to a tedious and scary slog thru heavy urban traffic from the far northwest side of a busy Tallahassee to a Best Western on the far eastern edge.
Nothing to see here... Move along...
Tomorrow we will be very glad to be back on small country roads headed to Madison where we will stay at community college facilities.

an old bridge in the flood waters

Me and my friend The Weather Channel!

Best weather of the entire trip!

Day 46 was a wonderful day all around!
It was a 68.5 mile run from DeFuniak Springs to Marianna in the best weather a cyclist could ask for: 58deg to start and warmed only to about 70.
Our first order of business was to take a leisurely swing through DeFuniak Springs and I am very glad we did. First was a stop at the oldest Library in Florida, the Walton-DeFuniak Library, established in 1886. It's still there on the shore of the beautiful lake in town and while small it is an amazingly restful place. I went in to take some pics and found that the library offered something for everyone including a collection or antique swords, spears, lances, crossbows, muskets, and other weapons on most of the walls above the books. The view of the lake from the reading area is amazing and there is a "reading garden" next to the building. The HUGE Southern Oak in front was planted in front of the library over 100 years ago and they even have a picture of the planting of the tiny sapling way back when. My lovely daughter Margueritte would love this place!
Around the lake are some magnificent old homes.
DeFuniak Springs is a very beautiful place!

On the ride we had a slight tailwind, maybe 5 mph +-/-. Great roads with smooth shoulders and very little traffic. We FLEW to Marianna!
I had a great ride, hitting 30 to 37mph on the descents and keeping close to 20 for the day even on the slight climbs but even so, I was shocked when I found that I was the first guy in camp. I wasn't paying attention to who I was passing or who was stopped at the SAG stops. Fun, fun fun day!!!!!
On a sad note, the flooding we saw further west is still quite evident here in north Florida. As you can see from the pics below some roads just disappear under the fast-moving flood waters near the rivers and our campground was partially submerged near the banks and the tent area was very soggy, necessitating a "doormat"/walkway to some tents (including mine) made form an old, dead air mattress. The moment you stepped into the tent you could feel the water squishing in the mud under the tent floor.
Oh, and by the way,  this will be our last night in tents!!!!! Yahoooo!

Florida's oldest library

the Reading Garden

Old Defuniak Springs

the Lake in the middle of town

note the current over the flooded road

the river encroaching onto the campgound

my cozy tent in the mud...

Florida Bound

Day 45
Milton to DeFuniak Springs
 We left the campground early to stop across the street at a Waffle House for breakfast so got a late start on the road but it was a short day so we could afford to waste some time. Our 55 mile ride was in great weather. A very slight headwind but clear, starting in the 60s and ending in the mid 70s.
Not much to see but everyone agrees that we all love the Florida roads and shoulders!
Well, there was the Animal Tree at mile 15... go figure...

Waffle House harassment

the Animal Tree

nice roads!

Day 44
Today we are headed to Florida but had to cross Mobile Bay first before we could start the 85 miles to Milton FL.
We took the 8 AM ferry for the trip across the bay. Saw some interesting rigs in the bay. The bay is only 11 feet deep but the natural gas rigs are drilling down to 20,000 feet to reach the gas deposits that are under a pressure of ten to twenty thousand PSI!
Started our ride at about 9 and headed east into, guess what? Another 15 mph headwind! I got into a paceline with Scott, Mike and Miker and headed east at about 17-20 mph. It was  hard going and was going to be a LONG day. The weather that had started cold but clear and looked to a warm up a bit actually got colder as it became more and more overcast and windier so we were pretty cold for most of the ride.

Crossed into Florida at mile 32 while it was still clear, and I lead the four of us over the line!
Nice to be back!!!!!

We stopped at Nick's Boathouse for Easter Lunch and had some great seafood. So great that even tho were were way ahead of everyone else, about half the riders passed us during our almost two hour stop!
I managed to get a leg cramp near mile 62 so stayed at the last SAG stop for a while to rest and massage my thigh. I rolled in later than my buds but made it just fine.
As soon as I had showered I had a massage with Michelle which helped a great deal. She is leaving us tomorrow morning. I am sorry to see her leave.
The campground is nice with nice facilities.

This is NOT the desert

Home again!

Day 43
We took a rest day on Dauphin Island. It was soggy and cold but it was a well deserved and much appreciated rest day. 10 days in the saddle with the weather we have been having made a lot of us a bit tired. OK, all of us.
I slept late (till 8) then did a load of laundry then at lunchtime  Roland, RO, PW and I headed to Skinner's for some fresh seafood. It's a fish market not a restaurant but they will steam whatever you purchase to whatever degree of spiciness you prefer so I had a pound of jumbo shrimp, corn on the cob and red potatoes, all steamed medium. It was VERY fresh and VERY good!

GREAT seafood!

Relaxing