Day 14, Bayou La Batre, Al, 0 miles, 597 miles total
I must have needed some rest because I slept for 10 hours last night. It was 8 am before I woke up, and the weather made up my mind on whether or not to ride. There was a storm raging outside with heavy rain and frequent lightning strikes.
I had some trouble with my front derailleur yesterday so took a look at that this morning. It would not shift into the lowest gear, and it turned out that the combination of rain and road grime was causing it to bind. I cleaned it up and sprayed some WD-40 on the pivot points, which seems to have loosened it up nicely.
I also topped off my tire pressure, as I hadn't done that in a week. I hate to even mention this for fear of jinxing it, but I've had no flat tires yet. I did start the trip with a very slow leak in my rear tire, but replaced that tube while talking a day off in Tallahassee last week. One reason for the good luck is the road has been very clean so far. Glass and debris has been very rare and what little I have seen was spotted in time to avoid it. Another reason could be the Kevlar belt in my Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. They are great tires, but they're not 100% infallible. No tires are.
Something else that has been very rare so far is dog chases. I've only been chased once, by what appeared to be a lab mix, brother/sister tag team. They had no meanness in their hearts though, so when I coasted and talked nicely to them they decided to leave me alone. That was back in Florida, somewhere west of Bonifay, I think.
The people I've encountered on this trip so far have been great, with the possible exception of that sketchy car in Pensacola. Traffic has been excellent, almost always giving me a wide berth, and no close calls except those two who turned left in front of me after I left Tallahassee. But after thinking about those two, I believe neither of them saw me because the sun was in their eyes. It was shortly after sunrise and both of them were eastbound, turning to the north.
I got honked at near Pace, Florida, just east of Pensacola. That was a truck full of kids just trying to scare the guy on the bike. And that kind of thing has happened near most larger communities I've ever ridden. Just kids doing stupid kid stuff. I wish I could say I'd never done anything like that when I was young and dumb, but I can't.
Some of the people I've talked to on this trip have been real characters, like those I mentioned earlier who I encountered outside of the closed convenience store near Suwannee River State Park.
But they weren't the only ones. While taking a Gatorade break at a convenience store just past Pensacola, I met an Alabama man I'll call "Earnest T," because he reminded me of the Earnest T. Bass character from the old Andy Griffith show. He was filling empty milk jugs with drinking water from the convenience store's outdoor water spigot. Every time he filled one he would walk it over to his truck, passing me as he came and went. Each time he came by he had a new question.
"Where are you headed?"
"San Diego," I replied.
"I been to San Diego!" he said. Then he left.
When he came by again he asked, "Where'd you come from?"
"St. Augustine," I said.
"I been there too!" And off he went.
Next he wanted to know where I was from. "Oregon," I told him.
"I been there TOO!"
On the next pass he said that since I wasn't from around there he was going to give me a tip. He said if I turned left at a black sign up ahead that said "Beach Access #2" I could get a free shower.
That convinced me to wash my clothes that night.
I also ran into a fellow from St. Augustine outside of the Auto Museum in Tallahassee. He was probably about 50, and asked me where I was from. I said, "Oregon."
I wasn't really prepared for his response, which was, "Where's that?"
I almost laughed until I realized he was serious. It reminded me of a young woman waiting tables at her Father's roadside food stand near Chetumal, Mexico, as I rode through there in 2009. She had wanted to know where we were going, and apparently had never heard of Panama and asked if it was near the next town south of her.
I remember thinking how lucky we were to have grown up in a country where nearly everyone has access to a basic education. But the man from St.Augustine reminded me that not everyone has taken advantage of that, for whatever reason.
Tomorrow I'll be headed for Gulfport, Mississippi, rain or shine. And it's looking like more rain. Oh well, at least I'll have another nice, dry motel room waiting for me.
I had some trouble with my front derailleur yesterday so took a look at that this morning. It would not shift into the lowest gear, and it turned out that the combination of rain and road grime was causing it to bind. I cleaned it up and sprayed some WD-40 on the pivot points, which seems to have loosened it up nicely.
I also topped off my tire pressure, as I hadn't done that in a week. I hate to even mention this for fear of jinxing it, but I've had no flat tires yet. I did start the trip with a very slow leak in my rear tire, but replaced that tube while talking a day off in Tallahassee last week. One reason for the good luck is the road has been very clean so far. Glass and debris has been very rare and what little I have seen was spotted in time to avoid it. Another reason could be the Kevlar belt in my Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. They are great tires, but they're not 100% infallible. No tires are.
Something else that has been very rare so far is dog chases. I've only been chased once, by what appeared to be a lab mix, brother/sister tag team. They had no meanness in their hearts though, so when I coasted and talked nicely to them they decided to leave me alone. That was back in Florida, somewhere west of Bonifay, I think.
The people I've encountered on this trip so far have been great, with the possible exception of that sketchy car in Pensacola. Traffic has been excellent, almost always giving me a wide berth, and no close calls except those two who turned left in front of me after I left Tallahassee. But after thinking about those two, I believe neither of them saw me because the sun was in their eyes. It was shortly after sunrise and both of them were eastbound, turning to the north.
I got honked at near Pace, Florida, just east of Pensacola. That was a truck full of kids just trying to scare the guy on the bike. And that kind of thing has happened near most larger communities I've ever ridden. Just kids doing stupid kid stuff. I wish I could say I'd never done anything like that when I was young and dumb, but I can't.
Some of the people I've talked to on this trip have been real characters, like those I mentioned earlier who I encountered outside of the closed convenience store near Suwannee River State Park.
But they weren't the only ones. While taking a Gatorade break at a convenience store just past Pensacola, I met an Alabama man I'll call "Earnest T," because he reminded me of the Earnest T. Bass character from the old Andy Griffith show. He was filling empty milk jugs with drinking water from the convenience store's outdoor water spigot. Every time he filled one he would walk it over to his truck, passing me as he came and went. Each time he came by he had a new question.
"Where are you headed?"
"San Diego," I replied.
"I been to San Diego!" he said. Then he left.
When he came by again he asked, "Where'd you come from?"
"St. Augustine," I said.
"I been there too!" And off he went.
Next he wanted to know where I was from. "Oregon," I told him.
"I been there TOO!"
On the next pass he said that since I wasn't from around there he was going to give me a tip. He said if I turned left at a black sign up ahead that said "Beach Access #2" I could get a free shower.
That convinced me to wash my clothes that night.
I also ran into a fellow from St. Augustine outside of the Auto Museum in Tallahassee. He was probably about 50, and asked me where I was from. I said, "Oregon."
I wasn't really prepared for his response, which was, "Where's that?"
I almost laughed until I realized he was serious. It reminded me of a young woman waiting tables at her Father's roadside food stand near Chetumal, Mexico, as I rode through there in 2009. She had wanted to know where we were going, and apparently had never heard of Panama and asked if it was near the next town south of her.
I remember thinking how lucky we were to have grown up in a country where nearly everyone has access to a basic education. But the man from St.Augustine reminded me that not everyone has taken advantage of that, for whatever reason.
Tomorrow I'll be headed for Gulfport, Mississippi, rain or shine. And it's looking like more rain. Oh well, at least I'll have another nice, dry motel room waiting for me.
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