Day 4 - Suwannee State Park, Fl, 58 miles, 208 miles total

It was another hot one today.  Between that and a headwind it made for a long, rather grueling day.

A fairly typical view of today's sights.

I'm now going through rural areas where there's a whole lot of nothing.  It makes planning meals and resupply stops a bit challenging.  I found a convenience store abut 24 miles into the ride today but I had to make due with 4 fruit bars for breakfast, and thankfully that was enough to get me to the convenience store.

A nice little pond, probably full of gators waiting for me to take a dip.

I didn't want to take any chances of running out of drinks so bought 4 bottles of Gatorade at the convenience store.  I went through all of them and bought 2 more by tonight's campground at the Suwannee River.  Yes, the "way down upon the Suwannee River" river.

This guy didn't want anything to do with me.

The Suwannee River

I'm exhausted. Good night.

NEXT---)

Comments

  1. JulianSeptember 16, 2018 at 3:37 PM

    Longer gaps in TX! We did Van Horn to Marfa 73 miles and all there is is a tap at the library in Valentine. Rumours of a cafe reopened though

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Preparations

Image
Chromoly Wally, a Specialized Hard Rock mountain bike converted for road touring.  It was a gift from my brother for Christmas, 1997 I've been getting ready for this trip since the first of the year.  So, much of the planning was done earlier, but as the time draws near I keep finding more things to do. Wally was tuned up in January.  It got new shifters, cables, brake pads, chain, pedals and tires.  All adjustments have been made.  Wally is 20 years old now and has probably around 40,000 miles on it but is in great shape.  The only original parts left are the frame, stem, seat post and front derailleur. I seam sealed my tent, got a packing list together, ordered some new gear and generally have been poring over the route, studying the blogs of others who have done this and am trying not to forget any details. Wally will be shipped FedEx (via shipbikes.com, a low-cost way of shipping bikes).  I will drive to Sacramento and stay with ...
Read more

Day 0 - St. Augustine, 9 Miles, 9 Miles Total

Image
I caught a shuttle to St. Augustine this morning and was here by 11 am.  Luckily the motel proprietors were friendly and let me check in 4 hours early. First order of business was unloading my duffel bag and packing up the individual panniers.  Then I picked up Wally at the shipping business which is right across the street.  Before too long I had him all back together but discovered the front wheel had gotten bent during shipping.  But near the shipping place was a bike shop and they got the wheel trued up in just a few minutes. So with that done, I took the first pedal strokes of the journey and rode a few miles over to the Atlantic Ocean for the official wheel dipping ceremony to mark the start of the tour. As I rode back toward the motel I saw the sign for A1A and a flood of memories from my Parrot head days in the mid '1970s came flooding back.  Before I knew it I was singing Jimmy Buffet under my breath. Mother, mother ocean I have hear...
Read more

Day 1 - Palatka, FL, 34 miles, 43 miles total

Image
I got started by 8:30 this morning.  Opening the door of the motel to wheel Wally outside was a sobering experience as the heat and humidity slapped me in the face.  Then I was backhanded by the equally sobering thought that I will likely be dealing with these conditions all the way into Texas.  Might as well get used to it. I didn't pay any attention to the American Cycling Association route today, opting for a more direct route to Palatka on Hwy 207.  It had a nice bike lane for much of the way which was later replaced with an even nicer, and completely deserted, bike path.  The hills in Florida are man made.  This one spans the St. John's River A nuclear power plant and a lumber mill (?) across the St. John's  In the beginning I felt so good that I was regretting having scheduled such a short mileage day, but near the end I was very thankful that I had.  The fires and smoke at home had kept me off the bike most of the time since...
Read more