Day 6 - Tallahassee, Fl, 28 miles, 288 miles total

It was yet another hot and wet cooker of a day today.  I was thankful that I only had 28 miles to go, as the weather was sapping me of all my energy.

There were thunderstorms forecast for the day, especially for the afternoon, so I didn't want to waste any time in getting there.  About an hour after I checked in to the hotel in Tallahassee the skies opened up and lightning lit up the sky.

 I lied earlier about all the hills in Florida being man made.  Turns out there are lots of hills, they're just not very big or steep.  Today was almost nonstop climbing and coasting.

At the beginning of this blog I said I like riding solo so I can "zone out."  Well, sometimes that's not a good thing.  Today I zoned out and rode most of ride off route.  I stayed on Hwy 90 when I should have gone to the south to a road that passes through several small communities.  Hwy 90 passed through nothing but farmland.  But it's just as well, because 90 looks to be more direct and I wanted to be out of the heat as soon as possible and stay ahead of the thunderstorms anyway.  So I guess I accidently went the best way.

 A "ghost bike" along Hwy 90.  Rest in peace, Steve Reker.

I'm in another Hilton-esk room.  This is the Doubletree Inn, which is affiliated with Hilton.  It's a much better room than old tightwad Lewis usually gets.  But I'm only here because it's such a great deal when going through Hotwire.

My swanky room at the Doubletree.  It's a tad bit nicer than The Brahma Motel.

After I got settled in and cleaned up I wanted to wander around a bit and get some shots of the downtown Tallahassee area.  But I only got a shot of the bankruptcy courthouse before the deluge started, so I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow, my first day off of the tour.

The bankruptcy courthouse 

I forgot to mention the excitement at The Brahma Motel last night.  At about 1 am there was a loud boom and all the power went out.  A transformer had blown.  My next door neighbor there, Mike, got up and assessed the situation for about an hour with another full-time resident, a woman whom I didn’t meet.  In about an hour power was back on, a quick response by the power company.

I met Mike when I first arrived.  He was sitting in a chair outside of his room smoking a cigarette.  He's had a rough life.  He said 80%of his vision was gone, and he was in serious need of some major dental work.  He is a veteran, I assume from Vietnam as he looked to be near my age.  But he could have been younger, I don't know.  I felt bad for him, living in a ratty motel room without even a kitchen.  He seemed like a good guy, but I don't really know his story.  He said he rode his bicycle across several states when he was in his 20s.  But those days are over for him.

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