Day 8 - Sneads, Fl, 51 miles, 340 miles total

I decided to try a different strategy because of the relentless heat - getting up at the crack of dawn and starting the ride at first light.  This goes against the very core of my being, because it robs me of two or more hours of sipping coffee in the morning, a favorite pastime.  But this worked well in similar conditions in Central America in 2009, so sacrifices had to be made.

There was fairly busy traffic in Tallahassee this morning, but once I was a good ways west of town it lightened up considerably.  And after having a day off I felt good, and the miles seemed to roll away fairly quickly.


Hwy 90 west of Tallahassee

The map took me on some back roads today but it appeared to be adding some distance to the ride, so I reverted back to Hwy 90 about a third through today's ride.  I soon found out why the back roads were a better idea - Hwy 90's shoulder disappeared several times for several miles each time.  But traffic was very light by then and everyone went into the other lane  when passing me.  Regardless, I won't make that mistake again. 

One of the back roads leading into Chattahoochee

By 1 pm I was in Chattahoochee (love that name) and stopped at a Subway for lunch.  I ordered tuna but they were out of that.  So I ordered a veggie patty but they didn't have that either.  So I ended up with Oven Roasted Chicken, but they gave me a foot long instead of the 6 inch I'd ordered.  I decided not to correct them on it thinking I could have half of it for dinner.  That worked out well because there aren't any restaurants or stores by my motel tonight.  At least within a distance I wouldn't mind covering in the heat.

The big town of Chattahoochee

Sneads was just 5 more miles so I was there by 1:30 (after gaining an hour by moving into Central time).

The Apalachicola River and Woodruff Dam just west of Chattahoochee.  Just on the other side of the dam is the Florida/Georgia border, and Lake Seminole.

From my vantage point on the bridge crossing the Apalachicola River I could see turtles swimming below, but unfortunately they were too far away for a photo.

I had my first two "incidents" with traffic today.  Both were drivers turning left into my path without noticing me.  Both turned about 15 feet in front of me.  The first was a woman who never knew she'd almost hit me because she was looking off to her left.  The other was a guy who saw me as he was right in my path, which seemed to startle him.  Considering how long I've been riding here now, that's not too bad.  Most drivers have gone out of their way to give me room.

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 19, 2018 at 9:13 PM

    Love reading your blog, Gary! Be careful!!! Are you wearing fluorescent clothing??

    ReplyDelete

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