Dipping our tires in the Atlantic Ocean

Day #40, May 17th

Lake City to St. Augustine Beach, FL

116 miles

Today was a big day :) In the morning we followed a large part of the more direct route that Tom, a fellow bike tourist had recommended to us. The roads were smooth (our favorite) and we had a bit of a tail wind for a large part of the day (another favorite). We thought it might rain on us in the morning, but the skies cleared. We rejoined the published route in the small town of Putnam Hall on SR 100 where we stopped at the gas station and promptly ran into our friend Kevin who we had split up riding with 6 days earlier! A few minutes later, we met Rita and Harry, a couple from Belgium who have been riding for almost 3 months along the Southern Tier with side trips to Big Bend and New Orleans. They have had zero flat tires in almost 6,000 kilometers of riding. After meeting them, Kon decided we have a lot more to learn about bicycle touring! Our original plan was to stop in Palatka for the evening, but our tail wind was too good and we still had enough daylight to continue riding, so we decided to push on to the finish. We did stop in Palatka for some fuel (aka a pint of Blue Bell ice cream). It was so exciting to see the first road sign for St. Augustine. We have been telling people for the last 6 weeks that we are riding to St. Augustine, and then to finally see a sign for it was magical. We arrived at St. Augustine beach at 7:30 pm. Kevin rode the final stretch with us, so we took pictures as each one of us dipped our tires in the Atlantic Ocean and celebrated. It was a satisfying moment.

Our next dilemma was where to camp for the evening. Anastasia State Park was full and the KOA charges over 40 dollars each night just to set up a tent. Crazy. The evening ranger at the State Park, Steve, took pity on us, and invited us to camp in his backyard and take showers at his house. We spent the remainder of the evening talking with Steve, his wife Vicki, and teenage son Griffin. It was a lovely way to end a trip that has been defined by the generosity of the people along the way.

Now we are spending a few days as tourists in St. Augustine, staying in a motel, and trying to get our belongings washed, sorted, and shipped home. We're pretty sure that the end of this trip does not mark the end of this blog (although we'll probably have to change the name a bit). We need to do some "wrap up" statistical analysis of our trip, such as total miles, total # of flats, favorite ice cream flavor, etc, so be on the look out for that. Take care and thanks for following us across the country!

Getting very close now...

Day #39; Friday, May 16

Start: KOA just south of Monticello, FL

End: Lake City, FL

86.8 miles

After our nice rest yesterday, today was fun. It was overcast from the start and very muggy. We rode into town for breakfast early in the day and then continued along highway 90 through Live Oak (this is another departure from the established route...we have chosen a few of these to cut off miles when the road is good). We ate a quick lunch there of peanut butter on tortillas with raisins (this has been our "go-to-meal" on the trip as all ingredients are pretty smash proof). During lunch in the town park we experienced some brief showers but were able to hide pretty well under a roof over a stage. By lunch we had already done about 65 miles!

As we started out after lunch, we watched big black clouds blow above us (luckily in the same direction as we were going--tail wind). We were sprinkled on a little but kept riding as that seemed the best option. Soon, however, thunder began to warn us of heavier rains. We pulled out under the trees for a bit. It slowed for a little while, but in time it kept its promise. WE GOT DUMPED ON! When we decided it was probably dangerous for us to be on the road (visibility was pretty poor), we pulled to the side and took refuge under a roof in front of a real estate business. We waited for about 30 minutes before it settled down and we were able to hit the road. About 200 yards down the road there was a large tree that had fallen on a pickup truck and was blocking the entire road (wanted to take a picture, but it was raining too hard to risk getting the camera wet). We thought we might be forced to take a several mile detour as the vehicles were being made to do, but they let us pass through the ditch around the tree and pickup to get back on the road. There were emergency vehicles and a tow truck all gathered around the scene.

Once back on the road, we continued to pedal in a now lighter rain. We didn't have far to go until we reached Lake City where we found an RV park. The place was kind of a dump and had quite an interesting "shanty town" on display. After reaching camp it rained only briefly then cleared. The day was wet, but we made great time and are now even nearer to our final destination.

We made it to FLORIDA!

Bike Day #35, May 11th
Gulf Shores, AL
Milton, FL
71.8 miles

As we were biking along the Alabama tourist beach this morning, Kon saw a sign for a 7:30 am Galilean Worship service. It was 7:26 am, so we pulled over and joined the crowd gathered on the beach for an early morning service. The wind was blowing, but it was a nice way to start the day-- there was special music for Mother's Day, so we both thought about our Moms and how special they are .... The family next to us let us use two beach towels so we were comfortable and a crowd gathered around us asking us questions about our trip as we got ready to leave. Twenty minutes or so after the service, we stopped at a grocery store for breakfast and a thunder storm hit hard for a half an hour. I was SO thankful to be inside as the rain was falling in sheets.

From there we biked into FL although there was no state sign to greet us :( and through the town of Pensacola. The shoulder of US 90 had piles of dirt and I hit one going too fast, fishtailed, and amazingly made it out of my toe-clips, and ran to a stop without falling. My bike tipped over in the dirt, but nothing was broken. Thank goodness!!

We decided to stop in Milton for the evening. We went to a 6 pm church service at Faith Baptist Church where we enjoyed more Mother's Day music, and after the service we were invited to stay in the missionary apartments which were lovely! We have been repeatedly amazed by the generosity of the people along the way.


Bike Day #36, May 12th
Milton, FL
Ponce de Leon, FL
83.1 miles

We stopped at the Crestview library for 2 hours and tried to "catch up" on the other things that are happening in our lives while we are busy biking everyday (upcoming graduation, mortgage financing for new home, upcoming start of internship). We finished our 6th map in DeFuniak Springs - only one more map to go! Kon was unhappy with our choice of campground. It was 4 miles OFF route and then down a sandy road that was impossible to bike through in places. The funny thing about biking across the country is that even if we are biking over 3,200 miles total, 1 mile OFF route seems like way too much.

Bike Day #37, May 13th
Ponce de Leon, FL
Chattahoochee, FL
75.1 miles

On our way into the small town of Marianna, we met Tom Duncan a retired contractor who spent years working at Prudhoe Bay and lived in Bozeman for 30+ years. He is riding a recumbant tricycle that he is ready to sell when he reaches St. Augustine. We both enjoyed Tom's comments about the route and his trip so far. In Marianna, we stopped for a buffet lunch (we are able to get our money's worth at a buffet these days) and we were quite entertained by the group of 7 older gentlemen who gathered around our bicycles. Kon went outside to talk with them and answer their questions about our gear. We stayed at a nice RV park on the Apalachicola river outside of Chattahoochee where we entered into the Eastern time zone!!

Bike Day #38, May 14th
Chattahoochee, FL
East Tallahassee KOA (6 miles SW of Monticello)
75.6 miles

Everyday is an adventure, and this day was an adventure for sure. First, in the town of Quincy, we took at picture for any of the disgruntled "Freds" out there. We had a stiff headwind as we rode into Tallahassee. We passed the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory where Konrad had to work hard to keep his steel bike from being sucked in. We were planning to stay in Tallahassee with a Warm Showers host, but after making good time into Tallahassee and reaching the home, we decided to continue on. The house was a disaster with junk throughout the house and the yard, a strong smell of cats, and it was just too much. Luckily, no one was home, so we were able to leave without offending anyone. All of our other warm showers hosts have been so lovely, that this was quite unexpected for us. We then went to the Metro Deli, where we met Josh and Jason. They gave us a discount on our food, made us laugh, and gave us input on which roads to take out of town. They were easily the highlight of Tallahassee for us. On our way through Tallahassee, we took a quick picture outside the capitol building. We chose to go off the published route and take Hwy 27 (a busy road in the city, but light traffic and nice shoulders as we went out of town) to make a short cut to the KOA campground. We arrived before dark to a well-kept campground where we met Betty who had complimentary cake, pie and cookies in the office and very clean showers!

REST DAY!! Today May 15th!!
Well, I don't know that we have ever been completely caught up on our blog, but we are today! Last night, after realizing that we have averaged over 81 miles over the last 14 days with no rest days, we decided we should rest. And given that we are staying at a nice campground, with nice folks, and clean showers, I was totally excited about a rest day. We had a complimentary waffle breakfast at the KOA. Kon spent the morning cleaning our bike gears, and I worked on our finances and my journal. Then we rode into the quaint historic town of Monticello, where we enjoyed a BBQ plate lunch at Johnston's Meat Locker. Look at all of the jugs of BBQ sauce! We tried all sorts of flavors like peach, apple cinnamon, and red bourbon. We ran into Tom Duncan at the library and he is planning a more direct route to St. Augustine -- so we are also contemplating going off route. Either way, it looks like in 2-3 more biking days we'll be dipping our tires in the Atlantic Ocean!

More states...and some parental screening advised!

Note: For our avid readers--I made 2 new posts yesterday and one of them placed out of order. If you scroll down below the post titled "I like pictures" you will see the post labeled "Into a new state...finally". Sorry.

Day #32; Thursday, May 8
Start: Easleyville, LA

End: Poplarville, MS

91.9miles

Last night Kevin (referenced in prior posts) caught up with us. We were the only 3 people at the campground where we stayed. The day went smoothly, and we covered a lot of miles despite the fact that it was one of our warmer days yet. Sometime mid morning we stopped for a couple of lady motorists on the side of the road. Their tie rod (important for steering and for keeping front wheels lined up) had disconnected. We were able to help them get back on the road--I got a kick out of being able to stop while on my bicycle to help motorists...we are not as helpless as we might look.

For lunch we stopped at this cafe in Bogalusa, LA. The food was excellent and the costs were great. I had a big burger with onion rings and BBQ sauce on the burger...different and great. We continued on in the heat to reach our most recent warmshowers hosts. We were able to share the experience with Kevin when we stayed with Tanya and Steve in Poplarville, MS (another new state...my first MS experience). The stay was fun. We ate a great home cooked dinner and breakfast and got to meet Tanya's many animals. What great hosts we have continued to have on this trip.

Day #33; Friday, May 9

Start: Poplarville, MS

End:Vancleave, MS

72.8 miles

Before leaving this AM we took a picture with Tanya. Steve had already left for work, so we missed getting to photograph him. Here we are with Tanya and Kevin (Kevin is from WI and has been most recently living in AK).

We took a couple of shortcuts today (maybe not much different mileage, but better roads) as recommended by Tanya, and everything went extremely smoothly. We reached our campground around 4 in the afternoon, which is relatively early for us. We got to go swimming for the first time on our trip since the campground had a pool. It felt so nice! We ate dinner at the campground (beans and cheese on tortillas all on the campstove). Meanwhile the campground came alive with the Friday night party crowd. We had a very intoxicated lady across from us singing a number of different classic rock songs, and we made a friend from a couple of campers over who was also quite lubricated with malt liquor...still very friendly. Luckily it all settled down in time for us to sleep pretty well considering the amazing humidity and stickiness.

Day #34; Saturday, May 10

Start: Vancleave, MS

End: Gulf Shores, AL

91.1 miles

A good day for photos. We got to ride from the treed and kind of backwoods feeling areas toward the ocean. We reached Alabama (yet another new state...at the state line we got a picture of the welcome AL sign...but we discovered after taking the picture that this one may not be suitable for younger eyes......the forms showed up much more obviously when using the flash with the reflective sign). We then walked across the road to get a better picture with a MS sign...Kevin joined us, and we got a pretty nice picture with all of us in the air. We rode through Alabama Port and down to Dauphin Island. From there we took a ferry across to the other side of Mobile Bay and rode into Gulf Shores where we spent the night in a huge state park. Stacy was not too impressed by the ferry as she was expecting something more along the lines of the Seattle Ferry system...we had no water, no toilets, no shade on the boat, and everything was quite a bit smaller than we are accustomed to at home. When we started moving and she felt the breeze she was happier. We hope to get more caught up on our blog in the next couple of days. Sorry to those of you who check frequently...we have been poor updaters.

long time, no blog

Day #29; Monday, May 5 (AKA Cinco de Mayo)
Start: Oberlin, LA
End: Washington, LA

56.5 miles

We left the Oberlin Fire Dept. and Cheif Kelly this AM and began riding through some quiet Louisiana countryside.

In Mamou we met a dutch couple over from the Netherlands for 6 months with their 2 year-old daughter and 4 year-old son. They have toured extensively in Asia before their children were born. They now travel about 25-30 miles per day and stop for their kids to rest often.

Pretty inspiring, maybe a little crazy (some might say a whole lot crazy).

Also today biked among fields of standing water with things sticking out of the water. We asked and found that these are the crawfish fields. They trap the crawfish and harvest them that way.

Stacy met some cattle she really liked. They ran along beside us. In the end, every steer in the field crowded into the corner of the field closest to Stacy as we took the photo.

Today was also the first day of riding in the rain. It didn't rain very hard or too long, but we got a little wet and dirty. We used the internet and made our previous blog update.

Day # 30; Tuesday, May 6
Start: Washington, LA
End: Morganza, LA
81.7 miles

Today we left a very poorly kept campground with very dirty (almost scary) showers in a town that was established sometime around 1729 (I think that is what the sign said, and I think the showers at the campground may have been built a couple of years after that). We rode through an area of flooding. This is flooding from the Mississippi river and is related to flooding responsible for shutting down our ferry--we were supposed to take one across the big river, but they have shut it down as the water is very high and the crossing dangerous. We got to stay in a much nicer campground tonight. It was new and the showers were clean. Stacy was a big fan.

Day #31; Wednesday, May 7
Start: Morganza, LA
End: Easleyville, LA
91 miles

Today was a long and exciting day, but unfortunately there are no pictures to accompany the words (I hate to do that). We had to take a detour from our route (as mentioned above, the ferry was out of service). We rode south to cross a bridge at Baton Rouge. We had been told we could contact the police dept. to request an escort across the long, narrow, and dangerous bridge. I called the night before our crossing was to happen and was told to call then next day and someone would help me then. I called mid-morning and was transferred 6-8 times (at one point I was transferred back to the lady I spoke with initially--I think I found it more entertaining than she did). I spoke with a couple of city police, state police, and county sheriffs.

Finally I talked with an officer that told me to call when we were at the foot of the bridge so he could send someone out. When I called again in about 90 minutes, he was out on patrol. The other officer said that Officer Curtin (to whom I had spoken initially) would be delayed but could escort us in 30-60 minutes. At this point I considered crossing sans escort. Then I was called back by an officer who informed me that they would not be able to escort us without a permit. They were not authorized to issue the permit and they could not tell me how to get in touch with the people authorized to issue a permit (I love red tape...doesn't it make the world run smoothly). Luckily we were offered a ride (after Stacy made a very polite request) by a woman with a pick-up truck. She let us load our bikes and gave us a ride about 1 or 2 miles to the other side of the mighty Mississippi. Our day was long but otherwise uneventful.

I like pictures

Some difficulties with jumping pictures...thought you might enjoy our efforts.

Into a new state...finally.

Day #26; Friday, May 2
Start: Navasota, TX
End: Near Coldspring, TX on Lake Livingston
87 miles (I bought a bicycle computer in Austin with an odometer)

We started a new map section today! (there are 7 map sections for our trip, and as of today we have started on the 5th section...always exciting). We had to take a detour off of our route today. It looked like it would be about 20 miles out of the way, but it turned out to be closer to 10 miles...wahoo!

While in Austin I put a new tire on my rear wheel. It is a little larger than the old one, and I did not consider that my tubes were sized for the old tire. I have gotten a few flats from stretch holes in the tube. Our maps don't show another bike shop for about 400 miles, so we rode up to Huntsville, TX where we visited Richard. He is a retired principal who runs a little, well stocked bike shop. We bought some new tubes and a couple other things while we visited the very friendly shop owner.

We continued on and met up with Kevin again (see Stacy's post) at a campground near Livingston Lake after stopping off in Coldspring for a meal of catfish and shrimp (all-you-can-eat...right up my alley).

Day #27; Saturday, May 3
Start: Lake Livingston
End: Kirbyville, TX
102 miles

We rode the whole day with Kevin. The rodes were smooth and there was very little wind, so we made great time. We stopped in Silsbee where I met Jonathon at the Dairy Queen (his sister works there). We visited while eating our Blizzards (it was Kevin's first Blizzard, and he approved). Jonathon decided that if he had a bicycle he would join us.

When we reached Kirbyville we found that there are no established campgrounds there. I visited briefly with one very unfriendly convenience store employee, then called the sheriff, then tried the doors at the Baptist church (to see if anyone was around...thought it might be OK to camp there), then called the sheriff again (to ask about a town park we had seen...found that a number of people had called us in as they thought we must be trying to break into the church...you can probably imagine how suspicious 3 cyclists are and how it must look like we could probably load up the entire contents of the church and leave town). We finally spoke with a sheriff officer at the church who gave us permission to camp in the town park. We slept well that night.

Day #28; Sunday, May 4
Start: Kirbyville, TX
End: Oberlin, LA
82 miles

We went to church this AM. We had wanted to go to church and thought we would probably ride until early afternoon then stop early in order to attend an evening service. Instead, we were able passing by a church at around 9:40 AM when we noticed that they had a 10 AM service. We parted ways with Kevin and went inside to clean up a little before the service. We were welcomed by many even before we were cleaned up. During the service we were officially welcomed. Everyone was very friendly, the music and singing were tremendous, and the message on Matthew 6: 25-34 on not worrying was very appropriate (as I think it would always be). We again received unsolicited donations from a couple of members...the generosity at some churches is overwhelming.

After leaving church we crossed into Louisiana...we took a picture of the "Welcome to Texas" sign since there had not been one when we entered the state. Unfortunately there was no "Welcome to Louisiana" sign...maybe when we are on our way out.

A little further down the road we ran into a tour group (Adventure Cycling Association who published our maps does a tour...this one had 16 people in it). They gave us some info including that about 40 or 50 miles down the road there would be a fire chief who would allow us to stay in the firehouse. We ended up pushing on (again smooth pavement and very little wind) further than we had expected for the day and stayed in a firehouse in Oberlin, LA. Thanks Chief Kelly.
Note: In the picture it reads Allen Parish on the side of the truck--apparently LA is the only state in the US with parishes instead of counties...just an interesting bit of info.