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!