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!