Tuesday February 10, 2015

It was nice while it lasted – the weather that is. This morning’s temperature was 7 degrees, back on with the leggings, the socks, the merino wool jersey and the ShowersPass jacket. The average temperature for the ride was 7.8 degrees add to that a very stiff wind and it was not a fun ride.

The wind was coming from the north-west and we were heading west. It was a bit of a slog all morning but we knew we had a short ride ahead of us so just kept pedaling. I must admit I am finding it a bit of a chore to get up and cycle every day when there is not much to see. Even when we stop in a Town there isn’t much to see.

This part of Florida is not very scenic, lots of trees and swamp land. We think that this part of Florida must have been hit very badly with the recession as there are a tremendous number of houses and land for sale.

We arrived in Crestview at noon and quickly found the Crestview Inn. It is a small motel with clean rooms. We walked up to the grocery store to pick up some dinner – pasta tonight. Ralf spotted this great little truck in the gas station, the most exciting thing we have seen all day.

Tomorrow we are heading for Milton, we could probably have made it to Pensacola but we have a warmshowers in Milton and it looks as though it is a nice Town.

Monday February 9, 2014

Finally it has warmed up enough for us to cycle without jackets and leggings – yeah. It was a little overcast today, but the temperature was good 23 degrees, we had a good ride. The forecast was for afternoon rain.  The only bad thing was the headwind, constant for almost the whole ride.

Highway 90, the road we have been cycling on for the past couple of days, is known as the Walkin Lawton Trail. After googling his name we discovered that he was a United States senator. When he initially decided to bid for senate he was relatively unknown so he walked from Key West to Pensacola (1,003 miles).

When we arrived in DeFuniak Springs we headed for the Super 8. Although it would have been warm enough to camp, the forecast was for rain and it started to rain as we came in Defuniak Springs, any excuse to stay in a motel. I went into the reception to register and had my handy coupon in hand. Unfortunately it was an extra $5.00 for a ground floor room. No bargain here, however, we decided we would stay and carry the bikes up to the second floor. Anyway, the manager asked if we would be paying cash or credit, when I said cash I asked if we got a discount for cash or could we have a ground floor room for no extra charge, and for good measure I threw in the fact that we were carbon neutral and saving the planet. She laughed and gave me a ground floor room at the coupon rate, sometimes it pays to be cheeky.

She asked if I was English and told me that they had lived in Bolton for 17 years. We chatted about England and living in the US/Canada. I could still hear a little bit of her Bolton accent and she obviously recognized my English accent.

One of the good things about the Super 8 motels is the fact that they have guest laundry. I did the laundry while Ralf went to get dinner.

Sunday February 8, 2015

The sun was warm as we left Chattahoochee, the forecast was for a high of 17 degrees and it reached 23 degrees, it was a lovely ride.

Yesterday we had the climb into the Town of Chattahoochee, this morning we had a great sweeping downhill to take us into the valley below. It was a little chilly going into the wind, but a lovely way to start the ride.

We left Chattahoochee at 9:00 am, we had only gone about 2 kilometres when we crossed the Apalachicola River and also crossed into the Central Time Zone. We gained an hour.

From the bridge we could see the Jim Woodruff Dam, it is a hydroelectric dam and is on the borders of Florida and Georgia.

The route carried us along Highway 90, which parallels Interstate 10. It was very quiet and all the cars passed us with lots of room to spare. I think the 3 foot law is in place in Florida.

We went through some small settlements which looked to consist of trailer parks in woods or cabins in woods, very scary looking places. Other areas had bigger houses and more development. The Town of Marianna was a lovely place with many historic homes. There area about 18 historic homes in the Town. This one was called the MacKinnon House and was built after the Civil War on the site of a house burned during the Battle of Marianna. It is now an attorney’s office.

About 10 kms outside of Chipley we spotted a couple of touring cyclists with their bikes on the ground. We stopped to see if they needed help and then spotted their young son, Reese. These intrepid cyclists are cycling the Southern Tier with their four year old son. Rather them than me, I sometimes find it difficult to entertain myself on my bike let alone having to keep a four year old happy.

We will no doubt see them again along the way.  Although they are not doing the mileage that we are doing, they are stopping in DeFuniak Springs tomorrow and that is where we will be tomorrow night.  They passed us as we were checking out one of the motels in Chipley, there overnight stop was going to be in Bonifay.

We are staying at a Super8 in Chipley, the night-time temperatures are warming up a little, so we should be able to start camping soon.  The only problem now is, I have got  used to sleeping in a bed at night, I am not really looking forward to camping again.  We are managing to stay within our budget at the moment, but we should really be saving the hotel stays for when we need them (bad weather etc) and not use them all the time.

Saturday February 7, 2014

Surprisingly we had a good nights sleep on our cots and with our sleeping blankets. We haven’t slept on the cots since Spain, over four months ago. Justin came by to say goodbye and after we had breakfast we headed up to the apartment to say goodbye to Marina. We had a nice chat to her about her work and she gave us some chocolate balls – they were awesome, recipe is on her website.

Again it was a cold start to the day. But the sun warmed me up and I changed jackets to my lighter windbreaker, before we left the city limits of Tallahassee.

It was a lovely ride, the first 40 kms or so were rolling hills. We went through a really nice town (Quincy), with some historic buildings. I must remind Ralf to stop and take some photos. They weren’t spectacular buildings, but still nice.

He did take a photo of this forest covered in Spanish moss. I bet it looks amazing in a fog, very scary.

We cycled for about 20 kms on a flatish road almost all the way to Chattahoochee. Then the road kicked up and climbed a hill into Chattahoochee, what a way to finish a ride.

We are staying at a cheap motel in Chattahoochee. There is a large hospital here but not much else. We did find a little grocery store for our dinner and once again cooked in the room.

Friday February 6, 2014

A cold start to the day, but the sun was out and it felt good. We are wearing our ShowersPass windbreakers as it is still too cold to switch to the lighter windbreakers.

The ride along Highway 98 to Wakulla was very straight with not much to see, apart from the odd rock garden.

There is a large wildlife management area called Aucilla which has about 2,800 acres of land, there are walking trails and canoe entry points along the river. At Wakulla there is the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Unfortunately, we had a long ride to Tallahasseee and didn’t stop.

From Wakulla to Tallahassee we followed an excellent paved rail trail, the Tallahassee – St. Marks Historic Railroad State Trail. This rail trail goes all the way from St. Marks to Tallahassee and was originally a rail line that was built in 1837 to serve the agricultural hinterland and the cotton trade.

Half-way along this trail I realized that we were now officially on the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) Southern Tier route. Up until this point we had been heading north from New Port Richey as opposed to west from St. Augustine.

We arrived in Tallahassee at 3:00 and found our warmshowers house very easily, it is just off the trail. Justin hadn’t arrived home from work yet, so we went around the corner to a nice café and had a good sandwich.

Ralf was amazed to see this sign reminding motorists that cyclists are allowed to use the full lane.

The bikes drew quite a bit of interest and we chatted to one young man who told us about the café. Jimmy Johns is a sandwich shop that has some very funny sayings on the walls.

• Never engrave your initials in something that doesn’t belong to you.
• Don’t speak with your mouth too full.
• Don’t pick your teeth or anything else.
• Don’t ask young kids to pull your finger.
• Don’t worry, be happy and don’t forget to smell the flowers.

In the men’s bathroom there were stick figures which had words like – creative, relaxed, girly and show-off …. You figure it out.

We met Justin back at his apartment who showed us our two options of sleeping accommodation. His small two room apartment or the community room. Justin was volunteering at a community bike shop that evening and his girlfriend was working late. We opted for the community room as we knew they were going to have a late night.

After we had set up our sleeping cots and got ourselves organized – checking the route for the next day and checking on accommodation we went around to the community bike shop where Justin was working. The not-for-profit bike shop assists people to repair their own bikes and builds bikes for people who need bikes.

Justin told us that his girlfriend made bags. Marina makes some amazing hand-waxed bags for bikes and has just created a new touring line her website is www.anhaicabagworks.com. The name for her company and line of bags comes from the original name of Tallahassee. On the first Friday of each month the galleries and workshops in the area where she works are open until late and there are food trucks and music. We decided to go there and look at Marina’s work and look at the other galleries. We had dinner that was prepared by Hari Krishnas, it was very good. It was a really good evening, albeit a little cold, I wore my puffy jacket for the first times since New Zealand!

Thursday February 5, 2015

An early rest day. After getting cold and wet yesterday and still not getting over our colds, we decided to have an early rest day. The Royal Inn is cheap so we could afford the extra night.

Ralf’s hornet bike “horn” shorted out again at 5:00 in the morning. This bike horn was made in England and when it gets wet it shorts out. Do you not find that a little bit odd – a country that is renowned for its wet weather, designs a horn that cannot deal with wet weather!

As we were having a rest day I decided to do some washing. The people at the motel said the Laundromat was a long way and offered to do our laundry for us in their big industrial washing machine. How kind was that and they didn’t charge us.

We went for a walk to the \”Historic Downtown” Perry. Unfortunately Ralf didn’t bring his camera, although there was not much to take photographs of. They were in the process of building a new park which looked very nice and they had already renovated the old train station. Apart from that there is not much in downtown Perry. Probably because there is a large Wal-Mart on Highway 98 and all the fast food joints are also along the Highway. What did surprise us when we were looking for somewhere to stay is that there are 10 motels/hotels in Perry.

We spent the evening watching TV and relaxing. We will be in Tallahassee tomorrow and are staying at another warmshowers.

Wednesday February 4, 2014

A long, cold, very wet ride today. We had a free breakfast at the motel and headed up Highway 19 to Perry. We knew it was going to be a long haul and we knew the weather forecast was not good, there were no other Towns that we could stay at in between Chiefland and Perry. It wasn’t raining when we started but within an hour of us leaving Chiefland it started to sprinkle with rain and then turned to rain for the rest of the ride. The temperature never got above 10 degrees.

This is a big shock to our system for the last 14 months we have been cycling in weather above 20 degrees and often above 25. Now we are below 10 degrees brrr.

The road was very good and for the most part had a good paved shoulder. We had a few drivers honk at us and gave us a friendly, encouraging wave. We had one pick-up driver who shouted at us to get of the road! There is always one!!

We made good time and did the 104 kms in 5.5 hours. Usually I start to flag around the 75k mark but today I kept my speed and cadence up and shoulders down and kept right on pedaling. It helped that we weren’t battling a head wind. We were both cold and wet by the time we arrived at the motel – the Royal Inn in Perry. The owner checked us in quickly and gave us a couple of older towels to clean the bikes.

The shower was hot and thawed our frozen toes and warmed our cold bodies, it was wonderful. We dried our bikes with the old towels and relaxed for the rest of the day. It continued to rain for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We decided not to leave the room after we had our hot shower and settled in. We had a peanut butter and jam sandwich for lunch and pizza for dinner!

Ralf was able to Skype his Dad and had a nice chat with him. No photos it rained all day.

Tuesday February 3, 2015

We were up by 7:00 am and Fred had made us a lovely breakfast of eggs, potatoes and sausage with pancakes and coffee. That kept us going for a while.

As I was getting the water bottles ready I noticed what looked like frost on the truck windows! It had dropped to 0 degrees during the night, but the sun was out and it felt nice. I decided not to put my leggings on, which turned out to be a mistake. Once we started cycling at 8:45 we realized it was still cold. Before we got to the end of Fred’s street we had switched our light jackets for our heavier wind/rain jackets and put on our gloves. It was 3 degrees centigrade and we had a head wind. The wind continued for most of the ride but changed direction occasionally from a head wind to a slight side wind and back again. The wind dropped the temperature by about 2 degrees. The temperature just made it over the 10 degree mark during our ride! I was very proud of Ralf he didn’t complain once about the temperature. At least it wasn’t raining.

The road was straight and flat with a wide paved shoulder, again the vehicles moved into the other lane when they could. A few even honked at us and gave us a friendly wave. The ride was a bit boring, although I did see a couple of hawks and what I think was a little sparrow hawk. The only “Town” we went through was Otters Creek, it had a post office, a gas station with a café attached and that was it – don’t blink because you would miss it. Larry told us yesterday that if there was a post office in the Town, the Town would still be on the National Maps, if the post office closed down, your town was erased from the maps! how sad is that.

We arrived in Chiefland, tired and cold. We booked into a Days Inn, we have realized that we will have problems camping until the temperature warms up. Our tent and camping gear is not cold weather rated. The sleeping bags are only good to 2 degrees and the tent is a 3-season tent. Although we are not camping we are eating in the motel to save money – this motel had a microwave and a fridge.

I hope the temperature warms up soon.  No photos – fingers too cold to take photos!

Monday February 2, 2015

A short ride today due mainly to the fact that we had a warmshowers in Crystal River. The other reason to stay in Crystal River is the fact that the next major Town with accommodation is another 80 kms down the road!

We started of at about 9:30 am the weather was warm but with an ominous grey cloud hanging over us. Within 30 minutes into the ride the heavens opened and it continued to rain all morning. It only stopped as we were coming into Crystal River!

The route today took us along Highway 19. It is a four-lane divided highway (2 lanes each way) with speeds of 55 mph to 60 mph! Not a worry we had a bicycle lane for the first 16 kms and then a wide well-paved shoulder for the remainder of the way. All the vehicles gave us plenty of room even though we were on the paved shoulder they still moved over into the other lane.

Bob had told us the road wasn’t too busy after Spring Hill and it wasn’t. Despite the rain it was a good ride. However, he didn’t warn us that we were passing through an area that had bears! Bears in Florida who knew!

By the time we found our warmshowers host’s bicycle shop we were cold and wet, but not too miserable. Although Fred had offered to host us, we weren’t sure whether we were going to have to pitch the tent. Fred immediately put our fears to rest and said we would have a warm spot to sleep in. That meant no pitching the tent.

Fred welcomed us into his shop and put the kettle on straight away for a good hot cup of tea. He was waiting for his sister and brother-in-law (Nellie and Larry) to come back to the shop and then they would take us to his house. We chatted to Fred, he has done quite a few bike tours, and it was interesting to hear about them, especially as some of them took him through the areas we will be going through.

Ralf loves bike shops and he had time to check out every thing in the store before Nellie and Larry arrived. The only thing he bought were two rubber booties for his bike stand and some conditioning wax for the Brooks saddles (the other tin of wax melted in Australia).

We headed to Fred’s house and had a lovely hot shower. We dried our wet clothes and had a great chat to Nellie and Larry. They were farmers from Missouri – they rent their land and have decided to do some travelling.

Before we came over to the house Fred was telling us that it was nothing fancy and he had only just moved in so things were not in their place. We assured him we would be o.k.

Nellie made a wonderful dinner for us all chicken legs, potatoes and green beans. Good home-cooking, it was lovely. Ralf and I, as usual, cleared the dishes, washed and dried the dishes. Nellie wanted us to sit down as we were guests. We told her that we always do the dishes at our warmshowers hosts as this is the only thing that we can do to show our appreciation and thanks for being hosted.

We chatted the evening away and were in bed on the futon mattress in the living room by 10:30.

We were expecting Floridian hospitality and got mid-west hospitality instead.

Sunday February 1, 2015

I woke up early, excited that we were going to start cycling again. We left Gail and Bob’s at 9:45 am, a little late but the weather had warmed up and I didn’t need to wear my knee warmers or a jacket.

Ralf is still not 100%, but we really had to start cycling. The route today was flat along a dedicated cycle way adjacent to the Suncoast Highway. We cycled through Starkey Park and then joined the Suncoast Trail.  Starkey Park is a State Park that used to be a cattle ranch many years ago, but it is now a park with camping and pavillions for picnics and BBQs.

It was a really good way to start our Florida leg, a flat ride, dedicated cycle route and the sun was out and it was warm.

We did have a bit of wind, which kept changing directions. The last 30 kms or so we had a tail wind, which was very nice. People were friendly as we cycled along. Although to hear some of the comments as we passed them were quite funny. “That’s a lot of weight”, “Jeez” and “Oh shit”

It felt good to be cycling again. We passed this tree which had a lot of wind chimes, they sounded really nice as we came up to it.

We headed up to Spring Hill, there were two warmshowers in this Town, but unfortunately neither of them could host us. On arriving in Spring Hill we found a cheap hotel and went out to have lunch. It was the first time we have had “fast food” in ages and we were like amateurs the poor girl behind the counter had to explain everything to us. I am guessing she had not come across anyone like us in a long time.

We popped into the supermarket, and bought some supplies for tonight’s dinner, which we will be cooking in the hotel room!

Tomorrow we are hoping to stay at another warmshowers, but it isn’t looking too promising. Another hotel stay, I guess. This could be an expensive trip, especially as the Canadian dollar has taken a dive.