St Augustine, FL and Finale

The last day of the ride - hard to believe and I still have not processed the fact that I not only cycled across the U.S. but did it with only 2 flat tires - which both were in camp - no breakdowns of bike or body!!!

We had a 41 mile ride to St Augustine and Bubba did another great job of sending us down roads that had minimum cars - a really pretty route! Arriving in St. Augustine I had the privilege of riding with Mike who lives there and so he took me on a tour of the historic city. Thanks to Mike I saw the hotels - one for the billionaires and another one for the millionaires - go figure - the millionaires were considered poor. Today the poor hotel hosts the city hall with a beautiful courtyard where up to 7 weddings are conducted on a Saturday. They actually have a wedding and tux store on the premises. Makes me think a little bit of Reno and Las Vegas. The rich hotel is still a hotel...

Robin then caught up to us and she came along for the rest of the tour and then her husband Hugh with Harry and Beth came and we had lunch at Mike's favorite restaurant named "Harry's".!!!

Then it was on to meet the group for our ride to the ocean... We met as a group and had our pic taken at the Welcome to St Augustine sign.

It was time to take our final ride together whoopin' it up to the Atlantic Ocean to dip our front wheels. It was a lot of fun, exciting, emotional and almost a let down - it was over! done!! Look what we accomplished.... cycling 3000 miles!!! Safely!!!

Nita, Helen, and Nisha were there to watch me ride in and to congratulate all the riders... wat fun it was!!!

Bubba took us all out to our last dinner together..What a great time we had - then it was time for a rider meeting for the last time... it was melancholy - Bubba said a few words and then gave each of us a plaque with a group picture of us at the Pacific Ocean. Hugs and kisses all around and then it was over. I'm still processing what the heck I just did... I'm going to read my blog - thank goodness I did it because all the days mesh together..

there were 5 of us EFI'ers...the only riders that rode Every Fun Inch - Me, Harry, Steve, R.O. and Mike - out of 13 riders - Pretty Cool, heh!!?!??
Would I do it again? In a heartbeat... with Bubba? in a heartbeat!!!

Palatka, Fl

Well, today was a 80+ day. Once again a great route - we were on another tree-lined canopy road for a few miles and then we rode 18 miles on a bike path that was absolutely beautiful... tree lined, no cars, a couple of rivers... nice!!! We were in Interlachan, Fl which means many lakes - a really pretty area. We stopped there for lunch and the last 15 miles we had a head wind that was work... so glad to get in and then Lora and I went to the DQ and I had a chocolate malt... gotta give this stuff up in a couple of days.

You wouldn't believe it unless you were here with me but we are staying at the National Guard Armory in a huge room.... all of us... a little different...

We are doing now what we do everynite - sit around in a circle of sorts and chat...
40 miles to go tomorrow and we'll be at our destination. I understand it's flat and pretty!! We'll dip our front wheels into the Atlantic Ocean, have a last meal together with some kind of an awards show and then I'm off to Orlando with Nita, Helen and Nisha. What a trip... will check in tomorrow and let you know how the last day goes... who cries and who doesn't :-)

High Springs, FL

today was one of the best riding days - green fields, horse ranches, cattle ranches, forests, wild flowers in abundance and blue skies all day. We didn't care what time we got in because it was so beautiful but we did pull in at 2:30 on an 80 mile day ride.. not bad,heh!?!?!? Before going into camp we rode into town for sandwiches and shakes. I'm telling you I have some serious bad habits to break when this trip is over...

"Way down upon the Swanee river...." today we crossed the Suwanee River - correctly spelled by the way... I guess Suwanee didn't fit the song so the song writer dropped the u in the word...interesting... The county is named Suwanee also...

We're staying at a 7th day adventist camp - it's really nice and even has a zoo! Absolutely no alcohol allowed in the camp! Now there may be 3 less peacocks out there in the morning as they've been screeching all day and it sounds like they are crying for help. Dawn and I are once again sharing a cabin with 2 sets of bunk beds... we're both crackin' up as we are trying to climb up to the top bunk and it's not easy!! We're not teenagers anymore... You should have heard the lion this morning informing us it was breakfast..pretty cool!!!

We have our last layover day tomorrow and some are going tubing or kayaking down the river... I just wanted to go in town and shop... but most of the shops were either not open or they weren't the shops I was looking for. I have been in grubby clothes long enough and I wanted to buy something that makes me feel feminine!!! This town is big enough for some serious small shop shopping - naught!! I also heard they have the best cheesecake in the world here - naught. I gave my piece of cheesecake away and ate a cream puff instead - absolutely delicious!!!

Yesterday, we stopped at the Dixie Grill in Live Oaks where they are famous for their bread pudding... OMG it was delicious!!!

2 more riding days left... I've had the privilege, I guess you'd say, of riding through the rural and small towns of the southern part of the U.S. What an eye opener it's been...

For the rest of this day (Saturday) I'm going to lounge around the camp and enjoy a another beautiful day.

Wild and Crazy day to Madison, Fl

What a morning...it was crazy!! It didn't rain during the nite but at dawn it started to rain lightly. There was a few of us drinking coffee and Bubba took us to breakfast instead of fixing it because of the rain. When we got back from an All you can eat pancakes place - it started to rain and so we hurried and put our bags in the truck...Thank Goodness!!! For the next 2 hours it poured, the lightening was unbelievably close - like one hit on the other side of the tents!!! When I say poured I mean POURED!!! Then on the radio they had spotted a tornadoe 3 miles from us - exactly where Mike and I ate lunch. They were telling everyone to take shelter!!Bubba had scouted out a place for us to go if we needed it but we didn't and we all sat under the awnings and waited for the rain to stop... it became a small lake while we waited - unbelievable!! Finally it was over and we were able to leave at 10 am.

Jim from the Tallahasee bike club took us through the town and we made a stop at this 300-500 year old Oak tree. It was awesome - my picture doesn't do it justice but maybe you can get a feel for it - the limbs are humongus and actually some of them lay on the ground.

We rode through the most beautiful road - a canopy of trees from both sides of the road - shading the road for miles.. absolutely the most beautiful road I've ridden on...Just lovely!!!

We stopped in Greenville, the birthplace of Ray Charles. They have a statue of him in the park - they did a great job on it with a plaque describing his life there.

Leaving Greenville we knew it would rain again so we pedaled and hoped that it would wait until we got to camp. Not to be... we were a couple of miles from camp when the lightening and thunder started and it just poured buckets. The sag was waiting for us to pick us up but Mike and I decided to ride the last 1 1/2 miles to camp. Soaked and praying I wouldn't get hit by lightening! We made it! I'm a little crazy cuz other than the lightening I was enjoying the downpour. All is well that ends well and it did!!

We're on an 80 mile ride tomorrow to High Springs with a layover day...

Tallahasee, Fl

So today as yesterday we rode through the Florida Panhandle - 56 miles today with the same rolling hills and great hiway with wide shoulders. The wind was strong and most of the time it was a headwind. Roland was so freaked out by the fact we were going to have high winds that he got up and was gone before breakfast. As it turned out the wind was bearable for everyone - even for him - but he was the first one in this time. His claim was always to be last with R.O. but he just couldn't quite do it. He sagged when the winds were so bad coming out of Seminole State Park - he said he just knew something bad would happen.

I have to admit after 7 weeks the rolling hills (which I normally would call inclines) feel like hills... but we just take them one after another. We are staying at a RV resort with a lake again. It's very pretty - but didn't take any pics today. I have about 300 pics so will make a great scrapbook when I get home.

We're 180 miles from St. Augustine, Fl - 4 riding days left with 1 layover day. So many of the riders are ready for it to be over with. I have mixed emotions about it. I want it to continue but for how much longer...? I've enjoyed every day of it.

We're having pot roast tonite. Our meals are better at camp then in restaurants, I think.

Marianna, FL

So today was a 68 mile ride... great roads, rolling hills, green trees and grass. We crossed Aligator Creek and Krash said there was a 5 ft aligator in there... I think he was spoofing me though.. We stopped at this bbq diner - I must say stopping at these diners along the way are a great way to go.. you meet so many of the locals and they all want to know what we're doing so it's a good way to chat with them.

Our campgrounds tonite are next to a lake - it's really pretty but there's a lot of bugs and mosquitoes. I'm told to expect them from now on cuz we're in Florida. We have plenty of OFF to spray so we should be covered.

Mike and I were talking about the roads today and we decided the best roads are in Florida and the worst roads were in Texas...they were continually bad!!! Judy just left for Ohio - her dad will have a part of his lung removed as it is cancerous. He's 85 so it can be pretty dicey. I hope everything works out okay for him. So Mike and I are riding alone again.

I think tomorrow is another 65-70 mile ride..It's funny that when we first started riding 50 miles was a long day - now you hear us saying "50 miles? that's a short day" and make plans for the afternoon.

DeFuniak Springs, FL

So today was a good day for riding after the ride we had yesterday. 55 miles of flat good roads with a bbq diner thrown in for lunch. We're staying at a mobile park that has a swimming pool and a beautiful lake across the road. We're all just lazin' around this afternoon waiting for our dinner. Some gal is fixing us Grouper (a fish I've never heard of) with biscuits and all the Florida fixin's.

Bryan, you crack me up and keep sending me those comments. I'm sure those dogs were southern dogs - their bark was worse than their bite!!! and I keep looking for those guys with the better tans but haven't seen any yet - I'll keep looking.

I forgot throughout all this that most of our groups have names.

The Alphas or the 3 aces - Steve, Ted and Harry (the fast riders)
The Bears - Mike, Judy and I - guess which bear I am... (when Dan decides to ride with us - he's Goldilocks)
Rand and Dan - no nicknames for them - just ran and dan
RoRo - Roland and R.O. - their claim is to leave camp last and come in last. They work very hard at it..
The Trykes - Lora, Phil and Dawn - they ride the recumbant trykes.
We have 2 frenchman that came in - Jacque and Pierre. Poor Pierre has had a very bad experience...after everything else - he sprained his ankle and has been on the bike only one afternoon - their claim? they don't do hills so Jacque sags most of the day.
Electric Dave (rode last year) came in to ride until Friday and then he joins another group...
It's quite a diverse group...and it's been a lot of fun. I'm the only female (and the oldest) that has ridden every mile so far...and hopefully will continue to ride every mile!!!
People stop us everywhere asking what we are doing and it starts many a converstion. A lot of fun - I suggest everyone do it..... even for those who think exercise is getting into a tubful of water, pulling the plug and going with the current :-)