George: Epilogue - Sunday, 22OCT’17

It has been exactly one week since Sara and I crossed the corporation limit sign for the town of St. Augustine culminating a 42-day, 2760-mile bicycle tour across the United States, traveling through eight states. It has been a hallmark of my life. 

Sara: Day 42

At some point every morning one of us asks the other “are you in the groove yet”? Lately it’s been taking us a couple of hours to get there. This morning, despite the early start, heavy fog, and city traffic, both of us hit our groove virtually out of the gate. I guess you could say we were powered by some last-day adrenaline.

George: Sunday, 15OCT’17 – Gainesville, FL to St. Augustine, FL

It was a great day to end a great bicycle tour. Upcoming events in our lives finally roll around after minutes slip into days and months until finally they arrive. And so it was with this tour listed at the top of Sara’s bucket list. It was not on mine. 

Sara: Day 41

Today’s 77 miles from Live Oak to Gainesville made for another lovely and enjoyable ride. My mind wandered a lot today, so the time passed quickly and I don’t have much to share about the route, other than hitting our milestone 24^th flat. The ride did get us one day closer to the end. We are ready to wrap up this trip in St. Augustine TOMORROW!

George: Saturday, 14OCT’17 – Live Oak, FL to Gainesville, FL

It was a great day to be on a bicycle. We pulled out of Live Oak around 8:00am to a relatively cool morning and a great road. The scenery has been much the same since leaving Pensacola. The road is lined with forest, punctuated with an occasional house or ranch. 

Sara: Day 40

Gah, I spoke too soon about the motels. The Holiday Inn Express in Live Oak was full, so the Quality Inn it is for one more night, a motel which has snagged a spot in our bottom 5 motel experiences of the trip.

George: Friday, 13OCT’17 – Tallahassee, FL to Live Oak, FL

It was a challenging day on the bicycle. But first, let me tell you about last evening and dinner. We found an Indian restaurant just 500 feet, walking distance, from the hotel. Since we arrived at 4:00pm, we were the first customers. The menu was impressive, but the buffet looked too good to pass up. As it turned out, we had what I would rate as the best meal of the tour. The food was excellent, and plentiful. We left there quite satisfied.

Sara: Day 39

The good news is we have only 3 days of riding left! The better news is last night’s stay was our last in a crummy motel! I’ve been thinking frequently on this trip about Manny Delgado’s observation that “a lot of amenities disappear when an H turns into an M”. Truer words were never spoken.

George: Thursday, 12OCT’17 – Sneads, FL to Tallahassee, FL

It was a good day to be on the bike. Mostly it was good because with 57 miles to ride, we considered it a rest day. I have to tell you that as I write this, it was a fairly tough day with 1400 feet of climbing. The route, mind you, was flat except for a few major climbs, not the least of which were the ones in downtown Tallahassee itself. We met one of the steepest grades since leaving San Diego just east from the campus of Florida State University.

Sara: Day 38

The 79 mile ride from Defuniak Springs to Sneads was foggier, more scenic, and notably less traveled than yesterday’s ride. It was really pleasant, though it sure was hot. Leaving town this morning, the moisture in the air made visible a hidden dimension of the surrounding forests – spider webs. Everywhere we looked there were huge webs glistening in the dew, connecting the trees through the full height of the forest. It was a really beautiful sight; one that will surely run through my mind a time or two on future hikes.

George: Wednesday, 11OCT’17 – Defuniak, FL to Sneads, FL

It was a great day to be on a bicycle. The morning fog kept us from leaving as early as I would have liked. But nature was calling the shots and I wasn’t going to argue. We did roll out just before 8:00am as the fog was beginning to lift. 

Sara: Day 37

We rolled out of the hotel this morning into 80 degrees, 100% humidity, a fog advisory, and rush hour traffic to start our 81 mile ride from Pensacola to Defuniak Springs. I got to snooze for an extra hour since it was too foggy to leave at sunrise, so, all things considered, it wasn’t the worst morning ever.

George: Tuesday, 10OCT’17 – Pensacola, FL to Defuniak Springs, FL

What started out as a harrowing ride, turned out to be a pretty good day on the bicycle. I say that because we started later in a lifting fog in the tail end of rush hour traffic. For the first 20 miles it was a repeat of yesterday’s last 12 miles. The endless stream of cars came from every direction as we dealt with on-ramps and off-ramps and driveway cuts, etc. The bike lane was not reliable as it changed width and ended and started at random. At our first stop, I was ready to load the bikes and drive to Defuniak Springs. Of course Sara was having none of it.

Sara: Day 36

Today we rode clear across the great state of Alabama. No, actually just the nub at the bottom, but the important part is: WE’RE IN FLORIDA!!

George: Monday, 9OCT’17 – Dauphin Island, AL to Pensacola, FL

It was an outstanding day to ride a bicycle. But it didn’t seem so at 7:00am when the heavens watered the already saturated beachfronts in Dauphin Island. We breakfasted out of the cooler since the island businesses have not awakened as yet from Nate’s arrival two days earlier. The plan was to use the ferry to cross the channel to Ft. Morgan, AL. The ferry phone number had an ambiguous recording that didn’t make us hopeful. 

Sara: Day 35

5 weeks down – 1 to go!

We weren’t expecting to ride today, but when we woke up this morning, Nate had blown through, rain had been dropped from the forecast, and there was a 20+mph tailwind beckoning us. So we rode. And it was a great ride.

George: Sunday, 8OCT’17 – Gulfport, MS to Dauphin Island, AL

I don’t suppose I have to tell you. Or do I?

It is surprising to me how we have thread the needle riding through the area while dodging the rain and wind. We are trying desperately to work in a rest day or two, but the weather keeps cooperating in one form or another. Here is our predicament. The forecast for today was for 25 mph west wind (we are heading east), no rain, and high of 80. How could we let this day slip by without being on the bike? Tomorrow presents us with a somewhat similar quandary.

Sara: Day 34

So apparently things do work out that way for me! The weather held off and we made the full 78 mile ride from Bogalusa to Gulfport, rolling into town literally as the wind picked up and rain started falling in sheets (and I’m using the term “literally” correctly). We couldn’t believe our luck. We ditched our plans in Hattiesburg, found accommodations in Gulfport for the night (though our beachfront Marriott relocated us to a Hilton, ugh, farther inland), and are hopeful we’ll be able to ride tomorrow as planned once the storm passes.

George: Saturday, 7OCT’17 – Bogalusa, LA to Gulfport, MS

This was as pretty a day to ride a bicycle as you can imagine. It had all the ingredients for a great ride. Since Bogalusa is short on restaurants, last evening and early this morning we had cooler meals. We stayed at the Magnolia Garden Inn & Suites where rooms were equipped with a “full kitchen” and a separate bedroom. The accommodations were very nice. The hotel was serving pre-wrapped rolls and day old coffee, and it was served between 6:30 and 7:00, so the cooler food worked better for us. 

Sara: Day 33

Today’s 49 mile ride from Amite City to Bogalusa felt longer than it should have; apparently I was more worn out from the last 3 days than I thought. This morning at breakfast while we were discussing the route, a local approached to let us know that our destination, Bogalusa, is known by folks in the surrounding areas as “Stinkalusa” due to the, apparently unpleasant, smells coming from their paper mill. Well with that ringing endorsement, I was excited to get on the road.

George: Friday, 6OCT’17 – Amite City, LA to Bogalusa, LA

We had a good time on the bicycle today. It was to be a short 50-mile rest day, but as luck would have it, we traveled north with the wind in our face. We traveled south with a headwind. And we traveled mostly east kissing that 10 mph wind. No matter which direction we headed, the fickle wind found us. It has been a frustrating week of constant headwinds, but when the wind occasionally dies down, we have a lot of spring in our legs.

Sara: Day 32

I added conditional formatting on the mileage and elevation columns in the Excel spreadsheet of this ride to flag the top 20% in red and the bottom 20% in green. Tuesday’s 91 miles, yesterday’s 90 miles, and today’s 85 miles from Livonia to Amite City were all 3 “red” in terms of mileage; the only 3-day stretch for either mileage or elevation on the trip. So it was a BIG 3 days and I’m thrilled to have it behind us. To applaud our efforts, Mother Nature is dishing up Hurricane Nate to welcome us to (and keep us on) the Gulf Coast with likely a 2-3 day delay.

George: Thursday, 5OCT’17 – Livonia, LA to Amite City, LA

What a great day to be cycling through East Louisiana. We got an early start for what was going to be our third consecutive long ride. The early start was aided by the fact that there were no restaurants in the area, so we ate breakfast from our food supply. The traffic at the beginning and at the end was heavy. The morning drivers were courteous; the afternoon drivers were aggressive.

Sara: Day 31

The profile for today’s 90 mile ride from Kinder to Livonia showed 0’ total elevation gain and loss, so I’ve been waiting for this ride since September 4. Well, it wasn’t actually 0’, and that ~10mph headwind from yesterday showed back up, but we pulled off another 90 mile day without incident.

George: Wednesday, 4 OCT’17 – Kinder, LA to Livonia, LA

Water, water, everywhere, and all the boards did shrink,

Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Sara: Day 30

Today’s 91 mile ride from Jasper to Kinder is the longest of the trip, so it feels really good to have that one behind us! We knew rain was in the forecast, but were surprised (and disheartened) to find it already falling pretty substantially when it was go-time this morning. Fortunately, the rain let up about 10 miles into the ride and only briefly pelted us a few more times throughout the day. We really lucked out.

George: Tuesday, 3OCT’17 – Jasper, TX to Kinder, LA

Last evening in Jasper we ate one of our best meals on the tour. Bella Sera served up great salads, tasty olive oil drizzled pasta, and a thin crust pizza that ranks with the best I have ever had. It was a short walk to there from the hotel, so Susan talked us into the promenade. As we started toward the restaurant a few drops of rain tapped gently on us, a harbinger of the next morning.

Sara: Day 29

Today’s 62 mile ride from Livingston to Jasper presented us with more hills than I would have liked, but it was a good ride, in spite of the climbing, on quiet and scenic roads. The highlight for me was passing a yellow lab and her 4 puppies (one white, one black, and two yellow). She and two other big dogs were chasing us, so it wasn’t a friendly encounter, but adorable nonetheless.

George: Monday, 2OCT’17 – Livingston, TX to Jasper, TX

What a great day to ride a bicycle. Last evening we drove into Livingston from San Antonio after spending the afternoon there. It was an arduous 4-hour drive with a 30-minute delay because of construction in Houston. We arrived in Livingston around 7:30pm and did a quick setup for tomorrow before snacking from the cooler. 

Sara: Day 28

Breakfast this morning was delicious – spinach omelets made with farm-fresh eggs and toast with homemade agarita jelly. There’s really something to be said for the food at these B&Bs. The cereal I’ve been eating at the complimentary hotel breakfasts just doesn’t power a bike the same way. On that note, has anyone had Froot Loops recently? I don’t know what I was thinking obsessing over them as a kid.

George: Sunday, 1OCT’2017 – Johnson City, TX to New Braunfels, TX

Fifty-two years ago today, as the leaves colored up the hillsides of Northern Ohio announcing the arrival of autumn, it was a great day for going steady. Those of the Boomer Generation know the going steady of which I speak. Susan and I exchanged high school rings in the parking lot of Garners Drive-in, the place to be if you were an attendee of Buchtel High School. The next day Susan had my ring adorned with an angora wrap so as to make it fit her ring finger.

Sara: Day 27

We modified the route a bit today and tomorrow so we could spend the night in Johnson City since we liked it so much on our drive through the other day. So today’s ride from Kerrville was a short one at 54 miles and we finished early enough to hit up some previously recommended stops in Hye, a town about 10 miles west of Johnson City. It was a pretty uneventful day on the bike, but a very eventful day for my palate and wallet. It was a good one.

George: Saturday, 30SEP’17 – Kerrville, TX to Johnson City, TX

Today was a great day to ride a bicycle. As I write this blog from the upper deck overlooking the tranquil grounds of the New Life Farm B&B, the guineas are strutting out in the yard, the cats are slinking after floating cottonwood balls, and the garden plants are swaying in the gentle breeze.