Blazing Saddles: San Diego to (hopefully) St. Augustine: George: Sunday, 15OCT’17

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.

In late winter of this year Sara called to ask if I wanted to ride across America. We talked for a while and then she said, “Dad, you don’t sound very excited.” We left it at that. Three days later I called her with enthusiasm in my voice about a route for our bike ride. We agreed on a September start and all there was to do was wait until Virgo appeared in the late summer sky. The days clicked by and the date finally arrived. We packed our bags and met in San Diego. Forty-two days, six weeks, 2760 miles, numerous flats, several mechanical failures, much fatigue, uncountable sights and memories later, we are here in St. Augustine savoring our time together. It is a hallmark of my life. This evening we had a wonderful, no pressure to get to bed, dinner with much casual, not related to cycling, conversation. Later we walked downtown to listen to Greek music blaring from the open doors of the Athena Restaurant. A short stroll further took us into a coffee shop for a evening dessert.

Today’s ride took us out of Gainesville earlier avoiding traffic as we left town, and getting miles in before the headwind built to unmanageable. In the dark we had to check using our cell phones to ensure that we were on the correct bike paths. In an hour we were on SR 26 with light traffic and the sun peering over the horizon. Susan met us at Orange Heights for a short stop and we were off to Putnam Hall and our turn onto SR 100 east. Fortunately for us, there was a bike trail paralleling the road, so we chose to use it. Several miles on the trail brought us to a sign, “Closed Due To Flooding.” Sure enough there was water covering the trail for about 100 yards. I waded through the water able to see the bottom all the way across. Sara went next. It looked as though we were on our way. Not one mile later there was another water-covered section another 100 yards in length. Of course, we were not turning back. I waded in again, but this time the bottom disappeared into a murky soup. The ooze rose quickly until it reached the hubs and chain. I was worried but kept moving. The pool never got deeper and I made it across. Looking back at Sara we discussed what to do next. I volunteered to return and backtrack. Sara, the never say die trooper, said she would join me. Into the drink she rode slushing her way through the stink. On the other side, soggy with the dirty water in our shoes, we pressed on. The trail petered out at a parking lot where St. Susan was waiting to feed us and cool us down in her air-conditioned palace. We had 35 miles to go and it was only 11:30. It looked like we were going to make it!

Seven miles on SR 100 took us into Palatka, the last substantial town before St. Augustine. We went through town and turned north on SR 207 using it all the way to our destination. The traffic was heavy and the berm was marginal, but we didn’t even slow down before rolling into town at 1:30. We had covered 81 miles and made three short stops in 6 hours with a headwind of 6 mph. It was great to finish up the tour feeling as good as we did.

The coming days will give me time to reflect on what has transpired in the past month and a half. I will post an epilogue with detail, including statistics, thoughts not previously posted, and a few superlatives. Stay tuned.