Day 21 - falling waters state park

Mon 12/20
today started off early. mark leaves for work at 630, so that's when I left too. One of those pictures is actually sunrise over his private lake. after the blueberry smoothie and a ride back to the paved roads, I was already pedaling before 7 o'clock. However, I soon made a pit stop at waffle house to warm up and top up on calories. 2 eggs, a waffle, hasbrowns, bacon, toast and 3 cups of coffee got me ready for a long day.
because I had such an early start I was pretty sure I would make my destination, it was just a question of how long it would take. literally the entire day was spent on highway 90. fortunately, i-10 parallels 90 much of the way and diverts a lot of the truck and through traffic. it generally has a good shoulder and is the flattest route by far, but there are still plenty of cars. On days when I know I won't see much nature, i usually look for funny signs, like the one announcing caryville, fl as the worm fiddlin capital of the world.
At some point around pensacola I lost the key to my bike lock. I stopped at a welding/sheet metal shop whose door was open to see if anyone could cut the lock portion and free the cable portion. A man who introduced himself only as cowboy gladly obliged. Now I can just get another padlock.
After stopping at the piggly wiggly in chipley, I made it to falling waters state park. Its the site of the highest waterfall in florida, and the actual campground sits on one of the highest hills in florida at a whopping 327 ft. The climb up the road was EASILY the steepest all trip, but not too long. Its very pretty pine country. I guess there are snakes too!
The full moon that rose was probably the brighest ill ever see. sunlight from the other side of the world being reflected almost directly back, so straight that in another few hours the shadow of the earth would block out the moon completely. It was like a day with two sunsets.  My vantage point high in the hills with clear, dry air was a perfect spot to watch. I went to bed at 8 to make sure I wouldnt miss it. I took lots of neat pictures, but not on this camera, sorry readers.
I only have 45 miles to chattahoochee tomorrow so ill probably check out the falls before I leave, and maybe find some more rual roads.

Day 20 - Baker FL

Sun 12/19
Today ended up a little longer and harder than I expected. The good thing was that I had company for 40 miles and a wheel to sit on. After making some great biscuits this morning, randy set out with me around 9am. I was in for a surprise. Eastern pensacola is a lot hillier than I thought! Once you get away from the gulf, this area is basically the very southern appalachian foothills. I know randy was going slow for my sake, but I still probably rode harder this morning than most other days this trip. At one point we caught up to a group of 5 racers he knew and we rode with them for a while. My bike probably weighed as much as all of theirs combined. Eventually the group went a different direction and randy and I headed on a rails to trails path that led towards the blackwater state forest. We wound our way back towards hwy 90 and randy turned back rowards home. I kept going east, and made it to my destination after almost 70 miles.
The most interesting part of the ride after randy left was the 5 miles of dirt roads to get to my host, north of baker, fl. To call them dirt would actually be a misnomer though. Really they were sand roads. I stayed on the well packed sections but there were a couple places where it got pretty loose. Having ridden it one way, I think ill get a ride back to pavement in the morning. Dirt is great for riding - sandy silt not so much. The color of it was amazing though. It was the reddest dirt ive ever seen.
My host here farms blueberries in addition to working for the aforementioned forest. There was homemade banana bread and homemade candies, as a sampling of some of the highlights. I think I might do 80 miles tomorrow, if I can manage it. Now that im all done with the clinics I can be more flexible. We'll just have to see where I end up.

Day 20 - continued

Day 19 - mobile mechanic pensacola

Sat 12/18
After each clinic is over, I always think to myself "gee, i wish I had taken more pictures!" Today was no different. The good people of pensacola came out in great numbers to show support for jake and to get their bikes worked on. The event was at ever'mans, a natural food coop, and was another big success.
My host, randy, took me to a pensacola beach staple for breakfast, where I had some very filling biscuits and gravy. It was a good thing, because I didny get much of a break once I got the mobile mechanic all set up. Evermans is really involved with lots of community events here and did a fantastic job with promotions. They had flyers all over the store and a sign out front. People stopped by steadily all day to wish jake well. People here were very well informed about holistic medicine and knew how much the right food can contribute to healing. Lots wanted to make sure jake knew about raw and macrobiotic foods and were glad to hear he had already taken that step. People were also aware of how important it is to stay positive, and how focusing mental energy on healing can make all the difference.
After it was over, randy and his wife sunaree had arranged for some people to come over to their house for delicious homemade pizza.  Mostly they were friends from the west florida wheelmen bike club, and people shared bike stories long into the night. I think when it was said and done randy and sunaree had made 7 pizzas. I took care of at least a whole one, no problem. It was really a fun stop, and everyone at the pizza party agreed that I lucked out on finding such great hosts.
Im on the homestretch now, and I cant believe ill be in gainesville in a week. Only 370 miles to go!

Day 18 - Pensacola

Fri 12/17
I finally made it to pensacola. I only had about 40 miles left from gulf shores so it was a pretty easy ride. It was nice to have had 2 short days since dauphin island, plus the prospect of a day off tomorrow. I built a little wiggle room into my schedule, partially for my own benefit, but also so I could have my mobile mechanic events fall on saturdays.
Despite being at the beach, this has been the worst weather ive seen all trip. It was basically like being in a cloud. Standing still, it didnt really feel like rain, but when I was moving into the humidity I could feel little droplets accumulating. I saw 3 guys getting ready to go surfing and chatted them up a bit. One told me that the 2 ft waves today werent the best that they get around there, but he insisted it would still be fun. Youve got to love it to be out there on a drizzly 60 degree day, so kudos to them. They would probably say the same thing about the guy riding his bike 1300 miles.
It started to rain more seriously once I got into pensacola proper. At one point I stopped to take a picture of a neat old house. There was a guy nearby who told me it was over 100 years old. The guy, Chip, was tucked under the overhang of his sign shop watching the weather. We talked about the house, which had been moved from its original location, and he invited me to check out his shop. He made signs in the afternoons to pay the bills, but in the morning and evening he would make art. I didnt get any pictures with the
phone camera, but he had lots of painting, sculpture and mixed media stuff. He collected old shovel heads and would turn them into abstract little heads. Those were probably my favorites but it was hard to tell through the sensory overload.
I rode the last 5 miles to my host's house and got there before the skies opened up in earnest. I was safely seated at the bar for the rest of the afternoon watching randy make dinner from scratch. Short ribs over homemade polenta cakes with baked squash, fresh green beans and a delicious apple crisp for dessert. Mmm. His wife got home and we had a great dinner. Theyre really interesting people, and I know the rest of my stay will be lots of fun. Randy was also instrumental in organizing the event for tomorrow, which sounds like it will be the biggest yet. Im feeling very fortunate to meet all these great people, and I know itll only get better.

Day 17 - gulf shores

Thurs 12/16/2010
Today was a pretty uneventful day. Cyclist dan left early after saying goodbye, but I had a leisurely morning and barely made the 11oclock ferry. I was the only person in it! The crew members used a bike for riding up the pier to the gate on the fort morgan side. One of them was working on it during the ferry ride. I offered some tips but he politely declined.
Back on the road, I was snapping a picture when I saw miro, from slovakia, on his bike. He was going the other way, but he hit the ferry dock, turned around, and soon caught me. He was a high level amatuer racer who had a condo in gulf shores for training. We rode together for a few miles at a good clip, but I had to recuse myself from the tempo in order to save my legs. Ill bet his bike weighed less than the water I had with me. After maybe I made it to a bike path that went the final 8 miles into gulf shores. I really love not riding with cars.
Unfortunately, the guerilla mobile mechanic event in gulf shores did not pan out. Had it been july I could have tuned up beach crusiers to my heart's content. But, in the off season, there just wasnt anyone around. My plan was to set up shop by the bike path and target passerbys, but I only saw a few people out all day. Gulf shores had maybe the best bike infrastructure ive seen (paths, lanes, signs, racks etc), but no riders. Lots of signs for VRBO though.
I took the long way through gulf state park before calling it a day. I just have about 40 miles left to Pensacola, but its supposed to be rainy all day friday, and maybe into saturdau. Hopefully it will clear by 10 am, the time for the next mobile mechanic event. Its at ever'mans, a natural food store in pensacola. Should be lots of fun. Enjoy the pictures, im almost into the last week!

Day 17 - continued