Right now I'm sitting in the Key West terminal waiting for my plane to board. I had to pay $100 extra to get my flight moved up but that's a small price to pay considering the cost of the ticket ($250). So, while I've been partaking in the best cuisine, beverages and sights that Key West has to offer I've also been neglecting my blogging duties. Strap on your bike helmets and clip into your pedals for the final 75,000 pedal strokes (give or take 10,000) to the end of the road.
After reaching Meghan's apartment I took a third and final rest day before the last push. Meghan was staying with some friends on Saturday evening so the first night I had the place to myself. The next day we went to Ft. Lauderdale, did some people watching, had some food (fish sandwich), and looked at all the goofy beach t-shirts and jewlery that tourists like to buy. It was a good day of rest. I ate so much food on Saturday and Sunday that it felt really good to be back on the bike for two days to work it off.
On my way out of Ft. Lauderdale I biked through Miami and into Palm Country. Southern FL is full of palm tree plantations the way that Pinetown, SC is full of Southern Pine farms. Which brings me into my next adventure.... No-See-Um Hell!!!!!!
No-See-Um Hell is what happens when a person who puts together a cycling route has a complete disregard for slow moving canals and standing water. Combine this with palm farms, FL humidity, and the fact that there isn't any measurable human population in this area and what you have is two hours of the worst possible cycling conditions that you never want to go through in your life. These little black specks were so thick that I had to drop my head so that I could breathe in my nose, bring it back up again to breathe out my mouth and hopefully get rid of any bugs on my lips, then rewind and repeat. The black specks accumulated on my face, neck, arms, legs so quickly that after a couple minutes of riding the No-See-Ums turned into All-You-Can-See-Is-Um's. Every couple minutes you could wipe them off you arms
and legs just the same as you would wipe mud off a shovel. Gross!!!!!
I was very happy to hit the last town on mainland FL. There were still nasty bugs to ride through, but not even close to the palm plantation areas. I stopped at the first gas station around and drowned my arms, legs and face in soap and water.
I opted out of the Adventure Cycling route and decided to take US 1 into Key Largo. It's always a crapshoot when making these decisions
but the shoulder looked good and the road looked straight so I took the risk. It seemed fitting that I ride onto the first Key via US 1 considering the importance of the road to the area.
Once I hit Key Largo I rode up to the welcome sign and met Robin. He snapped a picture fore and them we started chatting about the area and sites to see. As of turns out, Robin was staying at the same campsite as me. So we got together later on for dinner and a couple beers (ie: he made me some food and gave me some beer). With all the generosity and hospitality I've received over the past thirty days I have my work cut out for me in the coming months. It's been really cool to hear all the stories and meet all the people along the way.
The last night camping was hammock incident free. The campers next to me, two mothers and their teenage daughters, decided to noisily roll into their campsite at 11:30 pm and then noisily leave at 5:00 am. Five hours of sleep is fine if you're just camping and then driving to the next site with your 20 oz coffee in hand but it's a little short when you need to ride a bike for the next 8 hours. Wasn't much of a problem though because the excitment of this being the final day could have pulled me through just about anything.
I learned about a series of cracks in my rear rim from a bike shop just south of Ft. Lauderdale. Because of the cracks the wheel couldn't be trued properly and left my wheel vulnerable to bending. This wasn't good because half of the riding in the Keys was on either bike path or sidewalk (designated as the preferred traffic route by Adventure Cycling). If there is one thing I've learned about bike paths it's that they're usually not maintained very well and thus they eat up rims like Pac-Man eats dots. I made it through though and I'm in need of a new rim when I get back home.
Now that I'm done with the trip I can say a couple things that I didn't want to mention before for fear of jinximg myself. For the whole 2540
miles that made up this trip I didn't have one flat tire on the bike. I did have one on the trailer which ultimately led to me losing a piece of my pump, but the bike was flat free. Once I lost the piece to the pump I was really hoping that my luck held out because even though I may
have been able to blow up the tire with some McGyver tactics, I didn't want to find out.
My bike is a creaky, sore, tired piece of machinery right now but once it's back home a good cleaning, lubing and some minor repair work should bring her back to life. It's going to cost pretty penny to ship both the bike and trailer back home bit in the end it'll be nice to have both pieces of equipment back in the garage to fight another day.
I've been remembering bits and pieces of the trip as I go along here and one of the coolest things I saw was in FL I looked at a low flying hawk, osprey or some other type of bird and saw that in it's claws it held a catfish. The catfish was probably about 16-20 inches long and must have been picked out of a nearby pond by the bird. It was quite the sight to see the fish flying around, being carried by a bird not much bigger then it was (minus the wingspan). Fish are probably one of the species which are not so happy about the whole bird sanctuary idea.
I stopped for breakfast on the Key West arrival day at Mangrove Mikes. This place was a little breakfast joint in a plaza about 70 miles from my destination. Breakfast consisted of eggs, biscuits, sausage gravy, hash browns, home fries, coffee and toast. Fuel for the fire. I had a slight tailwind for the last day which made it easy to carry a 18 mph pace. The last day was no time to crank away as fast as possible, this was the time to avoid heat stroke and plan out the logistics of lodging, food, sightseeing, and how to get my bike and myself back home. I
arrived in Key West about 5 days ahead of schedule even though I had the two day knee incident. A job well done if I do say so myself.
There was the seven mile bridge, a little incident where I rode on the old bridge only to find the middle was blasted out so it didn't make the full connection to the other side, and jackasses in their cars who like to honk like idiots even though you're 5 feet from the white line. A lot of people should retake drivers ed and hopefully learn that if you slow down for 5 seconds then maybe, just maybe you can keep everybody safe. I know that everybody who reads this blog gives plenty of room to cyclist so I'll stop ranting now.
Once I hit Key West I rode straight to the Mile Zero sign and took a couple pictures. Some of you may have seem the farmers tan pic already. Goofy, I know, but that's how it works.
Tuesday night I had Yellowtail Snapper, a Sierre Nevada Pale Ale and the beat Key Lime pie that's ever crossed my lips. Yesterday I had enchilada's for lunch with a Margahrita and you all know about the Cuban restaurant already. I smapled the three beers on tap at Kelly', the southernmost brewery, and found my way to the Mel Fisher museum (treasure hunter who discovered Atocha). Time to get off the plane, more to come.
Alright, I'm back. I'm off the Key West to Atlanta flight and on my way to Albany. At the bar I met Mr. Cruz, an Army soldier who is on leave for 12 days to visit his wife and three boys in Flint, MI. Another great person on the long trip. I enjoyed hearing his stories about Iraq and his travels.
So really, that's about it. I put a lot of time and effort into getting the bike packed up, getting a flight home and figuring out how the post Key West ride is going to work. Interesting how once you enter the real world, everything is a hassle again. It's not just jumping on the bile to ride anymore.
To anybody who wants to listen, I don't recommend ever doing this trip by yourself. If you think that statement is just dumb and I don't have a clue what I'm talking about then you're the type of person who will really enjoy and have a good time cycling from ME to Key West.
Bradley W Howe
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Soaking it Up!
As I write this I've just finished eating my first meal in a Cuban restaurant. Well, the first meal that I've recognized as being in a Cuban restaurant. The beer selection down here is not so great but the food is amazing. Shredded pork in a cumin spiced sauce, shredded beef and ground beef both in their own sauce/spice mixture, fried plantains that are carmalized on the outside with a sweet brown coating, black bean soup and two different dipping sauces for the bread and/or dinner. It was amazing. The grand finale is a cup of coffee (european style, basically espresso) and Tres Leche (thank you Alton Brown for teaching me about Tres Leche). I just took the first bite and it's heaven.
Last night, after checking in at the hotel, I asked the receptionist for the best seafood, Mexican, and Cuban restaurants in the area. I took her recommendation on the first two but the Cuban restaurant was changed for me on the recommendation of a Cuban woman at the Mel Fisher museum. I've not been disappointed by any of the three meals though.
Once again, I'm going to blog and run so that I can catch a Key West Sunset. Talk to you soon.
Last night, after checking in at the hotel, I asked the receptionist for the best seafood, Mexican, and Cuban restaurants in the area. I took her recommendation on the first two but the Cuban restaurant was changed for me on the recommendation of a Cuban woman at the Mel Fisher museum. I've not been disappointed by any of the three meals though.
Once again, I'm going to blog and run so that I can catch a Key West Sunset. Talk to you soon.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Mile Zero and The Most Southern Point in the Continental US
I'M HERE!!!!!! This is not the final post because I have lots of great stories to tell about the last couple days but right now I need to shower, get some food and relax. Thanks again for all the great comments and all the support. I'll be back later to fill everybody in on the details.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
The longest day, the kindness of strangers and I thought you only saw those things in pet stores.
This is going to be a long post for sure so if you're down for reading the whole thing then grab yourself a cup of coffee, or beer, or whatever your beverage of choice is and relax with me for a few minutes. Right now I'm at a real computer which means I don't have to put up with lack of service, dying batteries or typing on a playing card size screen. I know there are a ton of typo's in these posts but it's just too much work to go back and edit everything while I'm on the road. I also realized that I lost my most recent post. I guess that it didn't connect up and send properly so I'll need to makeup for that too. Lastly, I'm going to try to respond to some comments that were written by my friends and family at the end of the post.
First I'm going to summarize the route since my last post so that I can hopefully remember all the cool stuff that has happened. There will surely be some experiences that I forget, but I'm hoping that along the road here I'll be able to fill in some more details.
Most of the route through Florida follows A1A, southbound of course. Right now I'm on my last map, 7 of 7, which takes me from St. Augustine, FL to Key West (extreme elation). In my previous post I touched on St. Augustine but didn't go into detail. After St. Augustine I hit Crescent Beach, Flagler Beach, Daytona Beach, Titusville (think Kennedy Space Station), Cocoa Beach, back to A1A at Indialantic/Melbourne Beach, Floridana Beach, Vero Beach, Ft. Pierce, Port Salerno, Hobe Sound, Palm/West Palm/South Palm Beaches, and now I'm at Pompano Beach staying with Ms. Meghan Finkle (sister of the world renowned Steven Finkle). Alright, so the first thing that strikes me about that extensive collection of locations is how often the word "Beach" pops up. There is a lot of sand out there. On top of that, if a section of coastline doesn't have sand but the real estate is high value then they probably just truck it in. I didn't realize just how many beaches there were out there on the eastern shore of Florida. I knew their were a lot, but it's almost to the point where the whole coast is one big sandy beach....and this is a long state.
As I've already stated, St. Augustine is a fantastic area. I met some people along the way who told me that the FL State Park there is amazing too. I need to learn more about the history of St. Augustine now because that is what the town is about and I would be belittling the town if I just said, "St. Augustine, great shops and a really good spinach croissant."
The number of City, County, State Parks that are on the Florida coast is another cause for pause. They take their relaxation time very seriously in FL. For good reason too, it's so damn hot most of the day that you don't want to move unless you have too.
From Little Talbot Campground to Spruce Creek Campground (south of Daytona Beach) was a 109.62 mile day. Not too shabby. Spruce Creek was the home of the friendly squirrels. I'm pretty sure they're the ones who tryed to gnaw through my dry bag. Not a big deal though, they gave up before any real damage was done. Spruce Creek Campground had a really great pier that you could walk out to which was in the middle of a grassland/swamp/inlet mixture. The swamp description doesn't sound too nice, but it was a beautiful area. I arrived at Spruce Creek around 5 pm and the park attendant wanted to take off early so he didn't check me in or take my money. I'll take that, free camping for the night once again. He did tell me that the "Day Workers" come to the park, camp out for 2 weeks (max stay) and then move onto the next park. These guys/gals left earlier then I did so I'm guessing he was right. So as not to give you the wrong impression, "Day laborers" were white, construction worker tanned people who listen to Peter Frampton and Bob Seger. Now then, bye bye squirrels and hello open road.
I'm getting really good at packing up camp and getting on the road but it still takes 45 minutes at best. Every morning includes soreness. If you're a cyclist or a runner then think of those days where you wake up for a morning ride having exercised hard the day before and you tell yourself, "I've gotta do it, I've gotta do it" just to get out there. That's a good day. I must admit though, you get used to working through it. Gradually, you become slightly less sore in the morning but the really amazing part is that after a few weeks it only takes you 20-30 minutes on the bike to become fully functional again. In the beginning I wouldn't be fully functional until I hit a hill that absolutely required everything I had.
When you cramp up or when you have a problem it usually doesn't happen while riding. If I push hard for an hour or two then stop for Gatorade or a banana, I feel the problem area when I get back on the bike. The good thing for me is that I haven't really had a reoccurring problem. Cramps are inevitable no matter how much you drink or how much you eat. The only way to stop them is to slow down or take more breaks.
Now, on the road again. FL is full of cyclists. It's nice to see our kind on the road. The bad part about this is that some of these guys can pass me. Usually this is about 8am when I've already been on the road for 25 miles, but still, I should be able to kick their butt with or without a trailer....well, not really but I'd like to think I could. Cyclist or not, the trailer gets a lot of looks and sparks a lot of conversation. Everybody wants to know what's going on. Yesterday I stopped at a red-light and the lady in the car next to me asked me the WFWT question (where from where to). People in the crosswalk heard me and the next thing you know everybody is stoked about the trip. It's pretty cool when you get this reaction because sometimes people just have no idea why you'd want to do anything that takes this sort of commitment and energy (stereotype here, but usually the 9-5, unionized, white male factory worker). These are the same people who you ask, "What do you do?" and they respond with something stupid like, "As little as possible." Alrighty then.
Florida beaches are full of Sea Turtle Sanctuary areas and it seems like every town is a Protected Birding area. The birding thing isn't too relevant because I don't think people hunt pelicans and herrings in the middle of towns with a population of 8000 people. It does give you the feel good when you enter that specific city though and the Car Wash industry loves it.
Friday night I stayed at Sebastien Inlet State Park. I made a reservation at this park a couple nights earlier and it's a good thing I did. I picked up the last site and as it turns out this is a fantastic park to watch shuttle launchings from. Saturday, 5/31 at 5pm was the next launching. Sebastien's Inlet was amazing. Supposedly there are two Jetty's here which make for a fisherman's paradise. Bird watching is plentiful too. This is where I met Ron and Danna. Rob offered me a Corona that was probably one of the best tasting beers I've ever had. Not so much because it was a Corona, but because I had just rode 104.27 miles in the heat and now I have a beer in my hand in an air conditioned RV. They also let me sit right below the a/c...holy heaven. As it turns out, Ron and Danna have been married for 40 years and they spent a 2 1/2 year honeymoon in Europe (Ron's description). This kindof threw me until he explained that he was in the military. They used to take 3 or 4 day weekends and travel around Europe in a VW Bug with a tent strapped to the back and military Sea Rations for food. He listed off nearly every country in Europe when I asked him where they'd been. Not a bad life if you can get it.....wait a minute, I'm going to change that, Not a bad life if that's what you choose...there, better. Ron and Danna fed me burgers, potato's, beans, cheese, and of the best part, another beer. They were here for the shuttle launch of which Ron was a big fan. He had never seen the launch before and it was something they've wanted to do for awhile. Hope everything went well guys and thanks again.
I need to backtrack here. Before I landed at Sebastiens Inlet I found another burrito restaurant. I still had a hot dog in my stomach that hadn't yet digested and was not cooperating with me riding but this Burrito Joint had written on their sign, "The best Burrito you'll have Anywhere." Come on now, really? So I went in and asked the woman what made it the best. She let me know that the brisket and the pork are smoked in house, the salsa is made in house (and very interesting stuff too I might add), they use a homemade slaw mixture instead of lettuce because lettuce wilts on the meat, plus they use yellow spanish rice, pinto beans, etc, etc. I had to try one, if not for the burrito then atleast so I could ask to sample the salsa's without feeling guilty. It was really good, I'm not sure about the best because Anna's Taquiria in Boston is hard to beat, but definitely top 5. The restaurant was pretty cool too. I wish I snapped a picture. Lot's of music, surfing and 60's/70's type posters on the walls. The men's room was painted pink which was an interesting way to get your attention and make you remember the place (atleast I think it was the men's room...it was, I checked). The counter used corrugated, galvanized, steel roofing to cover the supporting base which looked really cool. The salsas were made out of habanero's, cantalopes, onions, garlic, vinegar, sugar, chipotle's, and I think there was some mango in some types. Very interesting stuff.
Now, back to the campsite. Here is a classic moment. I setup the hammock before really getting to know Ron and Danna. There wasn't many trees in the area but I found a couple that might do. As I'm climbing into the hammock, it sinks low enough so that my back is just touching the ground. One of the trees was a little bit smaller and sort of low to the ground so I couldn't position the ropes all that high up. This just won't due so I get up, and decide to reattach. This is after two beers, food, it's 9:30 so I'm getting tired and it's dark. I reattach the webbing straps, tie the hammock on and crawl back inside. Still pretty low but better then.....whoa, snap, and down for the count. The limb of the tree snapped off and luckily for me my fall to the ground was from about 2 ft up. So now it's late, I'm tired, all my clothes that were drying from the top of the hammock are scattered and I need to figure out a plan. I drag over the table, tie everything up so their is a taunt ridgeline to the hammock, blow up the airmattress and sleep in the hammock but on the ground for the night. The next morning I woke up in the humidity covered with a layer of "somebody let me take a shower" sweat only to find that my clothes didn't dry and it was disgusting out. The good part about this is that after 5 minutes on the bike I was so sweaty and wet that it didn't matter one bit how damp my clothes were or how terrible I felt waking up that morning. Always look at the bright side. By the way, if you heard some commotion in the night Ron and Danna, that's what it was. Sorry about that.
Another day and a big one it was. Gone from Sebastien Island, I missed the shuttle launch but that's ok because I'm sure they'll put another one up someday. The strip of land I'm riding today is a very thin island which isn't too much wider then the road. There's a nice breeze that is slowing me down but I'll take it because at 7am, it's already too hot for me. I decided to push through today and ride 140 miles all the way to Meghan's apartment. Clean shower, a/c and a carpeted floor underneath my feet...life is good, but I'm going to be working for this nights sleep.
On the way there I scared an iguana from the thick grass on the side of the road. I've been seeing a lot of lizards around this area, most of them a couple inches in length, but this was a full on flourescent green iguana. Who the heck forgot to tell me that they actually made these things in the wild? I thought they were only in pet stores. It's not like you suddenly see a talking parrot jump out of the woods screeching, "Yes We Can." Either way, it was cool. The color on this lizard was more flourescent then any I've ever seen in the pet store.
After this I saw something else flying my way. A few kids were skateboarding on a bike path so I took the far right side to give them plenty of room. Right as I'm about to pass thinking I'm in the clear a skateboard whips in front of me and I wack it with the rear wheel. Fortunately, I didn't crash. The kid whips around and says, "It's ok, the board is fine." I wanted to go slap him just once, but whatever, I used to have a skateboard and probably did stupid things like that too. So once again, my rear wheel moves side to side and I can feel it pulsating whenever I hit the rear brake. I think I'm going to let this one go though because the bike shops around here are mostly Beach Bike type of shops and the wheel isn't really that bad. If I find a good one then I'll have them true it up for me just to make sure I don't have any problems.
The Palm Beach area is really, really nice. Very expensive and it looks just like the movies, but the landscaping at some of these houses is better then most golf courses I've seen. In fact, some of the houses have the same exact grass that they use on golf courses and it's cut just as short as the grass that grows 2 feet from the cup.
I took a picture yesterday that could have been a Corona commercial. It was right in the middle of nowhere, but absolutely perfect. A couple palm trees, some beach, the perfect amount of foliage and groundcover. Amazing.
Mostly, yesterday was just grinding through the heat. As I told Jennifer, their are times when the sweat doesn't drip off you, it's a steady stream. If I look down to check what gear I'm in or make a movement it's like somebody takes a dixie cup of water and pours it onto my leg, bike or whatever is in the way. Sweating this much never really wins you any beauty contests but it does keep you cool. By cool I mean a safe distance from a heat stroke.
Needless to say, yesterday was tough, but I made it through in one piece. I rode basically from 7am until 7pm with a break for a late lunch and four or five hydration breaks. Their was a headwind most of the day so covering a lot of ground fast was impossible. I did make 18-20 mph bursts for 1/2 hour stretches, but most of the time I was hanging around 15-16 mph. I think my average for the day was 15.2 and that includes the normal city slowdowns and stoplight crawls.
Alright, now onto some questions. To Nick, yes I did hold 20-22 mph with the trailer. FL is flat and I didn't have any wind that day. Usually I can hold a good pace for 2 hours but I've found that every 10 minutes I need to get up out of the saddle and kick in the turbo for 30 seconds or so. I think it's just a way to let muscles relax while also giving yourself a good fast cadence to start from for the next 10 minute stretch. After about 3 hours at that pace I started wearing down and couldn't maintain it for the rest of the day. I stopped at a convenience store and my left lower calf muscle started crapping. I think I was at 16-18 for the next 3 hours and that night I had to stretch again and again to get it loose for the next day.
Cameron, I don't buy it that you're a quiet girl. I know you too well. You're kind of like cycling in the morning, it takes a little while to get the joints and muscles lubed up but once they're going they don't stop until they wear themselves out. "What's not to think about yourself" I like it.
KeithCo.....Marriage What!!!!! I heard some rumblings but holy shizzah!!! Congratulations buddy. Are you sure she's cool with your Larry Craig style extra-curricular activities? On this trip I actually tried the Kona Brewing Longboard Ale. Very good stuff. I'll try to get the one you're talking about when I get back home. Hope you're going to Finkle Brewfest '08.
JT, I didn't think about the wet dreary days on the ferry but as you, I, and others have figured out, there isn't much that a good beer or Captains and Coke won't cure. That is, if you're walking onto and off the ferry or course.
Jacob, I think it's awesome that you keep getting on that bike. I have no doubt that you're going to be great at riding it very soon. Keep it up and maybe we can ride it to get some blueberry pancakes for breakfast, or lunch if you want.
Sara,
Who the heck is Jimmy Olsen? I'll look into the spring thing, maybe you have something there. Can't wait to test out that garden. Mmmm, tomato sandwich with mayo on toast, salt, pepper and some basil. That's the life.
Amber, Jen, Steve, Any of those chocolate chip cookies left? I'm almost there.
Greg, I know that Jennifer probably has a stack of 12 magazines waiting for me when I get home and I'll read about the dandelion greens. Unfortunately, Jennifer has a list of things for me to do that is probably only marginally shorter in breadth then all the articles in those 12 magazines. Baby steps, baby steps.
I know that Brandon wants to know what made me decide to do this. Most people ask that and I just say it's something I've always wanted to do. This gets me out of hour long conversations with people at the convenience stores. That is really why I did it but there is more detail then that.
One of the reasons is that riding a bike forces you to go through every town and look at nearly every interesting house, animal, tree, or piece of scenery that's on the way. Even when you're in the groove and moving at 20 mph down the road (fast for me on the bike with the trailer) I'm still moving 1/3 the speed of the cars that are whizzing by, listening to their radio's and not paying attention to anything. This trip will end up being about 4 weeks of riding but I've seen a lot more eventful and uneventful people, places and things then you would if you rode in your car for four weeks. After it's all said and done, some of the uneventful ends up being the most eventful. So, this is the way I chose to do it and it's been a good choice for me.
Another reason I chose to do this is that it's a good transition. I've left one job and soon enough I'll start another. I'm getting married to the most perfect woman I've ever met and even though we've known each other for the past 16 years, it's still a change. So it's very fitting that I ride out of one area on a long, difficult journey to end in another completely different place. When I get to Key West I'll probably only be there for a couple days which usually amazes most people considering how long it's taken me to get there, but this trip wasn't about Key West, it was about the cities like Statesboro, Charleston, Delaware Water Gap, New Paltz, Folkston, York, Manheim, Quinnipac, Belford, Portsmouth and dozens of others that I hit on the way. I will say that I'm devoting more time to Key West then any other city, but come on now, after a trip like this you need to drink it in a little. Also, I'm going to visit the Mel Fisher Museum upon the recommendation of Ron and Danna.
Lastly, this trip was a chance to break up a big difficult challenge (difficult for me atleast) into small daily pieces and figure out just how I handled it. How to put together all those little pieces that seem so insignificant by themselves but actually become very significant when and if you forget about them.
You can always guess how your going to deal with a situation and most people have told me things like, "I knew you'd do that" or "I saw that coming" but unless you've actually done this or something like it then you don't know exactly how it feels. I too knew I'd be lonely sometimes, I knew I'd get bored, I knew I'd want to stop when I was in the middle and the initial excitement wore of, but now I know how that feels and I know how I need to react to get myself through it. I know how much the support of others can help me out and I know where you need to dig deep and work through it by yourself. I know how awesome it was riding with somebody for a day after not riding with anybody for 3 weeks. I've been able to experience crossing over into the last state and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel after eating, breathing, pedaling and hurting with nothing else on my mind except getting to FL and getting back home to see everybody. I've visualized seeing Jennifer, Riley, friends and family for 4 weeks now. A million times I've thought about what I'm going to do when I get off the plane, how I'm going to react when I get to sleep in my bed again, how the glass/bottle is going to sound during the first, "Cheers to catching your breath between adventures!". After the whole trip, I don't just "know" how things are going to happen, I've felt how they've happened and I can now talk about them with more clarity then the assumption of an anticipated reaction.
All the really great people I've met along the way who have interesting stories to talk about are not necessarily the most intelligent ones or the best conversationalist (although they are usually pretty high up there in both categories), they're the ones who went out there and did something. Some people are held back because they think they can't do it, some are held back because they need to plan everything out, and most are held back because they're scared of something so much that they come up with another excuse for why they can't do it. Really though, it's all out there for the taking and you just need to decide what you want to experience and what you don't.
So, there's the long of it and if anybody asks me again, "Why did you do it?" then I'm going to say, "Because it's something I've always wanted to do."
Thanks again for the support. Tomorrow night I should be camping in Key Largo and then I make the last push for Key West on Tuesday. After yesterday, these two 100 mile days are like a ride around the block. Unless I get bored, the next post will probably be from Mile Marker 0. Stock the shelves Key West, I'm coming to town.
Until then, You've only got one time around so you better grab as much gusto as you can while you're here (Thanks for that one Ron).
First I'm going to summarize the route since my last post so that I can hopefully remember all the cool stuff that has happened. There will surely be some experiences that I forget, but I'm hoping that along the road here I'll be able to fill in some more details.
Most of the route through Florida follows A1A, southbound of course. Right now I'm on my last map, 7 of 7, which takes me from St. Augustine, FL to Key West (extreme elation). In my previous post I touched on St. Augustine but didn't go into detail. After St. Augustine I hit Crescent Beach, Flagler Beach, Daytona Beach, Titusville (think Kennedy Space Station), Cocoa Beach, back to A1A at Indialantic/Melbourne Beach, Floridana Beach, Vero Beach, Ft. Pierce, Port Salerno, Hobe Sound, Palm/West Palm/South Palm Beaches, and now I'm at Pompano Beach staying with Ms. Meghan Finkle (sister of the world renowned Steven Finkle). Alright, so the first thing that strikes me about that extensive collection of locations is how often the word "Beach" pops up. There is a lot of sand out there. On top of that, if a section of coastline doesn't have sand but the real estate is high value then they probably just truck it in. I didn't realize just how many beaches there were out there on the eastern shore of Florida. I knew their were a lot, but it's almost to the point where the whole coast is one big sandy beach....and this is a long state.
As I've already stated, St. Augustine is a fantastic area. I met some people along the way who told me that the FL State Park there is amazing too. I need to learn more about the history of St. Augustine now because that is what the town is about and I would be belittling the town if I just said, "St. Augustine, great shops and a really good spinach croissant."
The number of City, County, State Parks that are on the Florida coast is another cause for pause. They take their relaxation time very seriously in FL. For good reason too, it's so damn hot most of the day that you don't want to move unless you have too.
From Little Talbot Campground to Spruce Creek Campground (south of Daytona Beach) was a 109.62 mile day. Not too shabby. Spruce Creek was the home of the friendly squirrels. I'm pretty sure they're the ones who tryed to gnaw through my dry bag. Not a big deal though, they gave up before any real damage was done. Spruce Creek Campground had a really great pier that you could walk out to which was in the middle of a grassland/swamp/inlet mixture. The swamp description doesn't sound too nice, but it was a beautiful area. I arrived at Spruce Creek around 5 pm and the park attendant wanted to take off early so he didn't check me in or take my money. I'll take that, free camping for the night once again. He did tell me that the "Day Workers" come to the park, camp out for 2 weeks (max stay) and then move onto the next park. These guys/gals left earlier then I did so I'm guessing he was right. So as not to give you the wrong impression, "Day laborers" were white, construction worker tanned people who listen to Peter Frampton and Bob Seger. Now then, bye bye squirrels and hello open road.
I'm getting really good at packing up camp and getting on the road but it still takes 45 minutes at best. Every morning includes soreness. If you're a cyclist or a runner then think of those days where you wake up for a morning ride having exercised hard the day before and you tell yourself, "I've gotta do it, I've gotta do it" just to get out there. That's a good day. I must admit though, you get used to working through it. Gradually, you become slightly less sore in the morning but the really amazing part is that after a few weeks it only takes you 20-30 minutes on the bike to become fully functional again. In the beginning I wouldn't be fully functional until I hit a hill that absolutely required everything I had.
When you cramp up or when you have a problem it usually doesn't happen while riding. If I push hard for an hour or two then stop for Gatorade or a banana, I feel the problem area when I get back on the bike. The good thing for me is that I haven't really had a reoccurring problem. Cramps are inevitable no matter how much you drink or how much you eat. The only way to stop them is to slow down or take more breaks.
Now, on the road again. FL is full of cyclists. It's nice to see our kind on the road. The bad part about this is that some of these guys can pass me. Usually this is about 8am when I've already been on the road for 25 miles, but still, I should be able to kick their butt with or without a trailer....well, not really but I'd like to think I could. Cyclist or not, the trailer gets a lot of looks and sparks a lot of conversation. Everybody wants to know what's going on. Yesterday I stopped at a red-light and the lady in the car next to me asked me the WFWT question (where from where to). People in the crosswalk heard me and the next thing you know everybody is stoked about the trip. It's pretty cool when you get this reaction because sometimes people just have no idea why you'd want to do anything that takes this sort of commitment and energy (stereotype here, but usually the 9-5, unionized, white male factory worker). These are the same people who you ask, "What do you do?" and they respond with something stupid like, "As little as possible." Alrighty then.
Florida beaches are full of Sea Turtle Sanctuary areas and it seems like every town is a Protected Birding area. The birding thing isn't too relevant because I don't think people hunt pelicans and herrings in the middle of towns with a population of 8000 people. It does give you the feel good when you enter that specific city though and the Car Wash industry loves it.
Friday night I stayed at Sebastien Inlet State Park. I made a reservation at this park a couple nights earlier and it's a good thing I did. I picked up the last site and as it turns out this is a fantastic park to watch shuttle launchings from. Saturday, 5/31 at 5pm was the next launching. Sebastien's Inlet was amazing. Supposedly there are two Jetty's here which make for a fisherman's paradise. Bird watching is plentiful too. This is where I met Ron and Danna. Rob offered me a Corona that was probably one of the best tasting beers I've ever had. Not so much because it was a Corona, but because I had just rode 104.27 miles in the heat and now I have a beer in my hand in an air conditioned RV. They also let me sit right below the a/c...holy heaven. As it turns out, Ron and Danna have been married for 40 years and they spent a 2 1/2 year honeymoon in Europe (Ron's description). This kindof threw me until he explained that he was in the military. They used to take 3 or 4 day weekends and travel around Europe in a VW Bug with a tent strapped to the back and military Sea Rations for food. He listed off nearly every country in Europe when I asked him where they'd been. Not a bad life if you can get it.....wait a minute, I'm going to change that, Not a bad life if that's what you choose...there, better. Ron and Danna fed me burgers, potato's, beans, cheese, and of the best part, another beer. They were here for the shuttle launch of which Ron was a big fan. He had never seen the launch before and it was something they've wanted to do for awhile. Hope everything went well guys and thanks again.
I need to backtrack here. Before I landed at Sebastiens Inlet I found another burrito restaurant. I still had a hot dog in my stomach that hadn't yet digested and was not cooperating with me riding but this Burrito Joint had written on their sign, "The best Burrito you'll have Anywhere." Come on now, really? So I went in and asked the woman what made it the best. She let me know that the brisket and the pork are smoked in house, the salsa is made in house (and very interesting stuff too I might add), they use a homemade slaw mixture instead of lettuce because lettuce wilts on the meat, plus they use yellow spanish rice, pinto beans, etc, etc. I had to try one, if not for the burrito then atleast so I could ask to sample the salsa's without feeling guilty. It was really good, I'm not sure about the best because Anna's Taquiria in Boston is hard to beat, but definitely top 5. The restaurant was pretty cool too. I wish I snapped a picture. Lot's of music, surfing and 60's/70's type posters on the walls. The men's room was painted pink which was an interesting way to get your attention and make you remember the place (atleast I think it was the men's room...it was, I checked). The counter used corrugated, galvanized, steel roofing to cover the supporting base which looked really cool. The salsas were made out of habanero's, cantalopes, onions, garlic, vinegar, sugar, chipotle's, and I think there was some mango in some types. Very interesting stuff.
Now, back to the campsite. Here is a classic moment. I setup the hammock before really getting to know Ron and Danna. There wasn't many trees in the area but I found a couple that might do. As I'm climbing into the hammock, it sinks low enough so that my back is just touching the ground. One of the trees was a little bit smaller and sort of low to the ground so I couldn't position the ropes all that high up. This just won't due so I get up, and decide to reattach. This is after two beers, food, it's 9:30 so I'm getting tired and it's dark. I reattach the webbing straps, tie the hammock on and crawl back inside. Still pretty low but better then.....whoa, snap, and down for the count. The limb of the tree snapped off and luckily for me my fall to the ground was from about 2 ft up. So now it's late, I'm tired, all my clothes that were drying from the top of the hammock are scattered and I need to figure out a plan. I drag over the table, tie everything up so their is a taunt ridgeline to the hammock, blow up the airmattress and sleep in the hammock but on the ground for the night. The next morning I woke up in the humidity covered with a layer of "somebody let me take a shower" sweat only to find that my clothes didn't dry and it was disgusting out. The good part about this is that after 5 minutes on the bike I was so sweaty and wet that it didn't matter one bit how damp my clothes were or how terrible I felt waking up that morning. Always look at the bright side. By the way, if you heard some commotion in the night Ron and Danna, that's what it was. Sorry about that.
Another day and a big one it was. Gone from Sebastien Island, I missed the shuttle launch but that's ok because I'm sure they'll put another one up someday. The strip of land I'm riding today is a very thin island which isn't too much wider then the road. There's a nice breeze that is slowing me down but I'll take it because at 7am, it's already too hot for me. I decided to push through today and ride 140 miles all the way to Meghan's apartment. Clean shower, a/c and a carpeted floor underneath my feet...life is good, but I'm going to be working for this nights sleep.
On the way there I scared an iguana from the thick grass on the side of the road. I've been seeing a lot of lizards around this area, most of them a couple inches in length, but this was a full on flourescent green iguana. Who the heck forgot to tell me that they actually made these things in the wild? I thought they were only in pet stores. It's not like you suddenly see a talking parrot jump out of the woods screeching, "Yes We Can." Either way, it was cool. The color on this lizard was more flourescent then any I've ever seen in the pet store.
After this I saw something else flying my way. A few kids were skateboarding on a bike path so I took the far right side to give them plenty of room. Right as I'm about to pass thinking I'm in the clear a skateboard whips in front of me and I wack it with the rear wheel. Fortunately, I didn't crash. The kid whips around and says, "It's ok, the board is fine." I wanted to go slap him just once, but whatever, I used to have a skateboard and probably did stupid things like that too. So once again, my rear wheel moves side to side and I can feel it pulsating whenever I hit the rear brake. I think I'm going to let this one go though because the bike shops around here are mostly Beach Bike type of shops and the wheel isn't really that bad. If I find a good one then I'll have them true it up for me just to make sure I don't have any problems.
The Palm Beach area is really, really nice. Very expensive and it looks just like the movies, but the landscaping at some of these houses is better then most golf courses I've seen. In fact, some of the houses have the same exact grass that they use on golf courses and it's cut just as short as the grass that grows 2 feet from the cup.
I took a picture yesterday that could have been a Corona commercial. It was right in the middle of nowhere, but absolutely perfect. A couple palm trees, some beach, the perfect amount of foliage and groundcover. Amazing.
Mostly, yesterday was just grinding through the heat. As I told Jennifer, their are times when the sweat doesn't drip off you, it's a steady stream. If I look down to check what gear I'm in or make a movement it's like somebody takes a dixie cup of water and pours it onto my leg, bike or whatever is in the way. Sweating this much never really wins you any beauty contests but it does keep you cool. By cool I mean a safe distance from a heat stroke.
Needless to say, yesterday was tough, but I made it through in one piece. I rode basically from 7am until 7pm with a break for a late lunch and four or five hydration breaks. Their was a headwind most of the day so covering a lot of ground fast was impossible. I did make 18-20 mph bursts for 1/2 hour stretches, but most of the time I was hanging around 15-16 mph. I think my average for the day was 15.2 and that includes the normal city slowdowns and stoplight crawls.
Alright, now onto some questions. To Nick, yes I did hold 20-22 mph with the trailer. FL is flat and I didn't have any wind that day. Usually I can hold a good pace for 2 hours but I've found that every 10 minutes I need to get up out of the saddle and kick in the turbo for 30 seconds or so. I think it's just a way to let muscles relax while also giving yourself a good fast cadence to start from for the next 10 minute stretch. After about 3 hours at that pace I started wearing down and couldn't maintain it for the rest of the day. I stopped at a convenience store and my left lower calf muscle started crapping. I think I was at 16-18 for the next 3 hours and that night I had to stretch again and again to get it loose for the next day.
Cameron, I don't buy it that you're a quiet girl. I know you too well. You're kind of like cycling in the morning, it takes a little while to get the joints and muscles lubed up but once they're going they don't stop until they wear themselves out. "What's not to think about yourself" I like it.
KeithCo.....Marriage What!!!!! I heard some rumblings but holy shizzah!!! Congratulations buddy. Are you sure she's cool with your Larry Craig style extra-curricular activities? On this trip I actually tried the Kona Brewing Longboard Ale. Very good stuff. I'll try to get the one you're talking about when I get back home. Hope you're going to Finkle Brewfest '08.
JT, I didn't think about the wet dreary days on the ferry but as you, I, and others have figured out, there isn't much that a good beer or Captains and Coke won't cure. That is, if you're walking onto and off the ferry or course.
Jacob, I think it's awesome that you keep getting on that bike. I have no doubt that you're going to be great at riding it very soon. Keep it up and maybe we can ride it to get some blueberry pancakes for breakfast, or lunch if you want.
Sara,
Who the heck is Jimmy Olsen? I'll look into the spring thing, maybe you have something there. Can't wait to test out that garden. Mmmm, tomato sandwich with mayo on toast, salt, pepper and some basil. That's the life.
Amber, Jen, Steve, Any of those chocolate chip cookies left? I'm almost there.
Greg, I know that Jennifer probably has a stack of 12 magazines waiting for me when I get home and I'll read about the dandelion greens. Unfortunately, Jennifer has a list of things for me to do that is probably only marginally shorter in breadth then all the articles in those 12 magazines. Baby steps, baby steps.
I know that Brandon wants to know what made me decide to do this. Most people ask that and I just say it's something I've always wanted to do. This gets me out of hour long conversations with people at the convenience stores. That is really why I did it but there is more detail then that.
One of the reasons is that riding a bike forces you to go through every town and look at nearly every interesting house, animal, tree, or piece of scenery that's on the way. Even when you're in the groove and moving at 20 mph down the road (fast for me on the bike with the trailer) I'm still moving 1/3 the speed of the cars that are whizzing by, listening to their radio's and not paying attention to anything. This trip will end up being about 4 weeks of riding but I've seen a lot more eventful and uneventful people, places and things then you would if you rode in your car for four weeks. After it's all said and done, some of the uneventful ends up being the most eventful. So, this is the way I chose to do it and it's been a good choice for me.
Another reason I chose to do this is that it's a good transition. I've left one job and soon enough I'll start another. I'm getting married to the most perfect woman I've ever met and even though we've known each other for the past 16 years, it's still a change. So it's very fitting that I ride out of one area on a long, difficult journey to end in another completely different place. When I get to Key West I'll probably only be there for a couple days which usually amazes most people considering how long it's taken me to get there, but this trip wasn't about Key West, it was about the cities like Statesboro, Charleston, Delaware Water Gap, New Paltz, Folkston, York, Manheim, Quinnipac, Belford, Portsmouth and dozens of others that I hit on the way. I will say that I'm devoting more time to Key West then any other city, but come on now, after a trip like this you need to drink it in a little. Also, I'm going to visit the Mel Fisher Museum upon the recommendation of Ron and Danna.
Lastly, this trip was a chance to break up a big difficult challenge (difficult for me atleast) into small daily pieces and figure out just how I handled it. How to put together all those little pieces that seem so insignificant by themselves but actually become very significant when and if you forget about them.
You can always guess how your going to deal with a situation and most people have told me things like, "I knew you'd do that" or "I saw that coming" but unless you've actually done this or something like it then you don't know exactly how it feels. I too knew I'd be lonely sometimes, I knew I'd get bored, I knew I'd want to stop when I was in the middle and the initial excitement wore of, but now I know how that feels and I know how I need to react to get myself through it. I know how much the support of others can help me out and I know where you need to dig deep and work through it by yourself. I know how awesome it was riding with somebody for a day after not riding with anybody for 3 weeks. I've been able to experience crossing over into the last state and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel after eating, breathing, pedaling and hurting with nothing else on my mind except getting to FL and getting back home to see everybody. I've visualized seeing Jennifer, Riley, friends and family for 4 weeks now. A million times I've thought about what I'm going to do when I get off the plane, how I'm going to react when I get to sleep in my bed again, how the glass/bottle is going to sound during the first, "Cheers to catching your breath between adventures!". After the whole trip, I don't just "know" how things are going to happen, I've felt how they've happened and I can now talk about them with more clarity then the assumption of an anticipated reaction.
All the really great people I've met along the way who have interesting stories to talk about are not necessarily the most intelligent ones or the best conversationalist (although they are usually pretty high up there in both categories), they're the ones who went out there and did something. Some people are held back because they think they can't do it, some are held back because they need to plan everything out, and most are held back because they're scared of something so much that they come up with another excuse for why they can't do it. Really though, it's all out there for the taking and you just need to decide what you want to experience and what you don't.
So, there's the long of it and if anybody asks me again, "Why did you do it?" then I'm going to say, "Because it's something I've always wanted to do."
Thanks again for the support. Tomorrow night I should be camping in Key Largo and then I make the last push for Key West on Tuesday. After yesterday, these two 100 mile days are like a ride around the block. Unless I get bored, the next post will probably be from Mile Marker 0. Stock the shelves Key West, I'm coming to town.
Until then, You've only got one time around so you better grab as much gusto as you can while you're here (Thanks for that one Ron).
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