David Trip

By David Freeze

  I can smell the ocean!

    Today has been fun, fitting for the last almost full day of riding. Things came together after some worry late last night that rooms would be very tight for tonight. I went to sleep in the High Springs Country Inn with a route plan but no idea where I would sleep. A couple of no vacancies and couple more nearly full had me worried. I had plenty of time to analyze the situation while riding today.

    I wanted to leave just before first light, and opened the door to find a foggy mist shrouding a dark everything. I could sit down and wait or ride by flashlight. That, of course, was what I did.

    I rode south on US 441, passing through an interstate exit town, mostly motels and convenience stores, in Alachua while still fogged in. I could only feel the hills ahead because I still couldn’t see them.

    Then headed to Gainesville on a light traffic morning, I wondered how things would go in a city of 130,000 plus. I wanted to split from US 441 and take SR 20 for the trip through town and farther. Not much smaller than Tallahassee, Gainesville sure got it right. Bike lanes, and plenty of signs to keep me from wondering kept me from stopping to only ask directions once. I didn’t have to, but this walker was so cute, so I stopped after she waved at me  to confirm where SR 20 was going. Not a big, traffic crowded intersection, seemingly always on an uphill in sight, like those that happened time and again in Tallahassee!

    Staying on SR 20, I passed through Hawthorne as the sun came out. SR 20 had the same four lane layout and big bike lanes, just like US 441 and 90. I must admit that Florida’s roads are even better than the last time I rode through headed toward Key West.

    Next was Interlachen, just a smattering of stores, and then into Palatka, where I am tonight after 66 miles. How I ended up in the Sleep Inn makes for a good story that developed as did my bike ride today. Noting that most lodging places seemed more full than usual, I did get two more nearly full that mentioned what they thought of my request for a non-smoking room. One had none, the other had one. Two more already confirmed to be full, so I looked at the list available and remembered that Sleep Inns sometimes gave good deals. I called the number and got a price only $20 higher than the smoker/non smoker places. I took it, rode a short mile out of the way but with a Publix grocery nearby, and have been happily excited about the little planning required tonight. That is one celebration moment of these trips, the next to the last day when the planning is virtually done. Most people probably don’t realize that I plan ahead for 60-90 minutes each night. I learned long ago to keep my eyes open and not miss an opportunity to see something special.

    On tap for this evening is a trip to Publix where I bet they have cut up watermelon and just taking some easy time. My sleep has been sorely lacking lately.

    Then tomorrow, I will ride to Crescent Beach, just south of St. Augustine Beach, a distance of about 20 miles from here. We’ll make the final photos somewhere near the intersection of US 90 and AIA,  possibly eat breakfast and head for home hauling a tired bike. Interesting is that I passed this exact location on the Maine to Key West ride in 2014.

    Places to revisit include Gainesville, named the healthiest city in America in 2003.

    I will have the tire dipping photos and final thoughts on this challenging west to east ride across the southernmost United States available tomorrow. We’ll celebrate together then!

By David Freeze

An even better day gets us closer to St. Augustine!

Late last night, I was still trying to figure out a good place for tonight’s lodging. There was a list of towns ahead with nothing, and one well ahead that might work. I was doing all of this when I should have been getting closer to bed, but I called the Deerwood Inn and Campground. I spoke to the owner, Celina Adam who gave me some good insight. But I had several challenges, but should never let that be a reason not to take on a good adventure.

    My room last night at the Seminole Inn was so nice that I wanted to get to bed early, but that didn’t happen. I figured it would take 103 miles to get to Deerwood, just over six miles south of Madison, Florida, making the total 109. Also, today was the first day on Eastern Daylight Time, so I lost a riding hour. And I had to ride right through Tallahassee.

    My only other option was a Bed and Breakfast in Monticello. Only problem was the owner didn’t really want me. I would have to get up too early and might bother others, she wouldn’t let the bike inside plus she made the price too high, especially since I would not get the breakfast. I probably made her happy by not calling back.

    I was determined to make Celina’s Deerwood and the big miles before dark. It’s been said a few times that I got a double bag of determination early on. Leaving Sneads, my first town was Chattahoochee where I hoped to see Lake Seminole, but couldn’t. Then on to Gretna where I got two egg and cheese sandwiches that were terrible. I threw away the second. Next came Quincy with not much traffic for a town of 8,000.

    The state capital, Tallahassee was next. With about 200,000 residents and part of my ride past Florida A and M, it took a little more than a very hard hour with constant hills and heavy traffic. Tallahassee rivals El Paso for hilliness, but what saved me was the nearly constant bike lanes or the symbol that cyclists could take the whole lane. I never got a horn or a bad comment.

      Then was the challenging ride to Monticello, my favorite town of the day. I met Tina Dollar at the Shell Convenience Store. She at least made me think of chunking the very challenging day by telling me about their motel. But you knew I wouldn’t and did not. Monticello was the prettiest small town of the whole trip so far, with lots of beautiful older homes and a stately courthouse that sits in the middle of a traffic circle. I got several friendly waves before leaving. At least 10 miles of sparkling new asphalt made that segment very enjoyable and fast.

      Next two towns were Greenville, where I fueled up and then Madison, a beautiful town where I turned off US 90 East for the first time in several days and took SR 53 to I-10 where Deerwood Motel and Campground are located. I got a great room in a busy place and pasta meal from Celina when she said she made too much!
  The day was perfect, with only a slight headwind, helping me to make 109 miles by dusk. Darn near the way I planned it and a lot of prayers went into it.

    For tomorrow, I will join up again with US 90 and figure it out from there. Sometime during the day tomorrow, I will put together a plan to likely finish on Monday in St. Augustine.

    Thanks again for following along! One question today, how many rides over 100 miles have I had? I will look it up for sure, but I think around 20 after today, spread over all the rides since 2013. Every one is special!

      See you back tomorrow for the next update!

By David Freeze

Most productive day so far!

    At least it felt that way. I wanted a bigger mileage day to offset some of the hurricane delays. It is quite enjoyable for me to follow one road for several days and we’ll continue on US 90 East for at least most of tomorrow.

    I left the Crestview Inn after an especially good sleep while a big series of thunderstorms rolled through. The room was perfect and I got the right price. Best WiFi yet!

    Rolling early, I got a quick start because there was no reason to stop in the first 30 miles and the terrain wasn’t bad. I did stop at Defuniak Springs and get some fresh cookies and a couple of small tacos, nothing like the ones in New Mexico.

  The early towns were Argyle, Ponce De Leon, Westville and Caryville, which just happens to be the Worm Fiddling Capital of the World. Who knew?

    The next set were Benifay , Chipley and Cottondale. All of these early towns were easy but then I had to roll through Mariana with about 10,000 people. All of them seemed to be out driving at the same time on US 90, which didn’t have a bike lane through town. That was tough.

    Then the final set of towns included just a small stop in Grand Ridge, where 3 friends had hassles with their lottery tickets in the store. It took forever to get them out of the way, before I could roll into Sneads. This is a great little town, on Lake Seminole which I will see in the morning. It is apparently is huge and the funny thing is that Georgia is just right over the trees from my motel window. I am still in the northern part of the panhandle.

    I am in the Seminole Inn, one of the few motels I have used from the Adventure Cycling suggestions. The Seminole Inn is perfect, very roomy, clean and has a Piggly Wiggly close by. Since I am almost sure that the ice cream sponsorship with the Y Service Club is good as long as the ride goes on, I let them pay tonight for Blue Bunny Premium Double Strawberry Whirl, a quart and a half size. Great stuff and already eaten. I also got four of the remaining 10 bananas. Still can’t find cut up watermelon in stores.

  Worth visiting again will be Defuniak Springs where the whole town is historic and many of the buildings are placed right along Lake Defuniak which is the center of town. Marianna might be fun to see what everyone was rushing too.

    Today was my first century ride on this trip at 107.6 miles and easier than some big mountains and super hot areas out west. Tomorrow, I am headed for Tallahassee, the State Capital of Florida. Afterwards, only Gainesville remains as a large city. I certainly like the small towns best.

    Earlier I mentioned USBR, the United States Bicycle Routes. Both those of Adventure Cycling and the USBR are posted through this area and I am staying on US 90 E as long as I can, which the USBR likes best coming up.

    I met James Dempsey tonight here at the motel. His wife is a traveling nurse, so they are staying here while she works. James loved the idea of my trip cross country and says he will follow it the rest of the way. The bike draws attention!

    Time for a shower after a hard day. Let’s keep going and finish this thing our strong! See you back here tomorrow!

By David Freeze

Another good day, but still a lot of pedaling to go!

    This was a day that I winged from the start! I got up before 5 to be ready ahead of first light. I had to add air to the back tire for the third straight day and made plans for that too.

    I headed out the door, rode out to the highway and turned right and started riding. Within about 3 miles, I pulled over because there were no US 90 East signs. I asked Siri and she told me to go back to town and get on 90 West. That was sort of dumb, because as it turned out, all I had to do was just keep going according to the Google Assistant. About 5 miles into the ride, I had the sign, the right road and a nickname for 90 East listed as the Old Spanish Trail. That started a whole day of riding the same road and will see it more as I head east.

    Most of the Alabama portion of 90 East had rumble strips but I rode in the lane because traffic wasn’t heavy. About 20 miles into the day, I found the “Welcome to Florida” sign. The area was beautifully landscaped, the bike lane widened and the rumble strips vanished. Very soon, I-10 intersected the area and it became very busy. Miles and miles of rolling hills and a great bike lane.

    I entered Escambria County and crossed the river by the same name. My first big goal was the town of Milton and the Truly Spokin’ bike shop. I had asked Matt to take a look at the tire and tube and see if there was still some metal or glass in it. They found a wire, likely the kind that comes from steel belted tires, and pulled it out. A tube change, a few adjustments and I was back on the road.

    My challenge for the rest of the afternoon was to find lodging for the evening and ride another 30 miles. I got both, the final 30 miles of an 81 mile day and a room in the Crestview Inn in Crestview. I did ask for a WiFi check and to see the room first, and all turned out well.

    I have been asked what I eat out of convenience stores when they are the only option. As an example tonight, I got two Breyer’s  ice creams, usually about half the price of the others. I get something like egg salad and chips, plenty of ice or water and a couple other snacks. Tonight, the clerk rang up the sandwich and a big Smart Water at way too much. I pointed out her error based on shelf pricing and she fixed both cheerfully.

      Now back to where we stand on the overall miles remaining. As of tonight, there are 440 miles remaining and more than 2,600 complete. Like a reader said the other night, we can’t ride a straight line to get to St. Augustine. I am still 28 miles from finishing off the last map of the sixth series. All 409.5 miles remain on the complete seventh series. My goal is about 5-6 riding days remaining.

    By the way, I have already eaten all that food, easily. I will still have more and I am drinking water and lemonade in great quantities.

    Milton is a town that I would like to see again. It was incorporated in 1844, ahead of Florida becoming a state the next year. Milton was involved in shipbuilding until the end of the Civil War and survived but the railroad and lumber both evolved into agriculture as the top industry. The US Navy maintains Whiting Field from which I saw several flights this afternoon. There are lots of historic older homes in town too!

  Other communities I passed through today were Pace and Holt, all of this on US 90 East. I will be back on it tomorrow.

    Enough hills kept me honest today, but the upcoming flatter terrain will be welcome. I’m hoping for a big day tomorrow and closing in on Tallahassee and a town right before it called Midway.

    Keep riding along, there’s more excitement in store!

By David Freeze

  Back at it in a big way!

    My days on the lamb went something like this. Afternoon one was sort of fun in anticipation of the big storm, especially with a trip to Walmart.  Day two got serious late with big rain and wind, and I went to Walmart twice. Day three started to seem as I was too closed in and not even another trip to Walmart helped. Last night, the last one was almost in captivity, probably had the worst weather of any time, torrential and blinding stuff, with the fourth local tornado too. So I busted out today, even though most at the motel were holding firm.

  This morning seems so long ago and it was the beginning of an epic day. I wanted to go to Mobile, figure out how to get across the bay and reach a good jumping off point for tomorrow. I started riding from Lucedale, the town that gave me a home during the storm. Most of my ride was on SR 98, getting busier until I crossed into Alabama about mid-morning where Governor Kay Ivey took my riding surface away and filled it with rumble strips. For about 13 miles of some of the hardest rising I have ever done. I either had to ride in the traffic lane or try to hang on 6-10 inches of pavement, sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right of the rumbles.

    Finally the nerve wracking stuff ended when into the City of Semmes, named for the Confederate Admiral. I didn’t know the best way to find the one bridge that would take me around Mobile Bay and out of the city and open up Alabama and on east. Bikes can’t for sure ride in the underwater tunnels, and most think we can’t ride in Alabama on the interstates. So I had to find the bridge using regular streets and roads.

    I met Alex who had a good idea, but didn’t know the exact details. Then, on a hunch, I stopped by the Auto Zone expecting that some gruff old parts guy could tell me just how to do it. One of the girls offered her expertise and helped me draw out a plan. She didn’t give her name or picture, but her plan set me on a mission. I used a couple new friends to help, one the assistant manager of Riley Auto Parts in Pritchard and Luis McMurphy who worked for a utility company but was watching some flooding in the roadway. Pritchard looks like a poor town but with plenty of help I made it through to the bridge. Three miles shorter than Adventure Cycling planned their route. Hoping that all involved will read it, great job everyone!

    Before I left Pritchard, one of the prettiest and historic Catholic Churches I have seen just showed up as I followed my route. Famous train engineer Casey Jones was baptized here in this church.

    Up and over the bridge including those views of the bay and the battleship USS Alabama’s Historical Park went fast and was very enjoyable.

    Riding through what I think was Daphne was nice enough but very hilly. I had planned about 70 miles to make Loxley, probably the last town for me in Alabama. It took 69.37. I’m not always that close.

    The final adventure happened here in town. I sort of had a room reserved by name, which I do a lot. I called this afternoon and confirmed that I did have a room. The owner put me in a smaller motel building, back about a quarter mile a way toward town. This one will make my second entry into the crappy motel list. So I called the owner back at the main place and had an argument. In an agreement, I am only marginally happy with, I got one of the best rooms of the trip in another entirely separate building. Look for the details in the book.

      So, tomorrow, I should head into Florida early and rejoin the Adventure Cycling course mostly for the rest of the trip. I have to do a little sideways pedaling and then want to knock out the final part of sixth series of maps.

    Let me hold off on mileage remaining until the end of day tomorrow and we’ll have a better idea. A good day! Thanks for those prayers, as always!

By David Freeze

Waiting and planning, hoping to get going tomorrow!

  I did what I planned today, watching the news coverage of Ida, and especially looking out my window. Early morning, Lucedale had a powerful rain and some wind for about 90 minutes. Then just moderate stuff the rest of day so far. Apparently the brunt of the storm went farther west than expected. But the newscasts say that there will be weeks of power outages.

    Just now, heavier rain started again and this time pushed the wind from the north, directly opposite of the east breezes from the coast. I slept a little bit extra, washed out my riding clothes and think I have a plan to head east by hopefully tomorrow. My idea is to head east on the north part of Mobile Bay, then quickly join the Adventure Cycling route. It will take a few miles of riding on the interstate to do this, but it is worth a shot and saves me lots of miles.

    If the forecast is right, the rain will continue here tomorrow as the storm races north. I am only a few hours riding from Alabama, and Florida isn’t far away either. With some luck, the damage east of here will be minimal and the terrain should be the best yet. So, I am excited to move east, sort of bored actually.

      Several years ago, I met a cyclist going west across the northwestern states. Those of you have followed my trips may remember her name as Ali Cooper. Ali had bought a yard sale bike, put her stuff in bags on the bike and went exploring. I found her to be the single most interesting person I have ever met on my travels. Ali is a huge Christian and offers prayers often for those she meets. We have been in touch off and on, then I didn’t hear from her for several months.

      Just as this trip was well underway, I heard from Ali again and she explained that a a hit and run driver left her beside the road to die. Ali is recovering slowly and is in a long term rehab facility. She said, “I will be back on the road again!” And I think she will. Please add a prayer for Ali as you continue to pray for me. She is currently reading my updates and commenting every day.

      Another question sent in by a reader concerned what type of tires I use and how I keep them inflated. I use Schwalbe Marathon tires, made to be tough enough for gravel and rough roads, and to be resistant to flats. The problem with them is that they are stiff and hard to change a tube in one. I use CO2 cartridges to inflate them, because I can’t carry a large enough pump to inflate the tire easily. I always want to use really good tires, to avoid as many flats as possible and to support the weight of my gear and supplies properly.

    With that, I plan to be riding tomorrow if I can get accommodations and the weather is safe. I will have an estimate on how many miles are left if I can get around Pensacola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico without encountering too much damage or travel problems. The trip will be in the home stretch once I enter Florida.

It’s been challenging, but I sure am glad that all of you are riding along! Thank you!

By David Freeze

  Bettering my position, too restless to sit still!

  Last night, I decided if I woke up to nice weather in Wiggins, Mississippi, then I was at least going to consider moving farther east today. I woke up to what I think was a pretty much full motel, and the owner had already tried to convince me to stay at least a couple days. I watched the Weather Channel and confirmed that New Orleans was still Ida’s target and that the same nice weather was also along their coast.

    I went early for a couple breakfast biscuits and a map and a few things from Family Dollar, not Dollar General as I understood.  I got the biscuits and not much else. The clerk at the first convenience store showed me an empty rack for the maps, “where they used to be”.

    So I talked to another customer who recommended going to Lucedale, Mississippi. I called the two affordable motels and the largest one’s owner took some interest in what I was trying to do. Surprisingly, he owned another Western Motel. But he thought that it was unlikely that anyone would leave with the forecast. I told him that I didn’t feel good about pedaling his way unless a room was available. The owner asked, “What time can you be here?”. I told him 1pm if all went well and we hung up.

    I hurriedly packed up and start pedaling directly east on SR 26, surprised that there were no rumble strips over the 35 miles. Part of the scenery was a pine filled DeSoto National Forest. I found out this afternoon that Wiggins used to have the world’s largest pickle producing factory.

    When I started, at almost 9am, there was very little traffic. By the time I finished at 12:55 pm, the traffic on my side was almost constant, car after car with Louisiana plates. I had seen the photos of the logjam of traffic leaving New Orleans this morning.

      The constant traffic was very polite to me, giving me plenty of room except for a couple tractor trailers. I said several prayers that the owner would have found a room for me. I walked in and he said, “Can you take a smoking room? It doesn’t smell bad. And there won’t be any rooms until this is over. Nobody left this morning.”

    Here is what I gained by going 36 miles farther east. Siri says now that I am 141 miles east of the projected landfall at New Orleans. I got a better room, on the second floor. I didn’t get a convenience store to eat from, but got a huge Walmart two tenths of a mile away. There is always a trade off, this time just a little bad. My connectivity is very poor. WiFi is weak and neither Verizon or AT&T has a decent signal. By using my phone’s AT&T hotspot, I think I can get messages out.

    Post nighttime editor Paris Goodnight says there is always at least some good, so here are the best things.  I have a big picture window to see the wind and rain coming. And I have used Walmart so far for the supplies I need for a couple days here. Most businesses are already closed or closing by tonight, so I plan to go back and get the things I need until Monday morning. Including the Road Atlas that will help me make up a new route to Florida from here. By the way, Walmart was packed like Christmas Eve. I got ice cream, pine air freshener for the room, a new friend in the cashier who asked why I was in Lucedale.

    By riding some this morning, I feel better about finishing this ride safely. And I am excited about seeing some of the effects of Ida. I will also have my route planned for a spectacular finish in St. Augustine.

    Ida is predicted for landfall about 7pm Sunday, but most of the day will have rain and increasing wind. Then most of the wind and rain will have passed here by Monday afternoon if the hurricane remains at its current speed.

    This book is going to be like no other! I expect plenty to tell tomorrow and Monday. Thanks again for the support and communication!