Day 25, Yulee FL to Hanna Lake campground FL

October 16, 2014

What a day what a day, a fantastic day. It was supposed to be such an easy day that I felt absolutely no pressure. I only had about 30-40 miles to go to where I would get my tire fixed then I would lounge on the beach until the football game. Perfect plan....I kind of forgot I actually needed to cycle the miles though and even 30 miles still takes time.

I slept in, had a lazy lunch, was moving oh so slowly and just loving it. I discovered the elusive "Greenway" which is a different route from Maine to Florida. Gorgeous route though, could be for next year. Basically I was going slow and seeing the sights.

I saw the biggest spider I've ever seen that isn't a tarantula, the size of my palm with a web the size of a pillow. Freaky. Saw people fishing off the bridge as they are prone to do down here. Took a ferry across the river for a dollar, steal of a deal. A man told me about a "joke" he made at Wednesday church, it wasn't funny.

I checked into the most beautiful campsite I've ever seen at Hanna lake park. It is like being in the jungle but there are showers and fire pits. I also finally swam in the Atlantic ocean. It felt good and I want to say saltier than the pacific but my frame of reference probably isn't on point. Felt nice though, ocean, waves.

Technically I'm within the city limits of Jacksonville which has made for a confusing realization for me. I always thought Jacksonville was a dump town, the Detroit of Florida for example. Turns out it is kind of gorgeous with surfing and beaches and street markets and healthy people. I'm starting to think that maybe they like the jaguars after all also. Perhaps Jacksonville is an alright place at the end of the day, I've enjoyed myself here and that surprises me.

Tomorrow is another easy day, 40 miles to st Augustine for the weekend. I'm booked in to the hostel and am looking forward to it. Watch out Saturday market, I'm going to buy all your oranges.

Trip stats
Hours riding: 5:38.12
Day miles: 67.24
Total miles: 1472.66
Average speed: 11.9 mph
Max speed:25.6 mph

Day 24, Nahunta GA to Yulee FL

October 15, 2014

Crossed into a new state, my fifth one so far. Pretty exciting to cycle through five states and Florida looks like it will be a good one. I'm not going to go into the day to day of it because it was basically just a good day of cycling, no big moments. Today was about the barbeque though, big Q day.

It started at Jalen's in Folkston, Georgia. A hole in the wall type place that looked dirty and tasted great. Had a big rib platter that was amazing, big tender ribs and a BBQ sauce loaded with flavor. If you're using the Wendy's system, you'll notice that their sign is worth two points (pig with a hat).

As I cycled away from that I was thinking I should probably eat a salad tonight. A couple days of solid barbeque and unhealthy meals needed to be balanced out. Turns out that wasn't the case because when I pulled into Yulee Florida there was a barbeque place across the street from my hotel. Dial it in! Ordered the three meat platter with pulled pork, brisket and smoked turkey. The turkey was the surprise winner, usually I find turkey is dry at a barbeque place but this was misty and delicious. Pair it with three different sauces (smokey, sweet, mustard based) and you have a great dinner. Not only that, a pint of brew was only two dollars! Crazy!

Very glad to have had a double barbeque day, love barbeque.

Trip stats
Hours riding: 5:57.43
Day miles: 79.12
Total miles: 1405.42
Average speed: 13.28 mph
Max speed: 24.3 mph

Day 23, Reidsville GA to Nahunta GA

October 14, 2014

Everything was going according to plan. I started early, I was making great progress. There was a headwind but I was still going forward. The rain hadn't hit yet, I was ahead of it. I grabbed a drink at a convenience store and a guy just bluntly said, "you gonn' get wet today boy".

I got drenched.

I was four miles outside of Nahunta when it happened, the sky opened. I've never seen rain like this before. I've never had a shower like this before. It was the most powerful rain I've ever felt. The road was thick with water and within seconds I was soaked to the bone. Lightning was everywhere and the thunder sounded like a semi was passing me. Basically it was terrifying and amazing, it's my top storm.

Also a guy at the gas station called me boss today, it feels like I'm finally in the south. "Where you going boss?" Sweet.

I also had a weird run in with a dog on a bridge today. I cycled along and there was a dog walking down the road. It notices me cycling towards it and just bolts back until it stops at this bridge. It just sits there in the middle of the bridge barking at me. I don't know what to do, how do I get around this troll dog? I end up just inching forward until I'm close enough that I can just blast by. At one point I yelled "GEARS!" in the hope man's invention of gears can outrun the speedy dog. In the end I would like to thank my calves for powering me forward and avoiding rabbis.

Great day overall: troll dog, boss call, power storm.

Trip stats
Hours cycling: 6:28.32
Day miles: 84.24
Total miles: 1326.3 mph
Average speed: 13.0 mph (moderate headwind)
Max speed: 29.2 mph

Day 22, Statesboro GA to Reidsville GA

Well it was a poor day for miles but an overall pretty great day. Not a lot great happened I guess now that I think about it:

-The bakery i wanted to go to in the morning was out of business (i did good another one though)
-I mismanaged my water consumption so was riding for about 10 miles very thirsty.
-The local bike ship couldn't replace my wheel so I had to pay for another fix.
-Due to the wheel fiasco, I was only riding during the heat of the day

I did find a nice little corner store that made some mean fried chicken though. On top of that everyone was friendly and asking me where I was going to. One guy asked me confusingly, "Hey man, is there any money in what you're doing? 'Cause I see a bunch of guys like you come through here and I'm thinking, maybe they know something we don't". No kind stranger, there is no money in this.

I also have a nice campsite and made the most ghetto dinner possible. I bought my groceries at essentially a " Canadian tire " type store, somewhere you would buy a microwave oven and some bleach. Their produce section was just a couple of five pounds bags of onions. Bought some frozen chicken and biscuit mini sandwiches and a can of country gravy. Heat it up and put it in my mouth. It was something, I don't think it was incredible but maybe it is full of the energy I need. Just maybe.

Best part of the day though, maybe the best part of my life to this point, was hearing an old southern man talk about ribs. I was in the town gas station and this older man asked where I was going. Blah blah blah, I asked him about the campsite in town. He told me I won't have a problem finding a space but if I was here last week maybe I would because there was a cookout in town. Then, in the way only a true man from the south could say it, he said, "some cookout though, ribs that would fall off the bone". It sounded more like " ribs dat wood fawwl off da bowne", amazing. I hope to one day be that relaxed about ribs in my life.

A storm is brewing so I'm going to try and beat it out and get an early start. It will be bringing a headwind at me so getting the miles could be difficult but I think it is worth a try at least. If I get my hundred the next three days after that will be all too easy. Very excited about what will happen, could be riding through my first serious weather.

Trip stats
Hours riding: 4:10.34
Day miles: 48.58
Total miles: 1242.0
Average speed: 11.6 mph
Max speed: 30.9 mph

Day 21, Savannah GA to Statesboro GA

October 12, 2014

Aaarrrggghhh! Today was an incredibly frustrating day, lots went wrong. For starters I got off to a late start because bed was incredibly comfortable. I was okay with it, no regrets. I cycled out about ten miles before realizing that I forgot my lock back at the hostel! Aaaa! So annoying. I had to cycle back to the hostel then back out, the timing on my day was officially shot. I was hurrying though and thought I could make it to my goal anyway, after all, my legs were fresh. Before I knew it I had broken another spoke, my wheel is trashed. I was able to limp into Statesboro but this wheel is toast and is getting replaced tomorrow (hopefully). Tomorrow I'm going to go to the local bike shop and see if they can replace my wheel. I'm tired of all the problems and just need to start over, this wheel has broken three spokes, never been true, has a large flat spot and is costing more in repairs than it would be to replace it. So long wheel, I'm moving on with my life.

That said I don't know if this bike shop can make time for me so I might be stuck in Statesboro for a day or so, we'll see. It doesn't look like there is much here so I hope it goes quickly and I can get back on the road. Who knows though, maybe there is some stellar barbeque I can find.

Another crazy hot day also, scorching me. I've got some nice looking heat rash going on with my legs so that is new. Not sure how I'm going to fix this but I'm going to try only one coat of sunscreen on my legs tomorrow. Risky.

Trip stats
Hours riding: 5:30.21
Day miles: 75.81
Total miles: 1193.4
Average speed: 13.7 mph
Max speed: ? Error

Day 19/20 Savannah rest days

Well I love Savannah also, what a town. There are town squares everywhere and they are all just gorgeous. Old oaks covered in Spanish moss with park benches and statues to the different moments in history. Another town just great for walking around in and soaking up.

I drank some nice coffee, fell down historic stairs, ate a godfather sandwich at zumzis (a Savannah institution), checked out the river walk and whooped it up at some bars with some people I met on Friday night. Overall, Savannah has been good to me. The school here, Savannah college of at and design (SCAD), is an arts school so there are nice galleries and live music everywhere.

Now I need to get back to the road and crunching up the miles. It has been a pretty easy couple of days with these breaks so I'll need to cycle on a Sunday. Hopefully I can get through it quickly enough and not miss too much of the games. Fingers crossed.

BBQ
Bubs barbeque in Savannah
Got the pork and ribs plate and it was good. It was a bit of a nicer barbeque place because the other two in town were closed. One because of renovations and the other because of a catering event. Even though this was my third choice it was really good, maybe it should have been higher on the list. Great ribs, perfect even.

Trip stats
Hours riding: 1:36.35
Day miles: 11.09
Total miles: 1117.6
Average speed: 6.8 mph
Max speed: 14.3 mph

Day 18, just outside Walterboro SC to Savannah GA

Well it was a good day of riding, got off to an early start. Initially, my intention was to ride to Statesboro which was 120 miles out so I needed the early start. I left my ghetto A frame and cycled into town and grabbed breakfast at the waffle house. I could tell it was going to be hot again, must be in the south.

I was making good progress but kept seeing signs along my route saying Savannah was about 25-30 miles closer than my maps were predicting Statesboro was. I kept thinking it was weird but knew I was riding back roads. Last time I varied from the maps was myrtle beach and it was terrible. TERRIBLE. Never again I said. Never.  By lunch time I had altered my course to follow a Google maps route to take me straight to Savannah. I hoed myrtle beach wouldn't happen again.

What resulted was actually a pretty decent route, low traffic and an okay road. It was long and straight but that is about the worst I can say about it. Google did new right this time but I maintain my resolve of "never again". Overall though it guided my into Savannah along a nice route with low traffic and got me there in time to watch football.

Checked into the Savannah pensione (kind of like a hostel?) and have a nice room. So far I love Savannah, more than Charleston possibly. I think there is more crime here but there is also more town squares. Correlation? Probably not. Great town though, probably the most amazing.

Trip stats
Hours riding: 7:17.23
Day miles: 98.06
Total miles: 1106.5
Average speed: 13.4 mph
Max speed: 24.8 mph