Bike to Apalachacola

Tallahassee to Apalachacola: 83.6

Total mileage: 633.8 miles

We headed back to the coast today and were all super excited to see the ocean again. After lunch we came across the Crooked Creek light house and a great 70 foot pirate ship/playground.

There was enough time for a water drop twenty miles outside of the host town and Jack and Nate found an awesome playground. In the pond they had their own sea monster. Marcus was brave enough to wade out into said pond for a dance/photo session.

There were bear signs all over the place. Apparently they have had a big increase in bear spottings over the last few years. It is just strange to see bear crossing signs so close to the water.

There was a killer bridge coming into town, but I just followed Holly and we beasted the whole thing.

Once we got into town we headed straight for the bay. Sadly there really wasn't a beach, but if we went far down enoug we were able to jump off the pier. Later we found out that it is filled with alligators - oops. We also befriended a few men who were fishing on the pier before we jumped in.

For dinner we had a delicious shrimp boil. AMAZING!!

There were also a bunch of people who had never had oysters before so we decided what better place than in this small town. Apparently they produce 90% of Florida's oysters and 10% of the US's.


 

 

 

 

Laundry

Laundry for our trip is done every three days in the trip so we were happy to learn that today was the day. Myself and several other leaders decided to invest in some laundry loops which would make finding our clothes WAY more convenient when they go back.

 

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“There are no bad days on Bike and Build, some days are just harder than others.”

 

Holy Hills

Perry to Tallahassee: 53.1 miles

Total mileage: 276.4 miles

We were grateful to learn that we would have a relatively short ride. A few of the people we takes to at the Lake City BBQ told us that the ride would be fairly hilly. I headed out with the same ladies I started with yesterday and it was a slow start. The headwind from yesterday left me a bit tired, but. We're making pretty good time. Along the way we kept seeing signs for free pecan samples. Between free samples and a whole lot of chalking from th Evan drive we decided that we should stop in to see what was what. Surprise, surprise we came across several other riders. After trying out a whole bunch of different kinds, I decided to pick up somew spicy jam to jazz up all of the peanut butter sandwiches I will be eating in the weeks to come.

After weighing the options of pacing the group I was riding in or tailing a much faster group the later won out because it meant that I would be sitting on my bike seat for much less time and I would have time to walk around the city. We basically crushed the last part of the ride averaging about 20 and kicking butt going up the hills. I was a bit tired for the last few miles, but the promise of a second lunch got me though. We ended up making it to the host by 1 which left tons of time to wander around.

 

While walking around trying to find some lunch, a woman came running out of her office excited to se bike and build riders. Apparently her son had done our route two years ago and had just started another route a few days ago. Se invited us in for some AC and sodas which was much appreciated.

After wandering around we finally found a local sandwich shop, Metro Deli, which gave us a discount on our sandwiches.

While wandering around we came across somew great bronze statues

After showers a couple of us headed off to Florida State University to check out the campus and tho fountains; apparently there are a bunch that you can wade in. The walk was pretty taking us through a couple of parks and if you took away the palm trees it looks like you had been dropped off at some northeast college.

 

A couple of the over twenty one crowd decided to hit up a local dive bar for a beer and were presently surprised that we mad it in time for comedy night. One was really good and other two we saw had a few good lines, but we're nothing spectacular.

 

Fun fact: tomorrow we wills be crossing our first time zone!! How crazy is that?!?!

Bike Ride to Perry

Lake City to Perry: 70.4 miles

Total mileage: 223.3 miles

 

Well I am happy to say that I woke up feeling pretty good considering the previous day's activities. After conquering out many many miles yesterday, many of us felt that 70 miles would be easy as pie. He weather as amazing as we harassed out - overcast, cool and very little headwind. About twenty miles down the road we saw signs for blueberry picking and my group decided that we should pull over. when we go there we found out that two other riders had stopped and worked some DM, twenty pounds of blueberries DM.

What better way to eat lunch than munch on some DM watermelons?

There was a quick stop to see and hang with the cows

Unfortunately there was a killer headwind, and at times a crosswind, after lunch. I was out in the front of the pack until about the last fifteen miles and thankfully Jay was able to come to the rescue and get us the rest of the way to Perry.

The final stop on our way into Perry was an outdoor shop filled with all kinds of iron work for restaurants and gardens.

 

Bike Ride to Lake City

Palatka to Lake City: 82.1

Total Mileage: 152.9

During the morning route meeting, we were told that the ride would be a cool 63 miles. Before we headed out that number was increased to 70, but no big deal, something that we could totally handle. In our way out of town we passerby some of the murals that the locals told we should check out.

A few miles down the pad we picked up the Rails to Trails path which was beautiful. Unfortunately the bike path ended way before we were expecting and we had to reroute ourselves. With the rising temperature made a quick pit stop to chill out in a beer refrigerator.

After lunch we got some update directions and headed off. We somehow ended up missing the turn and went too far down the pad. Thanks to trusty google we were able to find ourselves and after some debate about whether we should turn around or continue on to find route 100. Thankfully we chose to keep going down route 100 because the group who had gone down the original turn found themselves faced with a sand road and had to backtrack to then pick up the route we had found. This picture pretty much sums everything up:

The ride was a long and hot one; we were on route 100 for about 36 miles until we found signs for Lake City. Now things would not be so bad except for the fact that we were facing a pretty strong head wind, a slight incline and there was little cloud coverage to keep us out of the sun. About 20 miles away from our final destination we passed a small general store. Being EXTREMELY late for our 4 pm check in we decided to bang out the last few miles. Unfortunately the cue sheet had the wrong street names once again so we decided to keep to the highway to find our church destination. We did ask some locals if they. He hear d of the church and thankfully they were able to get us to where we needed to go.

Shockingly we we the first group to arrive and got there a little after 4:30. We profusely apologized for being late and the hosts were nothing but nice and completely understood which was great. With the promise of taco salads for dinner and a shower at the local pool we were beginning to feel a bit better. Unfortunately there were a few riders who had a bit of a rough time, something which is totally understandable, and the last group arrived right before 8. Needless to say we SCARFED down dinner once everyone had arrived and followed it up with some amazing homemade cakes.

The hosts were fantastic and definitely set a high bar for future ones to come. Two of the women from the church had paid for a router so we could boost the Internet and get caught up with emails and blogs posts. Another gentleman had received two Fulbright scholarships to travel the world and another had visited almost all of the states.

 

Bike Ride to Palatka

St. Augustine to Palatka: 39.2

Total mileage: 70.8

Today was another short day as we headed out of St. Augustine to Palatka. Because it was such a short day we had TONS of time to kill before we needed to be at the host and were on the lookout for fun things to do along the way. About ten miles into the ride we came across Moses Creek conservation area which is a part of the Florida's Save Our Rivers and Preservation program. After locking up our bikes we set off for the bluff observation path. At the end of the two mile walk, this was the view we happened upon:

 

 

Right out of the gates after lunch one of the riders had a flat so we stopped to change that before we finished up our ride.

We did come across a fantastic road name, Cracker Swamp Road

When we rolled into town we were shuttled to the local college to shower (great shower pressure) and then headset back to our host church for a BBQ. All of the churches in the town came together for dinner along the weather which was fantastic. Many of us have decided that not only will we be being across the country, we will be eating ourselves across the country. I can't complain!!

A bunch of us tried to mix and mingle and we met some great people; I did have to work on my small talk, but we ended up meeting some really cool people. One woman I met was an epidemiological nurse who oversaw the local division. She told me about all the work she had done with the county and her mission work - she is still going strong. Her husband was also great - a retired band teach at the local high school. He is the one on the right. The other was a pastor from the church we were sleeping at.