Florida---"Here I am, goin' to Florida, my leg hurts, my butt hurts, my chest hurts, my face hurts, and like that ain't enough, I gotta pee all over myself."

We were the only ones awake in the campground at 6 a.m...even those bugs (or frogs) were quiet. Karen and I headed out of the park, through Marianna, and then east on Highway 90 while Liz packed up my old K&N filter and shipped it home for me. I saw a lot of houses with screened in porches. It seems a good solution for a) the bugs that are everywhere, and b) a good way to catch any stray breeze that might be blowing through.


We went across the Chatahoochee bridge and I kept trying to make it work that Billy Jo McCallister jumped off that bridge, but it just wouldn't fit. It was the Talahachee bridge, wasn't it? There are wonderful, historic towns that we pass through...like Quincy, Florida. Unfortunately, there are also poor towns...like Gretna.














One of the delights on this trip has been the serendipitous food finds. Remember the tortillas in Texas? And the BBQ ribs and brisket there? We bought some juicy peaches in Tennessee, and today...some tomatoes and watermelon from Willy and his family. Willy farms 40 acres west of Monticello, and we see trucks like his parked at various places along our route. Karen stopped at one store where a woman was preparing food for customers...chitlins. It looked sort of like biscuits and gravy. Karen asked her what...exactly chitlins were? Chitlins are pig intestine. Karen opted for the rice and summer squash. Good choice, Karen.


Liz had driven ahead and found some serious road construction on Highway 319, so we loaded the bikes into the truck and bumped down to Bradfordville Rd. which is just north of Tallahassee. I had a bad attitude about the whole thing...it was chapping my hide to have to load up the bike and waste another 15 minutes. I should have put myself in Time Out for awhile. :)

My stats for the day were 100.2 miles, an average of 13.2, and elevation gain of 2791'.

For some reason, today's ride was hard for me. There was a headwind of maybe 10-12 miles coming out of the east all day, and 70 miles into my ride I was cooked...my knees were barking, I had hotspots on the bottoms of my feet, and I was slow. I know at some point this adventure is going to be as much mental as it is physical, and I am planning for that. I have a whole handful of trump cards to play...I have...ibuprofen.


We were all hungry for pizza, but Waycross didn't seem have anything, so we stopped at a BBQ place. (We need to get our fill of BBQ before we leave the south). I ordered a baked potato...which comes with butter, cheese, pulled pork and is then smothered in sauce. Karen thought it looked gross, but it was actually very tasty.

I am not a big fan of Reserve America, the means by which you secure a camping spot in many of the state parks. In Georgia, for instance, if you want a camping spot on a Friday night, you have to reserve Saturday night as well. We opted to drive to Laura Walker State Park in Waycross as "walk-ins"...that way, we would just be paying for the night we wanted. Karen had done a little research and found that the park had mosquitoes and alligators, but we didn't see either. The park was very quiet, no buggy noise, no party noise, no thunder...we all headed for bed around 9:30, for tomorrow will be a busy day.

maybe you can't...because you won't...