The Final Leg

Day 65 (April 9)

Defuniak Springs Fl to Marianna FL

The route continues to be wonderful.  Wild flowers are sprouting along almost every roadway, the grass looks manicured, and there is red clover , with bright red flowers, growing everywhere.  It is hard not to enjoy the miles.

The Florida States Parks offer very nice camping, I stop at the Florida Caverns State Park for the night.  The ranger kindly gives me a site in the Horse Camp, where there is only one other active camp site, instead of in the main park, which is packed with RV's, campers, and loud kids. 

Luckily, the only other campers have extra beers, so I trade them some of my strawberries and kiwi for a couple of beers. They are a young couple from a nearby town giving their new backpacking gear a test run before they start a month long hike on the Appalachian trail.  In the morning I swap them my coffee  and the rest of the strawberries for some of their instant oatmeal and hot water for my coffee.

78 miles

Day 66  (April 10)

Marianna FL to Tallahassee FL

A short day today, my plan is to ride off route a little and visit Patty's cousin and his wife- Woody and Joy- in Tallahassee.

I see one oddity that deserves mention here; during the ride I pass alongside a large reservoir ( a lake of about the size of Emigrant Lake) and notice that both sides of the road have a short wall, built of driven steel sheet pilings, constructed along the edge of the road right of way.  This wall system goes on for what seems like miles, even through a couple of housing developments. During the ride I mull over any practical use of this wall system, it is too short in stature to keep any large animals, like deer, from crossing the road, it is only along the road where it is close to the lake, so the value must be there...but why.  When I arrive at my overnight stay, Woody (who works for the State of Florida as a  beach engineer, more about that later), mentions the wall with disgust, he describes the wall as a terrible waste of taxpayer’s money- it's purpose is to stop turtles from trying to cross the road in the time honored way, where they are certain to be squashed, and provides numerous culverts under the roadway for their safe passage.  Woody put the price tag for about 2 miles of wall at 5 million.  The poor turtles of Texas, where the shoulders are covered with their squashed carcasses, would love a little of this action.

Let's put this in better perspective, spending money for goals that might seem out of place in our current deficit driven economy. Woody works for the State of Florida, and has for almost thirty years, in an office that spends 100 million a year rebuilding Florida's beaches.  I cannot recall all of the different projects that his office manages, but he described one project in detail, the sand replenishment of the St Lucie Inlet beach.  Two offshore dredges are pumping sand about five  miles, picking the sand up well offshore and pumping it through a large pipe, where it is then deposited on the beach, and spread with dozers.  He said the two dredges and the booster pump for the operation are consuming 12-14,000 gallons of fuel per day.

The Florida Beaches are a wonder to behold, I never would have guessed that there is an operation that works behind the scenes, undoing the "damage" nature has wrought when hurricanes and currents wash sand away from those beaches.  The beaches would not look so fabulous if the sand wasn't renewed on occasion.  It is all a matter of perspective. 

I know the turtles love their safety wall.  I know the beaches here look fabulous, so fabulous it is going to be hard to finally turn my bike westward towards Tampa and my flight back to Oregon.  But you spend a dollar here and a dollar there, all for good causes, and before you know it, you are fifteen trillion in the hole.

56 miles

Day 67  (April 11)

Tallahassee FL to Monticello FL

After great morning coffee and an endless "green smoothie", consisting of generous amounts of spinach and blueberries, Woody takes me to the Akulla Springs State Park where we take a boat tour of one of Northern Florida's wonders- fresh water springs. The one we tour spits out 250,000 gallons of crystal clear fresh water each day.  Alligators everywhere, but no manatees.  When the Gulf water cools during the winter, the manatees like to swim up the fresh water rivers and enjoy the constant spring water temperature of 68 degrees, my visit comes after the Gulf has started warming, so the manatees are all back in the Gulf.

This spring, like many of the springs in the area, has a very large vertical shaft that drops deep into the earth, hundreds of feet,  a  draw for experienced cave divers with SCUBA equipment.  Woody dives here frequently.

The mornings boat tour keeps me off the road until mid-afternoon, at which point I pore on the coal to try and try to build some miles before dark.

No campsites at the end of the short riding day, so I stay at the only motel in Monticello. Like many older motels that have been forgotten by the tourists, located on older state highways that no longer carry much traffic- the major traffic now travels the newer interstates, which are often miles away-  this one is owned by "non-Americans".  I am glad it is there, albeit a little tired and dingy, managed by a feeble older man and his son.  I appreciate the roof over my head, but I am also glad I only stay one night.  There must be a university in India that teaches a class "how to buy and run a motel in America", these two, the father and son, just passed with a C-.

55 miles

Day 68  (April 12)

Monticello FL to Ichetucknee Springs FL

The ride is through more Beautiful northern Florida terrain, but there is one new and unwelcome element in the afternoon, smoke from wildfires. The continued drought in Florida has brought larger and more frequent fires in the state, and there are several raging in this area. Breathing is a bit raw during 4 or 5 hours of riding, but then the route swings south, away from the smoke and back into fresh air.  This is the only time I experience the smoke, but it is a reminder that all forests are combustible, even in a wet state like Florida.

At some point during the day, I pass a young guy pulling cart. He has rigged a UPS style hand truck with a wire cage, which keeps all of his worldly possessions contained, but open for viewing, neatly in the cart. He has a belt around his waist, attached to the cart, which keeps the cart tracking behind him, at a convenient angle so that the wheels are clear of his stride.  He walks quickly down the road, his hands free, the cart following right behind him. He plans to walk  across the US without spending a dime.  He is going to beg food or dumpster dive if the generosity of the local population leaves him hungry.....sounds like fun.

Today is my birthday, no cake, but I find an ice cream and a nice, cold can of Fosters beer to celebrate my birthday. I am camped at a quiet family campground that caters to the "tubers" who float the Ichetucknee River during hot weather.  A camper from the cabin side of the campground comes over to offer me dinner from the leftovers of a feast her extended family just finished. 

96 miles

Day 69  (April 13)

Ichetucknee Springs to Hawthorne FL

I take a couple hours in the morning to hike to the famous Blue Hole spring, which is the major fresh water spring that feeds the incredibly clear Ichetucknee River.  There are three springs in close proximity, all spewing forth large volumes of fabulous clear water, forming the headwaters of the river.  The river is famous for kayaking, canoeing, and tubing; the springs are famous for scuba diving- especially cave diving- and swimming.

The campground has free coffee, so I grab a cup and then set off on a moderate, early morning hike to the springs.  There is not a soul around, so I feel like I have the entire park to myself, at least until I get to the Blue Hole. There I find two young people, just sitting by the spring, I come up on them quietly, I didn't even know they were there until I am almost standing next to them.  They have a withdrawn look to them, like I am an unwelcome guest, my guess is that they were planning an early morning swim when I appeared.  They accept my presence finally and I have an interesting chat with the girl, which starts when she learns I am from Oregon,  She has plans to spend the upcoming summer working in Newport OR at the Marine Sciences.  She grew up near the Ichetucknee Springs, so she proceeds to tell me a great deal about the recent problems the springs have been experiencing.  The story is familiar;  local agriculture, too dependent upon chemical solutions, is funneling large quantities of runoff, heavy with fertilizers, into the springs.  She sighs that the springs aren't as dependably clear as they once were.  She hopes to return to FL for her masters, where she wants to participate in studies on the springs, better mapping the problems and solutions.  I suggest everyone get to Florida at some point and visit a few of these marvels.

68 miles

Hawthorne to St Augustine FL

Day 70 ( April 14th)

Big day today.......

I camped at what I would rate as the most depressing place of the entire trip; it is a motel/campground that might have had a brighter future many decades ago, but now it is a pit.  It was packed with migrant workers, either living in older RV's and mobile homes, or staying in what the owner of the park euphemistically called "cabins".  I will refer to them as hellholes.  I couldn't use the bathroom or showers, they looked like giant petri dishes of pestilence. The workers were in town for the blueberry picking, for the most part they seemed like a happy and quiet bunch, but I suspect the owner of the park made more money renting these squalid cabins and mobile homes to the pickers than the pickers kept after paying for their overnight stay.  I will look at blueberries differently in the future.

The final days' ride to St Augustine is a little melancholy, for at the end of the day the ride will be done. But mother nature gives me something to take my mind from that, a headwind.  A cool fifteen mph headwind re-shapes my thinking 180 degrees and quickly, too.  I go from a 9 am attitude that I want the ride to last as long as possible, to a 1 pm attitude that I should push as hard as I can to get into town for some food and a COLD drink.

I stop at a little pub in the historic section of town for a quick black and tan, then down to the south beach to rendezvous with a burrito shop for a killer burrito (Winnie's contribution) and a cold Corona. I have the Bob Gnarley burrito, weighing in at at least 1 1/2 pounds, it definitely fills every empty crevice, and then some.

The State Park is booked ahead for weeks, so I spend the night at the local KOA.  Since I have "made it", I don't complain about the $42/night to camp.

Imagine a cute picture of Geoff at the Atlantic!!

86 miles