Day 48 - Marianna, FL to Tallahassee, FL

85.2 miles today
2,506 total trip miles
12.7 mph average
3,139’ climbing
FF - 8
MP - Chris Delcamp, my personal trainer at the West Bend YMCA.  After I signed up for this cross country adventure, I wanted to be as well prepared physically as I could.  Chris agreed to put together a program to do that.  I still had to ride, but he worked with me weekly to build my upper body & leg strength, my balance, stretching & other exercises to get me ready.  That preparation has been important to my success on this trip.

Today was a long, hard day.  The mileage was one of our longer & there was a lot of climbing.  The worst part though was traffic at the end of the day.  We were on a 2 lane road with no shoulder & because of the mileage it turned out to be rush hour.  Everyone made it safely, but it was kind of nerve wracking.  Road conditions were mostly good all day & before the busy traffic time I saw this

He was 1/2 way across the road & fortunately it was a low traffic road.

The other thing we have seen is a lot of devastation from Hurricane Michael that hit this area hard in October 2018. 

I noticed yesterday that all of the downed trees were facing south, but today they were all facing north.  That probably shows the rotation of the storm. There are also lots of buildings with damage that hasn’t been repaired yet. 

The biggest treat of the day was a visit from my grandson Luka.  He came to Florida for the completion of my ride on April 22nd.  He also brought along his parents, Laurie & Keith.  We had lunch together & they are staying at the same hotel we are at tonight.

WDYLT - ILT out in the middle of nowhere in Northern Florida near Tallahassee there is a 2 lane toll road that is 4 miles long.  I would like to know the story behind that.  The good news is that bicycles can ride it for free & it is a nice road.