Day 52 - Palatka, FL to St Augustine, FL

36.2 miles today
2,752.9 total trip miles
12.4 mph average
305’ climbing
FF - 1
MP - Joanne, the love of my life & wife for almost 45 years.  I was really reaching above my status in life when I started dating the smartest, prettiest & interesting girl in high school.  It was the first big risk I had taken in life & since it worked out so well I have been taking risks ever since.  She is my soul mate, she helps me keep my life in balance & I look forward to spending the rest of our lives together.

This was the perfect way to bring the C2C adventure to a close.  Good weather, flat paved bike trails, easy riding, short distance.  I have taken almost 100 pictures of city signs across the country, but this is the one I have been waiting for.

When I arrived at our lunch location, my family had gathered there to greet me & we enjoyed a nice lunch together.  Then at about 1 PM, we all had to bike another 2 miles to gather for a final group picture.

We then biked single file for the last mile to the beach.  Dipping the front wheel in the Atlantic Ocean completed the Coast 2 Coast journey.

Here I am with Bubba getting the C2C medal.

What an adventure it has been.  I will need some time to process the whole experience.  Watch for a future post with some of those reflections.

WDYLT - ILT completing a Coast 2 Coast bike trip is a much more emotional experience than I expected & as Bubba would say “It’s All Good”.

Day 51 - Gainesville, FL to Palatka, FL

He is Risen!  Alleluia!  Happy Easter!

52.8 miles today
2,716.7 total trip miles
13.3 mph average
853’ climbing
FF - 3
MP - All people & groups unnamed as MP’s previous to today.  The sad fact is that I had only 45 riding days to choose a Motivational Partner for.  For that reason I have set aside this day for everyone I couldn’t name.  This includes those I know personally, as well as musicians, writers, teachers & actors.  Every connection has made me the person I am today & I am grateful for the wide variety of influences I have been exposed to.

This adventure is quickly coming to a close & fortunately Bubba knows the group needs to wind down so the last few days are reduced mileage & today we even had 20 miles on a bike trail rather than on a highway with traffic.  Right off the trail outside of Gainesville is a large nature preserve with all kinds of wildlife.  It was a great opportunity to get off the bike & look around.

I found it to be an interesting mixture of animals listed that might be on the trail.  I didn’t see any of the listed animals, but it was a great place to go birding.  This picture shows the swamp with a large Live Oak tree across the way.

My family is already gathered in St Augustine relaxing  & touring the city.  I still have 35 miles to pedal tomorrow & then dip my front wheel in the Atlantic Ocean to complete the Coast 2 Coast journey.

WDYLT - ILT the moss that commonly grows on the Live Oak trees & often hangs low is not really a part of the tree.  It is a totally separate plant that just uses the Live Oak as a host.

Day 50 - Live Oak, FL to Gainesville, FL

80.8 miles today
2,663.9 total trip miles
13.8 mph average
1,729’ climbing
FF - 6
MP - Eric & Tim - two friends from West Bend who sometimes help me with projects around the house.  We enjoy Packer parties yearly & movie nights with pizza every month or so.  They are great fans of  professional wrestling & often show me You Tube videos of everything from airplanes taking off to TV commercials that are funny.  They always seem to be in a good mood & that helps my outlook on life.

I didn’t take many pictures today because Northern Florida looks a lot like Northern Texas with ranches, farms & acres of grazing land.  From the seat of a bicycle, the biggest difference is that Florida is much flatter.  We had our last long mileage day today & I was a little concerned early because my knee was hurting more than normal on the bike.  Usually biking isn’t a problem, but I still walk with a limp.  Then I had a Reuben sandwich for lunch & the knee got much better!  Can’t say for sure that is a cause & effect situation, but that’s what happened.

We are staying in a YMCA gym tonight & I thought you might be interested in what “my space” looks like when we have these accommodations.

I’m usually not one of the first to arrive & all the early people take the wall locations because it gives a little more privacy.  Not much though because there are about 60 people sleeping in the space between riders & staff.  I usually end up between the free throw line & half court.

One of the jokes of the group is what happens in a facility when 60 people come in to take showers within about a 2 hour time window.  It often means not enough hot water & waiting in line, especially for the men because we outnumber the women about 3 to 1.  When I was at the Naval Museum, I took this picture of the shower rules on a ship which I’ve showed around to other riders a little. Everyone says to not show it to Bubba or he will claim we have deluxe accommodations.

My family is starting to gather in St Augustine for my arrival on Monday.  I am looking forward to seeing everyone.

WDYLT - ILT  the storms that came through Florida 3 days ago continue to leave a trail of debris along the shoulders of most roads we are riding.  That must have been a big storm.

Day 49 - Tallahassee, FL to Live Oak, FL

77.1 miles today
2,583.1 total trip miles
13.8 mph average
2,158’ climbing
FF - 7
MP - Deacon Steve Przedpelski - I first got to know Steve as he mentored some of my daughters during high school.  We have since worked & prayed together on a variety of projects including Youth Outreach Trips & with the Franciscan Peacemakers ministry.  He truly models what it means to serve God by serving others.  I always look forward to his phone calls when he says “Jim, I have an idea”.

This is the first time I have started out a blog post with a picture & this T-Shirt says it all.  Bubba had these made up special for us & gave each rider one last night.  It will recall strong memories for each of on this journey.  The only problem is that he had it made a few days too early because this morning we had to delay our departure from Tallahassee because of tornado warnings.  Each coaster was given the option of riding or just getting moved forward in a vehicle.  If you decided to ride, the rule was you couldn’t start until 10 AM when the tornado warnings expired & it was expected that you would still be riding in the rain.  Daughter Laurie & I went to breakfast at a nearby Waffle House about 7 AM since she, her husband Keith and grandson Luka were staying at the same hotel we are at.  There was no tornado, but there was a heavy thunderstorm with strong winds.  I decided to ride because I had rain gear.  The bigger challenge was getting 77 miles in before dark.  Bubba set up rules - if you weren’t at the 2nd SAG stop by 2:30 PM, you had to take a vehicle ride in.  You also had to be at the 3rd SAG stop by 4:30 PM.

  

For me, the times weren’t as big a problem as the road conditions.  The storm had created a lot of branch & leaf debris, especially on the shoulder.  The surface was wet so I worried about it being slippery.  I purposely went slower than normal & didn’t take much time at the SAG stops.  The big Waffle House breakfast helped me not get too hungry.  Rain?  No, didn’t have much at all.  I started out with my rain gear on, but I get really warm in that costume, so after about 30 minutes I took it off. When I reached the last SAG stop, I went into the bathroom, got some water & a candy bar.  As I was eating that, the rain came down heavy.  So I got out the rain gear & put it on for the last 20 miles.  Almost as soon as I got back on the road, the rain stopped.  But by the time I reached  our destination, I was soaking wet from sweat.

Tonight one of our riders sent me some pictures she took when I was riding.  I can’t take a picture like this myself, but I thought you might be interested.

That blue tube you see going to my mouth is how I keep hydrated.  I have a big bottle mounted to the front boom of my bike & any time I want a drink, the blue tube goes in my mouth.  Works great for me, but most riders just use a smaller bottle that they remove from a cage to drink. 

We went through Greenville, FL which is the boyhood home of Ray Charles.  Here is a picture of me with his bronze statue in the local park.

I just realized that every picture today has me in it!  That usually isn't easy to do because I have to have someone else take the pictures.

WDYLT - ILT the weather forecast for the rest of our journey is sunshine and warm!  We all look forward to that, and kind of think we deserve it.

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.

Day 47 - DeFuniak Springs, FL to Marianna, FL

68.5 miles today
2,420.8 total trip miles
13.5 mph average
1,627’ climbing
FF - 7
MP - brother-in-law Rob & family. He got a good engineering education, moved West for a job & found a wife.  Has lived & worked also in the Midwest & now in the East.  Always moving to improve the situation for himself & his family.  Loves God most of all & shares his faith eagerly.  Runs in unbelievably long events (50 miles or more at a time)

We are in Florida & finally the temperatures are rising.  I promised I would not complain about hot weather after our earlier experiences with cold on this trip, and actually I am getting along with it fine.  We spent a lot more time on US 90 today, went through a few towns which increased the amount of car traffic, but the drivers are mostly polite.

I had my closest encounter with wildlife today.  I stopped at a park in a nice little town & these ducks were not really afraid of me

I may have spoken too early yesterday in my post about bike tires because today I had my first flat tire on the road.  I started to fix it on my own, then some other riders stopped and were able to get this picture.

After I worked on it for about 5 minutes our tour mechanic came by & stopped to help.  A small piece of glass worked its way through the tire.  I heard the pop & it started to deflate instantly.  Fortunately I wasn’t going fast & was able to stop with no problem.  When we arrived at camp today, we replaced the whole tire.  I guess 2,400 miles on a bike tire is pretty good service.

WDYLT - ILT on a warm day, it’s really nice to have a chocolate shake after biking for 67 miles.  The whole ride was just over 68 & that last mile was easy after being refreshed. 

Day 46 - Milton, FL to DeFuniak Springs, FL

54.4 miles today
2,352.3 total trip miles
13.1 mph average
974’ climbing
FF - 4
MP - my daughter-in-law Ruth Payne - when I decided it was time to get healthier, she became my teacher, coach, inspiration & cheerleader on how to proceed.  She knew the right balance between not overdoing it & still challenging me.  I probably wouldn’t have envisioned a Coast 2 Coast bike trip without the example she set during her own quest to reach the Ironman World Championships.  Most important of all we have become great friends & I know she is becoming the best hospital chaplain anywhere.

We spent lots of time on US Hwy 90 while we were in Texas & now we are back on that same road in Florida.  Well, it is also named US Hwy 90, but the difference in the road is significant.  In Texas it was mostly a rough chip seal surface with a shoulder no one wanted to bike on because it was even rougher than the road & filled with debris.  In Florida it is smooth asphalt with a nice smooth shoulder.  I guess it’s good we had the bad part first because there might be mutiny if it were the other way around.

Today we had some hills, but nothing steep.  We are away from the gulf so the scenery isn’t as interesting to view.  This gave me some time to think about bike tires.  I have been fortunate to not have had any flat tires so far on the road, but I did have that encounter with some mud so I wondered if there might be a nice combination tire that would have great traction & still be flat resistant.  Just as I was considering this idea, look what I saw.

Think those might work?

I also realized today that I really haven’t talked a lot about the variety of overnight accommodations we have experienced.  There are 3 main varieties - 1. camping in tents, 2. indoor at churches, armories or YMCA’s, 3.  Hotels.  Each has its advantages, with hotels being my favorite, but not every city we stop at has a place where over 60 people can stay.  Bubba also puts some energy into providing some local perspective to different places so we have heard talks from local historians, mayors, an astronaut & tonight we have a concert at the campground we are staying at.

It is basically a guy with a karaoke machine singing.  In fact he is performing  right now as I write this post.  Unfortunately for me his favorite stuff is country which I am not very compatible with.  I appreciate the effort anyway.

The other unique thing about this tour is that lots of extra services are provided that most bike tours don’t do.  Things like having our own chef make breakfast & dinner for us, having a bike mechanic that travels the route every day to help with needed repairs, opportunities to get carried in by car if a rider can’t complete a day of biking for whatever reason (like when I needed medical attention after my bike fall),  a massage therapist that comes in occasionally to help those with  sore muscles & the thing that surprised me most was this:

That’s right, our very own barber!  She is actually one of the “Wolfpack”, a group of about 7 young adults who do most of the heavy lifting.  Putting up tents, carrying bags, restocking soft drinks etc.  She went to school for hair cutting & just needs some experience before she can get licensed .  She is doing this bike trip job to make some extra money.  Did a nice job on my hair!

WDYLT - ILT we have 7 riders who have survived life threatening medical conditions including cancer, heart disease & serious accidents.  Their ability to come back  & bike C2C after those situations is especially inspiring.