We left Bonifay at 6am, since we are now in the Central Time Zone and it gets light earlier. We road about 20 miles and stopped for breakfast at Sally’s in Ponce de Leon. We spoke with a lot of nice people there while watching ducks and cats check out our bikes. One man asked us, “How are getting married and getting drunk the same?” “Because if you do it more than once, you’re a fool!” Then he proceeded to tell us that he’d been a fool 3 times!
Because we’re very close to our Wednesday stop, we decided to break up the mileage and do 2 short days, so we only went about 60 miles today. Besides the very intoxicated young man juggling a beer bottle on the side of the road, there was little to see. We did go through Caryville – “Worm Fiddlin’ Capital of the World” – where there apparently is an annual festival, but we missed it.
For those who asked, our stats include the amount of time we actually bicycled, not including stops, breaks, stretches and meals. The elevation gain is the total amount of feet we climbed during the ride, not how high we are.
Stats:
| Time: |
04:27:25 |
| Distance: |
57.75 mi |
| Elevation Gain: |
1,177 ft |
| Calories: |
2,424 C |
Live Animals – Brahman Bulls, Miniature Horses, Donkeys, Cows, Dogs, Cats and Ducks
Dead Animals – Armadillo (We wondered why we see so many of them. Apparently it is due to their habit of jumping to about fender height when startled. The car wins every time.)
We got started this morning at 6:40am, which wasn’t such a grand idea, since it was very dark. We won’t be doing that again! We stopped in Gretna for a snack and met a very nice Arab man who owned the store. How a Muslim Jordanian ended up selling beer in tiny little Gretna, FL is an interesting story, I’m sure!
We passed a Correctional Facility with workers in the field and cutting grass, along with a sign which read “Armed Supervisors – DO NOT APPROACH – No Photos”. We pedaled a little quicker through there!
Chattahoochee was a small town with a bar named “Hoochee’s” and a salon called “You’re a Hot Mess”. The hills in and out of there were incredible! As we left town and crossed the river, we changed to the Central Time Zone. We took another short break in Grand Ridge, where we met up with Penny and had something to eat.
We continued on Route 90, where the sign for Marianna said “City of Southern Charm”. It was anything but charming! We were spit on, yelled at, honked at and cut off at almost every turn. We were SO glad to get out of there! Not long after that, we crossed Alligator Creek but didn’t see any alligators, although we did see a big turtle. We’ve made great time and are already a bit ahead of schedule. That means a few easier days ahead!
Stats:
| Time: |
06:41:57 |
| Distance: |
87.55 mi |
| Elevation Gain: |
2,032 ft |
| Calories: |
3,686 C |
Live animals: Donkeys, Cows, Horses, Lots of Pit Bulls and other dogs, Snake, Turtle
Dead animals: Armadillo, Opossum, Raccoon, Frogs, Snakes
We left Lake City at 7am and, although it was a bit dark, it was nice to have some cooler weather. We stopped for breakfast in Live Oak (about 25 miles). By 10:30 it was 95 degrees.
However, we soon had an incredible thunder storm, which lasted about an hour. It was great to cool off a bit. Our only mishap was when a truck drove a little too close to the shoulder and knocked Rob off his bike. He was fine, although a bit muddy.
We were prepared for FL to be flat, but it is VERY hilly! We finished in Tallahassee.
Stats:
| Time: |
07:26:52 |
| Distance: |
95.27 mi |
| Elevation Gain: |
3,263 ft |
| Calories: |
3,997 C |
Live animals – Donkey, Large Turtle, vulture, Horses
Dead animals – armadillo, opossum, fox, frogs, deer
We had a GREAT send-off at Jacksonville Beach. Not only were the Iron Pigs there, but Bruce Thomason, the chief of police, rode his bike with us out of town. Then the Jacksonville Police Dept. gave us an escort all the way to the beginning of the Jacksonville-Baldwin Trail!
We met Penny at the end of the trail (40 miles completed) for a quick peanut butter sandwich and we were off again. Drivers were very nice and gave us lots of room. We took US 10 to Lake City and had wide, clean shoulders the whole way. It was 103 degrees when we reached Lake City.
Our stats:
| Time: |
06:03:02 |
| Distance: |
82.58 mi |
| Elevation Gain: |
2,527 ft |
| Calories: |
3,569 C |
Live animals – Donkey, Turkey, Chickens, Cows, Snake
Dead animals – Alligator, Armadillo, Swan, snakes
Apparently CNN had some technical difficulty with the audio of our interview. We think it has been fixed…but the story got bumped today by the lengthy Presidential Press conference and follow-on analysis. With luck the story will run on Saturday 9-11.
We arrived in Atlanta yesterday. What a beautiful city! We have already done an interview with CNN (Suzanne Kelly), which will air tomorrow at 11:00am. We are now off to explore and take a short bike ride. Thanks so much to everyone who has written us notes of support and for your donations to the Memorial Fund. We are SO appreciative!
Rob, being the extra-organized guy that he is, has staged all our bikes, gear, etc. outside the van for loading. Now, we’re just waiting for the local Fox News channel to arrive so they can film it!
Here are a couple of photos of Matt Devost, our Pedaling For Patriots Tech Support person, pedaling through Stowe, Vermont!
