| Page 26 Day 107 - Tue 4-30-02 - mileage today 68.2 - climbed today 0 Titusville to Tomoka State Beach 10 miles north of Daytona Beach WELCOME HOPKINS HIGH SCHOOL I just received an email from the skills lab at Hopkins High in Minnesota. They are following us on the website every Tuesday. I hope you enjoy the journey. Today started off like any other day but soon turned to extra miles for Myron. He was two minute behind me at about noon when he realized he forgot his helmet. He had to ride back to the post office where he left it. When he got there he found the post office closed for lunch. 1-1/2 hours later he got his helmet. I'm glad I'm not the only one who does such forgetful stunts. John and I waited a while for Myron to catch up. We knew he was on the way because a State Trouper told us he was on his way. By the time Myron caught up with us a storm was too. There was a sever storm and tornado warning in the county we had just come from. It was moving south and we are moving north, thankfully. We did get a few thunder bumpers and a little rain but no tornado. Myron hates the rain. He keeps reminding us he was born in the desert. The rain on his tent also reminds him of wood cracking in a fire. This only serves to make him hotter, so he says. I have to say it is hot and humid. In your tent it is like a sauna. I don’t blame Myron for feeling the way he does. But, it is all part of the journey.. Day 108 - wed. 5-1-02 - mileage today 48.4 - climbed today 0 from tomoka state park in Ormond by the sea. Daytona Bike Club I left camp earlier than John and Myron. As I exited the campground I was greeted by early morning sun softly shining on a beautiful swamp. You may think a swamp that is beautiful, yes very. It was a small lake surrounded by low grasses and shrubs. The birds were alive in sound and action. The swamp gave way to a hammock of trees, tall green trees that grow together from both sides of the road, creating a canopy. As I was riding thru the beautiful scenery, Virginia came riding up to me. Virginia was on a weekly bike club ride. We rode and talked for a while. Soon others riders followed. We stopped for a short rest and I got to meet many of the Daytona Bike Club Members. It is nice to meet fellow bikers. They invited me to join them for breakfast. Virginia rode on ahead; she is a faster rider than I am. I did have a riding partner Lydia. Lydia slowed her pace just to keep me company. She showed me a short cut to the breakfast stop so I can arrive about the same time as the others. We stopped at Manny’s Restaurant where Sharon (our waitress) did a wonderful job of serving a routy band of bikers. I got to meet more of the riders and share a meal. It was, as my friend Ole would say,” GOOD FUN". I hadn’t seen Myron or John. I figured they were ahead of me at the time. I cycled on and found the two lazy bums sitting on the ground in front of a convenience store. I'm just as lazy so I joined them. We took off but somehow I pulled a head. I didn’t see them for another hour and a half. We stayed together the rest of the day riding only 40 some miles into Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine. We will go into St. Augustine’s tomorrow and have a look around. It is suppose to be an old town or settlement. I'm not sure what distinction. It was founded in 1565. I here that James town says its is the oldest, Pensacola says it is the oldest, I'm not sure who is actually the oldest in America Day 109 - thurs 5-02-02 - mileage today 59.2 - climbed today 0 from Anastaisia State Park in St. Augustine to Little Talbot Island State Park east of Jacksonville ST. AUGUSTINE Florida for Spain in 1513 by Ponce de Leon while searching for the fountain of youth. He found a spring in what is now St. Augustine. It wasn't until 1565 that St Augustine was settled by Pedro Menendez along with 700 soldiers and colonists. It has been continuously occupied since. Thus it is the oldest continuously lived in city in the United States. St. Augustine has been occupied under 3 flags. The Spanish, British and American flags. Englishman Sir Francis Drake burned the village to the ground in 1586. In 1763 Florida was transferred to English control. And in 1783 Florida become part of America. See Article from the Daytona Beach News-Journal Day 110 - Friday 5-3-02 - mileage today 71.1 - climbed today 0 from Little talbot island state park east of Jacksonvelle, Florida to Blythe Island, Georgia CROSSED INTO GEORGIA I'm getting the feeling that I'm in the Deep South…. I am in the Deep South however I didn't get that feeling in Florida. We are getting a lot of southern friendliness. The deeper into Georgia we get the more you notice it. I know there isn’t a magic line over the states but there must be. I can defiantly feel the difference in the people after we crossed the state line. We are getting more people waving at us again. When we stop everybody wants you to stop and say hi to a friend of theirs. We have shop keepers step out of their shops stand in the doorway and say hi, then go back in after we’ve passed. We road by an old house with an even older man sitting on the porch. As we passed by we heard in a big voice,"hellooo bikers". I feel bad that we missed him. We are out of practice. In Florida, you don’t get waves and hellos like we did in Louisiana or Mississippi. Now that we are in Georgia we are getting it again. About 10 miles into Georgia we stopped in Kingsland for lunch at Steffin's restaurant. Wow, what a value and great food. I had hamburger steak with onion gravy and mash potato’s and green beans, bread pudding and coffee all for $5.50. Our waitress Trish was very attentive funny and best of all, she calls me honey. I'm a long time away from home for a long time. We are never in any one place long enough to meet people or go on a date, so it is ice when someone calls me honey. The Okefenokee Swamp to the west of us is on fire. For a while today we had limited visibility with smoke and ash in the air. We stopped for the night near Brunswick, Georgia at Blythe Island county campgrounds. Day 111 - Sat. 5-4-02 - mileage today 72.8 - climbed today 0 Blythe Island to Richmond Hills on Hwy 17 There is a definite difference in the people here in Georgia. People go out of their way to be friendly. We get many waves, not only from passing motorists but also from folks on their porches or just walking by. We are traveling Hwy 17 for the most part. Hwy 17 is a quiet two lane with a nice shoulder. It meanders thru the woods with about a 30 grassy clearing on both sides of the road. It is more like a quiet country road than a Hwy. We did have a little excitement though. We stopped for lunch in Darrian and on our way out of town we saw a man lying down face first in the middle of the road being arrested. I'm not sure what he had done but he shouldn't have done it. It was HOT and he was hand cuffed and hooked to a tazzer thru the cuffs He acted as if he had already been zapped, still he resisting all the same . Darrian was a quaint little town with a lot of colonial and civil war history. I love to look at the old buildings and historical markers. Did I mention that it was H! OT. It has been hovering around 100 degrees for about a week, with the humidity about as high. It takes a lot out of us. With it so hot in the shade Its really hot in the in the sun especially with the heat radiating up off the blacktop. |
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