5,000 Miles and One Left Turn

Last day of riding

2011-04-07T17:08:00.000-06:00

Oleta River State Park to Fort Lauderdale

4/7/11

20 Miles

We made good time getting out of our nice little cabin this morning. We were able to dry out clothes and other gear in the air conditioning which helped us pack up quickly. Oleta river is actually really close to our final destination, so we stopped on our way to get some coffee and tie up some loose ends on shipping our bikes and so on. Traffic was very mellow once we got back into Broward county, and we enjoyed our ride along A1A.

We found our way back to Bicycle Evolution, a great little bike shop in Fort Lauderdale. The owner stored our bike boxes and some extra stuff for us, and gave us a great space to unpack our bikes and package up our gear. We will be having him pack our bikes for us, and I will determine how to deal with my damaged frame when we get home. It sounds like the shipping company, Bike Flights, will just send me a new frame, and I will send my old one in to them so they can take a look at it.

Packing up our gear was surprisingly simple. After we squared away our bikes at the shop, we caught the bus just down the road to our hotel for the night.

Overall, a pretty uneventful and enjoyable last day of our trip. We will be hanging out at our hotel and going to bed early tonight as we have to catch a taxi to the airport at 5 am.

Greg

Ride across Miami

2011-04-06T17:02:00.000-06:00

Miami Spring to North Miami (Oleta River State Park)

4/6/11

35 miles

After a long day of riding yesterday, and entering the stressful (for cyclists) urban jungle that is Miami, we were a bit apprehensive for today. We spent a good while on Google maps last night carefully mapping out routes through the city. Amazingly, even though Miami is a large metropolitan area with year-round good weather, there are no organized bike maps, or bicycle travel routes in the city. Save for a few bike paths, and haphazardly placed bike lanes, the city is completely void of bike friendly infrastructure.

The 35 mile long route that we ended up mapping out avoided as many busy roads as possible and veered circuitously around the notorious bad neighborhoods. As the crow (or pigeon or flamingo, or what have you) flies, our destination was only 15 miles from our hotel. So, as you can see, we made considerable effort to make our route today as safe as possible.

We hung out at our hotel for awhile to avoid as much of the morning rush as possible, and then hit the streets around 10 am. Traffic was pretty mild compared to the evening rush yesterday, so far, so good. Our route had about 90 different cues, so we were constantly making turns and searching for the next road. This can actually make the time seem to go by faster as we have to be much more alert to not miss a turn.

After getting away from the airport, we were pleasantly surprised to find that our route was working out very well. The neighborhoods seemed very safe, and small children were even playing at the playgrounds. Well manicured lawns, plentiful shade trees, and expensive cars parked in front of each house gave us a feeling of comfort. Call us elitist, but we have found the well-to-do neighborhoods have safer drivers and less people yelling at us from the house or the lawn than the projects. We were looking to get through Miami without people drawing knives or guns on us, and we succeeded. We eventually connected up to the Metro-path, which is a decent multi-use path in Miami that is completely separated from cars. It was a nice change of pace, but the crossings at the major roads were not set up very well for path users. Miami has some work to do.

Eventually after riding across this large conglomeration of suburbs, towns and cities, we found our way to Biscayne bay and then Oleta River State Park. We had rented a cabin ahead of time, and we are glad we did. The cabin was totally adequate, and for just over $50 gave us a roof over our heads and air conditioning! A bargain down here. We cooked up a decent supper of macaroni and cheese and even had a little ice cream from the nearest corner store.

We will be glad to get completely out of Miami, but sad to see our trip end. Our time down here has really flown by.

Greg

Nice neighborhood roads with full tree canopy coverage. Pretty cool!

We saw the Goodyear Blimp from Oleta River

Boat parking Florida style. Floridians sure do like their watercraft

Nice park to have a snack at

Wild Florida to the Jungle of Miami

2011-04-05T08:31:00.008-06:00

Monument Lake Campground, Big Cypress to Miami Springs, Miami

4/5/2011

65 Miles

Today was quite a day for the team. It started out great with the two of us getting out of camp at a decent time and pointed our bikes east. We even got to enjoy a beautiful sunrise.

We had just one stop to make in Big Cypress before we left for good. Greg and I are earning our second Junior Ranger Badges of the trip at Big Cypress. Right before we reached the visitor center we spotted a large and colorful snake on the side of the road. All I know is that I saw red and black, and that coral snakes also have those colors. Greg got a better look at it and when we got to the visitor center he positively identified the snake as a king snake, not a coral snake. But not to worry, even if it had been a coral snake, one person told us that you “practically have to beg them to bite you.” So we aren't too worried about this docile, but extremely venomous snake. By the way, where we are right now in Florida there are at least six venomous snakes, three species of rattlesnakes (pygmy, eastern diamondback, and one other) water moccasin, coral snake and cottonmouth.

After we got our badges we walked around the visitor center and talked to the rangers. Big Cypress is one amazing place. It is the core habitat of the rare Florida panther (which is a subspecies of mountain lion, felis concolor). The panthers here mostly feed on small mammals and particularly enjoy eating feral pigs. They are basically on the brink of extinction and have suffered greatly from inbreeding because of how few of these animals are left. Habitat destruction in the leading cause of the decline of this species.

The mediocre shoulder continued on today and at some points on bridges, completely disappeared. The most exciting part of the ride before we got to Miami was going through about three miles of construction where there was no shoulder. A big state owned truck followed us as we pedaling around 18 mph the whole distance. We ended up creating a line of traffic, but it was the only way we could get through this section. Thankfully that patient state vehicle followed us. Along our route today we came across many sings simply indicating “Indian Village,” which were areas with several houses and occupied by members of the Miccosukkee or Seminole Tribes (both live here.) We rode into Shark Valley at Everglades only long enough to fill our water bottles. We had just too much riding ahead of us today to stop and see the sights here. Our plan was to ride into Miami so that we could be closer to our cabin booked in North Miami the next day. Winds were in our favor and we flew down the road averaging more than 15 mph.

We reached the first street intersecting the Tamiami Trail around 2:30 and pulled up to the stop sign. We saw huge dark storm clouds gathering and all of a sudden heard a high voltage zap. Greg thinks it sounded like a thousand “screaming chicken” fireworks. We thought it was fireworks at first when we looked above us about 100 yards away and saw huge blue sparks arcing down from the power line. We immediately bee lined it for the gas station ahead and got ourselves inside. The gas station subsequently lost power on and off while the storm passed. Further north this storm brewed tornadoes. We have been missing terrible weather by minutes and miles. Now Key West is getting hammered by storms.

When the storm cleared we kept on going and came upon the most challenging part of our ride. We had to navigate through west Miami and past the airport to get to our hotel. Camping tonight was unfortunately out of the question as there are no campgrounds that could get us as close as we need to be to stay on track. The traffic in Miami was awful and we ended up sticking to sidewalks as much as we could. Sidewalks are no easy place to ride when busy traffic surrounds you from every direction. We had to be at 100% and aware of all directions traffic may come into contact with us. It took a lot on energy mentally and physically but we eventually made it to the hotel around 6:30PM. Many people here are not accustomed to seeing bicycles on the road and that is a recipe for an accident, so we rode with utmost care. I was amazed by our repeated conversations with local people when they were dumbfounded that we rode our bikes through the state where we did and that we have made it safely. One fellow cyclist we met today said, “I wish I could have told you before you left home not to ride your bikes down here.”

We were unbelievably relieved to get to our hotel, get off our bikes, and calm down. Riding through this busy city traffic has been stressful for both of us and we aren't looking forward to riding through more of this tomorrow. Now we will work on planning our route for tomorrow through Miami and ultimately to Oleta River State Park.

Dani

Sunrise at Monument Lake Campground, Big Cypress National Park

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Napping gator at the Big Cypress VC

Gators catching some rays

The Real Florida

2011-04-04T08:26:00.007-06:00

Collier Seminole State Park to Monument Lake, Big Cypress National Park

4/4/2011

This morning we woke up to a humid but lovely hardwood hammock full of life and sounding the arrival of the morning. We heard a variety of bird songs along with insects and the sounds of squirrels and other creatures running through the palmettos and treetops. We ate oatmeal for breakfast and packed up, headed out to Big Cypress National Park and Preserve. We didn't have far to go today so we set a leisurely pace. The Tamiami Trail on this section had a small but adequate shoulder without too much traffic. We followed a canal the whole way and saw an immense number of wading birds and alligators. I even ran over a dead alligator on accident and left a tire mark on his back! Oops! That's a first for me.

We pulled into the Monument Lake Campground in the late afternoon and found a very pleasant tent camping area with shade trees and no other campers. When we were standing at the check in kiosk I looked down the road and saw a large alligator summing himself next to a picnic table. He then proceeded to stand up and walk across that roadway right in front of us. It was really cool (probably how Yellowstone visitors feel when they see a bison walk next to their car for the first time)! I can't get over the thrill of seeing these ancient reptilians, who, as a species, are actually older than Florida itself. What I mean by that is alligators existed when most of Florida was still submerged under a shallow sea. They are masters of survival.

We were the only tent campers staying in the campground that evening and there were only four groups camping there that night. It was such a peaceful campground and definitely one of our favorites so far. Our night was filled with insects. As we ate our tasty burrito dinner, large clumsy junebugs collided with our headlamps. When we turned them off we looked out into the night and saw the lights of the fireflies. Its been so long since I've seen fireflies, it reminded me of being a little kid and catching them in jars to see their flickering, concentrated lights. After dinner I went to the bathroom to wash the dishes and centipedes were gathered around the lights from the building. Above me in the rain gutter it sounded like a raccoon was trapped and trying to tear the whole thing down (never did figure out what that was.) After washing the dishes I watched geckos catching bugs buzzing around the lights. I even caught a baby gecko and found they do have an amazing ability to stick to surfaces, like hands or walls. Then below me on the ground scuttled a huge roach-like insect with very large front legs. This creature was a solid four inches long by 1.5 inches wide. I think he could have eaten the baby gecko I was holding. After the food was all put away and raccoon-proofed we settled into our insect free tent and fell asleep in no time at all.

Dani

Campsite at Monument Lake

Palm hardwood hammock at Collier Seminole State Park

Looking up a palm tree

Smallest post office in use in the United States, it was converted from an irrigation pipe shed

alligator sunning himself at the picnic area

He decided to cross the road

Fort Myers to Seminole Collier State Park

2011-04-03T08:57:00.007-06:00

Fort Myers to Collier Seminole State Park

April 3, 2011

20 miles without touring gear

After not nearly enough sleep last night, we woke to a beautiful sunrise and screeching gulls at the San Carlos Campground in Fort Myers. We dragged ourselves out of the tent and walked around like zombies for awhile until our bodies caught up with us. After stuffing the tent away, we paid for our campsite that we had only been at for five hours, and then found some breakfast. We still had our rental car until this evening, and wanted to use it while we had it. We decided to make a grocery run to as nicer grocery store than we might have found along our route.

Then we made a good decision based on our overall energy level today. We drove our rental car out to Seminole-Collier State Park where we would spend the night and dropped off our gear and set up camp. This allowed us to drop off our rental car at the Naples airport, and ride our bikes back to the campground without the weight of our gear. We took the Tamiami trail (the name comes from the fact that the road connects Tampa and Miami) , also called highway 41, and were surprised to find nice bike paths through Naples until we reached the more rural country with less traffic outside the city.

Our ride back to Seminole-Collier was quite pleasant. The forest here is amazing. The vegetation is extremely thick, and it consists of a variety hardwood trees mixed with wild palm trees and tall slash pines. It looks like the jungle, and I am surprised we don't hear or see monkeys swinging around even though I know they don't exist. This habitat is called the hardwood hammock.

The state park was very peaceful and beautiful. Royal Palms, maybe the most beautiful palm tree, grows wild here. We spotted a raccoon right before sunset and watched as it chased anoles (little lizzards) up trees and then snatched them and ate them. Maybe it wouldn't bother our food if it was filling up on wild fare right? Wrong. We left the campsite for a few minutes, and in that time it pulled bagels out of a shopping bag from under the BOB trailer and ate one of them. So much for having bagels now.

We are excited to get some good sleep at this quiet campground tonight. The air feels like it might actually cool off and allow us to be comfortable in our tent.

Greg

A view of the canopy in the hardwood hammocks of Seminole-Collier

A nice shady campsite at Seminole-Coillier

A monument to Mr. Collier, a wealthy guy who donated the park land

A nice road through the park

Mile Marker 0 = Key West

2011-04-02T11:39:00.000-06:00

Sugarloaf Key to Key West

April 1, 2011

20 miles

We both slept well last night probably due to swimming right before bed, and the two Benadryls we both popped. Our heat rash and bug bites had us trying to scratch our skin off, so we tried anti-histamine and some hydro-cortisone cream. It worked, but only for awhile. I woke up feeling extremely groggy, almost hung over. I don't know if this was because of the Benadryl or not, but I didn't have much motivation.

Luckily getting out of camp was easy, and so was the ride into Key West. We stopped around the half way mark in a little coffee shop called Baby's Coffee to get some cold drinks and some a/c. We had a strong headwind today, but it didn't matter. Having any breeze to relieve the oppressive heat makes riding much more bearable. We ambled along just enjoying ourselves and the short ride. The water down here is just like it looks in the commercials, so emerald and clear.

We rolled into key west after noon and took our time finding our hotel. When we did find it, we were able to check in early, and took the opportunity to take some nice showers and enjoy more a/c. Once we were all cleaned up, we decided we had better take the chance to enjoy Key West. This is a happening little island, obviously tourist driven, but unique none the less. We heard bike theft is a big problem here, and didn't want the burden of worrying about our bikes while trying to explore old town Key West, Mallory Square, and Duval street. The trolleys were pretty expensive, so we decided that for the same price we would rent a moped. Our hotel had a rental operation, so we went for it.

The two of us cruising around on a tiny little moped was a real hoot! It felt totally ridiculous to be riding one after pedaling our bikes the whole way, but it was also a nice break to have a breeze in our faces with no effort on our part. We buzzed around town to see the sights like: the southern most point in the continental US, the marina boardwalk, Duval street (the main downtown street with all of the vendors, little shops, and bars), and Mallory Square where we watched the sunset (a tradition here) during the Fool's Day celebration. It was a great time! There is a lot going on in this little town, and there is a real laid back atmosphere. Mopeds, pedicabs, cruiser bikes, and all the cars sort of share the roads together, and people chat with you while you are cruising down the road.

After the sun set, we buzzed around town more on our little scooter (we named it scoot scoot) and found a nice Chinese restaurant for supper. After supper, we rode around some more, mostly because we were lost, but that didn't really matter. On an island we couldn't be lost for too long. We made our way back to Duval street and decided to have some margaritas at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. The place wasn't bad, and the drinks were good, but the live band playing (it wasn't Jimmy Buffet) was either way too loud, or we are way too old, because we couldn't wait to leave. With our bellies full of liquor slushies we went back out on Duval and checked out some art galleries before we called it a night and headed back to our hotel. Key West is a friendly and fun place, but just like most tourist traps, if you are not careful, money will just start flying out of your bank account. We lived it up without breaking the bank, but just barely. But hey, when will we be in Key West again?

Greg

Key West has wild chickens everywhere

Greg's dream body

Boardwalk with fancy boats and fancy restaurants

Pelican going for some fish scraps

The real one man band. This guy was amazing

Sunset from Mallory square

Our scoot scoot

Stranded like Gilligan, but Our Boat Did Not Wreck.

2011-04-02T08:27:00.001-06:00

Key West to Fort Myers, Florida

April 2, 2011

Way too many miles, and very few of them by bike

We got in late from being out on the town last night. Once we were back in our room, we realized this might be our only chance to do laundry before the second half of our trip. By the time we were finished with laundry it was nearly 2:00 am. It was worth staying out late though, Key West is a fun place. We ate at the continental breakfast at our hotel this morning, which is usually not noteworthy, but this one was. This was the biggest continental breakfast I have ever seen, more like a buffet line than anything else.

We hung out at our hotel as long as possible. Believe me for the price of a hotel room in Key West, we wanted to use every second of time in our air conditioned room before check out time. Once we headed out from the hotel, we had no real plan in mind other than to wander aimlessly around the town and look around. We didn't need to arrive at the ferry station until 5:00 pm. We stopped at a few cafes and coffee shops to stay hydrated, sit in the shade, and eat some snacks.

Once the time came we headed to the ferry station for the Key West Express, the boat that would take us up the West coast of Florida to Fort Myers. I went into the office to get our reserved tickets and to ask how the crew would like us to board our bikes. In a short time, I realized that this outfit is simply not accommodating or friendly. I called ahead before we even left Montana and asked about bringing touring bikes on board, and the ticket sales person assured me there would be an extra charge for bikes, but it wouldn't be a problem to take them on. When I explained our situation in person, the attendant called the captain of the ship over so that he could talk to me. He was a total jerk. They informed me that their policy had recently changed and that they no longer accept bike trailers on the boat. He wouldn't even hear my plea for reconsideration, and that we were willing to pay extra to bring it on board. Then I asked him what my options were at that point, and he told me it wasn't his problem, he already gave me my options. He said I could “leave the trailer behind” after I explained that it contained everything we needed to live. His best guess was to mail it overnight which would have been exorbitantly expensive.

At this point I wasn't sure what to do. I walked to the waiting area and told Dani the bad news. She was very upset by the whole situation, especially that the captain was such a jerk. I went back into the office to talk to the captain one more time (the captain was like a mobster dressed as a sailor, unbuttoned shirt, pot belly, gold chain, and New Jersey-Italian accent with a faced that turned red at any conflict) and asked him about bringing knives, a stove, or our fuel bottle on board. He said that none of those things were allowed on the boat. Unfortunately for us, we need all of those things to live, so I made sure my credit card would not be charged, and told them I didn't want to ride on their damn boat. By the way, none of this information was readily available on their website, so it was all news to us.

There we were, on a Sunday afternoon, stranded on an island in the Florida Keys. It was sort of like a dream, and a curse. We did not want to spend another night on Key West, it is too expensive. We called the Chamber of Commerce, but they were closing soon, we called a few other places, but to no avail. We didn't know what to do. We thought of renting a car, but we called every rental car company phone number we could find, and they were all out of cars. A little defeated, we got on the bikes and rode around until we found some wireless internet. We got on line and I found a car rental company at the Key West airport that had big enough vehicles available to fit our bikes. We jumped back on the bikes and pedaled around the island to the airport. By the time I filled out the paper work and we disassembled the bikes enough to fit in our Ford Edge (they consider this thing a large SUV? Whatever) it was 8:00 pm. A pretty trying afternoon after a laid back morning.

At this point, we had almost six hours of driving in front of us to reach our reserved campsite in Fort Myers. We were both very sleepy, and navigating through the turnpikes and tollways taxed our brains more than it usually would have. After driving across the whole state from East to West (just so we could turn around and ride our bikes back, on a different route albeit, but it seemed odd) we arrived at our campground and set up our tent in time to fall asleep by 3:00 am. What a day.

For anyone else out there who is planning a similar trip on bikes, please stay away from the Key West Express ferry. Their service is terrible, and it ended up that renting a car was actually substantially cheaper. If we would have only known, we could have rented a car earlier in the day, and the experience might have actually been a pleasure.

Greg

This was definitely not our ferry. This cruise ship docked in Key West over night. We were shocked to see it towering over the Key West sky line. This thing was HUGE. It is a Norwegian Cruise Line ship. We couldn't even begin to imagine what it takes just to keep all the lights lit on this ship.

Life on a bike in the Florida Keys

2011-03-31T22:47:00.018-06:00

March 31^st

Bahia Honda State Park to Sugarloaf Key

32 miles (22 on route)

We took our time leaving Bahia Honda this morning. We ate a great filling breakfast, a Greg original creation, pancakes with bits of fruit, topped with peanut butter and honey. We are in for another beautiful, sunny day in Florida. We left the campground at 1 pm, in no real hurry to get to our next spot, which was yet to be determined, but likely around 20 miles down the road. The sun has been hard on our skin and I seem to be breaking out in hives or blisters from the sun and heat. Even when we are completely doused with sunscreen it seems to feel like our skin is on fire.

We rode through a very picturesque part of the keys, crossing many bridges over channels. The water is unbelievably blue and turquoise in color. You can easily see fish swimming below the channels in the waterways. Mangrove dominates the landscape and especially tidal areas. The Keys are not known for sandy beaches and most areas not covered in mangroves are a rocky shoreline composed of ancient coral. Bahia Honda (pronounced Bay-uh Honda) is unique for the fact that it has a sandy beach, one of the few places in the Keys where sea turtles can nest. We visited one of these sandy beaches yesterday, but because the wind was blowing at the beach the water was a little cloudy and Greg didn't like the idea of stepping on a Portuguese man-of-war. The Man-of-war is a conglomeration of organisms live together and end up looking like a jellyfish with a sail. They are extremely poisonous and can cause respiratory issues if stepped on or touched, even after they have dried up and died. I spotted several dead ones on this beach and that was enough for Greg (don't tell him I said it!)

We made it through the hot day by stopping in the shade occasionally and stopping at cafes for cold drinks and rest. We stopped at Mangrove Mama's and had some Arnold Palmers and an appetizer to cool off after lunch. While we were sitting outside at the restaurant, out of nowhere, a big palm frond fell down out of a palm tree and almost hit me on the head if an umbrella hadn't deflected it! I had to laugh because I can say I've never been hit by a falling palm frond before.

Greg and I eventually made it to a nice side street with a great bike path leading to a natural area we had hoped to camp at. Unfortunately there was a sign indicating that this area was closed to the public at night, so we were left with the dilemma of where to camp. Mediocre hotels around here run about $160 a night and the only other option was a KOA Kampground. We paid more to camp here than we usually pay to stay in a hotel, a whopping $60 with tax for a campsite! It was nothing impressive as a campsite and if there had been another camping option we would have taken it. However, aside from yards, all vacant land was either swampy sand or a tangle of mangroves. We did get to swim at the pool at the KOA (yes, a campground with a cafe and a pool, weird we know.) Greg and I ended up practicing our synchronized swimming routine and practiced it in tune with the music playing at the bar. It was a great time, we felt like we were eight years old again. We had a nice ending to a lazy day and settled in for a peaceful sleep.

Dani

Looking out over a channel

Roadside Shade

Dani's wrist with heat rash

Heat rash on my elbow

Cyclist's tan, haha

An anole; we see them everywhere down here

We never saw a key deer, but they are an endangered species and we rode through a refuge where they live

Greg at the Mangrove Mama's Cafe

2011-03-30T13:44:00.008-06:00

Long Key to Bahia Honda, Florida

March 30, 2011

35 miles

Due to a constant breeze off the ocean last night, we were able to get some good sleep. Our gear was actually nice and dry when we woke up, so we decided to pack everything up right away and hit the road without breakfast to beat the midday heat.

In this section, the bike trail separated from the road is in great shape. The path is lined with brush on both sides and allowed us to ease our nerves. Riding so far without the threat from traffic was a good change of pace. About fifteen miles from Long Key, we reach Marathon, the first real developed area we came to this morning. We found an open air restaurant right on the water that advertised breakfast. We made it inside just in time to get our orders in before they stopped taking breakfast orders. Eating under a cabana style roof with the ocean right outside made for an enjoyable breakfast; plus eating breakfast after riding a good distance is my favorite way to get the morning going.

We had to grab some groceries in Marathon, and ended up dilly dallying in the grocery store because the day was hot and air conditioning felt great! After Marathon, we rode over the seven mile bridge, which, as you guessed, is seven miles long. It was a bit unnerving to be suspended above the ocean on a bridge with cars whizzing by for almost a half an hour. Luckily the shoulders were wide enough to make crossing safe. While crossing the bridge, we saw more sea turtles swimming below us. They are so huge and swim so fast for turtles. It is great to see them. We have heard that they are more visible right now because mating season is right around the corner.

After an otherwise uneventful ride, we arrived at Bahia Honda (bahia is pronounced bay-ah) state park. After we set up camp and got our gear organized, we checked out some beaches and then found a nice bay for snorkeling. We ended up spending the rest of the evening in the water. Within a few minutes walk from our campsite, we were able to find a bunch of cool fish and other ocean creatures during or snorkeling. We saw some huge sponges, a black and yellow angel fish, a few different species of trunk fish, and had a school of some yellow striped fish followed us around to eat what we kicked up off the bottom. Snorkeling might be my new favorite thing. As soon as my head is below the surface, I feel like I am in a completely different world, and that world is full of so many cool things I have never seen. Before sunset, we went back to camp and made burritos to eat as the sun went down.

Greg

Slash the iguana at our breakfast spot in Marathon

Old Railroad bridge with sections cut out to allow for larger ships

From seven mile bridge

View from halfway across the seven mile bridge

Sea turtle!

Nice bike path.

Easy ridin' in the Keys

2011-03-29T20:56:00.000-06:00

3/29/11

Key Largo to Long Key

37 miles

The crazy thunderstorm last night cooled down the air enough that we were able to actually sleep in relative comfort. Our cold adapted bodies are balking at the heat and humidity at night and continue producing copious amounts of sweat. This on a foam sleeping pad leads to a generally uncomfortable situation. Once we woke up, we played the waiting game, waiting for our gear to dry out. Down here, however, nothing dries very well because the humidity is so high.

Once we packed up and left, we were running a little behind, but no big deal as the distances we are covering lately are pretty short. The riding in this area has been easy as can be. The overseas highway connects all the Keys (also highway 1), and actually has a nice shoulder. In addition to this, there is a great multi-use trail called the Florida Heritage Trail that is separated from the highway, and runs much of the distance. The biggest hills in this part of Florida are actually the bridges. The winds, though constant, have not been very strong, and are very welcome to help off set the high temperature and humidity.

In addition to the easy riding conditions, the views are fantastic. The islands themselves are covered in dense scrubby vegetation and some trees ranging from mangroves to palms. The ocean is always present, and sea life is more visible here than anywhere I have ever been. We discover at least one new bird species a day that neither of us has seen before. The bays and inlets and full of schools of fish that are visible from the bridges and the highways. While we were riding over a bridge today, Dani pointed out and came to a quick stop. She spotted a sea turtle! It has huge, and then a few other appeared. We ended up seeing a group of four, and we think they were loggerheads.

A while later, we saw a restaurant/bar called Robbie's that is famous for it's tarpon. No not for eating them, for the tarpon at their docks. We stopped in a bought a buck of bait fish and fed the huge tarpon that were swimming right below us. Some of these fish weigh up to 200 pounds! It was incredible to see them so close.

We finished the day at Long Key State Park. We had an amazingly beautiful campsite right on the ocean. After we set up camp we went snorkeling right from our site and had a great time. We saw many different sponges and corals, and a decent number of fish. When we got back to camp, Dani found a Portuguese Man Of war jelly fish, and I think that about does it for me. No more swimming in the ocean! These things are terrible. The town by the state park has no restaurant or grocery store, but they do have a gas station. We ended up buying a supper of gas station food that turned into macaroni and cheese with corned beef hash. Not exactly gourmet, but it worked. Luckily the breeze is strong here, so we might be in for another good night's sleep.

Greg

Greg cooling off his toes

Dani riding on the Heritage Trail

Bike trail

Dani feeding some huge tarpon

This one almost took Greg's arm off

Sea Turtle!

Great campsite and Long Key

Fishing on the Sailor's Choice

2011-03-28T20:06:00.000-06:00

3/28/11

Fishing on the Sailor's Choice

Key Largo

While flipping through some of the tourist guides last night Greg spotted an ad for ocean fishing “1/2 day for $40!” We thought it was too good to be true and had to have some catch, but after calling the company to ask some questions, we thought it sounded legitimate. So it was our plan to fish on the open ocean the next day.

Our day began with a disappointment. We returned to the Cuban Restarant and ordered breakfast. We both ordered heuvos rancheros and what we got was disappointing. It came as a plate with one scrambled egg, a basket of buttered and stale grocery store french bread, a big greasy chorizo sausage, and a premade greasy, square hashbrown. Yuck, we were expecting better after the previous dinner. But don't worry, the day gets much better!

We had a relaxing morning packing up and chatting with other campers and then moved to our new campground a couple of miles down the road. We were at the boat docks by 1PM and we prepared to board our fishing boat for the afternoon, the “Sailor's Choice.” The boat is 65' long and decked out with plenty of fishing rods and a generous deck. It worked out nicely because this boat could hold 49 people, but this trip only consisted of 15 adults and a couple of kids. We had the boat to ourselves, relatively. At first we didn;t know what to expect from the trip as our first mate seemed a little rough around the edges. However, as soon as we got out on the water we were having a great time. Everyone lightened up and talked to each other and the first mate (our guide) was very friendly. Right off the bat he opened a pool to bet on who would catch the largest legal fish and I put in three bucks to bet on Greg. After about a 45 minute ride over crystal clear azure water we slowed down to our first spot for fishing. We fished with simple bait casting rods with a weight on the end. About a foot above the weight was another line about a foot long with a hook on it. We laced the hook with pieces of baitfish or squid and let the line drop until it hit the bottom, then reel up the line about three feet.

The group caught fish pretty regularly. Most of what we caught were grunts and a small red reef fish of the grouper family. I caught one of these little groupers and Greg caught two fish. The first fish Greg caught was a beautiful yellowtail snapper. It was about 15 inches long and the guides told us this was a great size for a yellowtail snapper and that they are a great fish to eat. We were very excited about it and knew we would eat this fish for dinner. The next fish Greg caught was a surgeon fish. Surgeon fish are large and beautiful fish that live in the coral reef. They are dark blue and black and are called surgeon fish for their ability to cut you open with sharp retractable fin projections on their tail before their tail fin. We released this fish. It was absolutely amazing to see all of the different fish that people caught while out on the boat. It was also such a treat to be able to spend so much time out on the water on such a gorgeous day. Fishing was a little slow so our guides tried very hard to have us catch fish, driving the boat to five locations where we fished on or near the reef. We ended up being on the boat from 1:30 to 5:45. We had a day well spent and did something we have never done before. Once we docked our guide asked everyone to pull out their biggest fish and Greg almost won the biggest fish pool, but we were beat out by about 1/2 an inch.

Our guide fileted our snapper and we carried it straight to the nearest restaurant, hoping someone would cook it for us. We were lucky enough to happen upon the Conch House Restaurant, a family owned business that has been featured on the Food Network. It was set in a beautiful old southern style Victorian house. We sat down and handed our waitress the filets, which she took right to the chef and they cooked it in the same style as their special. The special that evening was “Yellowtail Snapper in coconut and macadamia nut with an orange reduction.” It was a perfect fit and our fish was fantastic! It was one of the freshest fish we've ever had and certainly the freshest saltwater fish we've ever had. We were in great spirits and rode back to our campsite ready for a good night's rest.

We changed into our swimsuits and took a little swim at a beach in our campground, which was at the edge of a beautiful mangrove forest with an osprey watching as the sun set. It was a very relaxing way to spend our evening. After working on our blog for awhile after our swim, we heard the wind start to pick up, then a couple of rain drops. Within about 15 minutes it began an out and out torrential downpour. It was raining so hard we didn't want to make the 400 yard run back to our tent from the breezeway where we were sitting. We ended up being stuck at the breezeway until 11PM when there was a lull in the storm. That lull lasted about three minutes, enough time to get back to our tent and hole up for the night. We didn't want to run through the rain because we knew we would get soaked and it seems like nothing dries here because the humidity has been between 80 and 90% day and night. We slept unusually well as the rain poured down around us and provided a but of relief from the heat.

Bird species so far: White ibis, anhinga, double crested cormorant, moorehen, little blue heron, little green heron, white heron, great blue heron, osprey, snowy egret, cattle egret, glossy ibis, purple gallinule, common yellowthroat, palm warbler, gray catbird, tricolored heron, ovenbird, great crested flycatcher, magnificent frigatebird. There are more but these are the interesting ones for me.

Dani

Greg and his surgeon fish

Greg and our guide after releasing the surgeon fish back into the ocean

Dani on the fishing boat "Sailor's Choice"

Us on the boat, beautiful water :)

our dinner at the Conch House, our catch on the plate in front of me

at the Conch House

A Day on the Ocean at John Pennecamp State Park

2011-03-27T20:24:00.000-06:00

March 27, 2011

Fun Day at John Pennecamp State Park, Florida

We have been dragging around snorkeling masks and tubes since we arrived in Florida, so today, we decided to put them to use. John Pennecamp State Park was the first underwater state park, and is well known for its coral reefs. There are numerous companies that guide snorkeling trips out on the reef. We chose the state park concessionaire, and are happy we did, we had a great trip. The boat was nice, and the guides were great. They took us out to the Grecian Rocks and gave us a quick snorkeling lesson. Then we were set free to discover the reef on our own. I have never been snorkeling before, so this whole experience was very new.

After I proved to myself that I could breathe through a tube while underwater, I really started enjoying the experience. We started off the reef in the sea grass and saw some conch crawling around. As we moved closer to the reef, we saw more and more fish. I have no idea what they all were, but I know we saw many barracuda, smooth trunk fish, spanish hog fish, french angel fish, queen angel fish, blue tang, and many others. Toward the end of our time in the water, Dani and I swam right into the middle of a large school of parrot fish. They were huge fish, and at first I was a little reluctant, but then I saw how small their mouths are. The coral itself wasn't really all that colorful at this location, but the number and diversity of fish made up for it. All and all, this was a great first snorkeling experience.

After we finished snorkeling, we still had a good amount of daylight left, so we figured if we are going to play tourist, we mind as well go all out. We rented a two person kayak and paddled through the mangrove canals around the state park. The canals were chock full of all different sorts of fish, and the paddling was nice and easy. We had a great day spending time out on the water. I guess bike trips don't always have to be about riding bikes!

Also, just as a side note, it is really hot down here! I don't want to come off as a whiner to everyone who is up North right now, but after being used to cold all winter, this feels hot! The temperatures have been in the 80's with humidities is the 80-90% range. It is so hot, that when we try to sleep we are still sweating, even without sleeping bags. I can't imagine what summer is like here, and truthfully I don't really want to know.

Greg

We don't have any pictures for today because we took them all on a waterproof instant camera. We will try to put them up when we can.

Key Largo, Montego, Baby Why don't we go to Key Largo...

2011-03-26T19:22:00.000-06:00

Everglades to Key Largo and John Pennecamp Coral Reef State Park

3/26

50 miles

This morning we awoke to a blanket of fog covering the campground. We ate breakfast and put away camp in a timely fashion and left the campground by 9. We didn't get quite enough to eat, or rather, burned up the energy from our oatmeal breakfast and decided to stop at the best of the undesirable fast food spots in Homestead Florida and had breakfast at Denny's. We were not expecting much and we were pleasantly surprised when we got our food. We noticed that everyone is obsessed with bacon and you can see the “bacon pyramid” below as evidence. With more fuel in our bellies, we rode on down the road.

The traffic here is pretty disturbing. Many drivers (at least half) pass way too closely and nearly everyone is driving too fast. Some people are just jerks and pass way too close and way too fast. A note to drivers out there (I'm sure you all are): please pass cyclists in the other lane of traffic, just as you would another car. There is no reason to pass us so closely, especially when no cars are coming in the other direction.

There wasn't much out there for development between Homestead and Key Largo. Most of the scenery was dominated by sawgrass expanses and hardwood hammocks. Today was really hot and the vegetation provided absolutely no shade. Greg and I were feeling the heat, but it seems that Greg is the one who is better at regulating body heat. Oddly enough I barely sweat, apparently even when it is 85 degrees and 100% humidity. I got pretty hot and had to stop and cool down several times today and with a persisting headache, felt like I was on the verge of heat exhaustion. We stopped at the very first gas station on the outskirts of key Largo. We treated ourselves to ice cream and filled our water bottles in the well air-conditioned building. Before long we were on a proper bike path (a great relief) and pulled up to our home for the next two nights; John Pennecamp Coral Reef State Park. We were very excited to get here and do some snorkeling and swimming in the ocean. Our first stop was the visitor center and the concession building. We asked around and discovered that in order to see the coral reef, we would have to take a boat ride about 30 minutes out from shore. Thankfully, we arrived just in time to book a spot on the morning boat trip out to the reef. We are thrilled about snorkeling tomorrow! Before we went out to eat we decided we had to go swimming. We have been riding along the coast most of our trip and we have scarcely even seen the ocean, much less gone swimming. The beach where we took our first dip was on a sheltered cove surrounded by mangrove forest and instead of a sandy beach, (which don't really exist in the Florida Keys) the shore was comprised of ancient coral. The water was warm and very comfortable and we played like little kids.

Then it was time for dinner! We rode up and down the bike path several miles before deciding on an unassuming restaurant right across the street from the park. The Marlin Restaurant had a car wash outside (a canvas tent with a garden hose and pressure washer) and advertised itself as both “seafood” and “Cuban.” We started out by ordering a pitcher of sangria. Greg also ordered a salad (which ended up being huge!) because he wanted to make sure he got enough to eat. When the entrees came, we knew we would leave full, and that maybe we wouldn't be able to finish the meal. That says a lot when it comes to the two of us. The portions were enormous! We both ordered Cuban dishes, in the spirit of trying new cuisine. Greg had pepper chicken and I had Cuban style breaded steak. My piece of steak was about the size of a flattened football. Our side dishes included yucca, fried plantain, and Cuban style rice and beans. The food was fantastic and very flavorful but not spicy. We were absolutely stuffed to the gills when we left the Marlin. A hearty meal and our favorite drink to end a long hot day of riding.

Dani

Everglades Sawgrass prairie during the dry season

Where the elevation gets a little higher, pine trees emerge from the grass.

Straight and flat roads. See how humid it is?

This should be called the cyclists food pyramid

Cuban food!

Grass, Gators, Great Blue Herons and Gas explosions

2011-03-25T20:44:00.027-06:00

March 25, 2011

Florida City to Everglades National Park, Long Pine Key campground

Staying at the International hostel in Florida City last night was a good idea. Yesterday felt extremely hot, and we were sticky with sweat. The hostel had a great outdoor shower that was very relaxing and allowed us to wash off all the sweat and sunscreen. Just as a note: when you are sweating buckets, literally, reapplying sunscreen seems to be more important than in the west where sweat tends to dry pretty instantly.

After an ok nights sleep (US highway 1 next to the hostel is busy and loud) we woke up to a free pancake breakfast at the hostel. Our gear was wet because the dew was so heavy last night, the condensation created a mini rainstorm from the tree canopy. We packed up some of our gear while wet, and headed off to Everglades National Park.

Shortly outside of Florida City, we came across a fruit stand called Robert is Here. We had heard about it from a few locals and decided to stop in. Like all fruit stands, not all of the produce was local, but to our surprise, a good part of it was. We bought some fresh tomatoes and peppers, a mango, the biggest avocado ever, and a grapefruit. We also had a key lime milkshake, which was made right before our eyes with real key limes. It was delicious. We ate it while checking out the animal farm at the fruit stand. I never turn down a milkshake, especially when I am ten degrees further south than my body ever intended me to be.

We were both excited to go to Everglades, not just because we are NPS geeks, but because, the Everglades is really the only place like it on earth, and we might see a gator! The ride into the park is what I will now call typical southern Florida. The traffic wasn't bad, but the drivers are all in a hurry and pass each other with no regard to oncoming traffic. The road is flat as a pancake, but has no shoulders at all. What is up with no shoulders in a place where it would be impossibly easy to have them?

Once in the park, we stopped at the visitor's center and decided what programs we could check out while we were there, and checked out a great movie called River of Life. Come to find out, the Everglades is not a swamp at all. Swamps have stagnated water, but the water in the glades flows like a very slow river. We continued on to the campground, set up camp, then rode to the Royal Palm area to see a ranger talk called gator spy. Sure as peach pie will put a smile on my face, we saw a gator. The talk was great, but the wildlife was even better. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. We couldn't pull ourselves away from looking at all of the birds and gators. This park is truly amazing.

Now, as the sun is going down here at the campground, the air is cooling off, and it feels great. No need for even a jacket. Now I see why people come to Florida during the winter.

Greg

Also, our stove burst into a ball flames tonight and melted the pump. It seems like it will still work, but for a few seconds we thought we might have a bomb on our hands. Good to know that even on an easy day, adventure finds us.

Dani really enjoying the Key Lime Shake

Emu at Robert is Here

Florida Panther crossing

Our First gator!


Baby Gator


Cormerant

Little Blue Heron


Great Blue Heron

Green Heron

Purple Galinule

Look at all of those gators

Young GBH

GBH and an Anhinga staring at each other

Glossy Ibis

GBH eyes

Anhinga that caught a bluegill

Anhiunga's can swim, and do so often. They don't float, so they can dive at will and chase fish under water

Because they dive a lot, you will see them drying off everywhere

Add caption

Gator with a tri-colored heron behind him

Dani riding in the park

Our campsite

Huge avocado!

Miami Beach to Florida City, Our First Taste of Florida

2011-03-24T21:32:00.000-06:00

50 miles

I want to start off by saying that we had an excellent time with our new friend and warmshowers host Blake. Blake is from Washington state and spends his summers commercial salmon fishing in Alaska and working in South Beach Florida in the winters. He had many great stories and shares a love of riding bikes, among many other awesome interests. Last winter Blake rode most of the way from Seattle to San Francisco, so we could relate to many of his experiences touring. He was an amazing host and we had a great time exploring South Beach with him. We ate at an awesome burrito shop (T-Rex) and saw the downtown area together. Many thanks again to Blake.

We left Blake's house right around 8:30 and started out riding into Miami by crossing the Venetian Causeway. It was a beautiful, warm, and sunny morning and we couldn't have asked for better. The riding was challenging because of the many cars and stop and go traffic. It was busy, but it actually felt pretty safe, like the drivers were familiar with bikes and knew how to pass us. It makes a world of difference when drivers give you respect on the road. We were glad to have had an early start because this city riding took longer than expected and it was after 11 before we started to leave Miami traffic. We followed a great bike path for about 15 miles through neighborhoods and the hardwood hammocks of the Miami area. Later in the day we found ourselves out in the boonies, riding alongside stagnant irrigation (or drainage) ditches filled with fish, turtles, and not surprisingly, lots of trash. This area was lined the entire way by palm tree farms. We presume these farms grow a great variety of palm trees for landscaping in the communities of south Florida.

Along the way we saw many birds, even in just the first two days with little time to look for them. The list now includes white ibis, parrots (not sure of species, but they were large green parrots with long tails, and smaller than macaws), common mynah, blue jay, red-bellied woodpecker, eurasian collared dove, mourning dove, possibly a glimpse of an indigo bunting (it was flying so fast!), great blue heron, cattle egret, turkey vulture, brown pelican, cormorant, many gull species, a tern (which I didn't see long enough to ID) and more. Birders, look at the photo below to help me ID this hawk.

We were getting pretty hot and tired and seemed to be too far from a city when we noticed a sign for a grille overlooking a bay at a park. We were dreading that it may be too expensive, but it turned out to be reasonable. We had a delicious lunch overlooking the bay, watching people fishing and birds perching near the water. I had grilled dolphin (no, not the mammal, dolphin is another name for mahi mahi) fish tacos and Greg had a bacon burger. We filled our bottles with ice water, and with renewed spirit, we were on our way.

We also had a hilarious encounter with an iguana on the road today, I spotted this massive iguana on the roadside and had to stop and investigate. After taking some photos, I tried to encourage him to leave the roadside so he would not be hit by a car, but he wouldn't have it. I nudged him with my bike tire, but with no luck, not even so much as a sideways stare. Nothing seemed to work to move this guy out of harm's way. So I grabbed the flagpole off the BOB trailer and nudged him some more. Nothing. Then, all of a sudden, he was off like there was no tomorrow! He lifted himself on all fours and went streaking across the shoulder of the road in the most hilarious run that only a reptile could produce. For the grand finale, we heard a huge SPLASH! As he launched into the canal. We rode away from that laughing hysterically.

As we rode into Florida City we had the intent on riding to Everglades National Park. However, after speaking to the docent at the visitor information center, we decided it was too far and that we had no reason to rush it. Instead we decided on staying in a nice little hostel in Florida City where we could pitch our tent and get a good start in the morning, along with a good night's sleep. Tomorrow we will explore the Everglades.

Danielle

Lincoln Street in South Beach, in the morning when the people out partying have gone home

Miami Skyline

Greg posing on the Venetian Causeway

Hardwood Hammock area park

Our beautiful bike path

Hawk... anyone know it?

Palm Tree Farms

Iguana we encountered

Greg and Blake last night

Miami

Greg blogging at the hostel

night time at the hostel

Fort Lauderdale to Miami Beach

2011-03-23T20:40:00.000-06:00

March 23, 2011

Today Dani and I woke after a much needed restful night's sleep at our hotel in Fort Lauderdale. We ate at the meager free breakfast at the hotel, and decided we needed a bit more. We spied a doughnut shop right down the street and decided to partake.

Once we packed all of our gear and checked out, we hit the street carrying all of our panniers and handlebar bags to find the nearest bus stop. We needed a bus because, over a week ago we had our bikes shipped to a bike shop in Fort Lauderdale. We knew the the address, now we just had to figure out how to get there. Luckily the bus stop wasn't too far away from our hotel, but after months of near isolation living in rural Montana, navigating a huge metropolitan area seemed pretty overwhelming. We found a nice bus driver that took extra time out of his day to help us figure out our route. Taking the bus was a great choice. Fort Lauderdale was much bigger and more sprawling than we had expected, and carrying our bags to the bike shop on foot would have been almost impossible.

After riding two different bus lines we got off at a shopping plaza and found Bicycle Evolution, the bike shop we shipped our bikes too. We went in and met the owner who had already laid the boxes out for us. We had a big job of assembling two bikes and a BOB trailer, so we tore the boxes open. After tearing through some of the packing materials I lifted my handlebars off of the top tube (they have to be removed and placed there for transit) and was a little shocked to find a rather large dent in my frame. I wasn't sure what to do, but luckily the owner of the bike shop, Matt, had a few pointers. I called the shipping company and notified them, and snapped a bunch of pictures. It sounds likely that they will replace the frame because we had the packages insured. Luckily, this bike is made out of pretty durable steel, and I don't think the dent will cause the frame to fail during our tour, but we will just have to keep our fingers crossed.

The dented frame set us back a little, and the heat and humidity of the area was a little shocking to our systems. After a few hours, we had the bikes and trailer fully assembled and ready to go. It was already past lunch time at this point, and we were already sweaty and hungry from putting everything together. Luckily there is a Subway next to the bike shop; we laughed as decided that we had to have gotten the rough stuff out of the way after a blizzard and a damaged frame.

Once we were filled with food and water, we hit the streets of Fort Lauderdale. Our route led us around the airport and then to the south. For some reason, my navigation abilities were absent today, because I swear I got us lost at about every turn. We asked a couple of guys for directions, but they didn't speak English, and we don't really hablamos Espanol very well. I was getting frustrated, probably in large part due to the fact that my body, being acclimated to winter temperatures, was absolutely melting in the Florida heat. Don't get me wrong, it feels great, but I was sweating faster than I could drink water.

After riding in circles and becoming much more acquainted with the Fort Lauderdale airport than I desired, we finally figured out where we were, and where to go. We basically headed south for Miami on US highway 1. At first, traffic was not bad, and the shoulder was decent. The closer we got to Miami beach, the worse the traffic got. At some point, fast food ice cream and french fries was in order, and a welcome break. As we continued on, traffic picked up as rush hour neared. Our shoulder disappeared, save for sections of bike lane 60 feet long followed by nothing, no shoulder or even sidewalk. Riding was starting to become very hectic. We had no choice but to ride in the middle of the right hand lane. If we tried pulling any further to the right, cars would become more brash and try to over take us. If we rode further left toward the center of the right hand land, or even further left, drivers were less likely to pass dangerously, but this caused a huge backlog of angry drivers behind us. If only they realized that we had no other place to ride safely. Sometimes being on a bike in heavy traffic makes me feel like a psychologist. I can sense how drivers will react to our position on the road. If we are to close to the shoulder, they see us as insignificant and something to be overtaken. If we ride far enough out in the road that drivers cannot pass without actually going around (like passing a car) the situation becomes safer for us, unless someone decides to just try and run us over. Well, unfortunately, southern Florida is apparently full of rich people with fancy cars and bloated egos. Some guy swerved toward us for no reason and then kept getting closer to us to try and run us off the road. He passed with less the 18 inches between his car and our bikes. I cam completely unglued. His window was down, and he was gesticulating at me, but I sure gave him an earful. I have never screamed so many expletives at once in my whole life. I screamed for him to pull over, but it is probably a good thing that he didn't. My first reaction would have been to hit him as hard as I could squarely in the face; adrenaline can make you temporarily stupid. But, when you see someone come so close to hurting someone you love, it can literally drive you to insanity, at least momentarily. Apparently our bikes in the road really challenged his lifestyle. See Psychology.

After this run in, we had to take a breather and wait for the adrenaline to boil out of our blood. We were both so freaked out we could hardly even ride on the road anymore. The sidewalks were bad, and illegal for bicycles, but we rode them anyway. We ended up running late, and pulled into South Beach after dark. We are supposed to stay with a Warmshowers host, so hopefully our day ends on a high note.

Greg

This is the dent in the top tube of my frame, not cool

Dani at the very start of our bike ride

White Ibis in the hotel pool

Pray, Montana to Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Beginning of the Florida Adventure, the adventure begins before we leave Montana!

2011-03-22T21:04:00.000-06:00

The past several days Greg and I have been preparing for and anxiously awaiting the start of our trip. We have thoroughly enjoyed our winter in Montana and we are excited for some adventures in what is probably the most opposite place to Montana as you can get. But Montana couldn't just let us go without reminding us what we were leaving behind.

We awoke at 3:45 AM with everything packed and ready to go, we just had to get dressed. We left around 4AM to a little light wet snow with a small amount of snow accumulated on the ground at our house. We assumed it wouldn't be terrible because we had seen some pretty bad snow this winter and this didn't look like much. As soon as we got out to HWY 89 we knew we were in for something. The snow started falling harder and harder. There were about 4 inches of slushy snow on the road with a blinding, blowing snowfall. The snow made our visibility about 100 feet ahead of the truck. Thank goodness no deer ventured out on the road in front of us this morning. Greg drove us in the truck with the vehicle in four wheel drive the entire way. This drive was unnerving for both of us and in order to make it to Bozeman we couldn't go quite as cautiously slow as we normally would have (we ended up driving about 35 the whole way) so we could have a chance to make it to the airport on time. This blizzard came after a week of warm breezy days in the mid forties to fifties. That warm spell left us utterly blindsided when the storm hit.

We had little hope for the conditions improving as we neared Livingston. We had made an appointment for a taxi at 5:15AM at a friend's house in Bozeman so that we didn't have to pay to park at the airport the whole trip. We weren't far west of Livingston and the time was approaching 5AM so we decided to call and cancel our taxi as we would have no time to drive to the pick up spot and then to the airport. I have to give props to Greater Valley Taxi for their laid back attitude. They didn't charge us for canceling and even gave us a road update from Belgrade. We were shocked to hear that there was NO snow on the road at the airport. Aside from the fact that we might be late we had wondered if any planes would even be taking off today. We couldn't believe there was no snow there when it looked so bad where we were. We laughed at the fact that the worst weather we have driven in all winter had to be the morning we actually had to get somewhere. Greg drove carefully and got us to the airport with a little bit of time to spare. Check in was easy and going through security was the easiest I've been through in the last three years. Thank goodness. Once we sat down at the gate we were able to breathe a little bit.

The rest of the day we spent in transit of (thankfully) uneventful flights. From Bozeman to Denver, Denver to Chicago and finally Chicago to Fort Lauderdale. We were relieved and excited to be here at last. After almost 13 hours of traveling we stepped out of the airport doors and were greeted by warm, thick, humid Florida air, palm trees and sunshine.

We quickly got to our shuttle van to our hotel and sat quietly the ride back, just taking in all of the sights, smells and sounds of this new place. One thing we immediately noticed was the erratic and fast behavior of the drivers here; i.e. someone passed us using an exit ramp driving 70. We will have to ride alert and very defensibly in this state. We got checked in and realized we were very hungry from traveling all day and we needed to eat soon, or we would just get grumpy! As luck would have it we had a pleasant walk down the street and picked up a hearty dinner at a Chinese take-out place “Chen's Garden.” It was excellent. I think Chinese food is pretty awesome comfort food and now we are full and happy.

Dani

This is the huge full moon as it rose on Saturday

terrible photo of our bad roads this morning

A Tour of a Different Kind

2011-03-17T22:24:00.003-06:00

It has been over a year since our last blog entry, but not by much! A year and eight days ago, we finished our 5,000 mile tour in Washington DC. Quite a bit has happened since then. Dani and I both spent the summer working in Yellowstone National Park, she as a park ranger, me as a wildland firefighter. We had a great summer backpacking, fishing, camping, hiking and floating rivers in and around the park. One thing we didn't do much of was ride our bikes! After our trip I (Greg) eagerly stripped my Bianchi Volpe down to a bare frame. It wasn't that I disliked the bike, it actually served admirably, it was just way too small. I haven't purchased a new touring bike yet, and have solely been relying on my Surly Karate Monkey (yes that is the name of a bicycle).

This Fall and Winter, Dani and I have been living in Paradise Valley just North of Yellowstone. This valley is beautiful, surrounded by mountains on all sides with the Yellowstone river cutting down the middle. It has been a nice relaxing winter. I didn't work this winter, but Dani was able to find a great job with Yellowstone Association Institute as a winter instructor. She lead groups on trips into the interior of the park, sometimes to Old Faithful, talking about natural history, looking for wolves and geysers, and leading snowshoe hikes and cross country skis. Not too bad!

About two months ago, we started getting the itch to travel and started looking for different destinations as our area is still a little to frozen and snow capped for the winter reprieve we were looking for. We discussed going to Hawaii and decided it would be great, but too expensive right now. We considered riding in Southern Utah, but many of the roads we wanted to ride are above 8,000 feet, and could be snow covered in late March. We couldn't decide on anything. One day I was checking out cheap airfare and found cheap tickets to Florida. I called Dani at work, and we booked the tickets the next day!

Our spontaneous decision was made without any real idea of what we would do in Florida, we just knew it would be warm, and place we have never been. Within a short time, Adventure Cycling Association released the February edition of their magazine Adventure Cyclist. To our surprise, this issue featured a trip in Southern Florida! We decided we would use the story as a basis for our trip, and then add in our own sightseeing and schedule.

So, now that I am all caught up, we have boxed our bikes up and BOB trailer up and shipped them to a Fort Lauderdale bike shop. (I will have to detail how that went in another post) We fly out of Bozeman on March 22. Until then we will be getting our things packed up and ready to go. This is already a long boring post, but we will try to continue this blog, and use it as a journal for all of our bicycle travel. Keep checking back when we are on our trip if you'd like!

Greg

Figured I should put up some nice photos from this winter:

This is the view from our back window

Golden eagle on a deer carcass right by the road

Castle geyser in Upper Geyser Basin while it was almost -30 degrees

Elk outside of Yellowstone

Made it to Washington D.C.

2010-03-09T11:30:00.005-07:00

The train station in Jacksonville. Getting ready to box up the BOB.

Dani made some origami out of Taco Bell wrappers while we waited for the train.

Paul gives us some navigation pointers as we leave Union Station

Leaving Union Station

There is the capitol. DC has so many landmarks it is easy to navigate. Just look for that round topped building on the hill, then look for that tall pointy tower that looks like a huge stack of white bricks (Washington Monument).

Dani in front of the Lincoln Memorial

Out of order picture. This is how we hauled the BOB boxes to the train station. The BOB trailer turns any bike into an SUV.

Greg on the hill. Look at me congress people! I know how to ride a bike and I vote. Shazam!

Here is the tall pointy thing I was talking about.

After a 16 hour train ride, we arrived in Washington this morning at around 7:30. We hardly slept at all last night. The Silver Meteor train was very warm, and after being outside at about 40 degrees for so long, it was almost impossible to sleep at the 80 degrees they were keeping the train at. Also, the ride on this route was much rougher, the train bucked and shimmied and wallowed, jerking us awake every time we fell asleep. It seems like the Empire Builder is a much smoother train. Maybe it is just because the tracks out here on the East Coast get beat up much more from all of the freight? Who knows.

Anyway, one sleepless night won't kills us. We are glad to be here. Paul and Diane, Dani's parents, met us at Union Station just in time for us to get all of our baggage. They helped us get our bikes back together and provided some needed food and coffee. Dani and I were determined to ride our bikes from Union station back to Paul and Diane's house in Arlington, so after giving us some very useful biking maps and showing us the way out of the train station, we said goodbye until tonight and rode off into Washington.

Believe it or not, riding in Washington was really fun, and very easy. Everything is set up well for walkers, and this translates into big sidewalks with nice crossings at every intersection. We rode past the capitol building and then paralleled the mall until the Lincoln Memorial. At that point we crossed the Arlington Memorial bridge and found a convoluted intersection to get on the Mt. Vernon trail. Once we were on the trail, we followed it to the Custis trail and that brought us right down into Arlington. We only had to ride about a mile on roads for the whole trip. Who would have guessed that the capitol is so nice for riding?

I am going to link a few videos from the past week that we did not have time upload until now. The biking portion of our trip is officially over, but we will continue blogging from time to time as we figure out some statistics and review all of the material we have from the whole trip.

Greg

The Last day on the Bikes

2010-03-07T08:18:00.000-07:00

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Crossing a bridge into downtown Jacksonville

Breakfast at IHOP, writing postcards

The lighthouse in St. Augustine on Anastasia Island

Our last camp site

St. Augustine to Jacksonville
3/7/10
Day 123
53 miles

Total Miles at End of Trip 5,038

Today was our last day of riding. The actual riding was uneventful. We rode along highway 1 which was very straight with no hills at all. It was pretty boring from a scenery or riding standpoint, but we made it to Jacksonville.

When we made it into Jacksonville, we thought we must be close to our hotel, but we were wrong. Jacksonville suffers from the common large American city plague of sprawl. This place is huge and it took us forever to get to the other side of the city. We even found ourselves in a ghetto. A lady in a car asked us what we were doing riding through the area. It was on our bike map, so we didn't know any better. Despite all of that, we made it to our hotel just fine and unloaded all of our gear and relaxed. Our last day of riding brought us to 5,038 miles. Considering I had guessed at the beginning that our trip would total 5,000 miles, I was pretty happy with my guess.

We are going to be packing our gear up for the train tomorrow. The train leaves for DC at 5:30 pm and we are scheduled to arrive in DC at around 8:00 am. We bought bread, brie, and wine for our train trip. It will be a nice little celebration and a chance for reflection.

In the mean time, stay tuned to the blog as we will continue to post some interesting stats, reflections, and other info in the coming days. Thank you all out there in blog world for sticking with us!

Greg

A Photo Journal of Our Day in St. Augustine

2010-03-06T07:28:00.000-07:00

Bird in our campground

Flagler college in St. Augustine

British soldier talks to bike cop

Yeah just look at this

Hangin' with the hogs during Daytona bike week

Yeah we can park all fancy along the street too.

Nice buildings in St. Augustine

You think you have an Iron Butt? Try no suspension and a hard leather saddle, not to mention we power ours.

The British stormed the city while we were there, but we survived

Doesn't this look like it could be Europe?

The marina is right in town

Ponce de Leon

St. Augustine tourist day
3/6/10
Day 122
14 miles

Today we decided to take a break from writing as much and just use photos to tell the story of our day in St. Augustine.

We've made it to St. Augustine!

2010-03-05T12:06:00.003-07:00

Hello Friends!
We just wanted to let everyone know we have safely made it to St.Augustine Florida as of yesterday afternoon! It also happened to be my (Dani) 23rd birthday. What a celebration! We even have some great photos of us with our bike in the Atlantic Ocean. We will post a more thorough blog of the last several days this evening but as for now we want to take the opportunity of lovely weather to explore the oldest city in America instead of crouching over our netbook for several hours. Please check back for our formal and complete blog entry tonight or tomorrow.

Dani and Greg

Its up! see below

First day in the city. Castillo de San Marcos

2010-03-05T06:58:00.006-07:00

Get ready for it! Here is the before picture...

And After! Greg's first haircut since September

Our bikes in downtown St. Augustine

Photo of our last map section for the whole trip

Castillo de San Marcos, here you can see the mote surrounding the fort

Brown Pelican

Greg: "Show me your happy face!"

Coquina walls

City of St. Augustine Coat of Arms

Window looking out from the soldiers' quarters

An undecipherable scratching on the walls of the soldiers' quarters

close up of coquina shell-stone construction

the walls were literally made of shells

Inside the Castillo de San Marcos courtyard

A ranger and Spanish soldier exchange words

A view across the courtyard

The dungeon!

The original city gate to St. Augustine

St. Augustine Florida, Rest and Enjoy

3/5/10

Day 121

12 miles

We took our time waking up this morning and ate snacks while we packed our camp. It was a strange feeling not to have an objective to ride to today. Our only goal is to go into St. Augustine and look around. We also may look for a barber for Greg. It is over three miles from our campground to St. Augustine, so we decided to get some lunch while on Anastasia Island. We stopped at the Gypsy Cab Company restaurant and had a nice meal of baked ziti bolognese and black bean and sweet potato burrito. It was a classy little place with a unique style and good vibes. Afterwords we made our way back into St. Augustine to see the city during the day. Our first stop was at the visitor information center across the street from the Castillo de San Marcos.

We decided that after picking up some wireless to work on blogs we would spend the rest of the day visiting Castillo de San Marcos, an old Spanish fort built to protect the city of St. Augustine when it was just a small colonial village. Construction of the fort was completed in 1695 and has been a stronghold for many different countries, notably Spain and England. The British took control in 1763 in exchange with Spain for La Habana, Cuba. The fort is built of coquina, a hard shell conglomerate rock. This fort is a hallow square with a bastion on each of the four corners. The shape of this fort allows for every angle around to fort to be fired upon by multiple cannons. Greg and I were lucky enough to see a cannon firing demonstration. We were amazed to learn that some of these cannons had a range of three miles! Amazingly, this fort was never once breached in its 315 years. Confederate soldiers even used this fort during the Civil War.

We had a great time touring the site and watched as the shadows grew long over this ancient fort. It was not hard to imagine this city in its infancy during colonialism. I am at a loss as to why we learn about the pilgrims and Jamestown as our country's oldest settlement, when St. Augustine predates these settlements by about 50 years, and is thus the oldest European-colonized city in America.

After our visit to the fort we rode to a barbershop to get Greg's haircut. This is a pretty monumental occasion and Greg has not had a haircut since September and his beard has grown quite large. We ended up at “Seems like Old Time” Barbershop and a nice barber did the honors of trimming up my handsome gentleman. We were impressed by how much hair had accumulated on the floor under Greg. He thought it felt pretty good to get the trim and I think he looks very nice with the new cut.

We rode our bikes back to Anastasia Island looking for a grocery store. We ended up eating dinner on the Island at a little place called Pizza Garden and Pastabilities. We had a delicious deep-dish veggie pizza for dinner. We then rode back in the dark to our campground and slept well after such a fun and interesting day.

Dani

We reach the Atlantic Ocean!!! And Dani celebrates her Birthday!

2010-03-04T12:26:00.000-07:00

This is Dani's invention, a raccoon proof food storage device.

We're getting close!

Historic buildings in St. Augustine

Downtown St. Augustine, our first view. I took this from my bike!

Dani at the parking lot at the beach

A wood stork, we thought it was pretty cool. Apparently they are kind of like crows to people down here, you know, scavengers.

We've reached the Atlantic Ocean!!!

Aww...I think this one is a winner.

Greg's bike in the Atlantic Ocean, too bad his helmet is obscuring Chompy the Alligator from view.

The beach at Anastasia Sate Park

Peanut Butter Pies and Sangria, its a celebration!

East Palatka to St. Augustine Florida

3/4/10

Day 120

48 miles

4,958 miles so far

Today is the day! We are going to be reaching to Atlantic Ocean today and the grand finale of our bike trip. We got up this morning in good spirits, excited for this monumental occasion. I can't tell you how many times I have thought about the day we will reach the Atlantic Ocean when we were going through trying times along our route. We have long waited for this day. At the same time, we feel very much in disbelief that our adventure has come to an end, after all this time we have been riding.

We got up and ate our Meusli for breakfast and headed down the road on this perfect, sunny real Florida day. It is not Florida cold today! We took a shortcut from our campground to meet back up with the route. I was surprised to start to see agriculture again along these roads. The soil here is glorified sand and we watched as workers harvested cabbages from the fields. They walked alongside large tractors, lobbing cabbage heads into the large bin pulled behind the tractor. We also saw many tomato farms with empty fields. It must be too early to plant tomatoes in Florida. We stopped at a roadside produce stand that disappointed us just as the last one we had seen in California did. There were several local items at this stand, cabbage heads, honey and maybe some of the citrus. The rest of the produce was all of the same conventional food you would find at a grocery store except for the quality of these was much less and they seemed to be on their way out. Needless to say, we didn't buy anything.

We turned north and rode in that direction for about ten miles, the whole time fighting a headwind. Normally this would have bugged me, but I realized that no matter what the weather threw at us, we would reach the Ocean today. So we pushed on through the headwind and stopped for lunch at a small feed/convenience store at Molasses Junction. This junction is where the route turns and the strong headwind becomes a fine tailwind. We ate some herring filets with green chiles on Triscuits and trail mix. We even made friends with a kitty who licked out our spent herring tin. It wasn't long after that we rolled into St. Augustine and I began to feel very excited that we were in the last city on our route. We made it! First we saw the city limit sign, and shortly after we began to see all of the old buildings and Spanish architecture that St. Augustine is so famous for. The buildings are tall and resemble mission-style buildings. They are mostly painted white with rusty orange or red trim. Most of the very oldest (and even some of the new) buildings in St. Augustine are made of coquina. Coquina is a type of rock made up of shell particles and pieces that have been compressed over time to form a very hard substance. This was a particularly advantageous material in the building of forts because it was known to absorb the shock of cannonballs instead of cracking or breaking under pressure. We didn't stop in town today because we have a mission. We rode straight through St. Augustine and over the bridge of Lions to Anastasia Island, where we will be camping and where we can get to the Atlantic Ocean.

We found Anastasia State Park and rode to the beach. We could hear the waves crashing but could not yet see the ocean and we were giddy. We dismounted our bikes and began to roll and push them about 300 yards down the soft sandy beach to where the surf meets the sand. What an exciting moment this is! I relished the feeling of the waves over my feet and watched the waves lap at our tires. What a peaceful moment. The Atlantic seems a lot more gentle than the Pacific, which we have come to know well. After our initial moments enjoying the feeling of joy and accomplishment, we asked some nice beachcombers to take some pictures for us. Having this moment captured in a photograph is priceless to us. I think it is especially important because at the time, being there at the ocean having just completed the longest, and first bike tour you have ever done, it is difficult to believe that you are really there. Maybe this picture will capture our feelings.

After the ceremonial tradition of touching our wheels to the ocean, we went back up the beach and straight to the foot showers. We rinsed our bikes off completely to get rid of the corrosive salt water and sand. After that we went to the campsite and set up our tent, still pondering the fact that we made it at last. Not only have we made it to the Atlantic Ocean, but we have finished this bike tour on my 23^rd birthday! What an unforgettable gift for me. I will never forget this birthday and it is probably one of the most unique ones I will have. The combination of these events calls for a great celebration. We decided on a little Mexican Cafe in St. Augustine called “Madre's.” We went all out for the night (relative to our normal dinners). We ordered jalapeno poppers for an appetizer. They were the best poppers I've ever had and they weren't out of a box. They were very large jalapenos filled with cheese and battered and lightly fried. They came with a chipotle sauce and a tasty raspberry sauce. Next we ordered a pitcher of Sangria to share. Mmm...what a nice treat for us! We have probably had about three drinks each on our entire trip, so we really enjoyed the Sangria. Next, we ordered burritos, Greg having a blackened fish burritos and Dani having a veggie burrito with sprouts and avocado. For dessert we each got a delicious piece of peanut butter pie. Peanut butter pie is a tasty, rich peanutbuttery concoction with a quality similar to cheesecake, covered on top by a layer of chocolate and drizzled with white and dark chocolate. We thoroughly enjoyed our celebration dinner and walked our bikes most of the four miles back to the campground.

We wasted no time in getting into our tent and falling asleep. What a great ending to such a long-awaited day.

Dani

It is really hard to imagine that today actually happened. I can still vividly remember our train ride to Portland, and our first day of riding. I can remember so many of the places we have been along the way, and in some ways it does not seem very long ago. Then, in another way, certain things seem forever ago. I can remember our first day in Texas when we rode to El Paso. That seems so long ago... and it was.

The truth is, our trip encompassed 120 days. That is really not a huge amount of time in the grand scheme of life, but this trip was really living. Life can so easily become routine, but this trip was not. Sure there were many things we did over each day like set up camp, or take down camp. And yes, we rode our bikes everyday, but it did not feel routine. Everyday we saw something new. Everyday was its own adventure, yet it was part of a bigger adventure.

This trip was a first for us both. It was the first time where we dreamed something up that was truly different from the norm, different from what anyone would ever expect us to do, and instead of shying away from it, we ran with it. It has proved to us that there is no one path that any life should follow. There is no set of expectations that we all have to meet. I am not advocating a life without work or jobs or responsibilities, quite the contrary. A true adventure (and I feel ours is) requires all of these things and more. In 120 days we have seen and done more than many people on this Earth will do or see in a lifetime.

When we arrived here in St. Augustine, and we rolled our bikes out to reach the Atlantic Ocean, I thought of everything that it took for us to get here. Was it worth it? Yes, I would do it all over again right now. For a boy that grew up in Midwest and having never spent much time traveling, this trip has really opened my eyes. The world is not nearly as big as I once thought it was. I have ridden my bike from one great ocean to another. I have seen deserts and rainforests. I have seen the biggest trees on Earth. I have been from 100 feet below sea level to over 8,000 feet. I crossed our own Continental Divide. I pedaled along the Columbia river, over the Colorado, and I took a ferry across the Mississippi. I have seen the most productive agricultural valley in the United States. I could go on forever.

As we looked out across the ocean and the waves rolled onto the beach to meet our wheels I realized that life is supposed to be an adventure. This trip, more than anything, has cemented that thought in my brain. We only get to live life once. Why not make it an adventure? That being said, I am so glad we made it to St. Augustine safely. Now we can look back on our trip and remember the things that were most important to us. We can also move toward our next adventure.

Greg

Gainesville to East Palatka, FL

2010-03-03T12:20:00.000-07:00

Supper snack time. Triscuits, Apple, and Brie. Not too shabby, eh?

Angel's Diner. The oldest Diner in Florida and it is in an old train car!

Why do you need to indoor tan when you live in Florida? Don't you just go outside?

This might be Dani's new favorite band name.

Scenic cruising on the Gainesville-Hawthorne trail.

Gainesville to East Palatka Florida
3/3/10
Day 119
63 miles

Unfortunately I am still feeling sick today, coughing and generally feeling under the weather. I can still ride fine, but I don't feel quite as energetic as usual. After we left our hotel this morning, we stopped at a Walgreens to buy some cough drops. I depleted our whole supply from our first aid kit and I still needed some more. The weather looked gloomy as we rode away from Gainesville with generally overcast skies and cooler temperatures.

When we left Gainesville, our route took us on a nice rails-to-trails path called the Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail for more than 15 miles. It was a very nice change from riding on the road. We forget how nice riding without cars can be. Everything is so much quieter, and we are free from the dangers that car present. We were able to leisurely ride side by side and chat. It was a nice break. By the time we reached Hawthorne at the end of the path, the sun had come out and the weather was looking nicer.

After Hawthorne, we debated taking a shorter, more direct route to Palatka via highway 20, but the highway was four lanes with busy truck traffic. The actual route follows smaller roads but meanders much further to the North and then back to the South. We decided to follow the actual route, because riding with heavy truck traffic just did not sound like much fun at this point. Between Hawthorne and Palatka, the route goes through four small communities; Melrose, Putnam Hall, Grandin, and Florahome. We figured one of these towns would have a nice little diner where we could stop for lunch, but as we rode through them, we never found one. We did stop at a Subway, but as we walked inside, we realized that we were so tired of eating stamped out food like this. We turned around and walked right back out. We munched on some trail mix instead and figured we could make due until we found something better.

The roads in this area were very nice to ride. The terrain is pretty flat, but not boring. The roads were narrow, but there was so little traffic that it didn't seem to matter. This region of Florida has many small lakes and quite a few swamps. The vegetation was made up of either very dense forest and understory, or farm land.

When we reached Palatka, we recognized a diner that some cyclists told us about a few days ago. They told us we had to stop, so we decided we would give it a try. The diner is called Angel's Diner, and it is actually housed in an old train car, and it is the oldest diner in Florida. The train car limits the space inside, but it makes the place have the atmosphere of a small diner you might find in a big city. There wasn't really anything on the menu but meat, so we went along with it and both order the cheese burger plates. They came with a small helping of fries and two huge onion rings. Overall the food was pretty good, especially for the price.

After eating, we stopped at a grocery store to get some breakfast and then crossed a big bridge over the St. Johns river to East Palatka. We rode a few easy miles off route to get to the St. Johns Campground. I was ready to be done for the day, so after we set up camp, it didn't take long for me to find my way into my sleeping bag and fall asleep.

Greg

High Springs to G'Ville, FL

2010-03-02T21:05:00.003-07:00

Chickens ranging free in the middle of Gainesville

Ominous clouds during our ride to Gainesville

That's Dave in the middle and Jeff on the right

Dave's bike is cool because it is lugged steel, and instead of a derailer system, he has a Rolhoff internal geared hub.

You don't often see this. This is the blue protective layer under the normal tread on a Schwalbe Marathon XR. What this means, is that this tire has seen an enormous amount of miles. Also, if you look closely, you can see a spanner rigged on the bottom of the rack that has served to prevent the pannier from bouncing into the spokes. This was rigged after the rack was bent.

High Springs to Gainesville, FL

3/2/10

Day 118

30 Miles

Unfortunately, I (Greg) have definitely come down with a bit of a cold. Last night I slept restlessly due to a sore throat and sinus congestion. Hopefully I will get over the cold quickly and Dani will be spared. Adding to the restless sleep was a big thunderstorm during the middle of the night. There was quite a bit of thunder, but the rain came down like crazy for quite some time. We are so happy that we had a nice dry place to stay inside.

When we woke up this morning, the sky was actually clearing up and the sun was starting to come out. We were surprised, because the forecast called for rain all day. We checked the weather, and found that there was a five hour window without much chance of rain at all. We decided we had better take this opportunity to make our way on to the next place.

Before we left, we talked more with Jeff and Dave, and even snapped some photos of them with their bikes. These guys were so much fun to talk to. They have so many stories from so many different places, they could have kept us entertained all day long. Jeff showed us the weld on his bike where the tube cracked almost all of the way around. Amazingly, the weld has held and the bike is still working. Both Jeff and Dave told us about all of the tires and rims they have gone through on their trips. The sheer number of miles they have both ridden is almost incomprehensible. We couldn't believe it. They have done things that we have only read about. Getting to meet these two was pretty special. We are glad we caught up to them on our trip.

Our ride to Gainesville, the next town, was pretty easy and without much of anything noteworthy. The weather mostly held off, but we did have a few rain showers that only lasted for a minute or two. At one point, we had a huge gale of a wind come up on our side. Luckily we turned and had a huge tail wind that pushed us right into Gainesville. We stopped for some lunch and groceries at a nice store on the outskirts of town. We then rode downtown on roads that had pretty nice bike lanes or shoulders. We navigated to the Gainesville hostel and checked it out from the outside, but we called a nearby hotel to compare prices. We ended up settling on the hotel as it was hardly more expensive and seemed to be kept up a bit better.

We relaxed, took showers, watched some TV, and then found a close place to eat supper. We decided on a Jamaican restaurant called the Reggae Shack Cafe. Turns out, the food here is absolutely amazing. Dani had curried palm hearts with rice, cabbage and fried plantains. I had Spicy Tempeh with rice and fried plantains. It definitely deserved the name spicy. It was the spiciest meal I have had on this whole trip, but it also had incredible flavor. For dessert we had some rum spiced pound cake. It was an amazing meal. If you ever get the chance to eat Jamaican, you should.

Greg

High Springs and Great Folks

2010-03-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

Greg cruises a quiet country road

Ichetucknee Springs State Park to High Springs Florida
3/1/10
Day 117
19 miles

Today we decided to take it easy so that we could stay with a Warmshowers host in High Springs. Our host's name is Lys and she was one of the founding members of Bikecentennial. From Wikipedia:

“Bikecentennial '76 was a bicycle tour across the United States in the summer of 1976, in commemoration of the bicentennial of America's Declaration of Independence. The route crossed ten states and 112 counties in either direction between Reedsport, OR, and Yorktown, VA, a distance of about 4,250 miles (6,840 km).”

Bikecentennial inspired an increasing interest in cross country bicycle travel and using bicycles as a legitimate mode of transportation. This very first big long-distance ride became the foundation for Adventure Cycling Association. Adventure Cycling is the organization that developed the maps we used to navigate our entire journey. They work to create national bicycle routes and promote bicycle trvel.

We were very excited to meet such an interesting and influential person in the world of bike travel so we were determined to make a stop in High Springs. It turns out that Lys hosts many cyclists at her home in High Springs and we would have made our stop here last night except that seven other cyclists were staying here last night! I am so happy to see all of the people out on the road enjoying bike touring as we have so far.

The terrain has been very flat today. The scenery a mix of live oaks hanging mossy arms over the roadway and neat and orderly rows of slash pine plantations standing at attention. Occasionally there was a green and neatly cropped pasture with cattle or horses grazing peacefully. These quiet side roads are a far cry from my previous conception of the headache of roads in Florida. We were delighted to enjoy the sunny day with a nice tailwind.

When we reached High Springs we had a great lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Greg had all you can eat tacos and I had heuvos rancheros (ranch eggs). The food there was very good and the tortillas were exceptionally soft and tasty! After lunch we headed down to the public library where we worked on the blog. It was nice to just relax and read some interesting and free to use magazines like Mother Earth News, Organic Gardening and Progessive Farmer, and People Magazine (haha, just kidding). The people in this library were comically loud and one lady informed everyone in the library that she hates watching sad animal movies and she won't watch Old Yeller because they have to put him down in the end. We picked up a few things at the grocery store and headed over to Lys's home.

We were greeted at Lys's home by three cheerful faces. Lys and her two guests, Jeff and Dave were beginning to prepare a wonderful meal of salmon, rice and broccoli. We quickly learned that Jeff has been traveling by bicycle for four years now and has logged OVER 43,000 miles. Yes, you read that correctly, not 4,300 but 43,000 miles! He began his journey in British Columbia, rode north to the Yukon and then made his way all the way down to the southernmost extent of South America and is now returning back north. Jeff has an amazing passion for riding a bicycle that many may share, however, he has lived his passion every day for the last four years and beyond. Dave is from the UK and much prefers cycling to his “normal” job back home. Who can blame them for that? I think it is true freedom to live on a bicycle.
They remind me of a quote by Henry David Thoreau that says “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say let your affairs be as one, two, three and not a hundred or a thousand… We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without. “
Dave has been traveling throughout South and Central America and his tour will last 500 days. They met up in Louisiana before Mardi Gras and have been cycling companions since that point (which hasn't been long in their respective tours.) We were really excited to meet Dave because he has been anywhere between a week and 5 minutes ahead of us for the entire duration of the Southern Tier and we are glad to know someone else has been through the same conditions as we have. They were great fun to talk to and we loved picking their brains about the amazing adventures they have been on. We will always remember meeting these travelers and we look forward to following their blogs when our trip has ended.

We also had a great conversation with Lys about the Bikecentennial. She told us some great stories about leading one section of the trip from Missoula Montana to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Lys and her husband Dan have had many great adventures in their life and are still very active in working for things that Greg and I think are very important in the world today. Dave works around the country to help build walkable communities and the two of them have helped start countless important non-profits. Lys is currently working on establishing and coordinating community gardens in Florida and working to make her family self-sufficient.

Our evening in this home has been full of good company and rich with inspiration. Thank you Lys, Dave and Jeff.

Dani

Sunny Florida greets us at last

2010-02-28T14:37:00.002-07:00

Dani's legs, notice the presence of shorts instead of pants!

Our bikes leaned together during a hard boiled egg snack break

Our campsite at Itchetucknee Family Campground

Swampy, mossy Florida forest

Mike, a westbound cyclist we met today

Suwanee River State Park to Ichetucknee Springs State Park

2/28/10

Day 116

56 miles

We woke to cold temperatures again this morning, but not as cold as it has been. We completed our usual morning routines and pedaled up to the park's entrance station with our fingers crossed. We were hoping the rangers would give us a break for sneaking into the park after hours. We had good intentions, so we figured we could get out of any trouble relatively easily, and being on bikes is always a help. Come to find out, the ranger didn't even blink an eye. We paid for our night and headed out onto the road.

Within the first few miles, the sun really gained some purchase in the sky and we were treated to a rare (for our trip) warm and sunny Florida day. We stopped to take off our long sleeve shirts and soaked in the sun happily. The terrain here is either very flat or gentle hills, and we are surrounded by a nice pine forest that sometimes gives way to stands of live oak trees. These are nice to see because they are the only green leafed tree around this time of the year, and they are heavily draped in Spanish moss. When the wind blows, the moss sways back and forth and is every bit as relaxing as palm trees swaying.

With the weather so nice, I knew we were going to meet cyclists headed West today. Sure enough, we met one gentleman named Mike cycling the Southern Tier East to West. Coincidentally, he lives in a town that we rode through when we were on the Pacific Coast route. We chatted with him for awhile and then continued on. We stopped for a lazy early afternoon lunch break and ate our hard boiled eggs.

For most of the day we either had a tail wind or a side wind which contributed to today's lazy feeling. We saw two more touring cyclists on the road before we got to camp, but didn't talk to either one. We stopped in a small town to buy some milk for breakfast, but the only food store was a gas station. We were surprised to find some local, non-homogenized, hormone free milk in the gas station, so we bought it despite the fact it came only in half gallons.

We arrived at Ichetucknee Family Campground next to the Ichetucknee state park. We got ourselves a camp site and set up camp. Dani gave me a reprieve from my usual set up duties because I was starting to feel a bit under the weather. Unfortunately, I think I have come down with a little cold, but hopefully I will be over it in no time. Not long after we set up camp, another group of touring cyclists came into the same campground! That is the first time we have stayed at the same place as any other touring cyclists on the whole Southern Tier. We talked to them and told them about our trip, and they told us they were just 3 days into their trip. One man in the group of five named Pete told us about many of his cycling journeys. He has ridden his bike all over the world, and went 7,800 miles in one tour. The most amazing part, he didn't start touring until he was in his sixties, and now he is 72 and is riding the Southern Tier. He didn't look near his age, and was as excited about bike touring as we are. Let that be a lesson to all of you out there who think you are too old to start now. It is never to late to start bike touring.

After today, we just have a few more days until we reach the Atlantic Coast and St. Augustine, Fl. We cannot believe our trip is almost over.

Greg

2010-02-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

Suwanee River at sunset.
The Suwanee River was made famous by Stephen Foster's song Old Folks at Home, in which he sings ..."the folks up North will see me no more when I get to that Swanee shore".

Monticello to Suwanee River State Park

2/27/10

Day 115

52 miles

4,742 total miles

This morning we slept longer than usual because we were so used to central time. We ended up waking up at 9AM. We had brought granola and almond milk for breakfast. When we tried the almond milk we were both a little grossed out. Greg said “it tastes like dirt.” I have to agree. I must have had sweetened almond milk when I last tried it because I did not really enjoy this stuff. It was a good thing Diane had all the eggs you could dream of and we helped ourselves to some more eggs this morning. Mmm! It is so good to have fresh eggs. Diane sent us on our way with a dozen more eggs, half of them hard boiled for snacks. Thanks again Diane and her many chickens!

We rode all day on Highway 90 and Greg kept noticing Colt 45 cans along this road. We think this is a pretty gross drink, but it must be popular around here. After riding for some time without saying much to each other, Greg turned to me and said, “Do you know what I'm thinking about right now?” I thought for a second and asked him if it had to do with Missoula, and he said it did. I immediately said “You're thinking about Big Dipper Ice Cream.” He was so surprised and said, “No way! How did you know that?” I knew because I had just been thinking about Big Dipper as well. It was ironically funny how we both came to be thinking of our favorite ice cream place at the same exact time.

We stopped in Madison at the Winn Dixie supermarket for some groceries. I felt quite refreshed after downing some Naked juice for lunch. After Winn Dixie we headed down the road for some more food for lunch and stopped at Subway to finish off the balance on our Subway gift card. We had a filling meal there and proceeded across the street to...yes...a McDonalds. It is irritating that this is our only reliable source for internet and that they are so conveniently located on our route. Oh well, its better than not posting our blogs at all. We spent a couple of hours in the McDonalds while we wrote and posted some more blogs. Two obese children sat in front of us and must have been the kids of someone working here at McDonalds. I felt bad for them because they were obviously eating McDonalds food all day and that has to be bad for their bodies, especially for growing kids. The childhood obesity epidemic is very apparent in this part of the country.

Pulling into the Suwanee River State Park at around 6:30PM we found that the entrance gate had already been closed for the night. We could not duck under it, so we bushwhacked around the gate and rode into the park. We found the campground and set up our camp. We were a little nervous about having come in after hours and we initially started setting up camp in a site that had a “reserved” sticker on the post. When we realized this, we ended up having to move everything down the road a couple hundred feet to an empty spot. Greg and I had a filling meal of egg, bean and hashbrown burritos and fell asleep as soon as we could because it was going to be another cold night.

Dani

Tallahassee to Monticello, FL

2010-02-26T14:40:00.004-07:00

One of the chicken coups at Diane and Maria's.

A totally canopied road.

A sign warning us of the canopy over the road. Not really sure why it is a hazard?

This is the courthouse at Monticello with the traffic circle around it.

Dani calling Diane to get directions in Monticello.

Tallahassee to Monticello, FL
2/26/10
Day 114
33 miles

We were so thankful this morning when we woke up inside of Susan and Kevin's house. Last night was “Florida Cold” as I would call it. The temperature reached the mid twenties, and with humidity like it is down here, that is very cold. I never believed how much humidity affected cold until this Southern Tier trip. I have seriously felt colder down here at 40 degrees and near 100% humidity with a slight breeze than I have up North at 10 degrees and our usual near absence of humidity. We ate some breakfast with Kevin, Susan, and Dominick and then started getting our gear ready to go. Susan left for work and Kevin took the dog, Cooper, in for a haircut while we packed. When Kevin came back, he and Dominick helped us get our things together and get ready to go. We checked out the triplet tandem that the family rides and I asked Kevin a few questions about this amazing bike.

Kevin realized that I was riding without cycling gloves and would not have it, so he gave me a pair of his old ones. I am thankful, and excited because I have not ridden with gloves since Arcata, CA where I lost mine. Dominick and Kevin took some photos of us as we rode off, and I hope some of them turn out, but Danielle and I are not always the most photogenic couple, especially at this point in the trip. My wild beard and hair combo does not always help out this matter. Kevin and Susan gave an alternate route today, so we will not be following the Adventure cycling route. We are pretty excited about this for a few reasons. We will be able to stop at a nice grocery store, and they say the route they gave us is one of their favorite rides around. Also, it cuts almost 20 miles off of our day. All good reasons to try a different route.
We stopped at the grocery store that Kevin and Susan recommended and found some great food and stocked up for the next few days. After the grocery store, we saw a Macaroni Grill restaurant that I have heard about, so we decided to stop in and see what it was it was like. The food was actually pretty darn good, but a bit more expensive than we usually go for. After lunch we thought we were going to head out of Tallahassee, but in less than a mile we came across a coffee shop that had free wireless internet. I was feeling a bit slow after the time change from Central to Eastern time robbed us of some needed sleep, and a belly full of pasta did not help me feel energetic. I drank a cup of coffee while we caught up on internet chores.

When we finally did leave town, we found ourselves on some beautiful roads. The route that Kevin and Susan mapped for us was amazing, and we might recommend it to Adventure Cycling. We enjoyed the peaceful quiet roads and thick forest canopy as we rode along. In no time we made it to Monticello. We looked around a little bit and found this to be a really nice little town. One of the neat features is a huge traffic circle around the courthouse that seemed to move traffic smoothly without a stop light, and it was fun to ride around it on our bikes. We eventually called our host, and Diane gave us directions to her and Maria's house out in the country. We rode out there from Monticello and checked out this nice place while we waited for Diane to get home from work. They have lots of chickens in two different pens, two horses, and a sweet yellow lab.

When Diane got home, she invited us right in and we started asking her about what sort of things they do out here at this farm. Diane and Maria used to have Boer meat goats, but they have gotten out of that business do to various reasons. Now they have roughly 100 chickens, and Diane sells almost all of the eggs to coworkers in Tallahassee. I guess this just goes to show the demand for farm fresh eggs. Diane welcomed us to have as many eggs as we could eat, so we cooked up some omelets for supper with some Cotswold cheese we bought back in Tallahassee. It was great. While we ate, we watched the Olympics with Diane and watched Apollo Ohno get disqualified in a medal race. At least he was able to make a comeback in the relay and win a bronze medal. We could not believe how much fun it was watching the Olympics. The best way to enjoy TV is to not hardly ever watch it, and then watch it for a few hours. It is incredibly fascinating! Especially the Olympics. Once it started getting late, we took some great warm showers and headed off to sleep in a nice warm bed. We had a great night eating fresh eggs and sharing stories and company with Diane. She is a great host.

Greg

Long day in the saddle, we ride to Tallahassee

2010-02-25T11:13:00.004-07:00

The sun came out today!

Beautiful trees lining out route
On the left of the road is a tree farm, I think.

Marianna to Tallahassee Florida
2/25/10
Day 113
79 miles

This morning I got up and washed dishes because I felt very awake before Greg felt like getting up. I had a relaxing time finding a nice spot in the sun to do some yoga before eating breakfast. After I finished the yoga, I went back to our picnic table where I had spilled some water while washing dishes to find that the water I had spilled was frozen. It definitely got very cold here last night, and apparently it is still very cold. I thought I had been wimpy for thinking that my fingers felt really cold for some reason, now I know why. After breakfast we attempted to get out of the campground at a decent time but the cold really kept us moving slowly. We ended up leaving at 10:30, which isn't too bad. We pulled into a McDonald's for wireless around 11:45 AM to check email and get in touch with our warmshowers hosts in Tallahassee. We tried our best to leave at a good time, but with the cold we just couldn't make it happen faster.

Today's riding was a gentle and hilly ride. We felt strong to start out and I told myself I was going to ride today as if I was in a triathlon. I pushed as hard as I could all day, or for as much as I reasonably could and Greg did the same. We ended up making pretty good time but our biggest concern was getting to our hosts Susan and Kevin's home before it got too late. We also hit the realization about an hour into the ride that we are also crossing into Eastern time today, which puts us another hour later that we had planned! Well, our hard riding got us to the outskirts of Tallahassee right at dusk and we ended up riding through some moderate to heavy traffic for a short distance in town. It was a relief to see Kevin on a street corner cheering us on and making sure we were on track. He really helped us out by guiding us through the neighborhoods in the dark to his family's home.

When we arrived we couldn't believe what a relief it was to finally be done riding for the day. We worked so hard to make it this far today and truly feel exhausted. We were met at the gate by Susan and Kevin's son Dominick and their dog Cooper, a little Yorkie. Dominick is 11 years old and he has gone on some really amazing adventures with his parents. The three of them ride a triplet, which is a tandem bicycle built for three. They have taken the bike to Europe on many occasions and ridden in France on five different trips. What an amazing experience it must have been for a whole family to spend such good time together and see a new country, all while getting exercise. Susan and Kevin served us some homemade ginger pancakes with syrup, bananas, and homemade whipped cream for dinner. We even had tea and raspberry sorbet for dessert. We feel so welcome here in their home. We had a great time talking to them tonight and hearing about their adventures and life philosophies. After a hot shower, we will really sleep well tonight.

Dani

DeFuniak Springs to Marianna Florida

2010-02-24T11:11:00.002-07:00

Only picture of the day, what a cool sounding name.
As you can tell by this picture it was a pretty dreary day

DeFuniak Springs to Marianna Florida
2/24/10
Day 112
63 miles

We woke up this morning and were thankful to have been in a warm bed last night. It has been so cold here that we have begun to use the phrase “Florida Cold” for when something is extremely cold. Such as “Greg, is it just me or is it really cold outside right now.” “Yeah it is Florida Cold right now.” We have found out a couple of new things about Florida while on this part of our trip. It used to be that when I thought of Florida I thought about palm trees, beaches, nice warm weather and typically flat and very swampy. Well, this part of Florida is very hilly, though the hills are not very large or very steep. Either way, this state is not flat. The landscape is filled with trees, and it was a surprise to me to find that most of the trees around here are pines, longleaf, shortleaf and loblolly. The second big revelation we have come to is that Florida is definitely not always warm. Well, actually it usually is. The average lows here this time of year are around 45 degrees. We have been having an average low of around 25 for tonight and the next several nights. We are experiencing Florida at about 20 degrees colder than its typical low. Yikes!

We know that tonight will have a low of around 25 so we hope to get to the campground, get food in our bellies, and get to sleep! We are riding hard today to make it in time for the campground to be open as it closes at sundown. It has been slightly damp and cold all morning and the sun hadn't peeked out once. Finally we decided that if we saw a cafe we would stop in for lunch and to warm up. Sure enough we saw a nice little restaurant and got inside just as it started to drizzle. Greg got a lunch special with meatloaf, black eyed peas, mashed potatoes and gravy, coffee and a lemon crème pie. My lunch was a big bowl of vegetable soup. I loved this homemade soup because it was not from a can or a mix and they actually put fresh veggies like okra in to spice it up. What a good choice for lunch. After getting warmed up and having to tear ourselves away from the cozy, warm cafe, we faced the cold, dismal road ahead.

Although it never got warm today, eventually the sun came out from behind the clouds and we were encouraged to get to the campground and make good time. After some good effort to get to Marianna we remembered that we still had three more miles to ride to the state park where our campground is located. Greg ended up riding that whole way with a half gallon of milk in one hand so we could have milk with our granola in the morning. We got to the campground in the nick of time because the ranger had already closed the gate but had not left. She was very friendly and let us through the gate and checked us in so that we could just pay in the morning. We rode yet another mile down to the campsite and set up our tent around 6:20PM. Greg made some quesadillas for dinner and after the meal we scurried as quickly as we could into our sleeping bags and drifted off to sleep (after a dessert of Newman-O's -in the tent, what a treat!)

Dani

Milton to DeFuniak Springs, FL

2010-02-23T21:08:00.003-07:00

Florida pine forests. You usually don't think of Florida looking like this.

Florida swamp. Wish we could see some gators

Milton to DeFuniak Springs, FL

2/23/10

Day 111

68 Miles

We actually slept pretty well in our cheap hotel last night. The location of our hotel was baffling though. There was not a grocery store in sight, so we looked at google maps, and sure enough no grocery stores existed within a mile from the hotel. So, instead of eating breakfast in the hotel as we would normally do, we went out for breakfast. We tried a new place we have been seeing all over the South. It is called Waffle House. We thought it was more or less just a fast food joint, but when we went in, we were happy to find that it is actually like a sit down Americana style short order cafe. We order up some waffles and omelets, and it was actually pretty good. Better than what you would find at a Perkins or something like that. After breakfast we stopped at the bike shop in Milton to buy a tube. We have been riding without any spare tube since the middle of Louisiana, and we decided it would be better not to tempt fate.

After making these few stops, we headed out of town on the Blackwater trail, a nice path just for non-motorized transportation modes. We instantly found ourselves grinding into a head wind, and it was cold. We are in Florida! I can't be cold here! We recently read a friend's blog from Western Washington, and she said it was nice and sunny there. Florida, for crying out loud, is even called the sunshine state. Shouldn't it be sunny here and not in the dreary Pacific Northwest? Maybe we did our trip in the wrong direction. Florida even took the state motto “Sunshine State” from South Dakota (Where I grew up), and now South Dakota now is called the “Rushmore State.” Come on Florida, live up to your reputation!

We were very surprised to find the number of hills that we did today. We always thought Florida was flat, but there was very little flat ground today. Instead there were many gentle rolling hills covered with solid pine forests. After the Blackwater trail, we found ourselves riding on back roads through rural country. At one point we came to a small settlement and a pit bull came running from his yard chasing us with more vengeance than most dogs. I yelled at him and he changed his focus from me to Dani. Dani looked back and saw this sizable dog coming at her with teeth bared. The dog lunged and Dani instinctively swerved as she was reaching for her water bottle to spray the dog. Right when she swerved there was a vehicle coming in the other direction and I screamed as I watched what in my head looked like it could have been a disaster. Dani dropped her bottle and steered back to safety. The turn of events caused the dog to stop, but I was so upset I tried to run the dog down and spray it with pepper spray. Unfortunately the dog ran home and I was unable to scold it for its aggression.

As I looked back toward the dog running home, I realized that the vehicle that Dani had almost swerved in front of while the dog was chasing her was actually the dog's owner. This was so upsetting because the person never even came out to apologize or control their dog. I made sure Dani was ok, and she was, but when she dropped her water bottle it broke and spilled all over the road. I went back and stood in front of the house and waited for the owner to come out, but they never did. I called the sheriff and they transferred me to animal control so that I could file a complaint.

For some reason, today was harder on me that most days are. I am usually full of energy, but my saddle was giving me more pain than usual today and it just took the energy right out of me. Riding most of the day into a headwind did not help. There was also an inordinate amount of jerks on the road today that either screamed at us or flipped us the bird for no particular reason. Who knew that bikes were so offensive. We were trying to ride 80 miles today, but by the time we reached DeFuniak Springs, my body was telling me it was time to quit, and the sun was going down. We tried to find a place to stay the night, and finally succumbed to the fact that we would have to stay another night in a hotel. Luckily, we were able to find a very cheap hotel that was only a few bucks more than the campgrounds down here tend to be. Hopefully we can get some good rest and have a better day tomorrow.

Greg

We enter Florida today!

2010-02-22T07:44:00.001-07:00

Gulf of Mexico from the Scenic Highway

Maya and Max and their nice tandem, looking ready to ride the Southern Tier

Welcome to Florida! We made it this far!

Greg liked this street sign since we are big fans of the Colbert Report

Sand Dunes and the Gulf

Gulf Shores Alabama to Milton, Florida

2/22/10

Day 110

56 miles

4,446 miles total

Last night it rained. Now, when I say it rained I mean it rained a lot and it rained hard. It was extremely loud on the tent, like a million little drummer boys equipped with snare drums and symbols. This was a full on thunderstorm. I don't know when the last time was I heard a thunderstorm as good as this one. We are lucky that we pitched our tent on a slight slope on sandy soil. We didn't get wet in the tent at all and there was no puddle under the tent in the morning either. Despite the storm, last night was one of the warmest nights we have had on our whole trip. I don't think it got below the mid-forties. It was very refreshing to wake up in the morning and see sun coming through the rain fly. We talked to several retired folks who rode up on their bikes to ask how we fared in the storm and if the raccoons had bothered us. Apparently everyone else in the campground knew about the raccoons except the hosts.

As we were preparing to leave, we realized that today was going to be really warm and extremely humid. We took a bike path out of our campground to the east and into the city of Orange Beach and right onto our route. Shortly after leaving Orange Beach we met a couple on a tandem who are riding east to west on the southern tier. Maya and Max are riding a sweet 15 year old Santana tandem and have been following the Southern Tier and riding some off route along the coast as well. We were excited to hear from them that there are two more cyclists eastbound on our route ahead of us. When we first met up with Maya and Max they told us these guys are just five minutes ahead of us and when we parted ways they may have been 25 minutes ahead. We never ran into them during the ride today, but we may see them at some point between here and St. Augustine. One of the cyclists ahead of us has been riding his bike for three years, from the states to the Tierra del Fuego and back again. They sound like some interesting folks who we would really like to meet.

Not long after leaving the campground we made our way to Florida, the last state we will ride our bikes through on this trip. We are very excited about experiencing possibly a whole week of favorable weather while in Florida. It will be a nice change to ride through pleasant weather for a while. The Gulf coast of Alabama had lots of summer homes but the same coast in Florida has been very quickly and very majorly developed with huge skyscraper condos and apartments forming a wall at the edge of the sea. It went on like this for at least 10 miles while coming into Pensacola. Pensacola had a nice downtown but traffic remained pretty heavy for the rest of the ride. We rode along the Gulf Coast Highway leaving Pensacola. The road here was slightly rolling and many of the homes overlooking the Gulf were large and looked very expensive. The last 25 miles of riding today were very heavy with traffic but had a decent shoulder. We pulled into Milton about 4PM and realized we still had over twenty miles to get to our original goal. With any closer campgrounds being full or requiring more riding on busy 90 we decided to stay in a cheap motel in Milton. We have not actually caught up completely on blogs for awhile so we decided that we would get them done tonight and sleep well in a bed. Tomorrow we will ride through to the last map of our journey.

Dani

Gulf Ferry Ride, Wind, and a taste of Gulf Shores

2010-02-21T21:58:00.001-07:00

Beach homes on the Alabama Coast

Greg and the bikes on the ferry in the Gulf

Palmettos in the forest on Dauphin Island

Path to the campground from the beach on Dauphin Island

Greg reenacts a mother sea turtle digging a nest for her young.

Its Greg's "windblown" look

Oil drilling platforms in the Gulf

Gloomy day on the Gulf of Mexico

Dauphin Island to Gulf Shores Alabama
2/21/10
Day 109
27 miles

This morning Greg rode more than two miles back into town to get some fuel for our breakfast. We got to our campground last night and realized we barely had enough gas to make dinner, much less breakfast. Surprisingly, no one in the campground had any fuel to spare. We usually eat cold breakfasts because they are faster and dirty fewer dishes, but every once in a while we decide to make a big, hot breakfast. Greg loves to cook breakfast for me and I love it when he does. Today he made us breakfast burritos filled with cheesy eggs, ranch style beans, hash browns and salsa. It was so satisfying and certainly got us off on the right foot. We finished packing up our gear and decided to walk down to the beach before boarding the ferry. The sand is very white here and the gulf water is a silty brown color. The forest is filled with loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, magnolia, live oak and palmettos. The overcast skies and the murky water with the oil drilling platforms in the distance have left us with a dismal impression of the Gulf Coast.

We departed our campground, crossed the street and instantly found ourselves in line for the ferry to take us across Mobile Bay. It surprised me that this ferry was in fact smaller than the one we rode across the Mississippi River. The watercourse here is much wider and probably as turbulent. Once we rode on to the ferry in line with all of the cars, we parked our bikes against the side of the boat and took everything in. We are riding a boat across a huge bay in the Gulf of Mexico. We rode our bicycles here from Oregon. Sometimes Greg and I have to stop and reflect on that even though we have been the ones making this great trip, one pedal stroke at a time. When the ferry began to pick up speed a friendly man came over from his car and invited us to sit in his car with him, his wife and his sister for the ferry ride. We decided it would be nice to get out of the wind and talk to some folks while we rode across the bay. We had a nice time talking to the trio from Kentucky. They were very interested in our adventure and we had fun talking to them. We realized that we are going to have to figure out what to say when people ask us, “what is the most interesting (weird, most beautiful, coolest, scariest) thing you have seen on your trip?” At this point there are so many things to draw from but those questions make my mind go blank.

Once we got off the ferry we encountered a very strong headwind for the duration of the ride into Gulf Shores. Today the headwind really brought me down. I know that headwinds can physically wear you out, but they can also tire the mind. Having a positive attitude can do wonders for your energy level and willingness to continue. On this particular day I let the headwind get to me and I was grumpy for most of the morning riding. I hate to admit it, but I definitely felt like Oscar the Grouch. Thankfully, Greg has a positive attitude about these situations more often than I do. He just told me, “what can you really do about it? It is going to be windy and you can hate it or you can just accept it.” Sometimes it is good to hear that perspective and get your mind on to other things, thanks Greg.

The beaches here are just filled with an unbelievable amount of beach houses and vacation homes. I see the plants in this area, the native pine trees that have weathered hurricanes and those that have not survived. Most trees are dead, like hundreds of toothpicks just stuck into the land. I can't imagine how anyone can believe that all of these homes could ever stand the forces of a hurricane. My guess is that most will not, considering most of the homes seem to be less than five years old.

We got to Gulf Shores and decided it was essential that we catch up on blogs. Unfortunately the only reliable wireless internet in this part of the country is at McDonalds. So we spend just under three hours working on the blog and it was about 5PM when we headed to the campground, just two miles from here between Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. Our camp for the night is a 450+ site RV suburbia filled to the gills with snowbirds. We were lucky to get the last site available in the park. We were not lucky in that all sites cost the same amount- RV or not, the plus side is that it was $25, instead of California's state park fee of $55 for RVs. When I was at the office I asked if there was a problem with raccoons in the park and the hosts said, not that they knew of. Greg and I set up the tent and ate a dinner of MREs courtesy of Ron Foley. The novelty of the MRE is fun initially, but I have a feeling this pseudo-food will come back to bite me.

We cleaned up after dinner and couldn't wait to try out the nice, clean and very hot showers. When I returned from the shower I found one of the small food panniers dragged away from where I placed it and a shadow of a raccoon slipped into the swamp. I was so frustrated when I saw that the raccoon had looted our pannier and destroyed at least $10 worth of food. We were excited to have Fig Newtons as a snack tomorrow, but no...not now. To add insult to the raid, I found slobbery pieces of Fig Newton were spread all over pannier inside and out. I spent the next half hour scrubbing the pannier and cleaning slobbery crumbs off of the salvageable food. The raccoon also managed to bite a couple of small holes in the lid of the pannier. We then placed all food items on top of the charcoal grill in the campsite and placed the BoB trailer on top to keep critters at bay. Greg is ready with the slingshot if they try it again. We both went to bed feeling a little sick with a slight headache. We think this is due to the MRE and all of its mysterious preservatives. We will be doing a cleanse and resuming our food ethics as soon as the tour is over. The forecast calls for a thunderstorm tonight or tomorrow morning, so stay tuned for the coming storm.

Dani

Vancleave, MS to Dauphin Island, AL. We ride to an Island!

2010-02-20T20:13:00.001-07:00

Greg on the top of the bridge to Dauphin Island.

Janet and Alex along with their very cool Xtracycles

Alligator Meat in the grocery store.

The Train rides through Alabama.

A good example of Gulf Coast pine forest

A good bakery along the way

First good view out onto the Gulf of Mexico

The Cedar Point-Dauphin Island bridge.

Dani enjoying snacks from the first MRE she has ever tried.

Another State!

Vancleave, MS to Dauphin Island, AL

2/20/10

Day 108

67 Miles

Despite our less than acceptable campground last night, we did manage to get a good nights rest in our cabin. Staying inside allowed us to get a pretty good jump on the day, and by the time we left the sun was actually out and shining.

The roads in this part of the country are in pretty rough condition and shoulders are nonexistent. The hills here are pretty small and rolling, but just big enough to make us glad that our bikes have gears. At the bottom of each divide is usually a river or a bayou filled with cypress and other deciduous trees. The ridge tops consist mostly of loblolly pine with some long leaf pine mixed in and oaks scattered throughout. The undergrowth is thick and appears almost impenetrable. It makes for some nice scenery to ride through.

Just before the Alabama state line, we spotted a busy little bakery and decided we had to stop and see what all the fuss was about. Inside we found some delicious pastries and cookies, and decided to buy a few. I have a hard time riding past a bakery. Every time I see a bakery sign I think of all of the wonderful bakeries in Missoula I used to take for granted, that is, until this trip. These pastries were great, but until this trip, I didn't realize how extraordinary the baked goods are in Missoula.

As we rode on further, the road conditions did not improve. We were forced to ride on the road because there was no shoulder and, unfortunately, traffic began to increase. This led to people passing us on dangerous blind corners or hill tops. One person even pulled right up behind us and then started honking his horn in earnest, as if we were doing something wrong or like we should be riding somewhere else. We pulled completely off the road in fear that this person might try to run us off, and they honked some more and roared past us in a huge pickup with a loud exhaust. After the news of our friend getting hurt, this really set me off and I yelled at the person as they went past. I would have liked nothing better than to have had him turn around so we could have a little talk.

We entered Alabama, and found a gravel road short cut that would allow us to get out of this busy traffic for a few miles. We haven't ridden on gravel much on this trip, but it was actually a nice change. The road was well packed and we only saw a few cars. Before long we came to the town of Bayou La Batre. This is the town featured in Forest Gump where Forest begins his shrimping business Bubba-Gump Shrimp. The town is actually a huge seafood processing area, so we were going to stop and eat at a certain restaurant we heard had the best food in Alabama, but it was closed when we arrived. We stopped for a food break anyway. As we ate our snacks we saw two people on touring bikes cruising through town heading West. We waved them down and they came over to talk. We met Janet and Alex. They are traveling by Xtracycle. An Xtracycle is basically a bike with a longer wheelbase, almost as long as a tandem, but the whole back of the bike is an integrated rack with bags. These things are really cool and they can carry tons of gear. We talked with these two for awhile about the bikes and about their trip. They started up in Georgia and are heading to Houston. Coincidentally, Janet has mapped out a route from St. Augustine to Jacksonville, and this is the route we have been wondering about. After we reach St. Augustine we will need to ride to Jacksonville to get on the train. Janet was very excited that we would be able to use her route that she had taken some time to plan. She and Alex even had a bike map of Jacksonville that they gave us. At least we have that figured out now! After a nice chat with these two, we decided we had better get going. It is so exciting that we are seeing people heading the other way.

From Bayou La Batre to Dauphin Island, we rode to the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. Then we rode over a couple mile long bridge that was quite high at the top to allow for ship passage. We stopped at the top and enjoyed our first views of the Gulf of Mexico. It was so strange to see off shore oil drilling platforms as far as we could see. A stark contrast to the Pacific Coast.

Once we reached Dauphin Island, it was immediately apparent that this place is much fancier that the other parts of Mississippi and Alabama that we had ridden through. This looks like a resort town. We rode from one end of the island to the other and then found the campground. The campground here is full of snowbird Rvers and was reminiscent of Arizona in that way. We enjoy being around these retired people though as they make for a carefree and jovial atmosphere. We found our campsite and set up for the night. I was very excited because, as far as I know, this is the first time I have ever camped on any island. Luckily, it sounds like the ferry across the Mobile Bay is operating tomorrow so we will be able to get across. We heard that it was broken down a few days ago.

Greg

Silver Run Lake to Vancleave, MS

2010-02-19T16:01:00.004-07:00

Jeff on the left and Ryan on the right. They had two cool bikes.

Dan on the left and Steven on the right. Rollerbladers on the Southern Tier!?

View from our campsite at Silver Run Lake

Silver Run Lakes to Vancleave, MS
2/19/10
Day 107
55 miles

Today was just one of those kind of days where we couldn't get the smiles off of our faces. It all started with us waking up in a warm room and a comfortable bed at the Foley's house. Ron and Carol offered to make us a warm breakfast. We couldn't decline because it is so rare that we ever cook ourselves a breakfast. Carol made some delicious pancakes and bacon and we shared a pot of coffee to wash it all down with. Ron and Carol showed us one of their favorite ways to eat pancakes, with sorghum molasses on top, with or without syrup. We both tried this new topping, and actually we liked it a lot. We really enjoy finding differences in food, even in something as simple as pancakes.

After breakfast, we chatted with Ron and Carol for awhile, and then bid them farewell so we could pack up our stuff and get on the road. Once we had all of our gear loaded up, We went to tell the owner of the campground, Nella Ruth, goodbye. When we went in her house, we found that she had prepared some coffee for us and had been waiting with two coffee mugs set out for us both. Nella Ruth was so nice, we couldn't decline drinking a cup of coffee with her, so we talked with her for a bit and drank some more coffee. Nella Ruth told us she is 85 years old, and she has been having some health problems, but she is eagerly awaiting her recovery so she can continue taking care of her business. She has suffered breast cancer and just had her second mastectomy, but she said she expects to be out mowing the lawns and taking care of the yards of the property at Silver Run Lakes this summer. She said she is not much of a house keeper, but she loves to work hard outside. Her optimism was inspiring to us, and gave us some motivation to get on our bikes and ride.

Just as we were getting on our bikes and about to leave, Carol pulled up with her friend Renee. She introduced us and asked us to tell Renee about our travels. Come to find out, Renee is a bit of a cycling fan too, but she was amazed at our trip. She couldn't believe that we had ridden from Oregon. We talked for a few more minutes and then actually left Silver Run Lake for real. We only rode about three miles down the road, and I could not believe what I was seeing. I thought I was looking at cyclists, and as we got closer, I noticed it looked like they had panniers. This couldn't be true I thought, we never see other bike tourists. As we neared this mirage, it turned out to be real. We stopped and met two cyclists traveling the opposite direction on the Southern Tier. Jeff and Ryan met up in Pensacola and had been riding together since then. It was great to talk to these two guys, they were the first cyclists we have seen since Sundance and Yana in Bracketville, TX. Jeff is riding the Southern Tier, and Ryan started in Virginia and rode down to the Southern Tier to get to California. He is using his bike literally as a form of transportation to get himself to the beginning of the Pacific Crest trail. When he arrives at the beginning of the PCT after biking the whole Southern Tier, he will ditch his bike and then hike the whole 2,600 miles to the Canada border. Needless to say we had a great time talking to these guys. Coincidentally, Ryan has a friend in Missoula, so he might visit Montana after the PCT. We told him he should give us a shout when he makes it that far.

At this point, we had stopped to talk so much, we weren't sure if we could still make it to our destination, but we figured we would try. We had only gone three miles and it was after noon. We chugged along about as fast as we could. We were still able to feel some deep down fatigue from our 95 miles a couple of days ago. On one deserted country road along the way, an old timer waved to us as we went by and asked us if we were having a good ride. We reluctantly stopped as we knew we should keep on the stick as much as possible, but it is very hard for us to pass up a conversation with elderly folks. The man was out feeding his chickens when he waved us down. He told us that he is a county official, and that Mobile county had just approved a one million dollar bike path from his part of the county all of the way to the city of Mobile. We told him how much we cyclists appreciate projects like this and assured him it would be a boon to the rural area. We told him we had to keep riding, and on we went. At this point, we couldn't believe how many people we had stopped to talk to today, and we were wondering how many more times we would be stopped to talk before the day was over.

Now I really thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I saw two guys coming up the road in our direction with blaze orange vests on. I could not imagine what they were doing. From a distance I thought I was seeing a garbage clean up crew, but as we neared, the two people looked like they were rocking back and forth. When we came up to the two, we found that they were on rollerblades. We couldn't even believe that this was all happening in one day. We had to stop and talk to these two. Dan and Steven were embarking on a cross country rollerblade trip on the Southern Tier. They both hailed from New York and were the first people we met who were doing a trip for a cause. They created a charity called In Motion for a Million for Huntington’s Disease Society of America and Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. They are trying to raise one million dollars. After swapping some stories with these guys, and they told us a tale about getting kicked off the roads in Alabama, we let these two get on their way. We cannot imagine rollerblading the Southern Tier, but these guys seem up to the challenge.

Not long after we talked to the old timer, we came to an intersection and stopped to check our map to make sure we weren't making a wrong turn. The back roads in Mississippi are poorly signed, so we double check them if we can. While we were stopped, a school bus pulled up and the driver got out of the bus and walked over to us. She asked if we knew where we were, and we asked her directions to double check our map. She point the way, and then asked us where we were from. As soon as we mention to people where we are from, and where we started our trip, we always get a few questions. Well this bus driver was very friendly and she asked us all about our trip. She then found out that we both work in Yellowstone and gushed about how much she loves Montana and both Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks. After talking with her for awhile, we rode off again, this time laughing about the unlikely odds that we would still make it to our destination before dark. Less than five miles down the road, we stopped for a bathroom break and, to our amazement, some recreational cyclists pulled up and we chatted with them about our trip and about riding in Mississippi in general. We also coaxed them into taking the spare wheel we found in Texas off our hands. They were part of the Gulf Coast Cycling Club, and said they could use this wheel as a door prize or something like that. We were more than happy that our find would go to some cause that would promote cycling in some way. After we chatted with these folks for awhile, we again made our way toward our final destination, Vancleave.

Despite all of our stops for conversations, we still made it to Vancleave right as the sun went down. We found the Bluff Creek campground and inquired about a tent site. Much to our disappointment, the tent sites were $30 per night. At this point, then sun was completely down, and the nearest campground was 6 miles further. Dani was not in the mood to ride in the dark, especially because near Vancleave, the traffic had increase and people were driving like idiots. The owner informed us that our only other option was a cabin at $40 per night. I was not happy with this at all and balked at the price. I told him we didn't need water, electricity, or even a shower, but he snootily said that is all he had. The sign at the entrance said they had primitive campsites, so obviously there was some false advertising going on. After talking with Dani, we decided that the cabin was then better deal and doled out forty greenbacks.

We had high hopes for our cabin, obviously much too high. We found our cabin right next to a campsite with a degenerate drunk couple yelling and arguing with each other. They were saying things like “I hope you have to have lung surgery you !@#$%.” Great we thought. We opened the cabin and it was basically filthy. There was no heater which we assumed we would have for forty bucks. The shower house conveniently located across the street from the cabin was so run down that we hardly even wanted to walk in the door let alone disrobe and take showers. We had been taken for forty bucks. Just let this be a lesson to you all out there. Do not even go to the Bluff Creek campground in Vancleave.

Despite the end of our day, we were smiling all day. We met so many great talkative folks who were genuinely interesting, and who were also interested in our travels. We have discovered that no matter what the time is, it is always worth taking the time out of our day to chat with new and interesting people. Because of this, we are starting to feel like the United States is more of a community we belong in rather than just a big amalgamation of states with whom we have nothing in common. We now have friends spread out all over this land, and any news we hear from those places in the future will be so much more personal. One of our biggest goals in doing this trip was really discovering America and the people who live here. That has happened, but to an extent beyond what we could have imagined at the beginning.

Speaking of people we have met, we just need to make a note about Matt Potter, the guy we met in San Luis Obispo, California. He is the guy that was there when Dani crashed. He helped us find a good place to spend the night, and he even took us out for supper. We just received word from him that he was out for his daily bike ride and, in almost the same place Dani crashed, he was hit by a truck that swerved into the bike lane when the driver stopped paying attention. The truck was traveling at 60 mph and struck Matt from behind. He woke up in the hospital with a broken spine, an arm broken in five places, a fractured skull, broken ribs, and a whole litany of other injuries. Matt spent a month in the hospital and is now in a body cast. We have not been able to call him back due to the complete lack of Verizon service along our route and at our camping spots, but we got this info from the message he left us. He said he expects full recovery in 6 months to a year. This just goes to show how important it is to really pay attention while you are driving. To cyclists, nothing really matters more than that. We are so vulnerable to automobiles. Stay off the damn cell phones while you are driving and appreciate the fact that cars and trucks are basically massive cannon balls. One little slip up at the wheel can mean killing a cyclist or a pedestrian. Slow down and appreciate that roads are not just for cars. In the mean time, we hope Matt will recover quickly, and that he can get back on the bike again someday soon.

Greg

New friends and a new beginning for the little puppy

2010-02-18T13:36:00.004-07:00

Long Leaf pine in the grass stage.

After the grass stage, a long leaf may grow this tall in one year or two with energy stored in it's root system.

Chompy somehow went to Mardi Gras without us.

Our temporary charge, who we named Pearl, because we found her near the Pearl River. She has such a cute goofy eye because one is pink and the other has a brown eyelid. We wish we could have kept her.

Greg and Pearl, on their way to the new foster Mommy at the Animal Adoption Society

Beauty shot of little Pearl

Poplarville to Silver Run Lakes, MS (near Perkinston)

2/18/2010

Day 106

23 miles

Well, Greg's prediction came true. We did not sleep very well with our new puppy companion. We got ready for bed and set her in a box with a toy we bought her and some towels. We had to cover the top of the box with all manner of heavy objects in order to keep her in there through the night. Normally we would have let a puppy sleep in the bed with us, but we had found some fleas on her and decided she should not sleep in the bed. We played with her extensively before putting her to bed and at first she fell asleep right away and slept for about an hour and a half before waking us up with her little whimpers, which grew into howling and pathetic barking. You know, those kinds of barks that are meant to make you feel so bad for the animal as if they were about to die. We knew she was fine, having fed her a lot of food and given her a warm, soft place to sleep. When she woke us up the third time, Greg took her outside and she apparently had to poop. We made it through from 3AM to about 7AM with no trouble from the little puppy. It became very apparent that night that we would not be able to keep a puppy, less than 2 months old, with us on a bike trip. I can't imagine having a playful little puppy like that in our tiny tent. We have tried our best to not get attached by thinking of her finding a loving, stable home

When we woke up Greg rode his bike to a pet shop less than ½ mile away to look for leads on a home for the puppy. The shop was closed but he found a number on the door that directed him to an animal shelter in town. Greg called and found out that they are a small shelter and run as a foster only shelter. They never put down their animals and only adopt out to responsible owners, after the animals have been spayed or neutered. She told us that they weren't really accepting new animals but that they would take the puppy because they had a good chance of finding her a home. I am so happy we could find a place that would get her a home and she would not be in danger of being killed as she would in a regular shelter. I know she will be a great pet for someone. It breaks my heart that someone would just dump 7 helpless puppies into the swamp to fend for themselves and die of starvation, be killed by racoons or freeze to death. I find it so irresponsible that people will not take the time to spay and neuter their pets and then let them get pregnant with unwanted puppies (and then not take responsibility for the results). It is just inhumane to add to the already millions of unwanted and homeless pets that are put down every day. I would like everyone out there to think about this when you are considering breeding dogs or know someone who wants to. Please think about adopting one of the many wonderful dogs in shelters all over this country, you will probably be saving a life.

We left our cabin feeling good about the puppy mission and proceeded to find the public library. We spent two hours catching up on blogs and doing other internet chores. We were headed to the grocery store next when we got side-tracked by a barbeque place on the route. Greg has been begging to go to a barbeque place since the Hill Country in Texas. We stopped and ordered pulled pork sandwiches as a special treat. We had quite a filling meal there and don't expect we will need dinner. We even ended up going to the grocery store, then leaving empty-handed after we figured out we had all the food we needed. We took a casual ride down the road to our campground, only twenty miles away. We rode past many longleaf pines on the route. Longleaf pines are really interesting trees that were one commonly found throughout the southeast. They are very fire-adapted and for five years they remain in a “grass stage” which looks just like a clump of grass on the ground. This allows them to store up lots of energy and in the meantime survive most fires that come through while they are very young. After the grass stage they have a very large growth spurt and grow as tall as they can in order to out-compete other plants and survive fire. The longleaf pines have very large pine cones and their needles are over 12 inches long. We really enjoy seeing this once-widespread species.

We found our campground and went to the office to pay for out spot. The owner of the campground answered the door and in talking to her we found out that she and her husband had built this place in 1960. It began as a place for kids to come camping and evolved into a beautiful area where there are now many homes surrounding the picturesque lake. Nella Ruth Rogers, the original owner of this place has been running the business by herself since her husband passed away 25 years ago. She is now 85 years old and up until this year she has been the caretaker for the place, even mowing the lawns. We really respect her for all of her hard work, commitment and pride in keeping up such a nice place. We set up our tent for the night and Greg cooked us up a nice little snack of grilled cheese sandwiches with mustard sauce herring filets. It was so good, and it really warmed me up, along with the cup of hot chocolate. While we were eating our snack, a man in a cart pulled up to our site and introduced himself as Ron. Ron is a neighbor and wanted to come say hello and find out what our story was. He was really friendly and very easy to talk to. He invited us over to his home to share some popcorn, and we thought we might come over later after the snack. After talking for a bit, Ron went back home. We were surprised when he pulled up again, this time bringing us some hot buttered popcorn and two root beers. We talked some more and he generously invited us over again. We were so thankful to Ron for thinking of us and bringing us a nice little treat. After we were done with dishes, Ron brought us some MREs (or Meals Ready to Eat, made for the military they include all the food and fuel to make a meal and heat it as well.) He said, “Now I'm going to see how smart you Montanans really are, you could stay out here and freeze your butts off or you could come over to my house and watch tv, take a hot shower and sleep in a nice warm bed.” We thought this sounded pretty nice, and we were interested in talking more with Ron and his wife, Carol. We walked over to their beautiful house on the lake and talked for a while before going to sleep. Ron and Carol are retired and are still very active in helping people around them. They told us that after Katrina hit they volunteered to help victims through their church and ended up helping out for the next eight months. They were the volunteers living closest to their worksite, they drove a mile down the road to help distribute supplies and help with whatever the people needed the most. It was really amazing to meet such caring and compassionate people who devoted so much time to helping those in need. They made lots of great friends in the process and still get together with them each year. They have been so gracious and very inspiring to us. They have reaffirmed our feelings of how there are so many wonderful people all over this great country and when you get right down to it, there are many more things that we have in common than things that divide us. Thanks again Ron and Carol Foley.

Dani

Easleyville, LA to Poplarville, MS. We enter Mississippi! Longest Day Ever! Puppies spring from a Swamp!

2010-02-17T13:18:00.003-07:00

Frozen grass in Louisiana. Why? El Nino we guess.

Here is our rescue puppy sitting in my handlebar bag.

Sleeping puppy, writing blog. Can you tell we had a long day? Just look at the eyes.

Yeah! New state!

Louisiana and Mississippi are separated here by a bayou

Frost on everything this morning.

Easleyville, LA to Poplarville, Mississippi
2/17/10
Day 105
94 miles Whew!

Today started out pretty much like any other day. That is until we had our own rainstorm. You see, we camped under a metal awning last night, and it got so cold that everything, I mean everything froze. Our water was almost completely frozen and our tent was covered in ice. When the sun came out, the thick frost on the metal shelter began to melt and then drip heavily to the ground underneath. Our already damp tent became drenched in our own rainstorm.

Despite our very own meteorological conditions, we still got off to a rather early start. We had a slight tail wind that actually increased some as the day progressed. The riding was not nearly as flat here as it was on the other side of the Mississippi, so it made for entertaining riding. We rode through some very poor looking towns, which is directly correlated to how often we were chased by dogs. You see, we have noticed that as the neighborhood becomes poorer, the chance of us being chased by dogs increases exponentially. We have a new strategy to stave off these attacks though. Instead of yelling, or swerving, or even accelerating, we now talk to the dogs in our best “aren't you a cute little puppy” voices. This cooing baby talk seems to confuse them and they just stop chasing and look at us with confused faces, except for the black mouthed cur that actually chased me and grabbed onto the BoB trailer.

We cruised right along until we reached the town of Franklinton. The first thing we saw in this town was the good ol' golden arches. Usually we stay far away from McDonalds, but we are finding that in the South, they are a reliable source of wireless internet and always have a nice clean dining room. We went inside, bought some side salads to earn our keep, and Dani sat down to apply for some jobs for this upcoming summer. It took awhile, but the wait was worth it if she gets a good job.

When we left this town, we still had 50 miles to go, and it was already after 1 o'clock. Luckily we still had a pretty good tailwind, but it did shift more to a side wind at times. We blasted through Bogalusa, the last town in Louisiana, crossed a bridge, and we entered Mississippi! Another new state for us both! At this point, we knew it was make or break as far as getting to Poplarville at a decent time. The main highway here is much too busy for riding, so the route took us on roundabout roads that would have been nice if we were not already pushing our limits.

Not more than six miles into this new state, I noticed a tiny white blob moving from the swamp and out onto the road right in front of me. I realized it was a poor little puppy that looked very malnourished. We stopped to see if it had an owner and followed the poor little thing to the other side of the highway where we found a woman with six more puppies from the same litter. Apparently someone had come out into the country and dumped these little things to die a slow and mournful death. These little puppies are not old enough to care for themselves, and in this cold weather without food they would probably die tonight. The woman was trying to figure out what to do with the other six and asked us if there was anything we could do. We felt bad enough as it was and decided we would take this one we found with us and see if we could find it a home in the next town. By the time we finished talking with this lady and making room in my handlebar bag for the little pup, it was getting dark. To make matters worse, the distraction of having a puppy on my handlebars caused me to lose track of navigation and we flew right past a turn and ended up three miles out of our way.

When the sun actually went down, the air instantly became chilly. We had already gone way over 70 miles and with the cold air, lack of water, and lack of food I was hitting the wall hard. We decided to stop for a very quick food and water break, and then kept pedaling for Poplarville. Luckily, this cute little puppy wasn't too much of a fuss. She was probably too weak to struggle, and actually laid down and fell asleep in my bag. I would get worried every few minutes or so and wake her up to make sure she wasn't dead. By the time we got to Poplarville, it was pitch black. We made a few more wrong turns and finally asked directions to the camp ground. We were looking for it, but went by it in one direction. At this point I had such low blood sugar that I was very cranky and was getting pretty short with Dani. We stopped at a gas station and I chugged some chocolate milk and bought a soda.

We had to ask directions twice more before we found the campground. We finally found the owner's house and asked about some cabins they had on site. At this point we were so cold that w needed a roof over our heads to take care of this little puppy. We were happy to hear that they had a cabin open and took it even though it was more than we wanted to pay. Once we got inside Dani held the dog in front of the heater while I went off to get groceries and some pizza for supper. At this point we realized we had gone 94 miles today. What a day. I came back to the cabin with two pizzas, some snacks, and food for the dog. Dani got this cute little thing all washed up and we gave her some food and water. In no time she got her energy back and was running around and causing trouble just little all little puppies do. We kept giving her little handfuls of food as long as she would eat, but we did not want to over feed her. After we relaxed and ate and took some showers we sat down on the couch with this pathetic little thing and thought about what it is we should do with her. She is just skin and bones, but looks healthy otherwise. She craves our attention and whimpers when we set her down on the floor, so I have a suspicion that we will not sleep well tonight.

Greg

Mardi Gras Day, Greg already ate the King Cake

2010-02-16T12:22:00.002-07:00

Here is our map for the day. Now we have a new and improved version with an elevation profile. Thanks Perry!

This is a King Cake, what Greg consumed about 85% of at Perry and Lep's place.

Greg enjoys an after-dinner- its-so-cold-I-have-to-eat-it-in-the-tent snack

Jackson to Easleyville, LA- Mardi Gras Day

2/16/10

Day 104

30 bike miles, 15 car miles.

We slept like babies yet again in the cave-sleeping room last night. We got up and had breakfast with Perry and Lep and enjoyed more good conversation. Our big goal today is to go to the post office in St. Francisville and pick up our BoB trailer wheel as well as get some more blog entries written and loaded. We always start feeling guilty when we get behind, so now is the time to buckle down. Perry was nice enough to let us use her truck to go into town and run errands. First we drove to the Post Office to get our wheel, which was a success. Our friend Nate helped us so much by getting the wheel, re-truing it himself and then applying spoke-freeze to ensure the wheel stayed true. We can't thank him enough! We stopped at the library hoping to enter blogs and maybe apply for jobs but there was no wireless to be had, the library was closed for Mardi Gras! Instead we returned to Lep and Perry's place and tried to upload some entries using their internet. It turns out where we are staying the signal isn't very strong, so we didn't get much done. We apologize for the lull in posts.

After the business was done we had a great lunch with Perry, Lep and their friend Bucky, whose birthday it is today. We had heart shaped pasta with marinara sauce, or as Perry humorously calls it, “red shit.” Now before you judge, you have to hear the hilarious story that goes along with her nickname for red sauce. When she was a little girl, about 6 or 7, Perry was riding in the truck with her father when he said, “oh no, its Wednesday, your Mother is going to make something with that red shit on it.” Perry thought, “what's wrong with that?” Perry said her Mom was not the best cook...but now anything with red sauce is called “red shit,” which we think is pretty funny. Well, to say the least, the red shit was awesome. We loved our last meal at Perry and Lep's home. By the time we were ready to go it was 2PM. I was worried about how far we would get and about riding on Mardi Gras. I asked Perry what she would do and she said this is the only day of the year she refuses to ride her bike because of drunk drivers. She suggested giving us a “bump” down the road in the truck so that we could get in at a safe hour, and we took her up on the offer. She drove is 15 miles down the road to Norwood and we road the rest of the 30 miles to our RV park in Easleyville.

We made it safely with no problem from drivers, and we even saw two other cyclists out for a ride. Our RV park was in a nice location but old and a little run down. We pitched our tent under an awning and set about making dinner. A goat nanny and two kids were tied to a tree nearby. They were taken inside when it became dark, and then we began to get very cold. We hurriedly cleaned dinner pots and got in the tent as quickly as we could. It is going to be a cold one, with the low tonight being 26. I thought Southern Louisiana was going to be warmer than this! The cold weather will just not leave us alone. I'm so glad to have a warm sleepingbag, it has not been overkill. Tomorrow promises sunny, beautiful riding, so I will sleep well.

Also, even though we didn't go to Mardi Gras, I don't feel like we missed out because of the other cool things we have seen and done. Mardi Gras is not a safe place for people on bicycles, so I will leave that to another visit to the state of Louisiana. I'm sure we will find lots of beads on the road tomorrow. P.S. We bought a King Cake at Whole Foods two days ago for Mardi Gras and Greg ended up eating a lot of it (eventually all of it), so much that Perry started giving him a hard time about his consumption of King Cake. It was gone before Mardi Gras, oh well, we enjoyed it. As Perry put. "I went out in the garage and saw the empty King Cake box with the little baby just laying there in the middle and I was amazed."

Dani

A note from Greg:

What can I say? King Cake is Good Eats. I have a sweet tooth that is not helped at all by bicycling. When I am hungry and there is a big sweet King Cake in front of me, well, it can get a little crazy.

We Visit the Oakley Plantation with Perry and Lep, cycling superhosts.

2010-02-15T11:28:00.002-07:00

Us at the Oakley Plantation Visitor's center. Just look at those cheesy smiles.
Behind us are some original Audubon Birds of North America prints .

Here is one of those prints of the now extinct Carolina Parakeet.

Here are Lep and Perry. Louisiana's cycling superhosts. If you are bike touring through the area, you should look them up!

Oakley Plantation house where Audubon actually created 40 of the prints. Notice the louvered walls that help keep the upstairs porch cool.
Quiz: What 2 requirements differentiate a plantation from a farm? Don't use wiki! If you know leave us a comment.

Check out these plates! They are the original 200 year old plates from the time this house was built.

A turkey randomly dropped off at the plantation is now a Visitor's center mainstay.

Perry was brave enough to pet the turkey

Jackson Rest Day Two
2/15/10
Day 103

After we stayed up too late last night watching the Olympics after Perry and Lep went to bed, we slept in even more. Today we had more good hot coffee waiting for us on the counter. We ate breakfast with Perry and Lep and then they headed off to work out at the gym. While they were at the gym, Dani and I worked on the blog and on washing clothes. Here, they have a cool little washing machine that doubles as a drier. I never never seen a two in one, but Perry said it is a European thing, and this one was made in Italy. We couldn't be happier that we had a nice comfortable place to do laundry, work on the computer, and even watch a little TV.

We are so glad we got to stay with these folks for another day. When they got back from the gym, Perry heated up some great left overs and also made a great egg plant and ginger dish to go along with it all. This dish was amazing, the ginger added a good kick and the egg plant was delicious. After lunch, Perry and Lep took us down the highway a few miles to the Oakley Plantation. The Oakley Plantation is where John James Audubon painted 40 of the famous Birds of America Prints, and where he tutored a daughter of the plantation. This place was one of the better museums we have visited on the whole trip. We were able to get a guided tour of the original plantation house. This thing is over 200 years old, and is still mostly original framing. The guide told us a brief history of what the importance of each room was. It was amazing to be in a house this old and see the way Southern homes are built to cope with the high heat and humidity. There was actually a covered deck used as a Summer sleeping area with louvers for walls that were designed to keep a constant flow of air moving around the deck. One of the interesting things about the tour was a fact about Audubon himself. Apparently he was to be paid each tutoring session, but one month he only taught half as many sessions as the month before. He asked for the same amount of pay despite this fact, but the woman of the house only gave him half pay according to the agreement. Audubon was not happy with this so he took his half wage and went and asked the man of the house for half pay also. The father obliged and Audubon thought he had gotten away with double dipping. At supper that night, however, the father and mother were talking and realized they both had paid Audubon. They both asked him to leave immediately.

After we finished the tour of the house, we walked around the existing plantation. We checked out the Slave quarters and also the barn. The barn, beside being a neat old building, had very old plows and and some other neat old tools. We also checked out the chicken coup and the asked about how the managers kept the chickens safe from predators because they are allowed to roam completely freely all day. Apparently, they lose quite a few birds to raccoons.

After we finished up outside we went in the visitor's center and looked around. The information was great, but one of the newest things to us was that instead of the information being in English and Spanish like most places we have been, all of the interpretive text was in English and French. Guess it makes sense in Louisiana. Outside of the visitor's center, a tom turkey was standing right by the door strutting his stuff for everyone. Perry went right up and petted him like it was no big deal. I was surprised the turkey stood for this because I am used to seeing wild turkeys in South Dakota, and they can be quite vicious.

After our visit to the Oakley Plantation, Perry and Lep drove us around some of their favorite biking roads in the area on the way back to their house. This area of Louisiana is actually hilly which was quite a surprise to us. Perry told us that the hills are actually Glacial Loess.
When we got back home, Perry fed us some more great food, a filling and delicious lasagne. We are amazed at how fast our time has gone by here. Lep and Perry have set up a cyclists paradise here with the good food, very nice shower and beds, and the fact that they are both so fun to hang out with.

Greg

A Day With Perry and Lep

2010-02-14T11:11:00.000-07:00

A view of Lep and Perry's property. We enjoyed walking around and looking at the different trees and plants.

Meet Dixie and Tinker.

This is the shop building that they built that also has a living quarters inside. A good way to start out on some property if you don't yet have a house.

Jackson Rest Day

2/14/2010

Day 102

Ahh. How great it is to be staying with some wonderful Warmshowers hosts. We cannot even believe how lucky were are to have found Perry and Lep. Last night, we got to sleep in some extremely comfortable and clean beds in a warm and supremely dark room. We slept so well I don't think either Dani nor I even bothered to flinch when our usual 7:00am alarm went off.

When we finally did get up, Perry had brewed a nice pot of coffee and even had some half and half waiting on the counter. Did we die and go to heaven? I (Greg) love a good cup of coffee, especially with cream. Perry made some eggs and biscuits for breakfast which tickled us because we are not used to getting a hot meal in the morning.

After breakfast, Lep showed us around their property. They have about 5 acres including a nice little pond. Their piece of land is really beautiful and very lush, so when Perry said she might be thinking of getting some goats and chickens, we could easily picture it working out. Lep showed us their new trail camera that they have been using to photograph some of the local deer. Last night, however, it didn't get one. After we looked around the property and some of the surrounding area, Perry and Lep took us over to their neighbors house. Bucky, their neighbor, was a real friendly fellow and is in the process of building a house on his piece of property. He showed us some of his ideas for the place and also some of the trim work he has been working on. He also showed us some tables and benches he makes out of reclaimed cypress. These things are really works of art. If we weren't on bikes we would be tempted to buy one. His house was neat to look through. Perry told us it is a typical layout for classic Southern homes, but with a modern flair. When he finishes it, it is going to be a great house. The windows are huge and the floor plan is pretty open. The master bedroom had the biggest walk in closet I can remember seeing for quite some time.

After we looked around Bucky's place, Perry and Lep decided to take us into Baton Rouge and show us around a bit. Our first stop was the Whole Foods store. We love being able to go to nicer grocery stores, because many of the groceries on the actual southern tier route are pretty basic and sometimes even quite lacking. This Whole Foods was huge, and even had a nice area inside to eat some food for lunch. Dani had the salad bar and I had two ginormous pieces of pizza. Perry and Lep had some sushi and Perry had some great soup with lemongrass and lots of other great looking stuff I can't think of right now. Then we actually did some shopping at this store and got some really great stuff including a King Cake to celebrate Mardi Gras, but also Valentines Day. After Whole Foods they decided to take us to the Baton Rouge Cabelas so we could have a look around and maybe find something good in the bargain bin. Unfortunately, the bargain cave was very picked over, but we still got to look at some really neat guns in the gun library, and we left with six pieces of fudge. (You know how well marketing and chocolate both work on me).

After Cabelas, we went back to Lep and Perry's and ate a fine supper Perry prepared. We were so excited because it had venison in it! It was venison, rice, egg plant, tomatoes and what all else I am not even sure. All I know is it was a meal fit for a king and queen. After supper we had some King cake and decided it was time for bed. We had such a great day. Lep and Perry have made us feel amazingly at home. They feel a little bit like parents, but only in all of the best ways like fussing about keeping us full of food and warm and comfortable, but otherwise we already feel like we have made some great new friends. Relaxing and hanging out with Lep and Perry today was great.

Greg

Simmesport to Jackson, LA

2010-02-13T12:28:00.003-07:00

Dani holding on to the ferry as we turned to float across the Mighty Mississippi

There is the dock on the otherside of the river. It is quite narrow here.

BOB trailer on a boat deck.

Looking back at the ferry from the bow.

This here is what you call a Levee. We rode next to levees for almost the whole day today. This one is holding in the Mississippi. Also notice how green the grass is here.

Louisiana is full of agricultural land, and we can see why with the fertile soil and wet climate. The odd thing, however, is that this used to be thick dense swampy forest.

Simmesport to Jackson, LA
2/13/2010
Day 101
70 miles?

We began our ride this morning in the cold, with dreary skies. The lack of sun was making me feel down and I wished we had some sun to warm us up. We crossed the Atchafalaya River (here it is pronounced Uh-cha [as in Chad]-fuh-lie-uh). The Atchafalaya River is a huge river in Louisiana and has a lot of important When we left town we immediately had to take a detour up on a levee on a muddy road for ¼ mile. We got our bikes really muddy and the chains were full of grit. Shortly after getting through the mud I got my first flat tire since before Mesa, AZ. The muddy tires made the timing of the flat less than easy to deal with. The tires were so caked with mud that when we took the wire off the rim we both ended up with our hands and arms and legs covered in mud. Upon inspection of the tire we found a very large thorn sticking in the sidewall of the tire, right above the part of the tread where there is a double belt. We eventually got back on the road and things quickly brightened up from there.

About two miles after the flat tire, the sun came out and lifted our spirits. Everything looked lush and green and the sun kept us warm, even in the cold, wet air. We rode much of the way along a very large levee that held the Mississippi River just on the other side. We were very excited to cross the Mississippi river. Greg was especially excited that we were crossing on a ferry instead of a bridge. We didn't actually see the river until we got to the ferry crossing. At the crossing we rode right up to the river, got in a line of cars and rode right on the the ferry deck. It was pretty neat to ride our bikes on a boat. A sign on the ferry read, “Do Not Exit Vehicles,” we wondered what this meant for bicyclists, so to play it safe we straddled our bikes during the whole ride. Not long after we found our spot at the very front on the ferry, an amazingly loud air horn blasted one short honk, and off we went. The river here was much narrower than I had expected. The ferry ride only took about five minutes. Once the ferry docked on the other side, we rolled right off the boat's platform and back onto the highway.

On the other side of the river was the historic little town of St. Francisville. There were many beautiful old homes here and the streets and businesses were very well cared for. We immediately went to the Post Office so that we could pick up the new BoB wheel that our friend Nate had sent to us. Unfortunately the Post Office was already closed and would not be open again until Tuesday! We called our Warmshowers hosts (Perry and Lep) in Jackson and asked for directions to their home. We plan to stay with them for several days to avoid the debauchery of Mardi Gras and drunk drivers. We will also need to stay now until at least Tuesday so that we can pick up the new wheel. When I called Perry, I immediately felt welcome and I hadn't even met her yer. We rode the 17 miles from St. Francisville to their home and arrived just as it was getting dark. Perry and Lep are two very fun and interesting folks. They have a place here in Jackson, but their main home is in Houma, Louisiana. They love bikes, and cycling tourists, and really anything having to do with a new and exciting adventure. We had a great time talking to them tonight. We can't wait to get to know them better in the next couple of days. We were impressed by the great place they have here and they awesome setup for cyclists. They plan on building a house here on their property. They have a large steel garage/shop building and within that building is a smaller living space. In that living space is a small kitchen area, couch, TV, washing machine, awesome shower, and sleeping quarters. We know we will sleep well tonight after the good, filling, meal of lasagne, beans, rice, and salad. Mmm..
Goodnight!

Dani

A snow day... In Louisiana?

2010-02-12T12:22:00.003-07:00

Snow actually stuck on the roof of the motel.

Snow on the car right in front of our room. The sides of the roads were also iced over.

Simmesport Rest Day

2/12/2010

Day 100

We decided to stay another day today because it snowed last night. Snow in Louisiana!? El Nino is still following us, obviously. We are wondering if we will ever get away from below freezing weather. We never expected this so close to the Gulf of Mexico. It was a wet, cold night. As much as I hated to stay in this particular motel again, it was the only choice. We thought about hitchhiking, but ruled it out. We even considered riding that day, but with the snow/sleet on the ground and the fact that I am 100% confident that most drivers in Louisiana do not know how to drive in this weather, we decided to play it safe and stay off the roads.

We walked to the public library so we could post a note on the Blog and check some email. Then we had lunch at a local diner. We each got a Po-Boy with catfish, gulf coast oysters and gulf coast shrimp. Mmm, good tasting food! We watched TV and made food for the rest of the day. We also had pretty poor weather information because the weather channel didn't have a local slot and we could only gather information from the national forecast. We are anxious to get on our way tomorrow and make some miles. Miles and smiles and hopefully some sun.

Dani

Just a note, to update everyone

2010-02-12T10:43:00.002-07:00

We plan on catching up and posting all of the blogs between today and our last post, but we don't have enough internet time to do so right now.

We are currently in Simmesport Louisiana at a public library. We are staying at a motel here in town tonight, as we did last night. It snowed here and we have decided it is not safe for us to ride today. We would normally ride in this weather, but we don't trust people driving here because they are obviously not used to driving in wet snow. We hope to make it to St. Francisville tomorrow. We have no cell service and no internet at the motel, so we will not be able to get ahold of anyone until we leave Simmesport. Keep checking and we will let you know as we get better connection to the outside world.

Dani and Greg

Washington to Simmesport, LA. Snow is in the forecast.

2010-02-11T11:54:00.001-07:00

Ever tried finding internet connection on the back of an old caboose? Well we have.

This is the river by our campsite in Washington, LA.

There are many cemeteries in this part of the country and they have above ground graves. We are assuming this is to keep the caskets out of the very shallow water table.

Washington to Simmesport, LA
2/11/10
Day 99
38 miles

Today was a cold and dreary day. We had no sunshine and the weather was miserable. We had no real option other than to get to the little motel in Simmesport because of lack of campgrounds in good locations and the fact that we knew it was going to be very cold and rainy. It rained throughout the day. We got to a little truck stop in Lebeau for a quick lunch and realized that we had made a good choice. Instead of only serving Americana truck stop food like burgers and chickens tenders, this place had gumbo and jambalaya on the menu. We ate a hearty Cajun lunch and continued on our way, very, very reluctant to continue in such cold and wet weather. Many people today have snowed down on the road to tell us that snow is coming and that we should get where we are going sooner than later.

When we got to Plaucheville I had become complacent and not as alert as I should have been. Greg had warned me several times that day about avoiding cracks in the pavement when it was so wet and slippery. When riding through town I rode up too close behind him, as I sometimes tend to do, so that my front wheel was actually alongside the BoB trailer wheel. He moved over to the left when my wheel was alongside his wheel to the left and it got caught and then basically tipped me right over once I lost traction on the slippery, wet pavement. Luckily, again, I was just fine. I had no real injuries, just a muddy tumble. Immediately everyone who saw the fall asked it we were OK. One man who was walking his dog across the street came over and asked us if we were ok, and where we were going that day. We told him we were going 17 miles further to Simmesport. He immediately offered to give us a ride. He thought that the weather conditions were too risky and he hated seeing us out in the cold. I felt shaken up from falling and tired of riding in the cold rain, so we took him up on the offer. His name is Aaron and he works at a community college nearby and has worked on the volunteer fire department in Plaucheville for 30 years. We also met Aaron's wife and his son who had also been working on the VFD for 5 years. They were kind and offered to have us come in, but we decided we should get down the road. Aaron is also a gunsmith and an avid sportsman and member of some conservation organizations. He too had learned to speak French as a kid and had to learn English when he got to grade school. We love to hear the Cajun dialect and hear the different pronunciations. We had a great time talking to him on the way to Simmesport. I am really thankful that he offered to take us to our motel. This was also the first time we have ever accepted a ride on our route for the whole trip, so we didn't feel bad about accepting a 17 mile ride out of the whole distance we have gone.

We checked in to our motel, The Sportsman's Inn, and were a little shocked at our room. It was obvious that the motel is in the middle of remodeling. The walls were newly painted and the sink was new, but the carpet was old and there was no floor trim, just a big crack where you could see the drywall. There was a band-aid on the TV and old food in the microwave. We were disgusted, but at least the sheets and shower were clean. Oddly, there was also no trash can or towels (which we were eventually able to get from the owner). We didn't want to be rude or pushy guests because the owners were a family with a small kid and all of their other employees seemed not to care about the guests. It was also the only place in town, so we couldn't really argue with them about the price (which was in our opinion, too expensive at $51). That night we ventured out in the pouring rain to find wireless internet and some dinner. The gas station attendants directed us to the Simmesport visitor/tourism booth which was actually a caboose from a train. We stood under the covered part of the back of the caboose and tried to get internet, but it was turned off, apparently. Then we went to the Piggly Wiggly grocery store and bought dinner. Tomorrow we will go to the public library and get online there. So, we are stuck here without cell service or internet and we feel pretty disconnected from the world. We are concerned about having to stay here tomorrow with the no-travel recommendation and the forecast of snow.

Dani

Mamou to Washington, LA. And our most extensive political commentary on this trip.

2010-02-10T12:06:00.003-07:00

The campground in Washington, LA. It seemed like the campground served the bar as in, come here and get drunk and then you can stay here and not drive home. Not the best place ever.

However, we got set up with a nice little camping spot at the Washington campground under a metal roof and on concrete. At least we stayed dry.

This campground even had chickens living in a broken down camper trailer. Dani wanted to go in a look for eggs. Greg said she was crazy.

The French speaking Cajuns in Ville Platte. These guys were a real hoot.

Mamou to Washington, LA
2/10/2010
Day 98
35 miles

Louisiana is a good place to be, especially after Super Bowl 44. We keep seeing signs that say Geaux Saints and Who Dat? Gotta say, it is pretty fun to travel and meet people who are in such a celebratory mood. Not only have the Saints just won the Superbowl for the first time ever, but Mardi Gras begins this weekend and promises to be a good time, if anyone has any energy left to party after the Superbowl celebration.

We had a good sleep at the impound in Mamou. We went to the hospital to get some breakfast before we left town. Greg went inside to locate the cafeteria, and nearly got lost in the maze of the building. They ended up not being open until lunch time, so we headed down the road. The next town down the road is Ville Platte. We rolled into this town and stopped by the Chamber of Commerce. There we met several very nice ladies who helped us find the best place in town to eat. They even went to the trouble of calling each place in town to see what the lunch special was. We were told that Ville Platte is the most French-speaking town in Louisiana. People speak French as a regular part of business and family life. Ville Platte is also the “swamp pop capital of the world” and the “smoked meat capital of the world.” We stopped by a Cajun spice shop called “Slap Yo Mama,” where they sold all kinds of spice mixes and loads of Mardi Gras party items. They had all kinds of cookbooks and a series of kids' book featuring an alligator named Gaston. I looked through one of these books called “Gaston drills an offshore oil well.” We got some hot sauce and spices and headed down to the Pig Stand restaurant to get some lunch.

We sat down at the Pig Stand and the waitress was very nice and asked us “What would you babies like for lunch?” with an unmistakable Cajun accent, which is very dissimilar to a southern drawl. We had a hard time deciding what to choose but eventually decided on some lunch specials. Greg ordered the crawfish etoufee, which is a wonderfully flavored sauce, much like gravy, with pepper and crawfish served over a bed of white rice. I ordered “stew shrimp,” which is a slightly sweet sauce/stew with shrimp over rice. Both meals were served with a creamy potato salad, a side salad, and two large fried catfish filets with tartar sauce. We thought about how every ingredient in this meal, from the rice to the crawfish, was grown or raised in this state. The lunches were absolutely amazing. We enjoyed every single bite. At one point during the lunch, a woman came into the restaurant with a large cardboard box, selling something. We thought it was kind of strange that a restaurant would allow someone to sell food to customers while they were eating. Each patron she approached bought something and she was met with appreciation instead of being ignored or asked to leave. When she came to our table we found out she was selling homemade pecan brittle and we happily bought one. We can't wait to share it later. Before we left the Pig Stand we talked to the ladies working there about our trip and their state. Our conversation flowed as if we were some regulars. It seems like most people around here treat you with the kindness and trust of a neighbor, not an stranger. We continue to feel welcome and have really begun to like Louisiana and see its unique culture.

After our meal at the Pig Stand we headed to McDonalds, the only place in town with wireless internet. As we walked in we spoke with a couple of old Cajuns. They told us that they come to McDonalds every day to get their coffees for 44 cents and talk for a couple of hours. They told us that we could sit down and listen to some old timers talk bull, but we could only understand about half of what they were saying. Their conversation flowed easily from French to English and back again. We used the computer to enter some blogs, and before we left, I asked them for a picture. We ended up talking to them for another half hour as they bantered back and forth. Sometimes they would say something in French to one of their friends, then turn to us to translate to English. One of the men at the table told me that their French dialects are very regional and that about every fifty miles the French is slightly different. We had a great time meeting and talking to these Cajuns, but we unfortunately had to cut our time in Ville Platte short and head down the road to our campground in Washington. On the way there, Greg saw a funny looking horse and said to me, “I think it kind of looks like a llama.” I thought he had said, “I think it kind of looks like Obama.” Naturally, I was offended and asked him what the heck he was talking about. He said, “you know, it has a long face and those pointy ears.” I was getting pretty upset at this point until I finally said “Greg, you are saying that horse looks like our president, Obama?!” He started laughing hysterically when he realized why I was so offended, “No, no, no, the horse looks kind of like a LLAMA, Dani!” Ohhh....hahaha. Now I get it. This is a good example of how hard communication can be at times when riding a bicycle. Most of the time you can barely hear what the other person is saying, and sometimes that proves comical.

Washington was established in 1720 as a French trading post. About 80% of the buildings in this town are architecturally or historically significant. There are many, many antique shops and no real grocery store. We found our campground in Washington, which was pretty minimal. The bathrooms were not functioning or clean. We saw an abandoned trailer with chickens roosting inside. When Greg told the owner that we were camping in tents, the bar got quiet. A man at the other end of the bar said quietly, in a voice no one should have been able to hear (yet they all did) “you want to camp....in a tent? Don't you know its cold out there?” Greg replied “Oh, we will be fine, we are from Montana.” Then, as if in a movie, the man replied “Oh, that explains why you're lookin' a little like a grizzly mountain man.” The music from the bar kept us up late. We had to laugh about bar music that night. Greg's Dad had told him that at some point in the night, in every bar in America, you will hear Cocaine, by Eric Clapton. That night we heard Cocaine played twice in the span of two hours and we had to laugh. We also had some good times listening to an oldies station on our portable radio and dancing by the river on a rickety bandstand.

Thankfully, we had decided to camp under an awning because it started to rain at about 6AM.

Dani

DeRidder to Mamou. We enter Acadiana.

2010-02-09T13:27:00.001-07:00

All of the rivers we crossed today were flooding at least a little bit after the big rain.

Our secure campsite at the Mamou police station. Notice the razor wire.

These tractors are using a disc to turn a rice paddy. This was crazy to watch. It looked like tractors driving through a lake, and they actually pushed a huge wave across the field.

Dani eating at the cafe in Oberlin, LA. Notice the chili cheese fries.

This is the Hangover Burger, chili cheese fries, and a BLT. Food fit for the Gods.

DeRidder to Mamou, LA
2/9/10
Day 97
73 miles

Note: Acadiana is a part of Louisiana made up of Acadians (also known as Cajuns) that probably has the most dense French speaking population in the United States. This is where the Cajun culture originated and continues today. Check it out.

The rain stopped around 9:30 last night, finally. Rain down here takes on a new meaning. I have never seen a storm with so little wind that dumped two inches of rain so quickly. It is seriously like there are no rain drops, but just huge buckets full of water being dumped from the sky. When the rain stopped, we winced as we walked out to our tent to assess the damage. Luckily, most of our stuff was surprisingly dry. The whole yard at the campground, however, turned into a big swamp. The ground is so saturated here that the water doesn't really soak in, it just sits in puddles or turns fields into small lakes. We are way out of our element here. I have never seen so much standing water. This does not happen in the dry West.

This morning, much to our surprise, we found that a wind came up over night and dried out our rain fly. The floor of our tent was completely soaked, but that is pretty expected when your tent is pitched in a puddle. We packed our stuff up and got out of camp at a good time. So good, that we decided to take a leisurely trip back into town to eat some doughnuts. When we finished with our fried dough and sugar, we headed down the road.

As soon as we left DeRidder, the route varied from a East to South East heading. The wind was blowing very strong from the North, so when we would head South even a little, our speed would dramatically increase. At times we would cruise at 16-18 mph on flat ground! Gotta love days like that. When we headed straight East, the wind was so strong from the side that when a gust would hit us, it became a fight just to keep everything rolling straight down the road.

We reached Oberlin, basically the first town of any size after DeRidder and decided we were making such great time that we should stop at a lunch spot. We only found one cafe, but it looked ok. As soon as we went in, I knew we had made a good choice. We both agreed at the beginning of this trip that we would sacrifice our food ethics to try some truly new food. Well this cafe fit the bill. I ordered what might be the best hamburger of my life. It was called the hangover burger and came replete with bacon, a fried egg, ½ pound of beef, smothered in cheese and topped with hot sauce. The bun was sweet and soft and lightly toasted. This burger was enough to leave anyone with coronary heart problems, but seriously, it tasted so good that the endorphin release probably negated the truck load of cholesterol. We also shared chili cheese fries and fried snickers! I have been looking for fried candy this whole trip because I have never had it before. The fried snickers were great, but we started talking to the staff and they told us fried Oreos were even better. They fried some up for us on the house just because they thought we needed to give them a try. My god they were good. By the time we hit the road, our guts with filled with so much grease that it is almost unfair to say that we were not emitting carbon, or at least methane.

We rode onto the small town of Mamou and looked for a grocery store but we could only find a Family Dollar. These stores have slim pickin's, but we found enough to make a meal and headed off to find a campground listed on our map. Come to find out, the campground was closed. We then rode the three miles back into town to find a hotel, but it was also closed. We started having the sinking feeling that we did not have anywhere to stay. We went to a store and asked if anyone knew where to camp in town and they looked at us like we were crazy. At this point, we started getting a little worried. The sun had been down for over an hour and we still had no place. We have never done this before, but we decided to try asking at the Catholic Church in Mamou. We Knocked on the door and asked if we could put a tent up in the yard. The first gentleman we asked looked at us like we were a bit crazy, but said he would get the Father and ask him. Father came to the door, and told us that it was probably not going to work to put our tent in the yard of the church, and he didn't think the backyard was safe because it was a bad neighborhood. We were glad he was looking out for our well being, but we still needed a place to stay.

After Father became more comfortable with us not just being some random crazies, he called the chief of police and hooked us up with a spot at the Police station. We went to the Police station and chatted with the dispatcher named Miss Stephanie while we waited for the chief. Miss Stephanie told us that this cold weather right now is not common for Louisiana at all. El Nino continues to follow us on this whole trip. When the chief came down, he showed us where would could put up our tent in the impound lot behind the station. We were definitely safe here, we were in a locked fence topped with razor wire. They also let us use the cooking facilities in the station, so we were able cook and eat inside. Thank goodness for the Mamou police. These folks were more than accepting of our weird travel method and took us right in. There is something about the South, the people here have a way of making us feel at home almost instantly. It is amazing how accepting many of the people seem to be.
We went to bed and were able to let down knowing we were safe in our own locked yard at the police station

Greg

A Day of Needed Rest

2010-02-08T13:14:00.001-07:00

Rest Day in DeRidder, LA
2/8/10
Day 96

Today seemed like a very good day to take a rest. With four 70 plus mile days behind us, we were feeling sore and low on energy. We took the day off to catch up on some much overdue laundry and on our blogs.
We slept in awhile and enjoyed getting up slowly. We went into back into town a few miles to get some breakfast at a little cafe and to make a stop at the grocery store. Then we did our aforementioned laundry and blogs. Mostly we just took it easy and wondered if it was going to rain today. The forecast called for rain this evening, which was another reason we thought we might just hang out here another day.

Eventually we went back into town to eat supper around 6:30. Still no rain. As soon as our food was delivered to the table I heard a noise on the roof and ran outside to find the rain pouring down and soaking our leather saddles again. Mine is so wet I think it might be ruined. When we finally got up the gumption to leave, the rain started coming down even harder. We suited up in rain jackets and pants and walked our bikes the few miles back to camp. Dani found her sleeping bag wet inside the tent. The sleeping bag was pushed up against the screen on one side of the tent where the water slashes off the ground and drips through the screen into the tent. Hopefully the rain stops sometime soon. There is no way to keep things dry here in the rain. As soon as rain starts, the ground becomes saturated and water stands everywhere. Hopefully we can get some sleep tonight.

Greg

Louisiana is actually on the other side of Texas

2010-02-07T16:37:00.001-07:00

Sentimental as Greg was waving goodbye to Texas, He moved on into the brave unknown called Louisiana.

All of those white dots in the distance as far as you can see are FEMA trailers

Louisiana sunset

Dani on the other side of the Louisiana state line. Now we will see Parishes instead of counties

More FEMA trailers

Silsbee, TX to DeRidder, LA

2/7/10

Day 95

76 Miles

Last night we studied the map like we do every night and realized that again, we would ride over 70 miles. We got off to a better start this morning, about an hour earlier than usual, but we are back in a coastal climate so humidity soaks our tent every night. It is humid enough in the morning that it takes awhile to dry everything out. At least when we crawled out of the tent this morning, sore and stiff as we were, the sun was shining and it looked like it was going to be a nice day.

We headed off on a larger US highway with big shoulders but heavier traffic. These highways are usually fine for riding, but the shoulders are covered in more debris from stuff blowing out of trucks, and also due to semi truck tires. There are always scraps of blown up tire everywhere, and they usually contain sharp metal wire that can puncture your tire if you are not careful. It is amazing how flat it is around here, seriously. We have not seen any riding this flat for this long on the whole trip. Our maps no longer even carry an elevation profile. The biggest hills at this point would be 400 feet in elevation.

About 15 miles into the day, we cut across a tiny sliver of the Big Thicket National Preserve. We see why it is called Big Thicket, I would not even want to set foot in this place. It is filled with bramble bushes and trees so thick I don't even think sunlight or maybe even oxygen can penetrate into this shrubby forest.

Imagine this, being 30 miles into your day of riding, thinking now it is time for lunch, and realizing you are not even half way to your destination yet. Then imagine that this day is the fourth day in a row that this has been the case. Well that was us today. Instead of trudging on, we spotted a Subway and decided to eat early on instead of running out of energy later. We really hate what our diet has become, but when you are spending 7-8 hours a day on your bike, going to a sit down restaurant isn't really an option, and that is if that option even exists. It seems like lately our other choice is either Dairy Queen, or some fried chicken. So, Subway seems like a good compromise.

El Nino is really having its way with us. Today, we had pretty good weather, don't get me wrong, but we are almost in Louisiana and it feels down right chilly. At least there was no rain, but even the locals are all bundled up like Minnesotans for making their Superbowl beer runs. We will be fine though, as long as the rain stays mostly out of the forecast.

Around 50 miles into our day today, we reached a very important milestone. We actually reached the other side of Texas. We went back and counted the days. We entered Texas on January 11^th and left it on February 7^th, that is 27 days if I am not mistakin'. Nearly a month of Lone Star travel. We were in Texas for so long, we started to feel like honorary citizens, but the Atlantic is still out there, just waiting for us, so we continue on. Texas, it has been nice seeing you. Maybe we will meet again.

When we reached Louisiana, the roads were deserted. We quickly realized this was because the New Orleans Saints were about to play in Super Bowl. Hopefully they win so we have a bunch of happy Louisianans. On the way to DeRidder, we saw numerous swamps and a bunch of standing water, even in the fields. One of such fields was mowed and cleared and filled as far as we could see with FEMA trailers. It was unbelievable to see all of these things just rotting away in some deserted field. If they weren't poisoned with formaldehyde I would take one off of their hands. When we finally reached DeRidder, we were so happy to be at the end of our day. This was just so many miles to ride back to back. Our bottoms were unbelievably sore and our legs were awfully tired. We think tomorrow looks like a good day for a rest day.

Greg

Cold Springs to Silsbee, TX....the true meaning of saddlesore

2010-02-06T15:32:00.010-07:00

Dairy Queen and Texas have a special relationship. There seems to be a Dairy Queen in every town.

A Texas Clear cut. Looks like Western Washington sans mountains.

Take note grasshoppers. This is hunting skill at its best. That is, if you are hunting for a road sign.

Cold Springs to Silsbee, TX

2/6/10

Day 94

80 miles

This morning we took our time getting going and enjoyed the calm, sunny campground. We again practiced our slingshot skills on trees. We eventually got going around 11:30 AM, hey, at least it wasn't PM. And yes, we rode 80 miles and left at 11:30, I'm not sure how. The day seemed kind of a blur. We just had to keep on pedaling in order to get where we were going. An unusually large number of dogs chased us today, but none of them too aggressive. Dogs just like the chase, and they seem to get confused if you stop riding your bike, like, “why aren't you running? We were having so much fun chasing you.” To pass the miles and the time we played a game where you guess the distance between road signs up ahead and then check the guesses against our speedometers. I have never seem so many churches in such a high density as there are here in this part of Texas. There are definitely more churches than gas stations and grocery stores put together. Most of the churches we have seen are Baptist, Church of Christ, Pentecostal, Methodist and several others I can't remember.

When we got to Silsbee we had another Blizzard at DQ and tried jalitos, a special Dairy Queen treat we have only seen in Texas. Jalitos are slices of jalapeno slices that are fried and come with a dipping sauce. Hopefully we get to try more Southern specific fare as we continue Eastward.

Since southern California, the predominate ethnic minority has been, overwhelmingly, Latino. Now as we near Louisiana, we have noticed a wholesale shift from Latino to African American. There is still a strong south of the border influence with the number of Mexican restaurants and the foods available at grocery stores. Now, however, there are many Barbeque restaurants and we are noticing a few places with crayfish. The south also has a great number of family owned fried-chicken places. Even these little Mom-and-Pop places seem to have drive thru windows. We are interested to see how this food and culture shift will materialize with the African American and Cajun influence as we continue into Louisiana.

Dani