Day 1
Friday
3/21/03
The steady rain had all of us waking up during the night as
if our ears were tuned into the frequency of raindrops pounding on the roof.
None of us wanted to start this tour in the pouring rain. It rained hard all
night and then miraculously stopped early in the morning. The roads were
still wet when we started but the sky was clearing. After the nights downpour
nobody was complaining about wet roads.
Tim had plotted the first section of the route into burro of
Queens in New York City. Our turn sheets worked perfect and the city riding was
interesting and traffic reasonable. As we got closer to the city traffic did
pick up a bit as we had anticipated. Late in the day the sky became more and
more overcast. By 4PM the clouds were dark and thick. It was obvious more heavy
rain was on it’s way. Our timing was perfect as a major downpour started just
as we arrived at our second sleep spot The Floral Park Motor Inn. We just got
under the motels overhang as the sky opened up! One minute later and we would
have been all soaked to the bone.
We ate delicious cheeseburgers for dinner at a restaurant across
from the motel. Oh were they were soooo goooood!
93.5 Miles
Day 2
Saturday
3/22/03
We had a good breakfast at the hotel and got an early start for our attack on
the busy streets of Manhattan. We were glad to have had learned some valuable
experience with riding in the big city a year earlier. Last spring we rode 108
miles through the 5 burros of New York City in the NYC Century Ride an
organized event. During that ride we learned what it takes to safely maneuver
through the city streets from the people who live there. Knowing the right
moves on the bike makes the big city a little less intimidating to us small
town boys.
It is pretty exciting riding fully loaded touring bicycles
over the Brooklyn Bridge and among the tall skyscrapers of New York City.
Walking through Manhattan is an experience, as anyone that has done it will
agree. Riding a bicycle is even more awe inspiring. All the tall buildings and
life of the city come at you faster and from every direction. Your looking at
the road, traffic, people and lights, sirens are screaming and horns are
beeping constantly, it can become overwhelming.
Some people look at you like you are some kind of nut and
others clearly appear as they wish they were coming along.
With all of this you still must stay focused on riding the
bike.
While our bikes are moving through the busy areas we are
always on high alert. This proved to be a lifesaver for Joe. He was almost
given the “door prize”. No he did not win some kind of contest… The fabled
“door prize” is when a person decides to open their car door just as you are
passing the parked vehicle. I don’t have to explain how ugly that could get.
Some motorists wonder why a cyclist is not riding six
inches off the shoulder or parked cars completely out of the roadway. That is
only one of the reasons. Just as Joe approached the parked car while being
squeezed to the right by passing traffic the driver without looking blasted the
door open. In a lightning fast move with a bike that maneuvers like a loaded
semi Joe whipped the bike around the door missing it by fractions of an inch.
Ken was right behind Joe and saw the near accident unveil.
The car owner never blinked and eye or even acted like he knew what had just
transpired. He just got out of the car and walked away. One thing we learned
was to always look ahead into parked cars for people inside ready to hand out
the “door prize”. Lucky for Joe he was paying attention or our trip could have
ended much sooner than expected.
Our plan for today was to catch the Cape May ferry to the
tip of New Jersey from Pier 11 in Manhattan. The wind had picked up
considerably and it hampered our forward progress somewhat. But luckily for us
our mapping proved to be right on target again. Even with the headwind we
arrived at the ferry slip an hour early.
Now with some extra time we decided to ride to the
financial district which was about a mile away for a few photos.
When we stopped at the NY Stock Exchange the NYPD had the
Exchange barricaded and guarded for security because of the 9-11 terrorist
attack. They were in full riot gear with assault rifles drawn. They did
not look like a friendly group I can tell you that. After a few photos we
hopped back on the bikes and headed back to Pier 11. After we paid for our
tickets and headed towards the ferryboat we ran into more security. Armed Port
Authority police demanded we remove all the bags from off our bicycles and
empty them out for inspection. Not and easy task with all the gear we had and our
panniers strapped securely to the bike racks. Our gear was spread in a huge
circle as the officers went through the 20 bags we had. With only seconds left
before the boat was to leave we were told to grab our gear and board. On the
ferryboat a passenger asked us of our journey when he saw all the gear we had
piled on the floor in a heap. We told him we were on our way to Florida from
Connecticut.
He asked us if we planned to ride the Outer Banks of North
Carolina along our route. We told him that was the only place on the route we
had two options for. Ride the Outer Banks or take a short cut going inland and
save 70 miles. He said “Don’t miss the Outer Bank if you have never been
there. He said I know what I am talking about the Outer banks is where I live.
At that point he gave us his address and telephone number. “Should you guys
need anything when on the Banks give me a call and I will come and help out.”
With that we decided the Outer Banks it will be. Our day ended exactly as
planned at Toms River, NJ by 5pm.
71.25 miles
Day 3
Sunday
3/23/03
We left Tom’s River NJ early after a good breakfast with
plans to reach Cape May by the end of the day. Again we had the wind in our
face as soon as we hit the road although. We now have come to the realization
that the wind could be a major factor on this trip. Any cyclist will tell you
wind is worse than any hill. At least with a hill you get the satisfaction of
conquering the climb and the reward of the fast downhill. The wind offers no
feeling of accomplishment and certainly no reward for the added effort it
relentlessly asks of you.
As we left Tom’s River and headed south the landscape became
more remote. None of us expected New Jersey to have such uninhabited roadways.
I guess we all expected New Jersey to be more like New Your City with busy
roads and gobs of people. The New Jersey we are now seeing is more like a
backcountry road in Vermont. Perfect! Well for a while anyway…. The landscape
became more and more remote until the blacktop road ended and we started onto a
dirt road.
Soon the soft dirt roadway turned into sand. Beach sand.
The deep sand proved to be impassible by bike. We were forced to get off the
bikes and push them. The skinny tires, heavy bikes and deep sand made this a
chore much harder than pedaling. We plowed through the sand walking the bikes
for well over a mile before we reached blacktop again. At that point we decided
to pull out the map and choose an alternate route to Cape May. Arriving a
little later than we hoped for and beat from the pushing and wind we settled
for the first motel we came upon. Below the standards we like to have but we
were all whipped. Our plan is to catch the first ferry to Lewes Delaware in
the morning.
98.5 miles
Day 4
Monday 3/23/03
A slightly late start in the morning and an incredibly long
line at the ticket booth caused us to miss the first ferry to Lewes Delaware.
While we waited for the next ferry we pulled out our map and tried to figure
out how many miles this delay was going to cost us.
After a few minutes we decided to change our plans and stay
in Ocean City. In the end missing the ferry would prove to actually be good
thing. We walked to the end of a long rock jetty and sat watching the ocean.
Unknown to us Ocean City is a big summer vacation
destination. As we entered the city we came upon a huge empty boardwalk that
went on forever.
On one side of the boardwalk was a never-ending beach and on
the other stores, shops and monster skyscraper hotels.
We needed a place to stay but these places were clearly out
of our budget. We were not even going to check the room prices because they
looked so expensive.
And from mid May to mid September they are expensive. But
this is March and the place is basically deserted of tourist and most of the
stores were not even open yet. We checked the price at the Holiday Inn and
were shocked. We could get a luxury ocean view suite for $49! Oh yea we will
take it.
What a cool place at such a bargain price. This made up for
last nights dumpy motel. Each room had a bedroom living room and kitchenette.
After dinner we went over our mapping and decided we will
now arrive at the B&B on day 6 instead of day 5. The owners of this B&B
are the ones that will drive us through the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel. We will call
them tomorrow and let them know what day we will be arriving. Weather forecast
is perfect and it looks like easy riding ahead.
46 miles
Day 5
Tuesday
3/24/03
Trip Log as of 12:00 Noon
346.5 Total Miles
28h 53m
11.9 Avg.
It was a perfect sunny day as we left Ocean City. You could
not ask for better riding conditions. Our route was to take us on part of a
known bicycle route called “The View Trail 100”. The View Trail 100 is a
100-mile local cycling route on very rural and scenic Maryland roads.
This is a portion of our trip that a local cycling shop
recommended we take. We were able to use a little more than 50 miles of this
route on our way south to Florida. The 50+ miles of that route we rode were
spectacular.
I would say some of the best riding conditions we have ever
had. The day was a warm and sunny 65 degrees. We passed only 3 cars while in
Maryland and entered Virginia still on great rural cycling roads. This was a
very enjoyable day that ended at a very nice Comfort Inn.
76 miles
Day 6
Wednesday
3/25/03
Strong head winds beat badly on us today. Top speed on flat
ground at times was less than 10 mph pushing as hard as we could. All of us
hoped the winds of today would not plague us tomorrow. We arrived at the Bed
and Breakfast at 3pm. This B&B is situated at the very tip of New Jersey
not far from the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel. It sits on 200 acres of land with a
few thousand feet of direct waterfront on the bay. The owners were in their
late 50’s I would guess. The woman was very friendly and so was her husband who
is an ex-DEA agent. Most of the B&B’s land is leased to others for tomato
farming. We parked our bicycles in a barn and settled in for a good nights
sleep after a walk on the deserted beach.
We ate breakfast early and got all our gear ready. After
stuffing four fully loaded bikes onto a mini truck the DEA agent realized he
had nothing to tie the bikes down with.
There was barley enough room in the back of the truck to stuff
the four loaded bikes in. The best thing he could come up with was some thin
elastic cord. Using little more than rubber bands to hold our precious cargo
down we left for our ride across the bridge.
The flimsily tie-downs they provided had us all a bit
nervous as we watched the bike sway back and forth with every bend in the
road. All we need to ruin our trip is one of these 70+ pound bikes flying out
of the truck onto the roadway at 50mph. Ken rode with the DEA agent in the
pickup and the others had a wild ride with his wife who thought she was at The
Daytona 500. She made moves in the bay tunnel Dale Earnhardt would have
been proud of.
What a hell ride they had. We were dumped off just on the
other side of the bridge/tunnel as we requested. Tim’s mapping put us on
course for the Outer Banks.
We expected rain this morning but the sky was clear.
Our route brought us to Kitty Hawk NC and we attempted to go to the Wright
Brothers Museum but we arrived just a little too late to go.
That was a shame because this was the 100th
anniversary of the historic flight. We can already see why the man we met on
the ferry told us “not to miss the Outer Banks” . This part of the trip will
be awesome. We stayed at the Quality Inn Outer Banks NC with a spectacular
ocean view for a mere $39.00! Another incredible pre-season bargain.
98 miles
Day 7
Friday
3/28/03
Trip Log as of Friday Night
627.9 Miles
51.17 Hours
12.2 Average
The Outer Banks is a narrow strip of land separated by
Pamilico Sound part of the inter-coastal waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. The
inter-coastal waterway is a protected inland route recreational boaters can
uses from the northeast to Florida. All the houses in this area appeared
almost new…. because they were.
Hurricanes ravage this area every few years. With no cover
the houses take a beating. The narrow strip of land has been breached by
storms and ferries now connect the roadways. We encountered very little
traffic on the one and only road running north and south. I would imagine if it
were July instead of March these roads would be busy. Today we crossed the
peninsula on two ferries and ended up in the town of Cedar Grove just off the
Outer Banks.
For most of the day it was sunny and the winds were
moderate. We had no choice but to stay in the one and only Motel in town. It
looked a little cheesy but it was late and we were much too far away from the
next motel. We did not see anyone in the office but there was a phone with
number posted to call. After a few anxious minutes of waiting even that place
started looking good. About 30 minutes later someone showed up. After paying
for the room we were given a basket of “snacks” to brig back to the room.
Nothing in the basket looked eatable. Inside the plumbing fixtures were rusty
and nasty. The water coming out of the shower actually stunk. ( this place is
a double bagger for sure) There were no restaurants in the area so we rode to a
small variety store to find some food for dinner. The store had little to choose
from. We grabbed a loaf of bread and made PB&J’s for dinner in Joe and
Kelley’s room.
76 miles
Day 8
Saturday
3/29/03
Today Joe and Kelley will have to depart from this journey
and head home due to time restraints. Their plan is to ride the Jacksonville
NC airport and rent a car. Then they will drive the approximate 750 miles back
to Connecticut.
Sadly Tim and I watched Kelley and Joe leave the motel at
6:30 AM. They have a long way to ride and the weather already looks threatening.
Today’s forecast is for heavy rain and they need to make the Jacksonville NC
airport to pick up a car.
After they left we returned to the room and got ready to
ride. About an hour after we departed from the motel the weather began to
deteriorate rapidly. The sky turned black and it started to downpour. I tried
to call Joe and Kelley to see if they were going to abandon their quest for the
airport. With the heavy rain and wind I did not think they could possibly make
the nearly 100 miles to the airport in time to pick up the car. I did not get
an answer on the cell phone so I left a message. After a few hours of steady
rain it finally started to taper off. Still we had no contact with Joe and
Kelley.
Tim and I planned to transverse through the Fort Lejeune
Marine Camp as directed on our Adventure Cycling Map. We stopped at a
convenience store for a snack and to look over our directions. I noticed a guy
pumping gas looking over at us. He eventually came over and asked where we
were going. We told him we are on our way to Florida. He asked if we planned
to go through the Military Camp and we told him we were.
He said, “I would not go that way unless you don’t mind
them tearing down your bikes and searching every item you have”. Not that mess
again, decided to avoid that inconvenience and went through Jacksonville. This
added a few more miles and the road was busy. The ride through the city was
bad but having all your gear ripped off the bikes and emptied onto the ground
is worse.
We eventually made it to Cedar Point washed our filthy bikes
at a carwash next to the Best Western where we stayed for the night. Finally
Joe and Kelley called us and we and found out they rode an impressive 98 miles
at a 15 mph average in that horrid weather! They were in the car headed home.
We were glad they made it but wished they were still with us. Tomorrows
forecast is for continued rain and wind.
76 Very wet miles
Day 9
Sunday
3/30/03
We again woke to the threat of heavy rain. The sky was
black and it looked like all hell was ready to break loose at any moment. With
the weather looking so bleak and our freshly cleaned bikes the decision was
made to wait in the motel and see what happens. After yesterdays soaking the
thought of more water torture was not as appealing as the cozy warm room. We
left under gloomy skies at 9AM and within two hours the rain started on us
again. We rode out of Jacksonville NC on our way to Wilmington. The steady
rain filled our shoes to the top making our feet feel like they were in two
“personal little swimming pools”. The rain continued nearly all day long and it
came down heavy at times. The downpours were so strong it was hard to even see
the road at times.
No matter how many times you do it, riding in the rain on a
loaded bike is miserable. You are wet, generally cold and cars have trouble
seeing you. Again lucky for us we had a carwash near the hotel and again washed
the road grime off our bikes. A clean bike is a happy bike. Remember when you
are touring all you have is your bike. It is your machine your mode of
transportation you want it clean. And lets not forget we are wheeling these
through the lobby past the front desk of the motel to store the bikes in the
room. We don’t want to roll in on the motel carpet with greasy dripping bikes
on our way to the elevator.
70 Miles
Day 10
Monday
3/31/03
In the morning when we woke it appeared the rain had passed
through overnight being pushed by a nasty cold front. It should be warm this
far south but is was not. The roads were still very wet but the sky was
clearing. It was breezy, wet and a very chilly 37 degrees. The low air
temperature and stiff winds chilled us to the bone.
We crossed the South Carolina border today and immediately
noticed this state does not believe hard shoulders are necessary on the
roadway. The comfortable 4’ wide shoulder of North Carolina was replaced with
a white line at the edge of a nasty 6” drop onto soft shoulder. This meant we
had to ride the white line to stay out of traffic. One false move off the
blacktop into that soft sand and you will go ass over teakettle. Unlucky for us
this was a busy road with a steady stream of cars and trucks going by. The
combination of traffic, no shoulder and the 6” drop into quicksand made for
hours of white knuckle riding. The weather remained cold and we were glad to
get off the bikes at our destination of Little River SC.
79 miles
Day 11
Tuesday
4/1/03
As of Tuesday Morning:
849.39 miles
68.53 hours
12.3 average
We left in the morning with plans to make Andrews SC, which
is only about 70 miles away. The weather was still cool but not nearly as bad
as yesterday with much less wind. Again the roads are virtually shoulder-less
with the dreaded drop off into a bicycle sand trap should you not pay attention
for a second or two.
Knowing we only had to ride 70 miles we road at an easy
pace. Our little wagon train arrived in Andrews late in the day only to find
out there are no motels in this town. The nearest motel is in Georgetown, which
was located on the shore about 19 miles from our present inland location. Not
a big deal in a car but on a bike with darkness rapidly approaching it sucks.
Our “leisurely pace” now seemed to be a mistake. We arrived there after dark
and tired and hungry.
91 miles
Day 12
Wednesday
4/2/03
Today we crossed the 1000-mile mark in our journey. Somehow
we got lost on our way to Monks Corner and that error added 10 miles. Being our
only mapping error so far, we felt like we had done well in that respect. We
stayed at the Holiday Inn and at dinner went over our timeline for arrival in
Tampa. Our estimate now says we are behind schedule. Tim’s wife and kids are
flying into Tampa Airport where he planned to meet them and then go to Disney.
Ken’s dads birthday on the 9th looks almost impossible. It looks
like we will have to pick up the pace to make our final destination on time.
Day 13
Thursday
4/3/03
We have decided to try and make up some lost time today.
Our original plan was to ride to Walterboro but we continued on to Yemassee
SC. The wind was blowing hard in our faces as usual hampering forward
progress. The wind made the flat terrain feel like a never ending uphill. At
least the sun was shining and it was finally warm.
85 miles 12.1 average for trip
Day 14
Friday
4/403
Today we added another state to our list as we crossed the
border into Georgia. What a beautiful place and finally we have a shoulder to
ride on again. The scenic rural roads made for some great riding.
Again we had warm weather and sun. We continued to push
for mileage to make up some time. We reached our destination Reidsville late in
the day.
109 miles
Day15
Saturday
4/5/03
1313 Total Miles
87.5 mile per day average
We rode hard today and ending in Folskston GA. We rode
through Vidalia where the onions are grown. Lots of onions …lots of onions.
Mile after mile of Onions. Lunch was in Odum (pop 450) and was very interesting
with the locals and the sheriff. With our bright jerseys and tight riding
pants were the muffled topic of the restaurants conversation among the locals.
Finally an old guy yelled over across the room to us. “Where yawl come from?”
Connecticut we replied. “Ain’t you boys got a car?”…”Nope just the bikes” we
replied.... “Ain’t you boys got a job?”…Nope....”Told ya these kids now a days
don’t want to work” …“Well if all I had was a bike I guess I would get on it to
get out of that sorry ass state (Connecticut) myself”… …”Now look boys we don’t
have no loud music or trouble here in Odum”….(the sheriff on our departure) It
was a fun memorable meal.
After leaving Odum we rode on the longest straight flat
rode of the trip RT301. It was a sunny warm day in the 80’s. Our day ended
less than 5 miles from the Florida border. Excellent. FLA here we come.
104.6 miles
Day 16
Sunday
4/6/03
We reached the sunny Florida border at 9:15 in the morning.
The distance from Niantic to the FLA border recorded on the bikes computer was
1317.0 miles. After stopping at the Welcome to Florida sign for a photo we
continued on to Jacksonville Beach. What a site to see. The streets by the
beach were packed curb to curb with people. Beachfront bands were playing live
music it was almost like the party was for us. We were soon surrounded by some
of the local partygoers who rode their beach cruisers, skateboards and
rollerblades along with us.
They were all amazed that we had ridden bicycles from
Connecticut to Florida. Our little entourage would announce “these guys rode
bikes all the way from Connecticut” as we passed others walking or riding.
No road bikes in sight, everyone is on beach bike, roller
blades or skateboard. One guy who followed us was on a 5’ long sidewalk
surfboard that cruised nicely at 10 to 12 mph. The sun was shining and the air
was warm. We went body surfing after checking in at the hotel. We ate dinner
at a restaurant near the beach. The place was packed and we waited for almost
an hour to get seated. We treated ourselves to a couple bottles of beer on the
deck before dinner and watched the spectacle. By the time we got serve dinner
it was after 9:00. Our bodies were out of gas and we were ready for sleep. No
dancing for us we danced all day on the pedals. Another great memorable day.
72 miles
Day 17
Monday 4/7/03
We really took it easy today and only rode 34 miles to St
Augustine the oldest city in the USA. We would have ridden further but this
small city had a lot to see. We have had the “push” on for 16 days and really
want a small break. This seemed like the perfect spot too. We now realize we
are not running behind on our schedule although will not make Ken’s dads
birthday on the 9th. On the way we ran into the first cyclist on a rode bike we
have seen in a couple weeks. He was making his daily ride along the shore and
we rode with him for a while. He pointed out some beautiful ocean front houses
belonging to pro athletes as we passed them. All of the waterfront houses were
simply beautiful and enormous on this road. When we reached his turn around point
we stopped and he started going over our mapping offering suggestions when two
other cyclist with saddlebags went by. We called them in and found out one was
from Whales and the other from Germany. They had just met each other and were
following the same Adventure Cycling map but in the reverse direction. Both
told us they were planning long tours of America and were just getting
started. Their bikes were something Tim and I decided we would not take on a
two-day trek let alone a cross-country tour.
When we arrived in St. Augustine we walked through the old
village and snacked on goodies being cooked at every corner. We ate fudge, ice
cream and gobs of other foods non-essential to supporting life.
St Augustine is a beautiful city geared towards the
tourist. After a couple of hours pushing our bikes through the narrow crowded
streets we looked for a motel. We spotted a Hampton Inn and decided to check
in early and spent some time lying on the beach. We figured we had earned a
rest day. Touring is great!
Day 18
Tuesday
4/8/04
We rode 54 easy miles to Daytona. We are not getting lazy
just trying to enjoy a little bit of Florida after a long ride. It was mostly
cloudy but still very warm.
Our route took us by a few custom motorcycle shops with
awesome machines to look at.
By pure luck we rode right past Smokey Yunicks “Best Damn
Garage in Town”. A real treat for any gearhead. Smokey is one of the gurus of
the hot rod industry. Our early arrival gave us time to visit the Daytona
Speedway and the attraction next to the track Daytona USA. We went into the
speedway and gazed at the track all of the famous NASCAR drivers have driven.
The best part of our day was our choice in accommodations
The Daytona Hilton. Wow what a nice place. Right next to the track and at the
off-season price of $99. What a bargain. For the first time on the trip a
hotel employee momentarily stopped us as we rolled our bikes across the just
polished marble floor. “Hey were are you going with those bikes, you can bring
them in here”….. “Huh? We have stayed in Hiltons and other nice hotels from
Connecticut to here and always take our bikes in our rooms.” Ken said without
blinking an eye… we continued walking towards our room unmolested.
The front desk had yummy homemade chocolate chip cookies for
the taking and grabbed a few. After ditching the bikes in the room we came down
for another attack on the cookies. When we returned for another cookie monster
attack the clerk moved the cookies behind the counter as we were spotted. Ok
we get the hint…..The Hilton’s huge big fluffy pillows really were nice treat.
We could live here.
54 miles
Day 19
Wednesday
04/09/03
We had a perfect nights sleep at the Hilton and went to the hotels breakfast
buffet in the morning. They had a nice selection of breakfast foods and
as always we were starved. The chef had a strong European accent and
cooked our breakfast to perfection as he asked about our journey. The skies
were grey and heavily overcast. It looked like it could start to rain at
any moment. We both decided as we sat in the comfortable lobby chairs
gazing at the buffet with over stuffed bellies if it was going to rain (even a
single drop) we would tough it out another night at the Hilton. Oh yea…
that would work. We waited until it was obvious to a blind man it was not
going to rain and headed out of town. We have made the turn from south to
west as we headed for our destination Tampa. Maybe now since we changed
direction we would loose the headwind. Nope…nada… the steady south to north
wind that has been with us for the past 17 days now is blowing out of the west.
Go figure. We were “useless in Eustis” where we stayed at the Eustis Florida
,Comfort Inn.
59 easy miles.
Day 20
Thursday
4/10/03
We woke again to dark overcast skies. A light mist started as soon as we
ht the road. The light mist developed into a steady rain by noontime. We
rode 70 miles to just outside Brookville FLA. Along the way we spotted a
small blacktopped road that looked like a rails-to-trails route.
Tim was thinking that the route looked like it was headed in
the direction we needed to go. I balked at the idea of exploring the
trail because of the rain and no mapping of this area. Normally we would
take the chance and explore a route like that but being wet and the rain still
tormenting us neither one of us wanted any “bonus miles” today. He agreed and
we continued riding on the very unpleasant road we were on.
Upon entering Brookville we caught the scent of steaks
cooking on a grill and pulled into a nice restaurant for dinner. We usually
shower and change before dinner but the smell of grilled steaks was more than
we could take and decided to just eat first.
The hostess spotted our cycling outfits and immediately
started asking us questions about our ride as she brought our damp stinky
bodies to a table. She then went outside and looked at our bikes and
gear.
She introduced herself as Kathleen and actually sat with us
most of the time we were there. She would jump up to seat a new customer
then return to hear more about our adventure. A cyclist herself she drew
us a detailed map of a better route then we had to approach Tampa. I will bet
you guys would like to see a few hills after all the flat riding she
said. She also informed us that the small asphalt road Tim had spotted
earlier in the day would have brought us less than a mile from where we are
now. That trail would have saved us quite a few miles and been traffic
free also. We left with a full belly, detailed map and her cell phone number in
case we broke down or got lost.
70 miles
Day 21 - We
Reach our Destination
Friday
4/11/03
We used the map and directions that the hostess Kathleen
gave us the night before. They proved to be perfect cycling roads with views
of the orange groves and some much-needed hills. After 20 days of basically
flat roads a few hills really looked great. As we entered the city of Tampa
we switched to a city map Danielle sent me with directions to their house. It
seemed a smaller road paralleled the busy street we were on so we took it.
After a ½ mile that road ended and we went back onto the main road. This
scenario replayed itself over and over. For some reason we were drawn to this
side road and it would end up returning us to the main road. We saw the side
road develop again and took it. This time it seemed to continue for a few
miles. As we are riding a truck pulls along side of us and the driver calls
out my name and asks how is it going. I realize it is my brother-in-law who I
have never met.
He is traveling the side road we were drawn to on his way
home! With thousands of cars passing us we pick a road that he is using at the
same time he is and get spotted by someone I have never met. We arrived at my
dad’s house after 1675 miles and 137 hours of ”seat time” pedaling.
2003 Bloomin' Tour
