Thursday April 24, 2008, 0 miles (0 km) - Total so far: 2,973 miles (4,785 km)
Today was the last day of riding, and it was a tough one. I started the morning off on a great bike path going 16 miles through beautiful forests and swamps and saw lots of wildlife. All sorts of birds, deer, lizards, fish, insects, etc. After I left the dense jungle, I was in the open and exposed to the harsh realities of a strong headwind, all day. Yeah, 85 miles of headwind. Stupid. If only to add insult to injury, in addition to the wind, after 29 days of pedaling and not actually getting rained on, and after I had mailed my rain gear home, I got dumped on twice, which left me damp all day. It was so hot and humid, there probably wasnt much of a difference anyway. It was much tougher physically today but mentally I was pretty comfortable. Knowing that St. Augustine was getting closer and closer gave me some motivation. I saved a turtle today, which was cool. I was cruising along and noticed a 8-10lb turtle about to cross the road, and he/she surely would have been hit, so I stopped and carried it to the other side and off it went! As I entered St. Augustine, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do but I saw the "Welcome to St. Augustine" sign so I figured I should get a picture. That led to a nice chain reaction of favorable events. A guy by the name of Sten was bicycling by and I solicited him to take a picture for me. After telling him what I was doing, he was impressed and wanted to offer me a celabratory beer. I accepted and ended up hanging out with him and his wife, Steph, for a few hours on their sailboat. One of their boat neighbors also works at a local hotel and she hooked me up with an employee-rate of $49 for the night, as opposed to their $179 standard rate. I'd say the hotel is worth $49, but $179 would be asking a bit much.. After I left the boat, I rode to the beach, took a few photos, and then dived into the water headfirst. Yep, that's right.. ran out into the ocean and went under! It was very refreshing and I even had a lady do a videoclip for me. I will put that up tonight if I can get windows movie maker working on this computer. Otherwise, it'll be in a day or two. After jumping in, I sat on the beach and ate half a Jimmy Johns sandwhich I had carried all day from Gainesville. I didn't want to eat any more though and ruin my appetite for dinner. I had heard a lot about a place called the A1A Ale House and wanted to go there, but they had no burgers, and that's what I was craving. I went to another pub and got a mediocre burger and some lemonade. I've had a few people wondering what I was going to do with my bike and how I was going to get home. I am renting a car here in St. Augustine through Avis and doing a 1-way rental to Orlando, where I'll be flying on to Seattle and then Anchorage on Saturday. As far as my bike goes, I'll pick up a bike box here or in Orlando and take it on the plane for me. Most airlines charge about $50-75 for this, but UPS or FedEx charge $200, so it's a better deal. I'll be putting up a few photos next, and then in a few days, a last "Final Thoughts, Advice, & Warnings" post... I'll need some time to digest everything and come up with some ideas that may be helpful to others. In the meantime, enjoy the pics in the next post...
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