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Day #25...The Sunshine State Welcomes Me!: Tapping a Keg of Orange Juice in Crestview, FL

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Sunday April 20, 2008, 125 miles (201 km) - Total so far: 2,522 miles (4,059 km)

Today the sunshine state welcomed me with beautiful weather, a slight tailwind, and mostly good roads all day. Before Florida though, I had a great morning in Alabama.

Here's how it started; I woke up and got the bike loaded to find out my tire was low on air, I went to fill it with my brand new CO2 pump and couldn't figure out why that wouldn't work. I got the job mostly done with the hand pump and then took off to catch the ferry. While ferrying, I went back to solving the non-functioning CO2 pump problem. Turns out, the guy at the bike shop who sold it to me a few days ago gave me a pump that requires 16g non-threaded CO2 catridges, and then gave me 4 threaded 16g cartridges. Basically I didn't have anything that worked. I decided I'd stop at a bike shop today and get things squared away.

After getting off the ferry I saw a group of cyclists taking a break and waved. A few minutes later, they caught up to me and told me to hop on their paceline. I am always accepting of a free ride like that so I got on the wheel of the last guy. They wanted to know where I was going so I filled them in on all the details. One of the guys asked if I had everything I needed and if I had any problems and I told him about the pump. He offered to trade me his, and also gave me a few more CO2 cartridges! The best part is his pump will accept any CO2 cartidge so now I am totally set and feel much better about getting a flat. In case you're not familiar, handpumps are really tough to pump a tire up to it's required pressure (100-120psi), and I always top it off with a CO2 to make sure it's good to ride on.
I found out that this was a triathalon training ride and the 4 cyclists all had really nice, lightweight triathalon-configured bikes that made my Cannondale look like a truck. Suprisingly, I was able to keep up to their pace and even pull my fair share of leads in the front. We were cruising pretty fast for about 25 miles, around 22-24mph most of the time.
The guy who gave me the pump told me they had done a triathalon yesterday, and when I said "And you're out riding again today?!?"... without missing a beat he chirped back, "You've ridden 100 miles a day for the past 25 days and you're doing it again today??!" I see his point. I am probably the crazier one.

I split from them just after Gulf Shores, and made my way into Florida. I was again dissapointed to find no "Welcome to Florida" sign. There was none in Louisiana, Alabama, or Florida! The only reason I did this ride was to take pictures in front of welcome signs, so now I feel like the whole trip was a waste. I'm writing letters to some congressmen when I get back.

The ride through Pensacola was actually nice, until I got to the construction zone Annee and Chris warned me about. I decided to just go for it because I didn't feel like detouring, and it ended up not being a big deal. I just rode the white line since the shoulder was gone and didn't have any problems. I can see for them that this wasn't an option, as they are pulling trailers and that would have been difficult.

The nicest part of the ride came shortly after, when I got on a nice bike path for a few miles and then onto a very lightly traveled road that ran through some pretty country. 125 miles later and here I am in Crestview, FL. Tomorrow I'll be in Chattahoochee (another 125 mile day), with only 3 days left to go after that. What will I do after the trip? No journal to write, no photos to upload, no grease to scrub off! I'll have to find something else.

I'm at a real computer now so check the next post for pics!

Day # 24... About to Enter Florida and Finish the Last Few Hundred Miles: Waiting for the ferry on Dauphin Island, AL

Saturday April 19, 2008, 125 miles (201 km) - Total so far: 2,397 miles (3,857 km)

Today I rode my bicycle. It was fun. Riding my bicycle makes me happy, because it's neat. Sometimes while I'm on my bicycle I wish I was on my skis, but then I remember that when I get back on my skis I may wish I was on my bicycle.
Bicycles are fast, but sometimes rough roads make them slow. Sometimes the freeway is full of sharp pointy things and make your tires go pop. Today my tire went pop and it made me angry. Dumb sharp things. Riding my bicycle far doesn't hurt anymore. I think I could ride forever if I knew the roads were safe and had a good shoulder.

Ok. So today I did 125 miles through 3 states! Sweet. I was hoping to do 3 in a day. I started in Louisiana and went into Mississippi shortly after. I cruised across the whole state in no time and only stopped once for subway and once for fluids. I rode the freeway until the noise and garbage on the shoulders started driving me nuts. I rode a few miles out of the way to get onto a nicer road. Not much nicer but better than the interstate. I had 1 flat on the new armidillo, with 3 needle-like pieces of metal stuck in it like porcupine quills. The freeways are full of those things. I think they come from truck tires.

There was no entry sign to Alabama, which was dissapointing, but I did have one entering Mississippi. I rode over a few really tall bridges that were like short, steep mountains compared to the flatlands around it. Now I'm on Dauphin Island, where I'll take the ferry across mobile bay in the moring, ride through Gulf Shores, onto Pensacola, and finally Crestview, FL. Then it's only 4 days till the end! Wow, crazy! I got a ticket last night with frequent flier miles so I'll be taking off for Anchorage sunday morning. I'm giving myself a little extra time before flying out in case an unexpected problem arises and I need an extra riding day.

Also, the last 30 miles of today were back on the Southern Tier route and I'll stick to that the rest of the trip, with exception of a short detour tomorrow to avoid road construction that Annee and Chris warned me about through Pensacola.

I had dinner at a bar with really good food that was just around the corner from the motel. I think it was called the Oar House. Very good stuff.

Another easy and mostly uneventful day today!

Day # 23...Bike Repairs and Rain: Nursing a baby armidillo in Slidell, LA

Friday April 18, 2008, 78 miles (126 km) - Total so far: 2,272 miles (3,656 km)

Today I picked up 2 new Armidillos, but only because of a chain reaction of annoying events.

Here's how the day went...

Wake up, look outside to see a downpour. By the time I'm ready to roll, the rain has stopped, but I kept the rain gear on since everything was wet and cars would be splashing me all morning.
I started off on a busy and ugly road with a decent shoulder. After 10 or 15 miles the shoulder dissapeared and I got stuck riding a few miles of scary road. The scarriest moment was when an oversize-load pilot car started blaring it's horn at me. I didn't know it was a pilot car till I looked back though, and following that was a mobile home sticking about 6 feet out from the road. As I mentioned, no shoulder! I scrambled off into the grass and waved them on.
I was sick of that road, so I turned to the safety of the interstate. Yes, the interstates are actually really safe, in my opinion. 15 foot shoulders, smooth surfaces, rumble strips keep people those 15 feet away. All the time. It's loud, but I just put in my ear plugs. At about mile 45 I realized my bike pump was missing. At some point during the bumpy ride of the morning it bounced off. That wouldn't normally be a big deal because I also carry a CO2 pump, but I found out that was broken last night when I finally retired my old armidillo tire. I used the blackberry to find a bike shop so I could get a new one, and luckily it was only about 10 miles up the road. Litterly as I was getting off the freeway to go to the bike shop, I ran something over that split open my brand new tire's sidewall. Unrepairable, I was stuck. The first truck that came by picked me up and dropped me off at the bike shop door. Sweet. At the shop, I had the mechanic put on a new 700X25 armidillo on the back and fix a bunch of little annoyances. The slightly wider rear tire should hold up better. I got new pumps and another armidillo as a spare and was back on the road a couple hours later.
Only a few miles down the road, and only 15 from my hotel, the rain finally caught me. Normally I don't mind riding in the rain, but visibility was low it was raining so hard, and more importantly there was a ton of lightning and wind. I hung out under a freeway overpass for 45 minutes and finally got moving again after things cleared up. I never actually got rained on though as it started just as I made it to the overpass. Nice timing!

I also calculated out the next few days and I should be done by Thursday, which will put the whole trip at 29 days! Under my goal by 1 day.

That's it!

Day #22... Forced Off-Route Due to Flooding: Buying Maps and Highlighters in Denham Springs, LA

Thursday April 17, 2008, 111 miles (179 km) - Total so far: 2,194 miles (3,531 km)

Yesterday I was hoping for something interesting to happen, and boy did today deliver! I had all kinds of crazy things happening, I'll skip the highlights and lowpoints again and get on with the stories.

This morning I got up early and hit the road hoping to knock out 110-120 miles early so I could enjoy St. Francisville a little. A mile from the hotel, I was checking the maps when an old WWII vet walked down his driveway to strike up a conversation with me. He was pretty funny and had some good advice and things to say. The best was when he said, "You're missing something you know." and when I asked what that was, he says, "A female companion!" ...I told him my female companion was at home working and keeping me motivated to get home.

After that encounter, I quickly racked up the miles, only stopping once at a gas station for orange juice. At about mile 75 for the day, I stopped again for fluids and was approached by one of the local sherrifs. He wanted to know where I was going and I have a hunch he knew it was St. Francisville so I appreciate him intercepting me. When I told him I was going there, he says, "boyyyyy. no you aint! you best be making some changes to your route!" I was a little shocked and asked him to explain. Turns out the Mississippi is so high right now, the ferry is going to be closed for a few weeks. Tom,Gerry, Martin, Ed, Zig, etc... CALL the ferry first to make sure it's running!!!! There is an easy alternate route that goes through Baton Rouge. I went all the way up north completely out of the way though and there was no way I was going to go bike all the way back south where I came from, so I hitched back down and got dropped off at a point that was equal distant to what I would have actually biked from the hotel this morning. I didn't feel like I was cheating as I'd spent the whole day going north for nothing. If you do go this route, it is COMPLETELY insane to try to bike across the two bridges crossing the river. There is NO shoulder whatsoever and there is constant 70mph traffic on both bridges. Don't even attempt it. I stuck my thumb out and motioned to a truck that I needed to get over the bridge, and the first truck picked me up. On the other side, I continued on through some pretty rough neighborhoods. The funniest part of that was while talking to Nick on my hands free, I see this dude trotting down a neighborhood on a horse. A horse! This was totally bizarre, so I yelled up at him, "Why are you riding a horse?!?!" and he yells back, "Because I like to ride!" Perfect. Why am I riding a bike?
I also talked to a geology professor for an hour at a gas station west of Baton Rouge about all kinds of things, mainly Alaska politics (oil, mineral development stuff) and then deeper things like not waiting till your an old guy to do the things you've always wanted to do with your life. I've got another story that may not be appropriate for school, that occurred at the gas station, so I'll save that for the end. It's really not that bad but I'll let teachers make that decision.

The next day or two will take me almost due east the whole course on some non-scenic but more direct roads with good shoulders and smooth surfaces. Bill from Cincinatti actually reccomended this route when I met him, and now I will be forced to get on it rather than doing a bunch of backtracking out of the way.

Tomorrow there's almost a 100% chance I'll get rained on so I am planning on getting up early so I can hit close to 100 miles before it starts in the afternoon. That will keep me on track, and I think in 2 days I'll be back on the Southern Tier Route in Mississippi and Alabama and then Florida, possibly all in one day! I think it's going to be possible to go through all 3 states at once but I'm not completely sure of that so we'll see. I know there's not much time left for this trip, only a little over a week. Part of me is excited to have completed it and get home, part of me would be ok with another thousand miles or so.. but I'd probably prefer them to go somewhere other than Florida.

On to the last story, the funniest of the day for sure:
I'm at the gas station, deciding where to go, when this big 'ol black lady starts hollerin at me to come over to her car. I asked what she needed and she wanted to know if I was really from Alaska. I said I was from Michigan originally, but yes, I do live in Alaska. She says, "Come over here and let me see you" I'm thinking, "uhhhhhh. ok" ... so I go over and she says "ummm-hmmm... look at those legs!! Can I touch 'em??" and I said, "well, sure, but it's going to cost you $5." Sure enough, out of her bra she pulls out a wad of cash, as if I'm some chip'n'dale dancer, and in the process, executes a perfect wardrobe malfunction revealing the bra's contents. I don't know if this was intentional or accidental, but the result was the same. I said, "no no.. you don't have to give me your money.." and she says "ohhh.. ok!" and says, "let me see them legs!" and so I oblige and let her feel my left leg. She starts fanning herself and says to her car companion, "Boy them are nice!" I told her I had to go and that I hope she had a nice evening. hahahahaha. Yes. That's the kind of story I'll remember a long time.

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Day #21... The Border Falls, Alaska is Triumphant Over Louisiana: Loading Our Muskets and Patching Our Wounds in Ville Platte, LA

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Wednesday April 16, 2008, 123 miles (198 km) - Total so far: 2,083 miles (3,352 km)

Today at dawn the men rushed the Texas/Louisiana border and found no flag to take, so our calvary went inland another 100 miles, 123 total for the day, and setup camp at the Best Western - Ville Platte. -General Joseph Connolly, April 16, 1866.

Ok, enough of the civil-war journal style.

First off, you've gotta see this hillarious video clip from yesterday. There are two incidents here as one video, the first black dog was scared off by my growling and barking, but the next 2 dogs were unphased and held on for a few seconds before being choked by my cloud of dust.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeKSiXN4jzg

Today was a relatively easy day, despite a nagging head and crosswind all day. I had given myself plenty of time to get to Ville Platte and I made it without incident. Most of the day was on well shouldered roads, with exception of the first road of the morning, which was a death-trap in disguise of a bike route. Not sure what the adventure cycling folks were thinking when they picked this road, but it was constant, two way semi traffic going 70mph with no shoulder. I had plenty of angry honks and lots of pick-up trucks flooring it as they passed me to choke me with diesel exhaust. By the way, that's one of their techniques to attack a bicyclist without physically hitting you with something. Smoke you out.

The clouds were building all day and I was expecting a storm but nothing really materialized and as the day progressed and I moved east, things began clearing. I made it to Mamou, LA and called ahead to Ville Platte to confirm a motel room. As I was coming into Ville Platte, some guy completely sticks his upper body out the window (while driving!) and is yelling, "mmmaaannn! I just saw you in Mamou! in MAMOU!" I waved and said "I know! I'm goin fast today!!" and he waved back. Mamou was about 15 miles away and I was cruising at 23-25 so it didn't take long.

Before Mamou I saw a sign that said "road construction next 9.1 miles" and was freaked out because it went from dirt, to gravel, to sand, to mud. I was going about 5mph, when just ahead, after only a mile of drudgery, I saw the worker bees laying brand new asphault. Sweet! It doesn't get any smoother than 2 hour old roadway to ride on. They had laid quite a bit in the past few days and I road new tarmac all the way into town going 25mph the whole way.

Also, I regret to inform you that my armidillo is close to death. The 700X23 rear wheel that took me here from Phoenix is on it's last legs. It's hard shell is worn and thin, with cracks and innards exposed. Brook has it hooked up with some services from Armidillo Hospice of America, but I think I may have to resort to the unconventional and likely illegal assisted armidillocide, and end it's life. I may just let it live out it's life and let it collapse on it's own tomorrow, but I feel a responsibility to let it go with dignity while it's still in one piece. If I let it go any further, it's going to explode into a disgraceful mess on some backroad tomorow and end up another piece of roadkill, amongst the dozens of turtles I saw today.

I wish there was more to say, but honestly, this area is pretty boring and very flat. I think the level of interesting things increases with the amount of topography and people, neither of which were very present during todays ride, with exception of a few short sections of busy road and a couple towns I rolled through. I need some drama.. rain, just missing a tornado, a Cat4 hurricane, something. Oh yeah, I hit the 2/3 mark of the trip today. Over 2000 miles done with about 1000 to go!

I'm on a real computer here so check the next post for pics!