Monday, April 27, 2015

Day 51

High Springs (O'Leno State Park) to Palatka 84 miles

As we were leaving  our cabin, I took a picture of  our luggage for the entire 52 day ride.  This is for both of us. 

The bags contain winter and summer cycling jerseys shorts, tights, shoes, socks winter base layers, gloves, jackets. Then the walking around clothes: jeans,  pjs, shorts, tops (long and short sleeved) socks, jackets, sneakers, sandals. 
And the other stuff: sleeping bag, pillow, electronic chargers, books, toiletries, spare bike tubes. 
Every time we get to our overnight place, it looks like an explosion of clothes as we try to find stuff.  

Back to today..,,,
We rode through Gainesville, with the route taking us a few blocks from Eddy's brother''s house.  They were at a gymnastics meet in Tampa, so we didn't stop by. We did stop at a Starbucks, the first since Tucson. 

In Gainesville we started at about mile 34 on a bike trail for about 20 miles.  It was shady, good pavement, and mostly clean.  We could hear loud thunder, but we were  lucky that we only caught a few sprinkles. Not so lucky for the riders behind us!  They got soaked.  

After the trail, at about mile 57, it started raining again.  Since it was lunchtime we stopped at a cafe.  Then it really started raining. Hard.  Soon soggy riders filled up the cafe to eat lunch, dry off, and wait for the rain to at least subside. After about an hour and sunny again, we set off for the final 30 miles. 

And what a 30 miles they were!  All with a fierce tailwind! 22-25 mph we were riding.  
 
We had time to take a nap when we got to Palatka. Margie, the massage therapist, took the picture. 

 Our overnight is at the National Guard Armory.   After supper,  riders and support staff sat in a circle for about two hours reminiscing about the trip.  Emotions were high.

Now for the icing on the cake.  Tomorrow's ride is 43 miles to St Augustine.  We all meet about 2 miles from the beach and ride single file to the Atlantic Ocean.  What a trip. 




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