Day 39 (White Springs to Melrose, FL)

Today we started at White Springs, a small sort of town near the intersection of I-10 and I-75. We left from there following the ACA route south on 137. The morning was cold again (42 degrees) and we enjoyed a nice traffic free ride. Passing through Wellborn, we saw a great example of southern car customizing.

We saw several deer this morning all of them walking into or from the tree farms. I still don't know what kind of trees they farm or why, but the farms are interesting, going on for acres or miles.

Another of the cash crops down here are the "Miniature Horses". There were several ranches raising and advertising the miniatures. I took a photo of one of the horses, that could only have been about three feet tall.

Karen and I have come to the conclusion that of all of the states we have ridden through, Florida's drivers are the worst and most discourteous. Today we were yelled at, honked at, and nearly forced off the road several times. Even when the drivers have room to move over, they frequently will move closer to the bicyclist in a distinct effort to try moving them off the paved shoulder. Karen and I have been aware of this almost since we crossed into the state and we ride VERY defensively. We hate being around these drivers. While many of the motorists are OK, there is an extremely high percentage of what the good ole boys in Mississippi call "dumbasses".

After we got to Gainsville today, we had only ridden about 65 miles. Karen and I decided to ride another 10 miles to cut down our final day total. We felt so good after that, that we rode another 10. The riding was on smooth pavement with a good wide shoulder, and a nice breeze had come up (about a 15 mph tailwind). After the extra 20 miles we were standing around the truck discussing whether we should try to get 10 more, when Karen slammed my finger in the truck tailgate. I vented thoroughly, then we started riding. After we got to Melrose, I got a chance to look at the route for tomorrow, that I had previously prepared for father. It turns out that I took a wrong turn once we decided to ride the extra miles. I had mapped out and prepared a route that would have saved us about 12 miles, but when we rode the extra mileage I reverted to the ACA map. What all of that means is that we rode about 30 miles in order to get about 20 miles ahead. Bad move on my part.

Now we are down to the wire. Tomorrow will be the last day, and we only have about 68 miles to ride. The feelings are very mixed now; the ride itself has been so great that it is almost a shame for it to be ending. The stress that father has induced into the venture makes part of me glad that this will finally end. And the end is so close, almost literally in sight, that I find it hard to stop tonight and I want to keep riding to FINISH. I can't believe that tomorrow at this time Karen and I will have ridden completely across the country. So off to sleep, and wake tomorrow to finish.


Today's map and numbers are on the following link:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/239002392#.UJHPE3jTtxE.blogger