In Memory of Warmer Summers

Chipley, FL to Crestview, FL

Passengers yelling encouragement (not): 2

Miles: 74

Total so far: 535

We knocked out a chunk of mileage today bearing up against some gusty winds that threatened all afternoon to turn into headwinds.  Unfortunately, all our miles today were on State Route 90, a two lane which has a nice enough shoulder, but lacks in the way of country charm and the quiet roads we’ve grown accustomed to.  One gets spoiled pretty easily when the pedaling is accompanied mostly by the songs of birds and frogs.

Today we met Jenny from San Diego.  Jenny is completing her west-to-east Southern Tier Trans-Am in a few days.  She is going to be going out to Wyoming later to join family who have a ranch in Centennial.  It just goes to show what a small world it is, Centennial has a population of about 25 people listed on their sign, yet I know the place well.

Jenny is blogging on http://www.upsidedownandbackwards.com.

Jenny - about to complete the Southern Tier

In last night’s post I failed to include mention of a little bit of recreation Sallie and I got after arriving at Falling Waters State Park and setting up our camp. We went for a swim in this spring fed lake and had the place all to ourselves. There was a nice thermocline only about 3 feetbelow the warm surface water where the colder gradient was significantly colder.  If you dive through it, it’s not unlike a Swedish sauna interrupted by a splash in a cold stream.

Yes, there are alligators in the area, but they left us alone.

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Tomorrow’s ride is dedicated to Kellie Wheatley

This is a tough one for me.  Many years ago when I was still in the Wyoming State Patrol, I was invited to give s keynote address at a function for the Jackson, Illinois MADD group.  The invitation came from George and Marylin Murphy who not only opened their home to me, but their hearts as well.  They sent me this dedication this week:

An Illinois Tragedy

Twenty four year old Kellie Wheatley, along with her husband and 14 month old son we riding bikes on a beautiful July 4 day in 1984.  Unfortunately, a drunk driver was also on the same city street in South Jacksonville, Illinois.  At 5:28pm, the driver struck and killed Kellie.  Only a miracle spared her husband and child.  We mourn her loss and our hearts remain shattered from the most preventable crime in America.

George, Marilyn, and Patrick Murphy — Dad, Mom and Brother

Orville and Christopher Wheatley — Husband and Son

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Fernandina Beach to St. Augustine

59 miles

Total so far:  59

This is Bob, Sallie's husband. He's filling the role of being in charge of the command post in Fernandina, a vital function

Some times there’s just too much preparation involved in these rides.  Our equipment list is exhaustive, packing everything in four bags requires careful weighing and whatever can be done to remember where things are (I keep a list on the other side of my map case, and have to refer to it until about two weeks into the ride when I have it all down).

Regardless of all the prep, we left this morning and had a glorious ride down the coast.  The winds were up a little coming from the south-east (and of course that was where we were going).

Even with the wind and the resultant slower pace because of it, it was nearly a flawless ride.  Until that is, a

The starting point - Bob and Sallie's house in Fernandina

passenger in a passing car thought it would be cute to yell something out his open window as they drove by.  Of course this is meant to scare us, but we’ve seen that original trick before, so it’s just not scary once you’ve gone through the drill a number of times.

I have a lot of experience in dealing with rude passengers unfortunately.  Every cop has.  Most of the time you can just about bet if someone is likely to get out of control on a traffic stop, and begin challenging an officer’s qualifications with a speed measuring devices, knowledge of the law, etc., it’s the passenger.  That reminds me of good joke about passengers, but it’s far too early in this blog for that.  Remind me in a month or so.

It’s worth mentioning that we started out and rode a whole day south-east along the coast, when overall, we are supposed to be going pretty much north-west.  We will start our westward trek from here in St. Augustine — this is the beginning of the “Southern Tier Trans America

The flora of North Florida - it's what I always thought the South should look like

Route” on maps we use from the Adventure Cycling Association.  We will take it west as far as Mobile, Alabama and then go north for a ways on the “Underground Railroad Route” to Kentucky, then turn west on the traditional Trans America Route.

This is Jeff from Seattle. He pulled over on the road to speak to us. Jeff flew to Key West, is riding north to the Blue Ridge Trail, and then joining the Trans America route to return to Washington.

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Tomorrow’s ride will be dedicated to Abay Lattin

My son was a humorous, intelligent, determined young man. His life was music and he used his talents to highlight Phoenix, and AZ on a national level. He had returned to AZ. from New York to do a series of concerts over a 4 day period with his group Silver Medallion-He was killed by a drunk driver.
He will be greatly be missed by many.

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