Back to East         Meet The Riders        Bamacyclist Home Page

DAY 24

We're closing in...just cruisin' down the coast

DAY'S OVERVIEW:  To say we've been lucky with the weather is an extreme understatement.  If we could bottle this stuff, we would.  We've had nothing but clear skies and warm temps since leaving DC...and here we are with another day of tailwinds.  There were some times this morning when the wind was variable and when they had a breath of a wind in their faces it felt like a gale after all the easy pedaling they've had lately.  Our staff sometimes ride backwards on the route to check things out...when we do that, we really feel what it would be like if we were trying to reverse this ride...ugh!

The morning started out a bit slow.  Somehow the breakfast folks were under the impression that we'd be coming through BETWEEN 7:00 and 9:00 this morning even though we confirmed our arrival last evening with the restaurant staff.  When I got to breakfast there was a line out the door at 7:09 and the buffet wasn't out yet.  Evidently, we didn't get the message over to them that we planned on being through with breakfast by 7:10.  To their credit, when they saw 50 hungry bikers standing in the hall, they scrambled those eggs and whipped up those grits in short order.  Finally, the line started to move devouring the country breakfast put before them.  I think the wait staff had never seen so much food disappear so fast or had ever experienced the loud "WOOSH" caused by the vacuum created as the food left the buffet line (mostly caused by the surface roughness of grits)...folks who eat according to Atkins or Jenny Craig, eat your heart out.

Today's route was pretty much a normal departure with busy traffic early but soon after we got out of the city limits of Brunswick, things started to thin out as we rode down bike route 95 toward Florida.  The early part of the morning we had pretty much the same terrain we've had the past few days...flat roads flanked by pine forests.  When we passed over a waterway, the road would rise before us to give our flat land legs and tired butts a rest as we had to use different muscles to get over the "bump" in the road.  As we passed over those areas we'd see beautiful wetlands/marsh grasses waving in the breeze.

It was a pretty uneventful day except for a bridge closure about 4 miles after our last SAG stop.  I got a call from Mary Jo's husband who's following us in a car that a he had found the bridge out at the Florida line.  He said the riders could get through but the vans had to go around.  I relayed the news up through the vans and had them go check it out.  He was right, the bikers could get through so I went forward after lunch to snap a few photos of the riders negotiating the detour over barriers.  I think they enjoyed the variety too...the one good thing was we had about 10 miles of carless road before and after the bridge...sometimes things just work out for the better.

The last riders got in about 3:00 in the afternoon...just enough time to go sit on the beach for a bit before dinner.  Tonight was our end of the road dinner...quite a spread for everyone to top off before our last assault on Florida to our finish tomorrow.  Everyone shared their thoughts about the ride and said their good byes after being entertained by the "Magnificent 7" A.K.A. Team Zed (below right) and the staff who sang a rousing rendition of "The Wheels On The Bike Go Round And Round."  And finally, the staff and riders awarded the Progress Map to George Pierce who is home healing from his accident in Phillipsburg.  Everyone signed it with get well wishes and with hope that he'll be back out here to finish his trek down the east coast next year.  Barb and I will present it to him when we go back to New Hampshire in October for the fall rides.

Tomorrow we finish our journey...a short 56 miles to St Augustine.  Hopefully the winds will be in our favor again...we're getting pretty used to it...would hate to get a headwind on the last day.  Hope you'll tune in and check on our finish.  See you then.

HEARD ON THE ROAD:  "Never thought I'd pray for a hill to come out of nowhere...sometime...anytime."

"It's hard to stay awake on some of these roads."   No one has run off the road after falling asleep yet...that I know of.

This one was heard on a tour of Savannah.  The first Ford motor car recall came when people's butts started itching.  They used Spanish Moss for stuffing in the seats...oops.  Spanish Moss is notorious for chiggers...not sure what they replaced it with, but anything short of thorn bushes would have been better.

Back to East         Meet The Riders        Bamacyclist Home Page

Copyright © 2005 by Bamacyclist  
All rights reserved.