I know most of you wouldn't imagine there would be much room for relaxation while on a cross-country bike trip, but our time in Florida truly proved that it is absolutely possible! We left the fog and dampness of Big Lagoon/ Pensacola (I think it was just unlucky for us, as everyone claimed that the weather is usually beautiful there!) and rode through Pensacola and along the Gulf Coast for a while. Neither of us were too impressed with this section, altho there were some stunningly large, atrocious houses to gawk at along the way. We completed our days ride by 2 in the afternoon, even after a stop at Waffle House for lunch! This stop was pretty exemplary of the treatment we have received along the way - when we walked in in our bike garb, we were greeted by stares of curiosity, followed by questions about what we are doing, how far we're going, and most importantly, WHY!?!? The waitresses was very excited to have us as customers and even more excited that they were our first Waffle House stop ever, which was pretty much a crime in their minds. :) We were personally welcomed by the regional manager and made to feel a bit like celebrities, which is odd when you are clad in head to toe spandex and covered in sweat and bike grease! After arriving at Blackwater River State Park, we promptly headed to the shallow river to wash away the day's grime. The water was so clear, which was definitely a good thing, as we were told there are occasionally alligators seen there (but not to worry, of course), so at least we would see them coming...
The next days ride took us to the first of the springs in Florida that we would seek out to spend our afternoons in. This was a private campground, but had the most clear water (and COLD too!) we had ever seen. It also had catfish and coy the size of us, which made me a little uneasy! Over the next few days, we kept up the general routine of riding ~50 miles/day, having a nice, long lunch stop at a public library to use the internet, read magazines, etc, and arriving at our destination by 2-3, leaving us plenty of time to swim, hike/walk and read. It was hard to adjust to this 'slow' of a cycling routine, but after a few days we grew to love it! We ran into some more cyclists, the first in a while. One was a German/Swiss German guy about our age, cycling alone and I think totally eager for some company, so we invited him to join us in our campsite that night. He had some great tips for our leg of the journey in Europe, and it was fun to share stories with someone else.
We had our 2nd WarmShowers.org experience in Tallahassee, staying with an architect and physics professor, and their son. They were a very 'neat' family, in that EVERY holiday they took was on a bike, mostly in France, even when their son was only a baby! They were extremely hospitable and we joined them for dinner and breakfast, just like we were part of the family. The following night we had another host lined up in Monticello, at an old goat farm, where we were treated to our own 'guest apartment', the most comfortable bed we have slept on the whole trip, and Chinese take out and good conversation with Diane, a lawyer who had traveled the world extensively with water and sanitation projects with the government. We also avoided another big thunder and lightening storm and more tornado warnings, so we were pleased that out timing worked out so well!
The following day we rode through a town called Madison, right around lunch time and decided we were due for a lunch out. Luckily we pursued past the usual fare of fast food restaurants and stumbled upon a local fair, with BBQ stands and typical fair food. After having our ears talked off for what felt like an hour by a local historian who wanted to practice a verbal version of his 700 page book that he was in the process of writing, we were finally free to roam the food stalls to find something suitable! We were also told by Mr. Historian that the local paper would probably love to write an article about an Australian/Oregonian couple cycling across the county and coming thru Madison, but we politely declined our only opportunity for fame in this town of 3000 residents. :) We settled on one of the best pulled pork sandwiches we'd had yet, and lima beans for lunch - very southern and so delicious! Matt, a staunch bean hater, rated them as the 2nd best beans he'd ever eaten (after Sal's mexican beans in Austin, TX) and was ready to go back for more! We spent that evening camping by another spring, where we were able to sit in the bubbling opening to the springs like a jacuzzi (a jacuzzi with frogs and other gross things tho!).
We headed off early the next morning to get to our destination as early as possible, as we had been hearing about it for the past several days. It was another spring, called Ichetucknee Springs, where it was rumored that you can hire tubes and float down a 7 mile section of the springs. When we arrived, we found out that the 'tubing' season didn't start until Memorial Day weekend, which we were several weeks ahead of, and therefore you could only tube 1/2 of it, and had to transport yourself to the start, which was 7 miles away from the tube rental. We thought of all the ways we could get ourselves, our bikes and our tubes to the start, and concluded that it was wasn't possible... :( however, for a bit more money of course, we could hire a kayak instead and they would transport us there and back, and we would be able to float/paddle the whole section. This turned out to be an amazing way to spend the afternoon - floating down a completely empty, pristine spring with water so clear you could see everything you floated past, soaking up the hot sun in our swim suits, trying to get ride of our horrible cycling tan lines! We saw turtles, fish, otters and lots of birds before we joined up with where the tubers started, and then wildlife was few and far between due to the screams and splashing of the local rednecks floating down the river. We did kind of wish we were one of them...
Our next 2 nights were that of even great luxury, in a hotel in Gainesville, home of the University of Florida Gators. We had intended to spend just 1 night, but decided on arrival that it looked like a cool place to spend some extra time. Getting into town was fabulously easy, riding on bike paths almost the entire way to our hotel. The only exception was when we thought we were on the wrong path, so we doubled back to a McDonald's to use their free WIFI. We were standing outside, near the drive thru exit, on our expensive bikes, looking like respectable tourists, or so we thought.....when a woman, who in our opinion looked to be much worse off than even we are, pulled out of the drive thru and yelled over to us 'Do you need some change? I've got some coins right here', and reached into her center console to hand us some money!! Maybe we should've taken advantage of her generosity, but we both declined her offer. We spent our day off in Gainsville walking about 10 miles across town, around the campus and to a library to take care of some 'business' on the internet. It was so hot and humid out we had to duck into buildings periodically to cool off and dry off. It would continue to be this hot for much of the rest of our time in Florida.
The day that we left Gainsville, we rode to East Palatka, which was our last day on the Adventure Cycling route!! East Palatka was an absolute hole of a place, and we camped on a sloping piece of ground covered with weeds and infested with mosquitos and no-see-ums. We spent the afternoon reading in the tent, ducking out quickly to cook dinner, and then retreating to the tent to eat and play cards. We were anxious to leave in the morning! We were headed south to a small town called Astor, to stay with friends of my aunt/uncle/cousin from Juneau, Alaska, who had graciously offered to host 2 dirty, virtual strangers.
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