Done and done.

So after months of carrying on, griping about the weather (and then luxuriating in the sun and sand), eating only PB&J on tortillas for lunch everyday, having 3 changes of clothes, being cold, wet, sweaty, tired, sick, elated, frustrated, hurt, and sometimes a little bored.....we made it to the Atlantic! Clearly this should be rise for a little fanfare, but like many things that take time to come to fruition, it just kind of happened. Biking/scooting had become such normalized lifestyle that reaching the end seems almost like a letdown in a way. This not only signals the end of a great trip and adventure, but the loss of friendship-making through nightly Couchsurfing experiences and the return to a world with ever more choices. It is now clear why some people just never stop biking.

That said, I do have some catching up to do on our last few days for I'd hate to leave you without a taste for northern Florida. So in short: bikinis, beaches and bibles. Done. Our ride along the coastal panhandle of FL was both naturally stunning while also carrying vibes of Pleasantville on steriods and rural Bible Belt. We had a great visit with my college friend Amanda and her son Noah at their new house in Niceville (which reminded us that FL does have hills!)...and then we hit Panama City beach....during spring break. If you ever want to dip yourself in hormone soup again, go here. This was probably the most amusing and most terrifying biking I've yet done as I had to negotiate my way about 8 miles up a road while dodging half dressed, half baked college students in cars, on scooters and in packs in the road. Needless to say, we didn't stop as we were waaaaay overdressed in our biking garb.

Panama City, on the other hand, was a much more relaxed experience. We stayed the night with Jan, a nurse, and then headed straight for Tallahassee. This day was momentous as it was Dot's first real day back on the bicycle in "dog country" (ie not beautiful coastal roads). While it was still nerve-wracking, it was a great step to take. We have now started splitting the days 50/50 on the bike with Dot taking the morning shift and I took the afternoon. In Tallahassee we spent the night with a family who has been biking for years, often internationally, on their three seat tandem bicycle! They were self -proclaimed "tight knit".

Riding out of Tallahassee was beautiful, hilly and hard for me. I seem to have contracted some pesky bug that seemed to rile my insides and wear me down so it was all I could do to push my half of the ride to Live Oak. This town is apparently a great birding destination, but from our Econologe hotel room it wasn't much to write home about...nor was the ride out the next morning to Gainesville when Dot now felt sick. (Perhaps this is due to the fact that we knew the trip was ending so we let down our guard?) Despite being under the weather, we pushed through an alligator hike, tour around Gainesville and then delicious tacos and homemade margaritas made for us by our Couchsurfing hosts...it's just too bad neither of us could appreciate it much.

After 11 hours of sleep (and lots of thoughts about having to take an official sick day), we both woke up feeling remarkably better...I more so than Dot who is now being trampled by spring allergies. Being the final day we were eager to make it happen and Mother Nature was kind enough to give us clear blue skies and mild winds, for at least the first half of the day. Most importantly, we could now officially talk about the weather without worrying about jinxing ourselves!

We rolled into St. Augustine Beach just around 5:30pm and were greeted excitedly by Paul and Linda, parents of Dot's college friend and perfect greeters for the end of our journey! We will be staying with them until my parents arrive shortly with Dot's car and its new hitch so that we can tow the Genuine Buddy scooter home to Connecticut.

Before signing off on this adventure saga, I do want to take a moment to do some serious thank yous. While at times this seemed like a two girl mission, it was 100% supported by a caring community far and wide, some who knew us and some who didn't. Despite a few oddball situations, we have loved and appreciated every person who opened their home to us, fed us delicious food and made the trip more than just a daily bike ride. Thank you to Don at Danielson Adventure Sports for gearing us up and doing tech support from afar...you are awesome. Thank you to Wayne from Solano Scooters in Las Cruces for helping to make Dot's switch from bicycle to scooter much less traumatic. Thank you to Urban Motor Sports in Austin for giving the scooter its first servicing for free! And THANK YOU to everyone who donated to my camp scholarship campaign and/or Dot's scooter fund. We successfully raised enough to send a child to camp for two weeks AND Dot got across the country...win-win. You either have some good karma or nice pottery comin' atcha!

Over and out y'all....until the next adventure!

If it weren't for those ominous clouds, I might have just been interested!

 

Didn't expect to see these in NE Florida!

Don't worry friends, fanny packs are back!!

 

He/she seemed just as scary in person

 

Our welcoming committee in St. Augustine, Paul and Linda!

 

 

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LA, MS, AL, FL..yeah, we've been there!

Well either we are getting much speedier or these states are becoming increasingly smaller....heh heh. Even though I said we'd be out of New Orleans on Friday we caught the NOLA vibe and decided to hang around a day longer. And to be honest the cold winds would have been a terrible fight. So we bundled up and spent the day roaming NOLA and really being tourists....an experience we haven't had much of as we fly through towns. We also got to spend time with some Quiet Corner friends who just happened to be in New Orleans fo the week AND had a wonderful stay in the Irish Channel neighborhood with Dot's high school friend Molly, her wife Sheryl and Bubby the dog :)

Moving eastward from LA was beautiful. Highway 90 winds through trees, marshes, over bayous, and into small fishing villages. Although the wind hasn't died much, the weather has warmed up enough that makes it possible for Dot to scoot without freezing to death. The goal was to not only make it to Mississippi, but to meet up with a few members of the local gulf coast cycling club in Bay St. Louis and ride with them to Long Beach were we'd be staying. The coordination of these efforts is all in thanks to Eddie Holmes who I was put in contact with after calling a church inquiring about a place to stay. Eddie is not only an athlete himself, but knows just about everyone AND even hosted us in his home that night...thank you Eddie and Angie!

Riding the next day through Biloxi and towards Alabama was a special day for me. I took off earlier than usual not only because I knew I had to cover 110 miles that day (not including a 30 minute ferry ride), but because I wanted to tour some of my old Biloxi haunts and see what had changed. In a nutshell: many lots are still empty, some houses are on stilts, some look cleaned up, and overall it just looks a little cleaner, especially the Gulf highway area and the beaches. It is nice to see the whole coast really look lived in. That said, if you're looking to buy there are many lots for sale but I doubt you could afford the insurance....this is why so many didn't/couldn't rebuild. The highlight of that part of the day was not only a stop in my favorite Vietnamese cafe, but also biking over the bridge to Ocean Springs since the last time I was there it looked like dominos that had been knocked over.

Biking 110 miles takes a long time, there's no two ways about it. Despite my meandering through Biloxi, warding off numerous Alabama dogs, and fighting yet another day of gusty headwinds, we did manage to be one of the last folks let on the 3:30 ferry to Dauphin Island....*highfive!* We celebrated by adding on another 25 or so to Gulf Shores where we hoped to camp for the night. Like most areas, we spend our time feeling like we're constantly flip flopping between areas of extreme poverty and extreme wealth. Bayou La Batre is a classic working fishing village only to be soon followed by Dauphin Island and Gulf Shores....two good places for a mega mansion. I'm not saying the middle class doesn't exist here or that this dichotomy is unusual, we just feel it more since our movement through these places is a bit slower and more personal.

That said, we made it to Gulf Shores just in time for me to have a serious sugar crash (ie: adult melt-down) and find out that it was spring break so all the college students were camping in the tent sites....and did we want a $40 RV slot?? No sir! We wisened up and for just a bit more got a cheap hotel room that guaranteed showers and a shelter from oncoming rain. In a moment of pure sugar weakness, I also allowed Dot to ride my bike for the 2 miles back out of the park since it was nice and dog-free. In hindsight, this was probably a bad idea because it went really, really well. Too well.

So now we are in Florida....our last state. Because Dot's bike ride went so well on Sunday night, I have relaxed my grip on her collar bone health a bit and have shared the bike. Dot has now ridden for two mornings in a row on roads that are safe, beautiful, and along the water. This is creating a big win for the well-being of the trip and Dot is ELATED to get her first big dose of endorphins in over a month. I, on the other hand, am perfecting my scooting skills. Highlights of the last two days include:

1.) Finding 2 for 1 pulled pork sandwiches we'd been dreaming about since hitting Texas a month ago!

2.) Staying Danielle and Haze, new Couchsurfing hosts who were awesome

3.) Biking/scooting along the Gulf Shores Seashore which is just about a half mile wide strip of sand. Stunning. AND it was a unexpectedly clear and warm day.

4.) Spending the night in Niceville with my old college friend Amanda and her son Noah. Wooster unite!...picture to follow

We are now in the final stretch, keeping our fingers crossed that this nice FL holds on for another week and trying NOT to think about this adventure slowly closing in. Over and out friends....onward we roll.

Molly, Sheryl and Bubby in NOLA

 

Eddie and Angie in Long Beach

Danielle and Haze in Pensacola

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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It's Cajun Country!

So when we left off last we were in the somewhat crummy town of Clute, TX, (home to many Dow chemical plants) and waiting out somewhat crummy weather. That said, we also knew that waiting around really wasn't much of an option so we bundled up and put our heads into the wind. The joy of this stretch was arriving at The Gulf! Yes, we finally made it to a real body of water! One might be tempted to dip their tire in here and call it quits, but we still had too much Cajun food to look forward to so we shimmied up the coast to Galveston. Galveston wasn't originally on our route (and was actually a 100 mile detour), but we had some Warmshowers hosts that spoke so highly of it that we just had to check it out. If the weather wasn't as windy/foggy/cool as it was, I'm sure we both would have been temped to stay longer, but it was at least nice to get to a touristy beach town, walk around, see the old southern architecture, and really feel like we were hitting the coastal South.

Leaving Galveston was enjoyable because the only way to escape northward is to take the free 20 minute ferry to Bolivar peninsula, a 40 mile stretch of marsh, beach and fog...soooooo much fog! Cycling this can put you to sleep. Luckily fog usually equals warmth so by noon I was heading inland and quickly stripping my wet outer layers for a t-shirt. I don't think my arms have seen sun since San Antonio. We were additionally thankful for the warmer weather because not only was it my birthday (and all birthdays deserve decent weather), but because it was also the day I had 4 flat tires and we both got stuck in clay mud. The flat tires all really boiled down to one problem in the end which was a sliver of metal stuck in the tube protector strip. Regardless, we got lots of tire changing practice! The clay-mud, on the other hand, was just a roadside fluke from farm tractors, but because there was so much of it we both were left cleaning globs of clay out of our wheels, wheel wells, brakes, and shoes for at least 20 minutes....We were a Hot Mess. Flat tire #4 was just a few miles from our destination in Port Arthur, but being now out of tubes and having the patches not hold, we were grateful for some southern hospitality in a red pickup!

Much like Clute, Port Arthur didn't hold much in the way of charm or safe cycling roads so we were glad to be out of there the next day and into some prettier countryside. Because we are no longer directly following our Adventure Cycling maps, we count on Google to show us the way. This is all well and good until I either choose not to follow it (chancing a shortcut on a bigger road) OR it takes us down gravel dirt roads....both have happened lately. I am quickly learning my lesson about not taking shortcuts as this caused me to have to catch a ride from our host over a huge, scary bridge. As for the dirt roads, well, I'm just learning to power through.

We stayed the next night in Lake Charles, LA (we made it out of Texas!) with two very cool international teachers; one from Spain and the other from France. Both are here on a special teaching program that connects international teachers with schools in the U.S. Overall, both were pretty discouraged by the LA education system and were struggling to find community in their town, but had made friends other places and spent most weekends away in NOLA or traveling....I get it. It was sad to hear about their experience here, but not unsurprising.

The next day was a zig-zaggy ride through fog, cows and crawfish farms. The crawfish farms reminded me a lot of cranberry bogs. Dot caught up to me around the time that I met another cyclist who was just out of college, a bit overpacked, but was having more of a zen-riding and solo camping experience. I guess we all have our own paths! I, for one, was grateful to make it to our hosts in Lafayette that night and have a warm shower, fish curry and chocolate pie! These folks are amazing. Becky and John run an outdoor gear store and have adventured in ways many of us only dream of. Best yet, some of their biggest trips were with their son when he was just three years old. They have really built their business up to connect to the community here and seem to be best pals with almost everyone, including a guy who Dot met at a Tiny House convention in Boston. Small world! We also met their friends who are currently traveling around in an Airstream trailer taking pictures for a book about people across America. Not only were they also an awesome couple to connect with, but Jason(photographer) did me a bigger favor and drove me to Baton Rouge today so that I could avoid some very dangerous roads and get one day ahead of really icky weather.

Yesterday I was in Baton Rouge staying with the parents of a college friend and loving just sitting around in a skirt and not moving fast. Dot, on the other hand, had to quickly scoot down to New Orleans because if she were follow me and wait until Thursday to do the trek she might freeze to death. Even though it was sunny and 70 yesterday, today is barely 40 with rain and wind gusts...not cycling weather. Today I will also forego the bike ride catch a ride to New Orleans to meet up with Dot. We will then hit the road again on Friday. Even though I know this trip is about more than clocking the miles, it's hard not to feel just a bit guilty when I miss a day of riding for a car ride....I guess I need a little inner zen....and a cookie. :)

We we now officially four states down and have four to go. We're pushing for a St Patrick's day arrival in St. Augustine, but also know that we can sometimes only travel as fast as Mother Nature allows. Our next segment includes Gulfport and Biloxi, MS which I am very excited to see since they were both my old stomping grounds during the post-Katrina cleanup/rebuilding days and hold some pretty intense and wonderful memories. Regardless, Le Bakery, I'm on my way for a Vietnamese po' boy!

May spring weather come fast to us all!

 

The tiny house of Art, Dot's Tiny House crush

 

John and Becky....they know EVERYONE!

 

Proof the Mardi Gras parades have happened....we've been passing remnants like this since Texas.

 

Bike made it to the water!

 

 

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