"It gives you a chance to feel strong not just be strong but to feel strong, to find yourself in the most basic of all human conditions, with nothing to help you, just your hands and your head"---John Krakauer. "Into the wild"
With my return to the road in the very near future I am going back over my notes and posts from my trip. I have also been putting together a series of articles to publish for each state that I traveled through. This is the first article and is a rough example of the joys and dangers of being a novice and learning as I went. This is the recap of Florida and how things are going to be a little different this go around.
The date was September 23rd 2016. It was a warm but far from hot fall day in north Florida. The weather was perfect the sun was shining, humidity low and all looked to be about perfect for the start of cross country journey. With just a few short three day trips here and there I was about to take on the daunting task of riding my bicycle cross country unsupported and solo.
My friend Samantha and her girls drove me to Jacksonville Beach right off Atlantic Avenue. Walking down the boardwalk to the beach I could feel the breeze from the ocean and the smell of the salt water was exhilarating. I was about to embark on something that no other person with my medical history has ever done. Being a person defying odds and attempting something just 3 short years ago seemed unimaginable. Surviving a widow maker, open heart surgery, a TPA stroke and cancer this seemed out of reach beyond what me beyond anything possible....I had never done something like this and really had no idea what to expect. So I dipped my back tire in the Atlantic Ocean and set off for the other side of America.
I don't know if it was adrenaline or just the way things were going to go but I was off and pedaling making great time. After just 13 miles I was heading into downtown JAX, when I was struck by a hit and run driver. I was broad sided and flipped into the air.....oh what a freaking start to this trip and one of my major fears was realized day one hour two. After a brief meeting with the paramedics I decided to keep going instead of having them take me to the hospital. However just a few miles up the road, the pain in my wrist gave me some severe pause and I rode into the closest hospital. Baptist Memorial smack downtown is where I met the coolest doctor who turns out is a cyclist as well. He was great to meet and we have remained friends since. I take his advice on things often and became a great source of medical information while on the road. I highly suggest that all people taking on an adventure have a doctor on speed dial....things are going to come up and you will need answers.
Well after a few down days and damaged wrist I decided it was time to head back out. I had to much invested in this trip to call it quits at this point. I decided to get back on my trip, with a damaged wrist and damaged panniers though I had to invest in a travel trailer, I choose to utilize a child trailer like a parent would use. Turned out to be a ton of weight but well worth the extra effort. I also learned a valuable lesson, one I am going to pass on right now. Do not ride through a major metropolitan area during high traffic periods. Drivers do not pay attention to cyclist regardless of bike lanes. The best time to do a city is on Sunday mornings when traffic is light and roads are easily navigated also in cities yield to cars no matter what do not assume they are going to respect the law when it comes to cyclist. But also do not fear them or you will not get very far.
After getting out onto the open road of the well travelled route 90 things went very smoothly. The miles started to fade away as I went along. I met a few people roadside along the way. One was a very nice young lady combing through the grass looking for a needle in a haystack. She was looking for her sim card which her boyfriend had thrown out the window. I stopped talked with her and she told me of the hot springs around the area.
North Florida is not like the rest of Florida at all. It is not like the Florida that people think it is much more country, more like south Georgia. But these hot springs are all over the area and perfect for a chance to hop in and relax. Just be ready to have some company and well many people use the remote location of these springs to take a dip au natural as I did. It is accepted and well ok for the area I guess even though it is not legal. The feeling of these sulphur springs are just what the body orders after a long day's ride.
Also after a few days ride I came to learn that well google maps was and still is in a beta version. Some of the short cuts on the cycling side of things lead to roads better suited for mountain bikes and less for road bikes let alone trailers. Also not all campgrounds listed are actually there, many of them are nowhere to be found. This is where another life saving lesson was learned. Camping roadside in semi rural areas can be dangerous. Even in Florida there are issues with bears encroaching on inhabited areas. It is best to find a place closer to town if you can not find a campground. What I learned is Churches, fire halls and police stations are great places to set up camp for a night. Also VFW and Walmarts in a pinch will typically allow you to set up camp, however as always make sure you leave your area in better shape than when you arrived.
After a few days of riding another one of my fears arose. It came in the form of one big ass dog. It was on one of these beta short cuts of google earth that led me to this fateful meeting with mans best friend. Dogs in the country and especially on roads that are remote are not familiar with cyclist and pulling a trailer it is just about impossible to outrun a dog in hot pursuit. On this particular day a dog weighing in about 200lbs, I later found out his name was zues, decided he wanted a piece of me. I took a bite directly on my right wrist from this massive dog. But the dog got the worst of it, he took my knife directly into his side several times till he let go of my arm. Sadly the dog did not make it and I sustained several a dozen stitches to my already beaten arm. Lesson three & four, carry a knife just a small one put a sturdy one they are invaluable and can save your life. Also keep a deterrent with you in the first place. After this encounter I put a can of wasp spray into one of my bottle holders and while the effects are not permanent it is legal and will put just about any animal on the ground for a period of time.
Route 90, is the preferred travel road in Florida it will get you across the state in the shortest order but it also does not have a ton of sights. One sight that is worth seeing is the famed Swanee river. This is where I sat for a few days and decided if it was worth moving forward or calling my trip. Hurricane Matthew was heading my direction, I was bit by a dog, hit by a car and was miserable. So I took a moment and was introduced to the site by a fellow camper I soon will not forget. I was taken down to the banks of the river in the middle of the night and prompted to look up. it was the same night as a meteor shower. I had never seen so many stars or made so many wishes before. It opened my eyes up to keep moving forward and what other sites I may miss if I quit now.
I eventually made it to my friends house in Tallahassee, a great friend from high school David was accommodating and a cyclist to boot. It also felt good to sleep on a bed but also weird as well. We had lunch and I hung out for a few days even did a little ride with him one day this time without the trailer.....ahhh the pleasure....but here is another lesson. People you meet along the way or stay with will want you to go for a ride with them. They want to be a part of the journey, by all means take the ride with them but tether their expectations. Let them know you just got finished several hundred miles and really need the much needed down time for your body to heal. Seeing David was great though and I highly recommend seeing friends along the way.
After a few days rest it was time to turn my sites southward and head to the gulf coast of Florida. This stretch to Panama City was challenging to say the least. It was not the distance or the heat that made it challenging it was the solitude. To this point I had pretty much been around people. However this part of the journey that took me along route 20 into a town called Blountstown where I met the first of my warm shower stops. The bridge into this town is the epitome of dangerous. If you miss the cutoff and it is easy to do you end up like me on a two mile blind bridge, smack in the middle of 55 mph traffic with no shoulder. This is when you pray if you're going to hit me then just hit me and end it quick.
My stay here in Blountstown was incredible. My first warm shower host David, put me up in a remote cabin with a warm meal, a comfy bed and a hot shower. David, has welcomed thousands of cyclists over his years as a host. All of them are required to write a page in the journal book about why they are doing the trip and a little about themselves. So on a quite fall evening while listening to Mozart I read the stories of those that have come before me and I added my own little piece of me to that incredible book.
The rest of my ride in Panama City took me to the most incredible off the beaten path sites. A giant donkey farm and the dead lakes (the best bass fishing in the southern US). This is where I met some fellow travelers who I would meet up with again in Alabama. But this route 20 to rt 71 to rt 22 is easily travelled but remote as hell.
Once in Panama City I found a part of the country that is so worth seeing. The white sands of the gulf of Mexico. The sand is so soft and the water is so clear and warm. The thing behind a trip like this are twofold. There is the sites you see and then there are the people you meet. I went to the beach to lay in the sand and swim in this pristine water. After a few moments of being on the beach I started talking with some folks resting near me. Turns out they were both in the military and both about to become field combat officers. David (yes another david is an inspiration to me, a fellow triathlete and family man) introduced me to a very nice young officer, I had the pleasure of meeting a ground breaking woman. When she graduates school she will be one of the first women in the US Army history to command combat troops. It was my esteem pleasure to meet real life heroes and well it felt weird that they said the same of me.
It was about midnight when I was sitting on the beach that I realized just how incredible it was to be doing what I was doing. The surreal nature of sitting there on a beach in Florida at midnight watching the moon dance on the waves was incredible. I did not drive there, I did not fly there, I propelled myself almost 300 miles and damn that is when it dawned on me just how epic and amazing this really was. From that moment on life on the road was a little different.
The rest of my time along the gulf coast seems like a dream. The miles just floated away, most of the gulf coast can be covered on a sustained concrete boardwalk and when not the shoulder is large enough to allow you to travel it with ease. I met several great people along the way and saw a beauty that is hard to explain. Some of the little beach towns are worth the stop and tour as a matter of fact. Such beauty, such epic sights and what fun this area can be. There was a point I was even invited to assist in helping release baby sea turtles.....oh the wonders of a journey is like nothing you can imagine. Oh and by the way I did ride through part of Hurricane Matthew....."the devil whispered to the warrior you can not handle the storm.....yet the warrior whispered back I am the storm".....well in this case I was the storm and I did withstand it.
The ride as I said along route 98 and the gulf coast was a dream. I met up with a man I met on Facebook name Mike and his family about 30 miles outside of Pensacola. I stayed the night with him and his family and the next day we headed in together to Pensacola, one of the nicest rides I had taken yet and it was so nice to ride with another person. Mike is an avid cyclist and a great rider it was tough for me to keep pace with him. It is funny we talked about several different styles of riding. The one thing is the constant pedaling of flat land as opposed to rolling hills. Believe it or not it takes some getting used to the constant pedaling.
Eventually we reached our destination and parted company till the next time we meet. I look forward to meeting him again and riding again. He too is looking forward to taking a tour like this one day. I laid up in Pensacola for a few days at another warm shower stop and just lived the dream that had become my reality.....a few days later I would confront my final fear....at the border of Florida and Alabama.
It was a the border of Florida and Alabama that I was clipped by the second vehicle. It was at this moment, my last fear came true. I came face to face with a nut job, they are out there, this guy wreaked of alcohol in the middle of the afternoon and caught edge of my trailer at a red light. I flopped over on the ground and when i stood up and started yelling at the guy. The man came out waving a hand gun. he pointed it straight at me and well I had nowhere to turn so I just stood my ground. Eventually the man got back into his vehicle, I think reality kicked in as there were a ton of witnesses to the event. Some locals who witnessed the event s from their home took pity on me and helped calm me down and the police were able to catch him a few miles up the road. But let me just say.....I was done with Florida and I think Florida with me at that point.
What Florida did was test me. It changed me. It healed me. It taught me lessons that have stayed with me since, it showed me how badass this actually was. Florida is a huge state, it is a beautiful state, it a state with amazing state parks, amazing sights and even more amazing people. It is getting there as bike friendly on the North side and it was a true pleasure to test my metal in that state. It is funny but each state preps you in some way for the next if you are just open to the lesson of Florida 101.....Next State Alabama and whole new set of amazing travels.
