We have 1,190 miles under our belt. New rims are being built as we speak. With our new rims we can continue a safe journey.
We are very grateful for the many generous people we are meeting, as well as our very supporting homebase! This journey could not unfold this way without your support!
With the sun in our backs we ride off the north island, into Fort Pierce. We are taking a tour through town, saying hello to several friends.
Our first stop is Classic Car Coating. It is Wally's shop, where old cars are totally restored. Bill has worked here often in the many times he's lived in Fort Pierce. Yesterday he put the new Z-torque crank arm on our bicycle. It has been tested to improve performance by about 20%. We are putting it to the test on our journey to Alaska!
We visit with John Hart; a very good old friend of Bill. We stop by Sam and Shirley; where we've spend many afternoons before. Oma and Opa Brollman have chased us down and meet us at Sam and Shirley's home.
We are taking to the road again. This time a beautiful bicycle path is provided. Out of traffic it rides very well. It is a cloudy day with several sun showers. We thank the cloudy day for providing shade and a cooler temperature.
We are on our way to Okeechobee. We are going to the lake. It will be our most southern stop on our journey to Alaska. On our way we are surrounded by orange groves and beautiful fields. It is a very enjoyable ride through the country.
Thunder is rumbling in the distance. Will we stay dry till we get to Okeechobee? We pedal and we look, we pedal and we look. We can always seek cover. The thunder and the rain stays in the distance. We make it to town!
In a McDonalds we take a break and see if we can figure out what to do for the night. As soon as we are inside it starts to pour. Just in time.
We pick up some internet and check into campgrounds. Not for tents. We check into motels. Expensive. Not quite sure what to do with that we decide to go to the lake. Something will come up on the way down there.
The rain has stopped. We are heading south for the last time. On our way to the lake we find a place to camp behind the CML Communications business. They are friendly enough to let us camp behind their business. That puts our minds to ease.
The lake is easy to find. A nice path takes us to the top of the dyke. What a view you have from there.
We walk down to the pier, then to the end of that. The lake is silent. It reflects the clouds like a mirror. It is so clear we can follow the shore for miles in the distance. Very pretty.
With the knowledge of having a place to pitch our tent, we head back to the bicycle. As we turn it around a fellow bicycle rides up the dyke. Of course this leads to a conversation. He wants to know all about our journey. He is practising to ride around the lake in a couple of weeks; 110 miles total. If we can make it this far, he can sure do that.
As we talk he invites us to come and stay with him. We'll cook out together too. We enjoy the thought of this and accept his offer. His place is just two miles east. And we get to ride over the dyke.
As we take our time riding across the dyke, enjoying the scenery, Bill spots a couple of eagles! Our nations bird. Amarins has the chance to walk a little closer and take a picture before the couple flies off into the sunset.
Marty's place is easy to find. It is located near the dyke. He lives in a 40 foot fixer-upper rv on a little peninsula. Plenty of space to share.
We have supper with hotdogs, hamburgers, mashed potatoes and a wide variety of vegetables. It's a feast.
We get to sleep in the master bedroom. It fits just so. Thanks Marty!
We take breaks at every opportunity we get. Usually a filling station. Where possible a mom-and-pop store. We enjoy those for the homey feeling they provide, as well as it being nice to have something different than a chain store from time to time.
We leave the rain behind us. The rain coats can be put away again. We cross the Kissimmee River, the Istokpoga River and see Spring Lake off in the distance. It is a beautiful area.
The sun has come out to play. An older couple is exited to see us. Their daughter had called ahead to tell them we were coming. Jack and Joy Spencer build their own trike-recumbent bicycles and ride them through Highland Hammocks State Park a couple of times a week. A 10 mile loop, and they are in their late 80s!
We are having a great time talking with them and would like to hear more stories. They live near the park, so we invite them to come. They'd love to do so and they will bring supper too. What a treat we are in for.
It takes us many stops and goes before we get to the park. One of the stops is at All About Lawns, Inc on Highway 66. We see a beautiful shady spot on their property. While we are there we have a chance to fill up with ice too. Thanks!
It is almost 4pm when we pull into the park. Park rangers Mike and Brenda arrange a campsite for us for two nights; at no cost to us. Thank you rangers!
We just pull into our site when supper and company arrive. We are intrigued with the stories of Jack and Joy. They brought pictures of their bicycles. They are a great invention.
Supper is delicious; chicken, cole slaw, potatoes and a refreshing cold beverage. After supper Bill sets up camp; Amarins and the girls spend that time cleaning up in the bath house. It is still before 8 when we crawl in our tent. It is the first time we are using the tent in Florida.
With the breaking of a branch the deer look up and jump away to disappear into the forest. The girls are masters of the playground once again.
We are staying at Highland Hammocks State Park today. There are many trails in the park. We plan on walking a couple of them. We start out while it is still early. There is a boardwalk through a swampy area.
The boardwalk brings us to the road. We cross the road to find another playground. The girls are so full of energy, they love to climb all over it. Robin has no problem climbing the iron bars to the platform.
Jasmine is expanding her climbing skills as she conquers a tall tower.
We walk back to the camp area. On our way we stop at the ranger station to say good morning. A new ranger is at the post; Ranger Judy. She has a great idea for the girls. They can become Junior Rangers by working on the Florida's Junior Rangers program.
The girls are so excited they can hardly wait to start. Before we get back to our camp site, we walk another trail. The trail takes us through a 'new' forest. The new growth is coming up quickly after the controlled burn in the area.
Once at the camp site the girls go right to work. Robin makes sure she colors on every page, while Amarins reads her different parts of the program. Jasmine works on the hidden words puzzle with Bill. She has a very sharp mind and gets the hang of it quickly.
Cheyenne fully submerges in the material. She reads every assignment and with little help figures out the answers to questions. After more then an hour she's still working on it. Luring her to take a play ground break doesn't stop her. We let her follow her path of discovery.
Lessons about nature's litter -leaves that break down into tiny pieces and become soil- and people litter -bottles, cans, paper and other trash that can hurt wildlife- are easily understood and absorbed.
The lesson about native plants and exotic plants takes a little longer. The exotic plants invade the habitat of the native plants as they are competing for the same food, water and space to grow. The native plants and animals must find a different place to live if they want to survive.
We are in for another surprise. Rangers Brenda and Judy are making it possible for us to go on the tram ride through the park. We get to see even more of the park and learn about tree surgery that has saved 500 year old trees.
We see where the exotic plants are invading the space of the native plants. There is a leaning hollow tree which provides several plants to grow on it, creating a small habitat by itself.
We learn about the cypress trees. They grow in water. For the roots to absorb oxygen, they grow knees on them that stick out above the water; once a knee, never a tree. Nature in its finest.
A gopher tortoise shows us how fast he can really walk and hurries back into its burrow, not willing to share his lunch time with us.
The park is located in a rolling area, where low parts take turns with high parts. Where we get to the low parts, it gets swampy. We keep our eyes out for alligators. We are rewarded with several sightings of baby alligators, a couple of turtles and eventually mother alligator herself. We keep our feet in the tram.
What a way to explore the park. It is so beautiful, there is so much to see and explore. There are many trails to take to learn even more about this little part of nature.
The girls spend another hour working towards their Junior Ranger badge. Then we are off to the ranger station for inspection. A little nervous and with high expectations they wait for Ranger Brenda to check their work.
To their delight they are rewarded with the Florida Junior Ranger badge!
Cheyenne
Jasmine
Robin
What a day! Thank you Highland Hammocks State Park for this wonderful gift of nature. Thank you park rangers for your love of the park that you so willingly share with us.
It is after noon when we put the city of Tampa behind us. We are still 20 miles away from Tarpon Springs where we will stay for a couple of days. We take the road all the way to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. We can see the Gulf through some bushes when we ride the bicycle on the Pinellas trail.
We finally make it at 4pm. Same mileage as yesterday, at least twice as tough.
The first visit to the Gulf of Mexico. If we look far enough we can see Texas. We are out on the water again. It is a beautiful day.
Who's the Captain?
Looking for shells.
Swimming with Mitch.
Enjoying Mitch's guitar play.
Giving a new meaning to bearhug...
We meet many wonderful people. We enjoy being in Tarpon Springs. It is very relaxing. We take it easy, receive a massage and recharge the batteries.
Saturday we start again. With 1,400 miles or 20% of our journey complete, the next big break will be in Slaton, Texas, after another 1,400 miles. We know we will not make the mountains of New Mexico before November. Our best guess is now December. Let's hope for a light winter.
As you can tell in the picture. This eagle has it's wing shot off and will never ever feel the freedom again. Will this be our country's future?
There is an underwater observatory. We go down the stairs and observe the different kinds of fish. We're almost fished out, when a huge animal swims by the window. It is a manatee! What a treat. We follow it all the way around the observatory until it seems to surface. We run up the stairs and there it is, in all it's massive glory.
Thrilled with this experience, we admire our manatee stamps on our way back in the tram.
Bill will set up camp, while Amarins and the girls will freshen up a little before supper. When camp is set up, plans are changed. We can not stay on the island after all. Gail and Bob have arranged a motel room for us at the Bella Oasis Hotel, next to the park. It is an inconvenience, but we are very thankful for this solution.
We pack up and head for the motel. We quickly change and can finally go out for supper. We spend an enjoyable evening with Gail and Bob at a nice Italian restaurant.
Bob is making origami birds and frogs for the girls.
Manatee Springs State Park is named after the spring located in the park. It is a first magnitude spring, meaning it discharges about 65 million (!) gallons per day. The spring is a steady 72 degrees Fahrenheit. In winter as well as in summer. During the winter months the manatees come up to enjoy the warmer water.
We walk to the spring. The girls play at the playground. We walk to the end of the boardwalk, which takes us through a cypress forest to the Suwannee river.
As we get back to the picnic tables in the playground area, Amarins has a surprise. New junior ranger workbooks. Lots of coloring pages about the water cycle and about manatees.
Jasmine
Cheyenne
Robin
The girls work hard. It is enjoyable to see them learn and play. Amarins gets to color too. It is nice working together.
Time passes quickly. The sky begins to darken. It is not because of the setting sun. Rain clouds are rolling in. The wind is picking up. Rain is upon us. We gather our stuff together and head for the pavillion.
We stay nice and dry under the pavillion. It is a heavy steady rain. Bill runs to the tent to add the front addition and put up everything that is laying around. When he gets back to the pavillion, two bikers are rolling in.
We meet Ron and Shirley. We saw each other on the road a couple of times yesterday. They live about a mile outside the park and rode their bicycles over, trying to find us and hear about our journey.
Ron and Shirley are travellers by heart. They have lived in Michigan, California, Florida and many places in between. They have sailed boats across the Gulf (and sunk one...). They have lived simple and very content all their lives. They are kindred spirits.
Tonight they'd like to bring pizza for supper and share more stories. We love it!
When the rain breaks up a little, we run to the tent, have a little lunch and take a nap. One by one we drift away as we listen to the rain falling on our tent.
We wake up to the dripping of the drops from the leaves on our tent. The rain has stopped. The forest smells fresh. Sand has splattered all over the bicycle, the tent and the tarp. It's a nitty gritty mess.
It hasn't really warmed up, but we did come here to swim in the spring. With bathing suits on we head to the water. Amarins stays on one side, to photograph the event. Bill and the girls walk around the spring to the boardwalk that takes them into the the shallow part.
The water feels very cold. It takes a while to get used to. Well, actually, it is too cold to get used to.
Jasmine is the first one to take the dive.
Cheyenne is the next daredevil. She stays in the water, watching Bill. Bill is inching closer and closer, waiting to gather enough will power to dive in.
Bill dives for it.
Brrr. It is cold.
Robin decides that wading is just as much fun.
When we are all done swimming, we decide to walk through the cypress forest to the river. A mist is setting up on the water. We want to see if there is mist on the river too.
Mist across the spring.
The sky is getting dark again. We can see rain in the distance. It doesn't look like it is coming in our direction. But we are very wrong. It starts dripping, it is raining, it is a downpour!
There is a little pavillion at the end of the boardwalk at the river. We stay nice and dry.
As we wait, we see an alligator cross the river. This answers the question of 'can we go swimming in the river' for the girls. As the rain splatters on the river, we see a river turtle stick it's head above the water. Gulf Sturgeon jump through the water. What a treat.
We wait for the rain to stop. It doesn't. We are going to make a dash for it. We speed walk back to the store. We are now half way to our tent and soaking wet. It is a good thing the air is warm. We cover the last part in no-time, dry off and huddle in our sleeping bags to warm up.
Warm and in fresh clothes we get ready for supper. The rain has finally decided to withdraw for a while. Perfect timing, as Ron and Shirley have just arrived with supper. To the pavillion we go.
Filled with stories, experiences and pizza, we call it a night. Thanks for sharing Ron and Shirley!
John decides to join us for the rest of the day. He will drive ahead to the park in Newport, and meet us there again. The park is located near the St Marks river and has a boarwalk to it.
The girls enjoy the swing set and slide. Cheyenne enjoys the water spickets; she loves to run water over her hair to cool off.
At the park we meet a forest ranger who is on duty to watch the forest from the watch tower. We can come up if we'd like! Of course we'd like to. We've seen many towers and have wondered what the view would be like.
We learn that we can climb any tower we want, as long as the gate is unlocked. That might come in handy later on our journey. This time John is joining us up the 134 steps to the 100 feet high tower house.
All in the tower.
We enjoy our time and enjoy our experience. The view is far and wide and filled with trees. No fires to report today.
100 feet up in the air. 134 steps.
We say goodbye to John and decide to continue on to Wakulla Springs State Park. We turn on SR-267. Instead of continuing on highway 98, along the Gulf coast, we have decided to go a little further inland and ride in a more straighter shot towards Destin, Florida.
We enter the park and ask the park ranger if there is a possibility for us to camp. 'No problem' he says. 'Plenty of space'. Relieved we continue into the park to find another first magnitude spring. Wakulla Springs is the longest and deepest known submerged freshwater cave system in the world.
As was Manatee Springs, this spring is also very cold at 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Amarins get her turn this time to 'swim' with the girls. It is actually quite refreshing, but one dive is enough.
Inching into the cold Wakulla Springs.
After this refreshing dive, the girls start building dams and sand castles. Spring + sand + sun = lots and lots of fun.
Building a sand castle.
We ask another ranger where we can put our tent. 'Nowhere' is the answer. There is no campground here and they don't want to make an exception. We can stay in the $100-a-night lodge. Huh?!
Needless to say, we pack up and leave the park to find a place to camp elsewhere. There is no campground anywhere nearby, but after a couple of mile we find a church with a beautiful back yard.
We pitch the tent, snack on our food and start settling down for the night. It's already after six. Our big yellow bike and our large tent cannot remain unnoticed. It doesn't take long before we have visitors.
The church members that come checking are very friendly and are okay with us staying there for the night. We happen to have put up the tent right next to a driveway that leads to a home in the woods.
We get a chance to meet the residents and their daughter and granddaughters. They are out on an errand. When they get back they share popsicles and juice with us. Thanks!
Deshea and Derisha with mom and grandparents brought popsicles!
Heading down the road, we enter the Apalachicola forest. We enjoy being surrounded by the trees. The girl distinguish between coniferous and deciduous very well. They learn about the business of planted forests.
From time to time the forest breaks open and a field appears. In one of them a beautiful fairy tale tree grows.
A fairy tale tree.
Breakfast was a while ago. We are looking forward to brunch with friends. Two days in a row that we have brunch waiting. We could get used to that. The convenience of a follow car is clear. Any volunteers?...
Clouds are on our path. A cold front is coming through and might bring rain today. A dark cloud is hanging right across the road. This one doesn't bring us rain, another one does. We cover under the tarp to stay dry. It only takes a couple of minutes, then it clears up enough to go again.
We stop at an intersection where a picnic table under a pavillion looks very inviting. It is only 10am and we've covered over 20 miles already. Nice.
With excitement we wait for our friends to arrive. We met them for the first time on the Appalachian Trail, two months ago. Anita and Michael have kept track of our journey. Now we are near their home town of Tallahassee it is time to meet again.
We are having a great time catching up. Brunch is filled with fruit, bacon, home made biscuits and cheese grits. We savor the time together. Mamie brought her beading set to share with Cheyenne and Jasmine. We appreciate all of you so much!
At noon we are back on the road again, filled with great company and good food. The land scape is surprising us. Not just lots of trees, but gentle rolling hills too. It feels good to be back in the hills again.
Clouds are filling the sky again. Will we make it to Blountstown today? We keep on going until we can see the rain on the road ahead of us. We pull the bike off the road. Unroll the tarp and squeeze under it together. Just in time. It's a downpour!
It is rather crowded with the five of us under an 8 by 10 tarp. It sure beats being in the rain though. We play a rhyming game to pass the time. When all is clear we continue on our path.
We ride through Bristol, cross the river and are in a new time zone! Central Time. We have an extra hour in the day today. We take it to have a play date at McDonalds in Blountstown.
With a playground there are always more parents with children. A good place to meet locals and ask for a place to stay. We actually have two options. One here in town, one in the next town.
Eventhough we have made it to our destination today, we decide to go for Clarksville. We can stay all day tomorrow at Tanya's home. It is a little further than we thought, but we make it well before sunset.
The girls dive right into the play room and are having a great time playing with Autumn. We visit with Tanya and enjoy the comfort of her home.
The main road, stateroad 20, is horrible. The road is rough, there is no shoulder, traffic consists of logging trucks. It is a tense way to start the day. We are relieved when we roll into Bay County where we finally have a shoulder again.
Not a yard into Bay county we feel we have a flat tire. The timing couldn't have been better. A side road to put the tarp on for the girls to sit on. A shoulder and grass to fix the bike on. We have worn another rear tire out.
In Ormond Beach we put Armadillo tires on our wheels. After 686 miles, the rear tire needs to be replaced. We have not had any flat tires at all with these. The flat we had on our first day with the Armadillo tire was a result of an overinflated inner tube.
We carry an extra tire and inner tube with us so the problem is easily fixed. Soon we are on the road again. Having a shoulder to ride on relieves a lot of tension. At the intersection with highway 231 we stop for breakfast.
At the filling station the news catches up with us. Kristina from Channel 7 in Panama City has come out to see us. See her report here!
The road takes us through beautiful scenery once more. There are still an abundance of flowers blooming here. Bill loves the yellow ones in particular. In a couple of weeks the flowers will be to the end of their season most likely so we take a moment to stop and enjoy them.
We are glad to have taken the moment to stop and smell the flowers. We work so hard at getting to our days destination that from time to time we forget to enjoy the journey. Our minds get absorbed with scavenging for food and a place to camp.
In Ebro we don't find a place to camp, but we do find a place to eat. The Ebro Cafe. We savor the rich flavors of the homemade food. We sit and rest a while and listen to the stories of Ebro's golden days; a logging village with tree farms all around.
These ladies are Ebro originals!
On to the next town; Bruce. Bill has a hunch that this is the place we need to go today. A newspaper article about Ann Tucker and her strive for recognition of the Eastern Creek nation has caught his attention.
We arrive in Bruce and follow the signs to the tribal council building. Here we meet Ann's uncle. What a timing. We get a chance to talk with him and look inside the museum. The building was once used as a school. In the back is still the old iron stove that was given by the army.
We can stay on the tribal grounds tonight. Thank you very much for sharing your story and allowing us to stay!
The girls enjoy the playground as we put up the tent and make the beds once more. Ann's husband stops by and visits for a while. We enjoy the visit.
A couple of bridges take us across the water. On top of the tallest bridge we stop to look around for a while. A vintage bridge picture and a not so vintage shot of Amarins seal the deal.
Tadaaaa!
We roll off the bridge into roadworks onto highway 98 west. It is still morning and we are almost there. The shoulder provides room for us to ride and before we know it we are at Rita and Ernests home. Here we'll have time to rest and time to update.
The afternoon is spend with being together, naps and looking at the computer. We do some laudry and settle in for a while.
Jasmine and Sarah are mesmerized by the dolphins in the bay.
Scott and Katie also brought our new rims! They are finally ready! A delay by the factory to send the hubs to Spin Lite Cycling threw the original schedule out the window. But now they are here!
Our new rims have arrived! Look at the difference!
We are taking a maiden voyage on our new rims around the campground. Scott rides in Cheyenne's place.
At the end of the afternoon we visit the Pensacola Naval Museum. If you like hands-on musea (or museums), this is a great place to spend the day. We enjoyed every hour of our stay. If the museum hadn't closed when it did, we would have stayed even longer.
Sarah, Cheyenne and Martha. Future Blue Angels?
Scott and Katie fix chicken fajitas for supper. Yumlicious! The rest of the evening we spend around the campfire sharing life together.
It is an exciting new day. We are finally leaving Florida behind us and enter Alabama. We'll be here for just a short spell before we cross into Mississippi.
The racoons must have smelled the chicken fajitas we had for supper. They have been after them all night. Scott and Katie have been up most of the night putting things up, but the racoons got away with the chicken as well as the tortillas after all.
No chicken burritos for breakfast for us, but we still have plenty of sausage and eggs and raisin bread. To warm us up we start with hot chocolate. Ahhh, delightful.
With breakfast behind us and the sun on our tent, it is time to get ready to ride. The Magleys are packing up to head for their home in the mountains of South Carolina. We will continue our journey westward.
It is ten o'clock when we leave the park. We follow SR-182 across a tall bridge onto Perdido Key. White sandy dunes, pretty buildings. We pedal and we pedal. At 11 o'clock we enter Alabama. It has come upon us so suddenly, we have to read the sign a coule of times to make sure.
Alabama the beautiful. Well, this part is certainly beautiful. The buildings are not to overwhelmingly big. The roads are nice and wide, and have a bicycle lane too. So far Alabama is a good experience.
The next big town is Gulf Shores, we plan on being there by lunch. Being on the road it's like we travel from meal to meal. A big town means more meal choices. We enjoy the ride, enjoy the lack of wind, enjoy the sunshine. We can see the tall buildings of Gulf Shores.
Our plan is working fine. It is a little after noon when we stop for a Hardees burger. Eventhough we started late today, we should be able to make it to the ferry that will take us across Mobile Bay to Dauphin Island.
We just turned west on SR-180 when a sign catches our eye:
Now what! We brought the phone number with us, so inquiries are quickly made. The ferry is closed for the entire week and will reopen on Saturday. And it is Monday today. A change of plans! We've run out of map, so it is time to get a new one. A bookstore brings the solution.
There are no other ferries that can take us across the bay. We have to go through Mobile and then head back down to go to Biloxi, Mississippi. Quite the detour. We don't want to hang around at Fort Morgan for the entire week, so we head north on SR-59. We shall see what the new plan brings.
SR-59 takes us to Foley where we pick up highway 98 west. The road takes us over some hills through beautiful scenery. From a Foley resident we get the advice to go to Oak Hollow Farm in Fairhope. They will have a place for us to pitch the tent.
When we where traveling through South Carolina we saw different kinds of crops; peanut, soy and cotton. As we are pedalling through the country side a field full of cotton shows us. As gorgeous as you've ever seen. We have seen the plants with the cotton pods on them, now they have opened and the cotton is ready to pick.
We arrive at Oak Hollow Farm and with one phone call it is a done deal. We can put our tent any where we want to. On top of the hill we find the perfect spot. The girls play at the playground while Amarins and Bill set up camp. Before we go to bed, we have some hot chocolate.
Robin takes a nap in the afternoon. Jasmine plays in the office. Cheyenne helps clean Faith, the horse we'll get to ride on this afternoon. Amarins is doing the internet, Bill is doing the laundry.
The time has finally arrived that we are going to ride some horses. Cheyenne and Jasmine have been anticipating this moment to happen and now it has finally arrived. We go to Sandy's home where three horses are waiting for us.
Cheyenne and Jasmine immediately hop on. Robin thinks the toys are much more fun. Horses are nice at a distance. Cheyenne and Jasmine have a wonderful time. Bill and Amarins also get a chance to ride.
Cheyenne and Jasmine enjoy the horses.
Robin is much more interested in the puppies.
Amarins gets the chance to go on a trail ride with Pat and daughter Bridget. What a wonderful ride it was. Unforgetable. Thanks ladies!
