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3.19.2010

Day 3 - Zolfo Springs to Punta Gorda

I was sound asleep by 9pm the night before. Clearly, I was exhausted. At least this was the case before my sunburn became apparent. My skin felt like it was on fire. Eventhough the day before had been mostly cloudy, and I wore a long sleeve shirt all day, I managed to burn the tops of my hands, the tops of my knees, and my left leg (due to riding west with the sun to my south). It was bad enough that I got up and took an ice cold shower, which helped let me go back to sleep.

I am 28 years old. I should know better than this. My poor mom is probably so embarrassed because I've been told time and time again.
Wear Sunscreen.
Oh well.

Anyways, morning came, and I didn't feel much better. I took it easy, had an amazing breakfast at the Pioneer Restaurant across the street. It was a small town, home-cooking, type of restaurant. I got eggs, sausage, hashbrowns, and toast for $3.90. Awesome. The menu was a photocopy of a hand written notebook page, with a big note in the bottom right corner, "Have a Jesus filled day!". These people were super nice.

After breakfast, I went to the gas station to get some Aleve, and a solution for my hands. I couldn't bear the thought of them baking in the sun all day. The best solution I could find was a pair of work gloves. I cut the fingers off, and voila (sp?)! a pair of $1.99 biking gloves. And I look like Ronald McDonald.

I took my time packing up, applied sunscreen for the second time at 11am, and finally hit the road a shade before noon. Casual days are pretty nice.

The wind was non-existent, and off I rode. Oh the glory! It's so much nicer to ride bikes without fighting the wind all day. The miles just ticked by, and the weather was once again, perfect. I rode in a t-shirt, never felt cold, and never broke a sweat.

From 2010-03-19 Day 3

I got chased by another dog, this one was a small terrier type dog. He was a pain, but never really threatened me. I just kept riding and eventually he gave up chasing me. This will be a common occurrence, I'm sure.

The countryside continued, more miles of beautiful orange groves, and strawberry patches too. I stopped at a tiny "granny's" road side shop and purchased $2 of strawberries. They were without question the best strawberries I've ever had. I hung the bag of strawberries over my handlebar, and rode on, munching strawberries the whole way.

As I got closer to the coast, the winds began to pick up, but it didn't worry me because I was so close to my destination for the evening.

From 2010-03-19 Day 3

Reaching the coast was a pretty amazing feeling. Even though I knew where I was going, I had maps to get there, and I was following roads, it still gave me an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. Imagining how crazy it must have been to be Columbus, or Cortez, or Lewis and Clark, is hard to comprehend. My unknowns are simple and small, I just need to do it. Going into unknown territory is a whole different game. Now, this sense of accomplishment was short lived. I'm about 170 miles into my trip, and have another 3800+ to go.

The owner of the local bike shop was kind enough to give me a place to crash for the night, and his wife was super great and cooked me dinner! Big thanks! Early to bed because they have to lead a group ride at 8am tomorrow and I need to be out of their hair. Tomorrow I venture to Fort Myers, a short day, and I hope to meet up with the KU Alumni Association to watch the game. Rock Chalk!

Day 3 - 60 miles
Trip to date - 173 miles

Ps. I found Venus' long lost sister. I wonder what ever happened to her? Todd?

3.18.2010

Day 2 - Poinciana to Zolfo Springs

After sleeping like a baby, I was treated to a breakfast by my awesome hosts. The bags were repacked, and I was ready to go around 9:30am. The weather seemed to be pretty good for riding. Overcast skies, temperatures around 70, and a mild breeze. Little did I know, I'd be fighting that 'breeze' for most of the day.

The riding was smooth, and the roads were good. I'm fairly impressed with Florida roads. Lots of "Share the Road" signs, and most roads have wide shoulders too.

I rode south for about 6 miles, and then turned to the west. Ouch! Oomph! (and a number of other choice words followed) The wind was directly in my face. Maintaining 10mph was a challenge. Luckily, the scenery was top notch and took my mind off of the ongoing struggle. I rode through miles and miles of orange groves. Amazing!

From 2010-03-18 Day 2

After approximately 1.43million orange trees, I started climbing a very slight hill. Since I was still riding into the wind, my speed was ~9mph. Sure enough, a sprayer came around the end of a row and turned to drive down the next row. The wind blew all of this wonderful pesticide directly into my face. For future reference, it tastes awful. But I haven't been bothered by any bugs since!

There were also a number of bee colonies tucked within the orange trees. I don't know if they are just to help pollinate or if they actually produce honey too. I saw these guys and decided to take their picture. However, I didn't want to get close enough to chat.

I also got chased by my first and second dog on this trip. My previous host warned me of the crazy dogs, and I mostly brushed it off without concern. Wowza, I was wrong. There were two dogs in a fenced yard, and I saw them running along. I laughed because I knew they were behind the fence. All of the sudden, a different dog came out of the trees and bee-lined for my rear wheel. All of the hair on my arms prickled up, and my heart went into overdrive. I stood on the pedals and cranked as hard as I could. Luckily, the dog only chased me for a few hundred yards before he stopped in the road. Once I was safely out of his range, I stopped to take his picture. Jerk.

After a seemingly endless number of windy miles, I hit a town big enough to have a Walmart Supercenter, and noticed a Little Caesars. Oh wow, I've never been so excited for a $5 pizza in my whole life. I ate an entire pizza and felt miles better. However, I wasn't feeling so much better that I wanted to ride another 5 miles to the campground. I had my mind set on staying in a motel. I called and asked if they had any available rooms. He said sure thing, and that they were $40/night. After a 5 minute ride from the Little Caesars, the not-so-great motel came into view. I figured I was there and should take a look. The guy behind the counter handed me two keys, told me to take a look and pick the one I liked better. Never a good sign. Smelly, moldy rooms, and the doors to the mini-fridges were more than 2/3 rusted. I handed both keys back to the man, and suddenly had the energy to ride on to the campground.

Good thing I did. It was a beautiful campground and only $16.

After a long and exhausting 73 miles, I fell fast asleep.

Day 2 - 73 miles.
Trip to date - 113 miles.

3.17.2010

Day 1 - Kansas City to Orlando to Poinciana

Morning came early. Made it to the airport without any problems. Event the TSA people were very nice, and did a fantastic job of repacking and retaping my bike box together. That made me feel a little more comfortable.

The flight was uneventful, I got all my luggage without problems and began to assemble my bike on the curb at the airport. Several funny looks, but no real hassles.

From 2010-03-17 Day 1

I cut down the cardboard boxes and placed them behind a trashcan. I needed to stop by the local bike shop for a couple of last minute items, so I had to get out of the airport. Just inside the automatic doors was a guy who looked like he knew what he was doing. I asked him, "What is the easiest way to ____ street?". He answered, "get on that bus right there, the teal one". I responded, "No, I have my bicycle". He looked at me and said, "no problems, there is a rack on the front". He didn't get it. I wanted to ride out. I asked him if I could ride out and he just shrugged his shoulders.

So, I rode through the gates, and into amazingly scary traffic. It went almost instantly to a highway, with traffic merging from both the right and the left. Welcome to cycle touring, Chris. I darted all the way to the right, and looked for somewhere less intimidating. As I was riding, a big pickup screamed by me, and proceeded to pull off into the grass ahead of me. I thought, "oh, great, one mile in and some crazy guy wants to beat me up". As I pulled past him, he was just sitting there. I asked him, "do you know the easiest way to a non-highway?" He had no idea. Of course not. He was lost getting out of the airport too.

About 1 mile further down the road, I made it to the end of the highway and onto a regular city street. As I was crossing the last merging on ramp, I heard a horrible 'wham' and then some dragging. Stopping immediately, I looked back and found my first technical mishap of the trip. I had only finger tightened the bolts on my back rack, and the upper half just slid right out. Whoops. Surely there will be lots of rookie mistakes on this trip.

The bike shop was easy to find, and soon enough I was on my way. Progress was cruising right along, but the traffic in Orlando isn't great. Even on a bike, there was an amazing amount of stop and go. Eventually, I got out into less dense areas, and enjoyed the weather and the riding.

From 2010-03-17 Day 1

I made it to Poincianna, where I had two very awesome hosts put me up for the night. They cooked me a fantastic dinner, told me about their 12 month global bike ride, and loaded me up with tons of great advice.

Day 1 - 40 miles.

Trip to date - 40 miles.

And so it begins.