Being home again is quite an amazing experience. Arriving home, and the process of getting here, were amazing too.
First ride
John D., our first Craigslist rideshare, picked us up about 2:30 on Thursday right at Roger’s trailer. Chelsea and I hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, partly from hanging out with Roger and partly because we couldn’t sleep, so we spent the day as quietly as we could. We were packed and ready to go by noon, so when John arrived, it was a matter of a few minutes to get loaded up into his truck.
The ride was wonderful, as easy as any just-over-one-thousand-miles ride could be. We had about an hour up to Wharton, where we filled the gas tank and John took a shower and changed at his mom’s house. It was another two hours up to Houston before we hit Interstate 10. The outside temperatures were brutal – we saw 102 to 106 on John’s indoor thermometer from Port Lavaca till we got well through Houston.
Houston rush hour traffic wasn’t as bad as expected, though it was quite slow. Knowing I was expected to drive the midnight to four a.m. shift, I took the back seat and caught an hour or so of sleep.
John was a complete delight to travel with – he was quiet, his conversation was interesting and pleasant, and he was okay with silence (an important quality on a long ride). Trained as an electrician and HVAC specialist, he spent over two years recently working as a construction manager with a premier, long-standing custom homebuilder in Florida. He and his wife live in Florida; half his family lives in the Ocala/Orlando area of Florida, while his mom and several brothers and sisters live in the Wharton/Houston area of Texas.
When the economy collapsed in Florida, John was laid off. The fact that he outlasted a number of more senior guys due to his skill and accomplishments was not much solace when the job finally ended. After three months out of work he found another job, only to be laid off again. He now commutes from his home in central Florida all the way to south Texas (1040 miles) to work as an electrician in a major plastics plant in Port Lavaca. He primarily stays at his mom’s house in Texas, but gets home to Florida as often as he can.
John looks forward to any time he can spend with his wife, so the thought of “wasting” time sleeping in a roadside rest area on his ride home to Florida is frustrating. His hours were also cut recently, and the per diem was taken away, so getting help with gas was another issue. He’s never done a rideshare before – this was his first foray into the world of ride sharing. It turned out perfectly for both of us. We’d agreed ahead of time that we would pay for a tank of gas, and he’d cover the next. We also agreed that I’d drive the middle of the night shift, the time he usually runs out of energy and needs to sleep.
I managed to get another couple of hours sleep, awakening shortly before midnight, right as John was ready to quit. Chelsea and John were both asleep for the first few hours of my shift, until Chelsea awakened about three. I was truly glad she did, as she managed to keep me awake until almost four, when I finally pulled into a rest area. When we got on the road again I flopped sideways in the back and was out cold for almost three hours.
John finally dropped us off at the Okahumpka service plaza, the first plaza on the Florida turnpike; we’d made 1040 miles in extremely good time, with no distractions or slowdowns at all. We’d already managed to set up our next ride; we’d agreed to meet at the plaza. We unloaded bikes, trailers and all at the plaza, and said our thanks and goodbyes to John.
Second ride
We had only an hour’s wait at the service plaza, and though it was quite hot, we’d scored a table and benches in the shade, with our bikes and gear in the shade with us. Our next ride was Marcel, and he was very familiar with the Craigslist rideshare program. On our long ride south to Palm Beach County we discovered that Marcel regularly takes rideshare folks, depending on circumstances.
In our case Marcel was driving from his home in Orlando down to Vero Beach to drop off his young daughter to her mother and was looking for someone to share gas expense. He saw our listing, and since he’s been thinking about doing some cycle touring someday, he thought it would be interesting to give us a ride and find out more about what we are doing.
We were quite impressed – Marcel ended up driving over an hour north from Orlando to get us at the turnpike plaza, and then at least an hour more at the other end, from Vero Beach to Delray Beach. To say we were appreciative is an incredible understatement!
Marcel drives a beautiful older diesel Mercedes so fitting our gear in was a bit of a challenge. We were quite a show there at the service plaza, getting our gear and bikes on the car. We had to empty our trailers of all gear, break down the trailers into their bags and put them in the trunk of his car, then pack all the trailer contents around the bags. The bikes went on a bike rack, and our portage bags went on top of the trunk, on the bike rack straps.
All told, we had a 230-mile ride down to our house, taking about six hours altogether, including stops. The downside (and it was a notable one) was that Marcel’s air conditioning had gone out, and the real feel was likely in the low hundreds. I started developing a heat headache (I was in the direct sun from the sun roof), and added to the lack of sleep, we were pretty whupped when we arrived home.
The upside was that Marcel was extremely interesting, and his daughter was a doll –incredibly bright, articulate, and well behaved. Marcel runs a pedicab service in Orlando, and travels to other cities in the south for major events such as Nascar, sporting events, and so on. (A pedicab is a bicycle with seating arrangements, like a taxicab. It’s used for transporting people short distances, mainly tourists.)
Chelsea and Eden (his daughter) shared the back seat while Marcel and I talked almost non-stop. I was incredibly interested in his business and loved hearing all his stories. We also talked extensively about trailers; I told him about our frustrations with our trailers, and we talked about possible solutions. I agreed to send him an extensive write-up about our ideal trailer, and what we liked and disliked about not only our trailers but also the others we’ve seen. Marcel said that he could make a prototype trailer pretty quickly. I will definitely follow up on this as soon as we get settled.
Arriving home
Alex had warned me in advance that the house would be in rough condition, and I was glad for the warning. He’s been working doubles, and has had a parade of roommates over the last two years. Combined with a lousy economy and a high local unemployment rate, things have been tough lately.
The lawn hadn’t been mowed in about three weeks, and with the rain we’ve had here, the grass was at least knee high. The air conditioning was broken, the pool was green, and the house was hot and stuffy. It was really odd to be back after well over a year away, and have things be familiar, but not. None of our familiar things were in the house (everything’s in storage), but we did have a bed, and though not up to our standards (smile), the cleanliness was better than a lot of what we’ve seen on our trip.
When Marcel dropped us off we were pretty quiet, partly from the impact of being home after so long, and partly from heat and lack of sleep. With Marcel’s help we got everything into the house quickly, then said our heartfelt thanks and goodbyes.
Getting settled
We’ve worked very hard the last week and a half. The yard is starting to look great – we had it mowed in front the night after we got back – and the pool is looking better each day. We’ve done some hard-core cleaning, and we got the air conditioning fixed. I’ll write more on that- suffice it to say for now that a/c has made a big difference. We are having brutal heat down here – the real feel today was 108, and it’s been 102-105 almost every day since we got back.
I’ll write more over the next few days. Chelsea and I are still talking strategy; she’s agreed to finish up the projects while I get to work on writing the book. I’ll be sure to get caught up on our last week or so, letting you know what’s up.
Signing off from Delray Beach…