June 8th, 2006
We are writing tonight from a motel about 15 miles north of Live Oak – on the west side of I-75, and only 3 miles from White Springs. Chelsea and I rode another 60 miles today, and we did it all by 1:30 p.m., eating only a Greens Plus bar each and several handfuls of trail mix. We continue to drink astonishing amounts of water. One really nice thing about getting this much exercise is that we have no trouble sleeping at night! Our goal has been to ride at east 60 miles a day, and be able to write and do research for several hours a day.
What we are finding is that there are any number of daily routines that have to be accomplished before we can do anything else. At times I feel like we are back in the “hunter-gatherer” stage of evolution. We need to find food – usually very quickly after we finish riding; we need to find a place to stay each night; we need to unpack the support van before we can do anything else; we are flipping coins over who gets the shower first; and then we have to wash our cycling clothing immediately in whatever sink we can, hoping that they will dry by morning. Then we have to make sure that our Camelbaks (our water backpacks) are full of water and packed with the next day’s food, and that we have checked the map, looked at our route and where we will finish, and make sure our support team has the exact route for the full day.
We then have to pack everything and have it completely ready to go, so we can leave as early as possible. And this is all before we do anything else! Never mind the fact that we are getting a tremendous amount of exercise and sun every day. We are working steadily to streamline our systems, and of course, Chelsea and I are getting stronger every day.
The terrain continues to be just beautiful. We are noticing that the rolling hills are getting a little steeper and a little longer, and they are more frequent. Another notable item is that this area has been apparently completely spared any devastation or damage from our recent two years of hurricanes. It is still the beautiful “old Florida”, with huge old oak trees covered in Spanish moss.
We had a seriously great lunch at the end of our ride in a small café in White Springs. It was a true southern lunch, with steamed tomatoes and okra, steamed cabbage and collard greens, mashed potatoes and ham, and some of the best fried chicken I have ever had. The place was nearly deserted at 2 in the afternoon, with only locals in attendance. The entire inside of the café was covered in a wall mural, floor to ceiling, depicting every aspect of Florida wildlife and scenery in the White Oaks area, and Florida in general. It was just amazing, and it was great fun spending time just looking carefully at the whole thing to see how much we could see in it. The pace of life is clearly so much slower here. Chelsea commented that she finds herself speaking more slowly when she’s here!