Day 0: Best-Laid Plans...

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It was an eventful Day 0.  I'm calling it Day 0 as I wasn't originally planning to bike.

Woke up at 4:45 am to catch a 7:40 flight into Jacksonville, FL.  Had to check the panniers and pay a luggage fee.  Grrr...  As we usually fly only with carry-ons, this was a bit of a bummer.

I was a bit dismayed to see one set of panniers arrive in Jacksonville in a different bag. Apparently TSA didn't like my matches (and they left me a note telling me that).  Thankfully they didn't confiscate the butane lighter, only the matchbooks.  I suspect though that the x-rays also didn't like my containers of oil and jam.

Uber to Island Bike in St. Augustine where my bike was already assembled and ready to go.  I quickly changed and loaded up the bike.  It was about 4 miles to the coast.  Dipping bike tires in the ocean before starting off is apparently a tradition--to make it officially a coast-to-coast ride--and so I complied (as you can see above).

Unfortunately for me, storms were forecast around this time.  While the storms didn't materialize, the winds did, and I had to battle 30-35 mph winds to get out of town.  The cross winds were so fierce that I had to walk my bike up the bridge.


I left the bike shop around 1:30, but didn't start heading west until 2:15.  It was then a long hard slog against the wind.  I was originally hoping to start heading west around 1pm and arrive at the campground around 4.  Alas, I didn't get to the campground until 6, just before sunset.  It didn't help that I came across a roadblock that required that I completely unload the bike and carry each part over fat tree trunks and branches.

The campground for my first night was not like the national or state campgrounds that I was used to.  Let's just say that it was not the cleanest establishment.  When a place has rules specifically prohibiting sex offenders and limiting tent campers to 30 days, you know you are in for a treat!

I had the misfortune of being placed next to a couple doing country and western karaoke all night long.  The campground was also a bit close to the highway.  Between the highway noise and the singing, a restful night was not had.  Julie authorized me to get a hotel room for the next night...

Day: 0
Time: 4.5 hours
Distance: 35 miles

(post by Will)

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