Seeing Southern Sights, Eating Southern Food, Enjoying Southern Hospitality

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Sunday, February 19

Given how tired I was from the day before, it only made sense that I got a late start getting out of Tallahassee.  I did take advantage of staying in a bike shop to get in some light maintenance.  I didn't have the energy the night before to prepare my usual steel cut oats (which needs to soak overnight in my Thermos container) so I stopped in at McDonald's for a "Big Breakfast"--with hotcakes, thank you.  It felt good to start the day with a full belly.

I decided that I wasn't going to be driven by miles today and that I was absolutely going to stop by 3pm.  Somehow that pledge to myself was a nice break for my psyche.


Weather was good, and I rolled through some nice small towns.  Having grown up in a small town and in a house next to railroad tracks, I even got a bit nostalgic when I came upon a stopped freight train.  Luckily, it started moving soon enough, and I was on my way after a 10-minute delay.

I stopped for some good southern seafood and had a lunch of fried shrimp, tilapia, hush puppies, cheese grits, and coleslaw.  Yum.


Shortly after lunch, I passed into the Central Time zone when I crossed the Apalachicola River.  I was surprised to be hitting the time change so early in the trip, but it must be that the time zone must veer to the east this far south.  Unfortunately, the time zone shift interfered with my plans to stop by 3 since, it now being Central Time, I couldn't exactly stop riding for the day at 2pm!

When I did decide to stop, there weren't any places on the map that corresponded to where I was, so I used TripAdvisor to scope out available hotels.  I was able to find a Super 8 that was only 1.5 miles off route for $57 for the night.  For the money, I think I'll be taking more advantage of hotels moving forward, especially when I can indulge in a pool after riding all day!


Day: 4
Time: 8 hours
Distance: 68 miles

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Monday, February 20

After taking advantage of the free breakfast, I hit the road by 6:40 to beat the traffic on this off-bike-route road, and I made it back onto the route on 90 without any problems.  Today's ride was to be spent entirely on 90, a designated bicycle road.  It is a great road for the most part except when going through a town when the bike lane suddenly disappears!

I had nice gentle rolling hills and made great time--50 miles by 11am.  I think that will be my benchmark for a good day.  Progress slows down in the afternoon as I need to stop for lunch and the fatigue of the day starts to take its toll.


Saw some interesting signs, including one for "Worm Fiddlin'" (which our friend Sean discovered is a way to tease worms out of the ground so that you can grab them to go fishing!), and checked out an interesting old town with some nice genteel houses around a lake called DeFuniak Springs.  This was also a somewhat momentous occasion as I completed my first map booklet for the Southern Tier.  Since there are 7 booklets, that means I'm 1/7 of the way through!  Stopped again for a traditional southern meal of some tasty fried chicken!  (Julie pointed out that I was eating a lot of fried foods, but I was able to respond that I got MASHED potatoes instead of fried.  Here's my photographic evidence.)


One of my nephews, Joe, lives in the area, so he picked me up from the route and then he and his fiancee Erica graciously put me up for the night.  They just bought their house and only moved in 2 weeks earlier.  It was good to catch up with Joe and get to know Erica.

Day: 5
Time: 9 hours
Distance: 90 miles

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Tuesday, February 21

After being spoiled with a home cooked breakfast from Erica, I also got a lift from Joe to Highway 98 which turned out to be more direct than the standard route.  So, yes, I confess, I did not go back to where I stopped the day before.  It was, however, about the same spot longitudinally, so I'm going to say it was not cheating.   ;-)


To offset my bit of good luck the bike touring gods cursed me with a full day of rain.  As a day of drenching rain goes, it was bearable.  The downpour wasn't too heavy, so I was able to see at least, and the temperature was such that I didn't freeze my butt off.  The 3-miles bridge across Pensacola Bay was also not too bad since it had a good wide shoulder.

I stopped in Pensacola to grab some lunch, warm up, and get my bearings.   I soon realized that I would not be able to make the ferry across Mobile Bay.  I then decided to remain in Pensacola as most of the hotels further on were actually on the beach and thus not very reasonably priced.  Plus, after riding in the rain for 3+ hours, a hot bath or shower was appealing.

Day: 6
Time: 3.5 hours
Distance: 34 miles

(post by Will)

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