Day two of ride: Alachua, FL 65 mil

We started our ride about 730 after a continental breakfast at our hotel. We saw the sunrise.

About 10 miles into the ride Ron got a flat on his rear tire. He had picked up a screw. Luckily where he had the flat was right where our bikepath began. We had about 15 miles of bike path which is nice to be off the road.

There was 100 mile Endurance foot race taking place on the trail. We were happy to be on bikes. 

We rode to Gainesville Florida but did not see downtown only the suburbs. By the time we ended at 2:30 PM we were getting quite warm. We know we should not complain about 75° to those of you in Oregon😊.  

Tomorrow our destination is White Springs.

To St. Augustine to Polatka Florida. 38 mi

Today was a beautiful day to ride bikes. The route was flat and the weather was sunny. Breakfast provided at the motel was excellent. 

At 29 miles we stopped for a barbecue chicken sandwich to share only because we felt we needed to  even though we weren't very hungry. It was good barbecue and only $5. 

Some of our route was swampy areas. Yesterday we passed alligator farms but did not visit. Today we expected to see alligators as roadkill but no such luck. We rode many miles along the St.John river and our hotel is right along the river.  

A few other notes about yesterday: we experienced kindness of strangers when Tom gave us a ride from the rental car return to the bike shop. Augustine is the oldest town in our nation. The castle in yesterday's picture was Castillo de San Marcos which was an outpost of Spain completed in 1565. At Dinner last night the desert included bacon bourbon and pecans in addition to chocolate and caramel--only in the south! (did not try it)

This town has a statue of a Confederate soldier.

Tomorrow our goal is Gainesville Florida

Day 1 "preparation day"

I

. .We arrived at Orlando airport at midnight. We stayed in a not fancy hotel and went back to the airport for a rental car this morning. We drove the 125 miles to St. Augustine with cloudy 55 degrees and slightly rainy weather. Now we are out on a deck in a sunny 70° evening.

We were reunited with our bicycles at the bicycle shop. We explored the old town of St. Augustine and dipped our back tires in the Atlantic Ocean. At the beach we met a couple from Switzerland. They were just finishing a San Francisco to Florida bicycle trip. We had a great lunch at a pub. Our hotel has an evening social so we will go have a glass of wine to celebrate our ride beginning tomorrow.

We are carrying with us a flat friend that we will include in our blog. He was sent by a friend who is a teacher--so keep your eye out for him in our pictures!

Tomorrow our breakfast at the hotel is at 7:30 we plan to leave shortly after that. Our goal is Palatka Florida about 40 miles

Souther Tier Bicycle Trip

Hello Family and Friends:

Ron and Sharon leave Feb 4 to fly to Florida and reunite with their bicycles that arrived by FedEx to a bicycle shop a week ago.  We plan to cycle from St Augustine, FL to San Diego, CA (3070 miles).  We will follow the Adventure Cycling Southern Tier route (google to see specifics) except for a few exceptions.  We will not have camping gear this trip so we plan to stay in motels/hotels each night.  We appreciate those of you who will be following and sending encouraging notes/calls etc and for those who are praying for us during this adventure.  We feel very blessed to be able to have this adventure.  We have a grand baby due April 29 so we plan to be home early in April to welcome him!

Some of the cities:  St Augustine FL,  Palatka FL,   Tallahassee FL,  DeFuniak Springs,   Gulf Shores FL, Mobile AL,  New Orleans,  Baton Rouge LA,  New Roads LA, Austin Tx,  El Paso Tx,  LaCruces NM,  Tempe, AZ

Diamond Lake to Odell Lake

We left diamond lake at 7:30 am after having a large breakfast and watching the sunrise over the lake.  It started raining at the same time. We put on rain gear and started pedaling. The rain was serious! We were drenched by the time we reached the hwy 97 junction. We had reservations at Odell Lake for tonight. We asked at a hotel about getting a driver. The money we gave the woman was well spent! We arrived at 11:30 am after the 37.5 mile ride in her 4Runner. It was a tight squeeze for 2 bikes and 3 people. Our good neighbors will drive down and bring us home tomorrow since more rain is promised. At least no coffee pot accident ending to this trip.

Breakfast at Diamond Lake

Sunrise.

Our cabin for the night

Odell Lake

Prospect to Diamond Lake

41 miles.  We got an early start at 7 am. We had our 2nd breakfast at 11 miles at Becky's cafe in Union Creek--a great meal plus we got a sandwich to go since there were no other food options until Diamond Lake. The next 30 miles included a lot of climbing. The summit was 5316 ft.  The weather was nice and cool. We still had Rogue River views and Mt Thiesen. Rain is forecasted for the next several days. Our goal is Odell Lake tomorrow but we will see.

Shady Cove to Prospect

23 mi. It was a short day today--riding along the Rogue River. We had up and down roads which was nice since the hotel hostess said it was all uphill. We rode by Joseph Smith State Park where we had several family camping trips. Prospect is a beautiful setting in the wooded area near the Rogue.  Tomorrow we will be at Diamond Lake. we are not riding Crater Lake this trip since we have done that twice. We will explore another route.

There are still lots of fires in this part of Oregon and California.

We are staying in the motel section but enjoying the grounds and eating in the restaurant.

Ron stopped and chatted with a man fishing. No fish being caught today.

Last night's dinner with a Rogue River view out our window.