Maybe, that was a little over-dramatic, but I don't care. This is my blog anyway. So the ride on Sunday morning was a pretty good one. We got out early from the camp site and began riding because we knew that by about 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. it was going to start pouring buckets of rain. We arrived in Monticello by about 1:00 p.m. having ridden the 58 miles straight without much of a break and got lunch at the only restaurant in town that was open, the Brick House Eatery. I had a Philly cheese steak with fries and Bruce had a Grouper Sandwich and fries and we washed it all down with a couple Yuenglings (shout out to central PA).
As the dark ominous clouds started to roll in and the rain drops started to fall we paid our bill and rode the last 2 miles to Zef and Oona's house... Yes, they are real people and yes those are their actual names...
But, let me back track and explain how we got to this point. Prior to leaving on my trip I was introduced to a website called warmshowers.com. The website was dedicated souly to traveling cyclists and was a tool to help them connect with people willing to host them at night. We found Zef and Oona the day before through the website and contacted them about possibly hosting us... Within hours they had replied to us welcoming us into their home. As we rode our bikes into their driveway with the rain nipping at our heels we were first welcomed by Oona who offered us beers and brought us into her house. She proceeded to show us around the house and then took us down to the "guest cottage" as she called it. Guest cottage or not it was a two-bedroom house with a wrap around porch overlooking the pond in front of the house. It also had a fully stocked kitchen, a full bathroom, and a washer and dryer. We were able to shower and then were invited back to their house for dinner, along with the other fellow cyclist that was staying there, Robert, but I will get back to him in a bit. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with great conversation and a little bit of wine. After dinner, Robert, myself and my dad ventured back to the guest cottage, across the newly formed river that divided the big house from our temporary home and called it a night.
The next morning we woke up at about 7:30 a.m. to find that the rain was still coming down and there was no way for us to leave that early. We ended up pacing around the house for the next few hours until we finally decided that we were going to leave by 12 no matter what, rain or shine.
Myself, my dad and Robert all left together at 12 and although the ride was soggy at times and we all were covered in dirt by the end of the night we ended up riding 80 miles for the day and ended in Blountstown, FL where we shared the expense of the luxurious Cherokee Motel. Part of the experience of this kind of trip is in the people you meet and finding out about their own personal journeys... After sharing a few meals and a night in the Cherokee Motel with Robert he had
quite the story too. He's travelled through South America, has taught English in Japan, is currently riding across the country now, and in a few months is sailing across the Atlantic with one other guy to the Azores Islands.
On Tuesday morning we parted ways as Robert had a 120 mile ride to complete for his day so that he could stay on schedule and get to New Orleans by Friday.
But, my dad and I were no slackers today either. After getting turned down from 3 seperate State Parks we finally got a camp ground at the Gulf Camp RV Park rounding out our miles for the day at 92. And this RV Park was a truly luxurious camp ground.. No sarcasm. We were able to get a swim and hot tub session in, a nice walk on the beach, and even got some laundry done.
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