Terry and Royce's Grand Adventures

Alachua FL to Palatka Fl May 28, 2015 78 miles Well, Royce and I believe that we have finally got our program figured out. We are like a well oiled machine when it comes to our daily routine. So....I guess we are ready to start this RIDE ACROSS AMERICA. Seems like the last several days just get better and better for ride conditions and scenery. Today about 30 miles of the route was on paved bike trails. The first one started out of Gainsville and ended in Hawthorne. It went through the Sweetwater Wetlands Park which has the Alachua Sink in it.It also transversed the Prairie Creek Conservation Area and  the Phifer Flatwoods Preserve. It was so nice riding on this 16 mile trail. I met Royce just out of Putnam Hall and we rode on another trail for about another 14 miles. Palatka is an interesting community. It is split by the St. Johns River. The highway that runs through the town is very busy and the traffic does not seem to end. I guess as you get closer to the Florida beaches t...

Live Oak FL to Alachua FL May 27, 2015 60 miles This morning the weather forecaster said that Live Oak had 3 inches of rain last night. What? I never heard a thing.Sure enough when we went out to the car there were puddles of water everywhere. The air had a little bit of coolness to it, but still had the moist humidity. The route was nice. It went primarily through forests and farms. It was a nice peaceful and scenic ride . We got into Alachua early enough to enjoy the pool...again!!!

Monticello FL to Live Oak FL May 26, 2015 60 miles Started the day with a flat front tire. My front tire had over 4,000 miles on it. The Texas roads had taken their toll on the tire. I thought I would try to make it to St. Augustine  and replace it when I got home. I noticed that it had developed a slow leak a few days ago. I had dodged through some glass going through Tallahassee and thought I would be lucky if I did not get a flat. Sure enough when Royce pulled Ruby out of the trailer this morning she had a flat. Once the flat was repaired I was on my way nice an early. It is nice to ride and feel a little bit of cool breeze. It does not take long in Florida to became very hot and humid. The entire ride was on Hwy 90. The road was quiet and went through a couple of nice little towns. We got into the hotel around 1 pm. We headed for the pool around 2:30 and by 3:00 thunder and lightning had moved into the area and a light rain started to fall. We had just enough pool time bef...

Sneads FL to Monticello FL May 25, 2015 77 miles I have told Royce for the last couple of weeks that the miles per day will be going down. Funny thing is some how they never have moved too much from the 70-80 mile range. Today really was one of the last longer days. Since we only have 4 riding days left I can say that with some certainty. We will have one more day over 75 miles.   When I started planning this adventure my goal was to ride about 65 miles per day. The weather not only ended up bumping our miles up daily, but we are also one day ahead of schedule. That is pretty amazing considering the storms we have rode through. Today's ride was a lot of fun. Outside of Chattahoochee my route took me on several very quiet back roads. Since it is Memorial Day the traffic was probably even lighter than normal. Royce had planned on meeting me before I reached Tallahassee so we could ride through the city together. While I was taking a break he called to say that a train was stuck o...

DeFuniak Springs FL to Sneads FL May 25, 2015 80 Miles Seminole Lake A Sunday ride and rested after a day off yesterday made today a nice ride. Nothing really exciting to see today. We rode on Hwy 90 for the entire day. It was nice and quiet. The shoulder is wide and clean making for great riding. We got into Sneads around 2 and right behind us a couple that is biking on the same route as we are rode in behind us. We had a nice talk with them. They are from Missouri. They flew their bikes out to San Diego and started about 2 weeks before we did. They are riding unsupported, which means they are probably carrying about 30 lbs of gear each. This always reminds me how blessed I am to have Royce providing the support for our adventure. Going unsupported really changes the dynamics of the riding at every level. I think they have a lot more stories than we do in regards to bad weather riding.  At least we have the ability to pick up and come back the next day. We also can get in...

DeFuniak Springs FL Rest Day DeFuniak Lake We picked DeFuniak Springs for our day off for no other reason than it was the next stop after the very busy holiday area of Pensacola. DeFuniak Springs one claim to fame is that it has one of only two perfectly round lakes in the world. The other perfectly round lake is in Switzerland. It is a nice lake located in the heart of the town  and is appropriately called DeFuniak Lake. It has a circular drive with nice historic home surrounding it. Today was a good day to clean the bikes up and clean the car out. I discovered some food I did not know we still had. That is a good thing. I had brought certain foods to prepare when we camped.We have a lot of camping food still. Our camping days have been non existent since leaving New Mexico. We will be staying in motels for the rest of the ride. Perhaps we will find some camping opportunities on our return home.  Another low is moving through the area now with afternoon thunderstorm be...

Pensacola FL to DeFuniak Springs FL May 22, 2015 84 miles It was good to be leaving Pensacola before the Memorial Day Weekend crowd showed up. The route for today went through the Blackwater River State Forest. I rode several miles on a nice paved trail. It was very peaceful, but not overly scenic. Still, anytime on a trail and away from traffic is nice. After I left the trail I rode on very quiet country backroads. Again not overly scenic but quiet. I think one important note about Florida is that it is NOT perfectly flat as is usually advertised. No you do not look across the landscape as see mountains. However, there roads have plenty of pitches and ups and downs on them. For instance today's ride had 2250 feet of elevation gain. That is not a lot in 84 miles, but it certainly is not flat. The ride from Holt into DeFuniak Springs was on Hwy 90, which did have a nice wide shoulder. A lot of people had set up little roadside yard sale type stands along Hwy 90. I do not know i...

Daphne AL to Pensacola FL May 21, 2015 89 miles A city that likes bicyclists What another stateline crossing? Yep. Hello Florida!! Our destination state. It was a wonderfully warm day. Riding through all the small communities below Daphne was great. I saw a small group of local riders out for a ride. This gave me greater hope of better roads for bicycle riding. All and all they were great roads. Magnolia Springs was a beautiful trendy town and had a great feeling about it. Royce had parked along the beach in a State Park. We had a great lunch and a beautiful ride along the beach. We were surprised that the beaches were not very busy. It is the Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend and we expected to see a lot more people. We had fun at the stateline. It felt strange and unreal to be standing in Florida. We took a brief moment to affirm with each other how amazing it is to make it to Florida from California by bicycle. Was this real? Is it really going to end soon? I actually fe...

Vancleave MS to Daphne AL May 20, 2015 66 miles No special welcome sign here We were refreshed and felt accomplished after yesterdays no rain ride. Another stateline crossing and a relatively short ride day (at least in miles). The unknown variables that riding in city traffic can bring, could take longer to cover than the miles indicate. We have wasted no time hitting the road as early as possible. The constant threat of thunderstorms by 2 or 3 in the afternoon have reaffirmed our early morning routine again and again. Royce shot forward pass the Alabama stateline and then rode back to me. We had an early lunch and then we rode into Mobile together. Royce was able to make a loop out of his ride, instead of his standard out and back. Traffic began to increase on the outskirts of town and I thought riding through the heart of Mobile could get interesting. Mobile did not seem to have a lot of use for bicycles on the road. The drivers were not as courteous as MS or LA. In those s...

Bogalusa LA to Vancleave MS May 19, 2015 95 miles Hello Mississippi We knew the rain would clear and today would bring new sights and adventures. All of our equipment dried nicely overnight and we were road ready again this morning. Today we crossed into Mississippi not long after leaving Bogalusa. The first 20 miles were on Hwy 26. The road had a fair amount of traffic on it at 630 am, but I made it into Poplarville before the traffic got to crazy.  Once I left Poplarville the route turned onto private forested areas. There were homes spaced out about every 3 miles and very little traffic on the road and the roads were nice. Wow, this was like a dream or maybe this is what I had hoped for all along.  As I rode along the area reminded me of when I use to ride up through the forests above Blue Lake CA (on the North Coast). Those were my early days of bike riding and probably the ones that helped create the passion I developed for it. I was so happy for this ride in ...

Jackson LA to Bogalusa LA May 18, 2015 92 miles Louisiana's scenery is vibrantly green and lush it is hard not to just marvel at the beauty as you ride along the roads. The morning was so glorious that as the day heated up I thought this could be a great no rain ride. That would be a first in many days for us. I was thinking this could be one of the greatest rides of the trip. Then I started to remember how what starts out as such a great ride can turn just as quickly into a troubled ride. This had happened in Texas quite a bit. Usually the wind would come up in the afternoon. That can take an easy cruiser day and turn it into some real work. Royce met up with be right around 11 and I probably had logged 40 miles by then. We pedaled our way to the car were we would have lunch. We were riding on Hwy 38 and later the 440 road. These roads had little to no shoulder. Loaded logging trucks provided for a majority of the traffic on the road. This tests your nerves a bit, but the driv...

Bunkie LA to Jackson LA May 17, 2015 86 miles More Southern charm and sights were plentiful today. Royce and I have been getting to ride more together. Today was extra special because we got to cross the Mississippi River together. After lunch Royce was going to ride 10 miles and then turn back. As we made our way along the route a golden twin towered bridge came into view. We had rode along a back road for about 7 miles knowing that the great Mississippi River lay behind a large levee that blocked a clear view. This was rather disappointing. When we say the bridge we knew it went over the Mississippi River and could not wait to ride over the bridge. Royce threw out any thought of 10 miles. He was going to ride over the bridge no matter what it took. We stood in the middle of the bridge in awe of the magnificent bridge and the mighty Mississippi. Of course we took plenty of pictures. As I made my way out to Jackson it was interesting to see the conflicting living conditions. One m...

DeRidder LA to Bunkie LA May 16,2015 98 miles This was such a fun day. I rode through a lot of small farming communities. The one thing that you really get from the small Louisiana town is the sense of community pride. They all have something special that makes them just a little unique. Many are so picture perfect and very green. Since leaving Texas we definitely have heard the word Ya' all a lot more. Another interesting thing is that both Royce and I have been mistaken for foreigners. I guess that do not talk to people from California much. Then there is that Southern hospitality. The drivers are definitely some of the more considerate that we have come across.  The highlight of my day was the Chilcot State Park. It was different that anything I had ever seen. We would have camped here if the weather were better. It was so great riding through it. Royce rode out with me, but did not get to make it through the park on his bike. We walked across the street for dinner and befor...

Kountze TX to DeRidder LA May 15, 2015 85 Miles Our daily routines have been serving us well. Many days ago be bumped our ride time up to sunrise. It seems our greatest hope of avoiding being drenched from afternoon thunderstorms is to set out as early as possible. We have a least avoided most of the heavy rain by doing this. We have our breakfast in the hotel room every morning. Rotating through a few hot breakfast cereals and protein shakes has worked well. We have gotten very efficient with moving our portable house in and out of hotel rooms. We were both excited for today because we were leaving Texas and crossing into Louisiana. A state line crossing is always exciting. Personally I have seen enough of Texas and yes there is a lot of Texas to see. I have been looking forward to seeing some greenery. The one thing we have struggled with since the trip began is what works best for Royce to get some riding in and still meet my support needs. We have decided having him leave when ...

New Waverly TX to Kountze TX May 14, 2015 84.7 Miles Today was the first day in many days that we felt like we could ride with little concern of getting rained on. A chance of thunderstorms and rain was predicted, but the rainfall if any would be minimal. As such Royce got to start with me in the morning and rode with me for 25 miles out to Cold Springs. The change in the environment and humidity levels were a sure sign that we are getting closer to Louisiana. The areas we rode through had gotten significant amounts of rainfall from the storms over the last 7 days. It was apparent everywhere you looked creeks and rivers were running high. Roadsides had standing water that looked like small ponds. The closer I got to Kountze the lushier the vegetation became. Royce caught back up to me with the car at about the 65 mile mark. We had lunch and then he headed for Kountze to get our lodging taken care of. Unfortunately somewhere along the way the car had picked up a small screw in the ...

Brenham TX to New Waverly TX May 13, 2015 69.7 Miles This was a nice ride through the smaller communities of Navasota and Anderson. The crown jewel of the ride was going through the Sam Houston National Forest. Since riding in what is known as the "Hill Country" of Texas (mostly areas west of Austin) there has not been many trees or greenery. Today the vegetation became much more lush and green. Both the towns of Navasota and Anderson were small and had lots of charter. I really enjoyed riding through the forest. It was such a visual change from all the areas I have rode through. Royce and I have been watching the Tour of California Bicycle Race. We noticed that when a rider has a mechanical problem they are allowed to draft off of the team support car for some period of time. I thought that was really cool. Royce joked that we should do that on the ride. In the middle of Sam Houston National Forest with no one in sight Royce had passed me in the car, then he slowed down...

Cedar Creek TX to Brenham TX May 12,2015 66 miles Against all odds we set out for Brenham TX today. The forecast for rain was not promising, but we had decided that if it was not raining when we woke up, we would be gone. The ride  was rain free for 25 miles. At that point it started coming down. It wasted no time transitioning into a heavy steady rain. Royce did not ride today, because we knew at any moment he would need to provide me shelter. At 30 miles Royce picked me up before I became absolutely drenched. We went into  La Grange where we were hoping we might find a cafe for breakfast. We passed up what turned out to be the only cafe open for breakfast in hopes the downtown area would have plenty of options. Well, it did not. We did find a internet cafe that had great espresso. This worked just as well and was the first time Royce and I got to enjoy a cup of espresso together since the start of our adventure. LaGrange was a great little town. Not long after finishing ...