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...