A disclaimer and apology about this post is that I'm sitting here in New Orleans trying to synthesize my spotty notes and jumbled memory into prose that might do justice to my Florida experience. For the most part I was so busy trying to get this whole trip-leader thing down (not to mention the biking 60 miles a day thing) that I didn't have time to think about journaling or blogging. Hopefully the upcoming states will provide a little more time for reflection. So here are a few snapshots of my time in Florida:
Jacksonville -
This was the exciting and nervous time where we met everyone, made lots of trips to various stores to gear up and got used to sleeping on the floor without the aid of 4-8 hours of exercise each day. Our contacts there, Gary and Deb Testa were amazingly hospitable, having the leaders to their house on the first night, planning accommodations, meals, putting together bikes that were shipped, arranging our build day and just being great people. Gary retired after selling businesses he owned and now is a full-time volunteer, working with Habitat and the YMCA and also being a HUGE asset to our trip. Deb also volunteers with Habitat and spent countless hours doing Bike and Build stuff in the weeks and months leading up to our arrival in Jacksonville. I can't imagine two better people to get our trip started right. The world could use more people like them.
Our build day in Jacksonville was excellent. I've worked with many different Habitat affiliates of various sizes and organizational levels and I can honestly say that I've never encountered one that was better than Beaches Habitat. The group spent the day on various projects, including roofing, landscaping and building door frames. Even when we accomplished things faster than they expected, they adapted and found productive things for us to do.
Glen Saint Mary
Yesterday we started off from
The directions today looked something like this: Turn Right out of church, Turn Left on 90, go 54 miles, Turn Left on 129, Turn Left into church. And this will be much of the next week. We basically follow US90 all the way into
I don’t know that there’s too much else to say right now. The group has been great. Everyone is fun to be around and extremely responsible. Our different “chore groups” – laundry, breakfast, dinner, clean-up – have been going very well. The riding is a bit tough at times, but you mix it up and ride with different people, stop at interesting places and sing whatever song comes into your head. It hasn’t really hit me that I’ll eventually end up in
Another easy and uneventful day of riding. Today was the first day that the "where am I" syndrome has started to set in. Someone can ask where I was the night before and I literally have to think for a bit before I remember where I just was. Nomadic life is exciting but not particularly conducive to the creation of vivid and lasting memories.
We stayed the night in a large church gym, unairconditioned and with huge, loud fans, trying valiantly and unsuccessfully to provide some relief from the heat. No worries, though, everyone slept well, and I'm sure this won't be the first place we sweat while we sleep. And any misgivings about our sleeping arrangements were countered by a donation of pizza from the local Pizza Hut and a wonderful breakfast provided the next morning. Southern hospitality, indeed.
Quincy
Our first mini-crisis of the trip was handled smoothly and I was so impressed with the patience of all the riders. With some bad timing (the hectic days of orientation followed by a weekend) we didn't call our contact until this morning. Lo and behold, they weren't really expecting us for some reason. Everyone waited at the lunch stop while we tried to figure everything out. A few hours later, things were worked out and we actually ended up with some of our best accommodations yet. Another high school gym, but nearly brand new and airconditioned, with access to the school's laundry facilities and showers. They even bought us pizza for dinner and we were able to take the van into town for a much needed internet fix.
The high point of the day was leaving lunch and finding either superhuman strength in my legs or (more likely) a nice strong tailwind. Claude and I were sustaining 30mph in the flats! (Compared with a normal high speed of 20mph or so along flat roads.) The low came a few miles later. After baking in the sun for about 6 miles were were counting down the pedal strokes to the enticingly-named Shady Rest Road. It was neither. We continued to labor in the hot sun until we reached our destination. I got close to running out of energy but I still had a Clif Bar and that gave me just enough to reach our goal.
Marianna
Delilah, Carly and I are not allowed to ride together if there is cloud in the sky. This is the same group I was riding with when we got dumped on the first day and sure enough, Carly and I had been riding together for awhile, watching storm cloud gathering. We hoped we would get into our destination, a few miles away before it let loose, but as soon as we caught up with Delilah, lightning started to get closer and the skies darkened even. We ducked under the carport of an Enterprise Rent-a-Car just in time to watch the awesome deluge. I'm very glad we didn't try to tough out the last mile or so. We would have been soaked to the bone.
After letting the storm pass, we pedaled the last mile or so to the church where we were greeted with lunch and very warm reception. I'm not a church-goer but this is one that I would belong to. They had wonderful people and a strong sense of service that flowed from their devotion to true Christian principles. They cooked a pasta dinner for us where we got to interact with members who came by. We gave our first presentation of the trip and also showed pictures from our trip so far. At breakfast the next morning were treated to possibly the world's only "Breakfast Dinner Theatre..." a collection of stand-up and Christmas songs performed by George, one of the congregation. I know we all left feeling energized and uplifted by such great support.
De Funiak Springs
Our first night of camping. And it was certainly not what any of us expected. I drove the van for the first time today and was a little shocked when we pulled up to the address and found an RV park. Nevermind that it wasn't expected, we had a great time. It was nice to get some practice pitching the tents and going through the logistics of camping while having an airconditioned dining-room area to go into and even use the internet. People enjoyed the pool and we cooked out on the grills. I ended up sleeping outside with Laura and Sean because we were up late doing logistics and didn't feel like trying to find a spot in one of the tents.
Milton
I think by this point 60 miles felt easy to most people. After my day off in the van, it certainly did to me once I got over some initial stiffness. It was a pretty uneventful day of riding and we arrived at the Milton Community Center. We celebrated our last day in Florida with Olive Garden, brought by Elizabeth, a Bike and Build alum who lives in Pensacola. After deciding to do our first century the next day everyone hit the sack early and turned the lights out for the last time in the state of Florida!
Overall, I've immensely enjoyed the state and the people. While small rural communities are not outside my realm of experience, I don't know that I've spent much time in them, especially with such a conversation starter in my back pocket. For the most part, I've been incredibly impressed by the hospitality and generosity of all the towns we've stopped in. Hopefully the next nine states will be as welcoming.
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