So here’s the story on last night.

As the campground I was headed to turned out to be closed down, I was without accommodations when I arrived at the little town I had set as my goal for day two of this ride. There were no other accommodations available without another 25 miles of riding. I wound up at about 7:00 p.m. in a convenience store where pretty much everyone wanted to be helpful (but nobody appeared to want a tent in their own front yard or else didn’t live in town). Finally about nine in the evening after several hours of nothing panning out I called the sheriff’s department, which sent over an officer who looked me and the packed bike over, said “you’re legit,” and accompanied me to a city park where he indicated that I could put my tent anywhere I would like. So, in the dark, I took my tent out for the very first time and fumbled my way through setting it up.

Not bad, eh?

So today I am going to take it very easy, planning to do 33 miles to Newberry, Florida.  There is a small mom ‘n pop motel there in the center of town.

It’s very hot.  We’ll see how this goes.