Being below 300 pounds/~136 kg I can weigh myself on the “guess your weight” style scale that Publix, a southeastern US grocery chain, kindly places out in its entrance lobbies.
So I’m back to where I was two weeks ago, but this result is much more in line with the glide path I’ve been on over the past few months- an average of 4-5 pounds/~2 kg lost every week. That’ll put me solidly in the 280s as I wrap up my ride, which is probably about what I weighed 20 years ago.
Hey! It’s a start.
I stayed my first night in Florida in a Jacksonville city park campground along the coast.
I also took my last ferry ride of the trip, all of about 10 minutes long over the St. Johns River.
The ferry is part of the East Coast Greenway route.
I am of the opinion after 10 weeks of riding that the ECG is more hype than anything else, and is not really a serious effort to link up points along the Atlantic Coast for bicycle travelers. So many rants, though, and so little time.
I started this morning just above the “n” in Jacksonville on the map below.
I’ll ride through St. Augustine and hit the 50 mile/80 kilometer point north of Palm Coast, but haven’t ID’d a place to spend the night yet. The beaches here are all gorgeous, and it’s another beautiful day for a ride.
No states left to go before I get to Florida because I’m in Florida!
Is it just me, or is this a really, really big sign?
As this is written a little more than 20 miles/32 kilometers in, in fact. I’m in Fernandina Beach on Florida state route A1A, and just about to make that big right turn down the coast.
Key West is still a long way off but, in the context of where I started out, I’m almost there.
I decided at about 2:00 p.m. yesterday that I needed a break, so I stopped for the day early and didn’t proceed on in to Florida as I’d originally planned. That will now happen this morning about ten minutes into my ride.
No real reason for the short day. I was just tired of being in the sun and my butt (pardon me, ladies) was sore. I have really been pushing things the last couple of weeks, and it was just time. The tipping point came when I discovered that all of my bike route planning apps had routed me a mile off to the west of the direct road I had been riding on to a parallel road that within a short distance turned into fine white sand that was completely unrideable on a bicycle because it was soft and about four inches/10 cm deep. So I had to backtrack and was not very happy about that.
A plus resulting from my decision was the opportunity to eat at a historic southern diner: Steffens, in Kingsland, Georgia where I spent the night. I had fried chicken livers for dinner and came back for breakfast this morning. Highly recommended if you are ever down this way.
I’ll camp at the Kathryn Abbey Hanna park east of Jacksonville, Florida tonight. A fifty mile/80 kilometer day. Piece of cake!
One of the more challenging tasks I face each morning before taking off on the bike for the day is trying to find lodging that falls close to the number of miles I project I will travel that day. I start by looking for campgrounds because they are generally the lowest cost alternative, and if I can’t find one then I start looking at motels. Sometimes I have to adjust the mileage to allow for a longer day in order to reach lodging in a place where choices are few and far between.
This morning my Allstays campground finder app showed a campground right on the route I will be traveling and perfectly located at 55 miles/90 km from where I am right now. There was nothing else for miles going forward past it. “Perfect!” I thought, and clicked on the “more info” tab.
Somehow, even after the Purgatory Club in Provincetown, I don’t think so. I’m proud of my newly slimmed down physique…but not that proud.
Today’s ride will take me from Richmond Hill, South Carolina to some budget motel along I-95 near Brunswick, where I will spend the night wondering about the joys of camping in the buff. Sounds like a good way to OD on DEET to me. Just sayin’.
![mosquito-illustration_2092x1660[1]](https://b2bbiketripdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/mosquito-illustration_2092x16601.jpg?w=662)
I started this madness ten weeks ago today- August 18th- in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
I’m the blue dot. In the past 70 days I have traversed two Canadian provinces and 12 states. I am now in Georgia.
Only Florida remains to be crossed, which I will do by traveling from its northern border to the state’s southernmost point that can be reached by road. That point lies in Key West, and I’ll get there on November 10th- a date I have announced and stuck by from before leaving Maine way back in September. That took a little planning, a whole lot of pedaling and more than my fair share of good luck. More on all that, and especially the good luck part, in a future post.
Oh yes, and
It’s right on the border with South Carolina, so I kind of got a twofer today. That, and a big “HOO-WAH” to my hosts last night: the United States Marine Corps.
I biked through Charleston, South Carolina yesterday.
This is one more place that I have just had to suck it up, more or less close my eyes to all the interesting things there are to see, and just ride. I actually have about half a rant post written about the lamentable incompatibility of long distance bicycle touring and sightseeing. I’ll tone it down some and put it up before the end of the trip.
The bottom line- you tend to see the stuff that is next up down the road. Like this.
So I’m west of Charleston this morning headed for somewhere near Beaufort (common name in the Carolinas, apparently).
Maybe I’ll spend the night on Parris Island. In any event, tonight I’ll be about 30 miles/50 kilometers from the South Carolina/Georgia state line, and the next to last state on the trip.
What? No anchovies?
My internet connectivity at my nightly stops when camping is on and off. The last couple of nights have been the “off” end of the equation. But I did weigh in on Monday while I was in Myrtle Beach and found that, while the scale measured a few pounds more than the previous week, I was still solidly in the 290s. My feeling is that last week’s weight, while a wondrous thing to behold, might have been helped a bit by a not very accurately zeroed scale.
There’s two weigh-ins left before I get to Key West. I’ll also do a final “close the record” from there even though it will be a Thursday. Any predictions as to what my weight will be on November 10th? I’ll go out on a limb and say 283.8 pounds/128.7 kilograms.
We’ll see.
Tomorrow.
Listening to it should carry me into Georgia, at least.
Well,
and
I’ll be heading towards Charleston , South Carolina today, but it is still a ways off. The sun is out and it’s a bit warmer than yesterday. The wind could be a bit iffy, but that’s not within my ability to control.
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