Out-pedalling storms...

I hear that there has been some crazy weather in Florida, but somehow - thankfully - we have managed to miss it all!!
The last two days have both been 70+ mile days (piece of cake) and both days have been overcast with threatening clouds in the afternoon.
Yesterday, a lady pulled up beside me in her car and warned me that there was a big storm about 15-20 minutes behind us, so what to do???!!  Take shelter immediately OR try to out-pedal it???  Option number two, of course - much more fun.  So Sue and I started to pedal like crazy - with still 10-12 miles to go!!!  I have never biked so hard and so fast for such a length of time in my life - it was fun and a little scary all at the same time.  It was humid (of course, this is Florida) and hot but soon the wind gusts were cold... and the skies were getting darker and darker...  Five minutes out from the hotel, it started to rain... I pulled into the High Springs Country Inn (not nearly as nice as it sounds..) wet but just a little.
I won!!  I out-pedalled the storm!!
It had actually been a wonderful day up until the end.  We had made a stop at the Ichetucknee Springs Park - and swam in this beautiful spring-fed swimming hole.  First time that I have ever swum in my bike clothes.  It was great!
And after I got to the hotel, there was a diner across the street - like an old-fashioned soda joint - so we had a late lunch there, and after supper, Sheila and I wandered over for a beer (or a proper tea for Sheila) because there was a live band playing - a 12- bar blues band.  The place was packed with motorcycle guys with long grey hair and beards, tattoos and leather vests - great people watching!!

Today it was a pretty uneventful day but fortunately we chose to minimize the stops because right now (just after 3pm) it is pouring rain!!  A couple of people are still out there - hopefully the Sag driver was able to find them and pick them up...

Great memory from today - we had all been talking about Dairy Queen and blizzards so 10 or so of us stopped in Palatka at a take out only DQ.  A guy was in the parking lot and had opened his car door - the song Happy by Pharell Williams was playing - loudly - so Sunnye, Liz and I started dancing in the parking lot.  Haven't you always wanted to dance in a parking lot???  Can cross that off my bucket list now....

Last cycling day is TOMORROW!!!!!

8am departure delayed one hour due to fog...

Another overcast morning and for safety reasons, we were not allowed to leave until 9am because of the fog and traffic.  Plus it was a short ride - just over 50 miles with a few extra miles to have lunch at a lodge in a state park.
Our rides are not very interesting right now - flat roads that go along a highway with trees on both sides for miles and miles and miles - not even much for small towns.  Still haven't seen an alligator!!
Rest day in Crawfordville, Florida.
Not a great place for a rest day as we are miles from anything and anywhere.  Still, managed to get some laundry done...

Right now we are in Perry, Florida.  Another short day - 50 miles or so - AND we only have three cycling days left!!!

Just wanted to let you know that I am still pedalling and fast heading for the final day on Thursday,
Thanks for reading!!

Had to add this..

A quote from one of my new best friends, Joyce

"94 miles today at 85 degrees and 45% humidity.  And... whoever said Florida was flat may get a punch on the nose."

She may have been serious...

90 on the 90...

Hmm...  92 or 95 miles yesterday - depends who you ask..  but in any case, it was easy!!  Funny to say that but the roads were mainly flat, the winds were not against us and it was just keep on pedalling' !!
Now I say that I wasn't tired, but it is true that I could not stay awake past 9pm - fortunately there was another time zone change today so maybe I can stay awake until 10???  Most of the ride was on SR 90,
(hence the title) but despite the fact that it was a main highway, traffic was pretty light and the shoulder was wide and smooth.  One of our riders was cycling right beside a semi when one of its tires blew!!!
She was fine but I think that it scared the heck out of the driver - fortunately it was one of the inside tires so the debris did not head her way.  We don't like to admit it much, but I suspect that most of us sing as we cycle and she said that she just happened to be singing "Amazing Grace" - coincidence????

A very easy day today - just 51 miles on quiet, beautifully lush and green back roads.  All the dogs were behind fences and there were just enough hills to keep things interesting!!

Take care y'all!!!

First of all, I know that you are all wondering...

No, the weird looking cycling tan is still with me - it could be permanent for all I know!  People look at you strangely as you walk down the beach, but most are too polite to stare.  At least I am with women that are all equally odd looking...

Dauphin Island was a great break!!  We hung out with Virginia - mostly in a desperate search for food as most of the limited number of restaurants on the island are closed on Mondays - but we had a great reunion with her.  As I think that I have said before, there are 7 of us that were all on the Pacific Coast trip together, so Virginia caught up with all of us.  It was so nice to see her again!!
And we did spend some time at the pool - mocking each other's tans!

We caught a ferry to get off the island which was fun!  And then the ride was a nice, easy 60 miles...
along the coast and through high density tourist, beachy areas.  And then we arrived in Florida - our eighth and last!! state!  New state means margarita night - also popular.  We were in Pensacola staying in the downtown area and it was a find-your-own-meal night, so Sheila, MarySlade and I had a fantastic meal in a steakhouse (Jacksons).

Today just a little further and an uneventful ride.  We have moved away from the coast to try to avoid the busier roads.  Some lovely back roads today and a bike path for several miles.  Maybe a few too many miles 'cause we kinda missed our turn - all part of the adventure!!

Note : "Red-neck laundry"  A lot of the ladies rinse out their biking clothes every day and they have become very! creative ... many times the luggage racks and even an ironing board will be sitting outside the rooms draped with clothing... classy?  maybe not, but effective!!

Note : Road kill - deer, birds - big and small, snakes, two cats and a dog, lots of opossums!, raccoons,
quite a few armadillos!, skunks, and a beaver with its tail cut off...
Nice to have something to look at as you pedal along ..... not!!

Sometimes it is hard not to be at home - one of Brad's very good friends (and a family friend) Alex, his father passed away.  So sorry Alex.  I wish that I could be in Calgary to go to the funeral..

We are at the beach - and it feels good!!

Funny how things have changed -
yesterday's ride was "only " 68 miles and we were all saying that it was such a nice, easy day.  At the beginning of the trip, we would get to the hotel, eat supper, drag ourselves to our rooms and try our best to stay awake until 9pm.
Now after such a "short " day, we have all this time to do other things, eat, chat, watch an episode of "Miranda", get caught up on e-mails, laundry etc. and go to bed like normal people!!
Today was even shorter - only 41 miles!!!  And finally the sun is out which makes everything seem a little brighter!  We are at Dauphin Island, Alabama - staying in condos on the beach.  Beautiful white sand - such bliss!!!  And we are here for a rest day - what could be better???  Actually, there is another wonderful thing - our friend, Virginia, is here for a visit!!  She was with us on the Pacific Coast cycling trip and she is such a sweetheart!!
Only 10 cycling days left...
Tomorrow, my main goal is to try to even out that weird looking cycling tan....

For those that like to look at maps...

April 20th, 21st : Dauphin Island, Alabama
April 22nd : Pensacola, Florida
April 23rd : Crestview, Florida
April 24th : Marianna, Florida
April 25th : Quincy, Florida
April 26th, 27th : Crawfordville, Florida
April 28th : Perry, Florida
April 29th : High Springs, Florida
April 30th : Palatka, Florida
May 1st : St. Augustine, Florida  (FINAL DESTINATION!!)

We are now in Mississippi!

Yesterday was the "bad dog day" - do you know how scary it is to ride down the road with a pack of
(seemingly??) ferocious dogs snapping at your heels??  I think that I may have broken some personal speed records... and my throat is sore from yelling at them...

But yesterday was also a good day - line dancing in the parking lot at the hotel - with some encouragement from some of the other guests (thanks Sandie, for the lessons - you are a woman of many, many talents!!)  and it was a birthday day yesterday.  I had ordered Carnegie Deli cheesecake online- they shipped it (frozen) overnight and it arrived at the motel in Bogalusa, Louisiana.  It was soooo good - and you can eat as much as you want guilt-free when you have biked 60 or so miles that day!!

And we have now left Louisiana and are in Mississippi for two days; then two days in Alabama  (including a rest day AT THE BEACH!!); then Florida!!!  We will be in Florida for 10 days...

The weather continues to be not good, but really not so bad.  It is cool and each day is overcast, but we have only had a little rain.  Better a little cool than too hot.  I really, really hope for warm weather at our next rest day at Dauphin Island, Alabama...

Still haven't seen any alligators....

Happy Birthday to my favourite sister who just turned 50!!

Saw the de Grood parents' statement online - truly one of the bravest and saddest moments of television that I have ever seen...

Thank you....

Sorry - you have to indulge me just for a moment....

A huge thank you to Sheila L. who has sent me not one, not two, but three packages in the mail!!
So exciting to receive a package and so lovely to know that she took the time to send a little something...  You are the best!!!

And for some strange reason, I gave the wrong person credit for the care package I received in Fredricksberg!  I said that Patti had sent me something, but (as I well knew) it was actually from Katie - one of the other sweeps from the Pacific Coast.  Katie - thank you, thank you, thank you!!  It was such a joy to receive and such a joy to know that you are thinking of us!  Wish you were here too!!

Catching up

You have a lot of time to think as you bike down the road - especially on an 89 mile day like today.
I couldn't help but think about the terrible tragedy back home and the more I think about it the more that I feel that those are "our " kids.  They are the same age as ours, with the same kind of lives and interests and ambitions... there but for the grace of God go I... any one of our children could have been at that party - it was just ordinary kids at an ordinary party in an ordinary Calgary neighbourhood.  Even though we didn't know those children, they could have been the ones that we helped with reading in kindergarten, or who played on our son's soccer team or against our daughter's basketball team - if they didn't actually touch our lives, they would have been somehow connected in some way.  And I know that Calgary is the kind of place where we care about our children - and all the children around us.
Thus we all mourn and question how this could happen and feel so deeply for the families and we are so grateful to the police and EMS people that had to - will continue to have to - deal with the aftermath.
And we can never keep our children safe from this - because no-one could ever have predicted that such a thing could happen.  It makes you wish for the days when you could tuck them in at night and know that they are safe and sound and always within your protective arms.

And back to my ride...  which seems rather trite and meaningless and even selfish of me right now - or self-indulgent??  In any case, it is what I am doing right now and just in case you still want to hear about it...

I last left you after just entered Louisiana - now Louisiana is really not a very exciting place to cycle! The roads are flat so you just keep pedalling and pedalling.  Some of the roads are really bad and some are really good, some with wonderful wide shoulders, some with none at all.  We have encountered more unleashed dogs - and those dogs love to defend their territory!!  Once gentle soul - Joyce - has revealed an incredibly deep and scary voice that she uses in an attempt to scare them away - I am not sure just how afraid the dogs are, but I have visions of the Exorcist when I hear it!!
Ah - rice fields and crawfish farms too - who knew??  My only regret so far is that I haven't mustered up the courage to try a "boudin ball" which our token Texan of the group claims is very tasty!!
There were frog legs on the menu in the restaurant that we went to today.... didn't try those either!

Oh - big news!!  April 14th was a 96 mile today so I added a few and did my first century!!  For those non-cyclists, that means I did one hundred miles in one ride!!  Whoo too!!!  It was actually a pretty easy day - no hills, a tail wind at times, nice and cool - such a contrast to my last attempt.  The forecast for the day had been rain and thundershowers, but it had just started to sprinkle when I pulled in and a really fierce thunderstorm hit within half an hour - sooooo lucky!

We stayed in St. Francisville for a rest day - half of us at a B&B on a former plantation.  Not such a great breakfast, but I had my own little cabin - the Chef's Cottage.  It was freezing cold that first night - it may even have been a record low.  So strange that I will go home having experienced only cold weather in Louisiana!
Road kill here seemed to be a lot of snakes - I did see some nasty big one in a water-filled ditch - must be careful now - now I am starting to worry about alligators.
We are doing a few long mile days now - to make up for the shorter rides when the road was hillier, but we seem to all take it in stride (so to speak) - 83, 96, 89 miles today... a piece of cake!!

A bit of a crisis of faith a few days ago - "why am I doing this?"  "why would anyone want to put their body through this?"  "what is this all for??"  but then I had a couple of fun days again and although I still can't really answer those questions, at least I am not fretting over the answers anymore!
After all - to quote Grease - "there are worse things I could do!"

Kiss and hug your children today if you can - and because mine are so far away from me, give them an extra one for me please!!

So far from home..

I have heard of the tragic stabbing in Calgary and I have to say that it is difficult to be so far from home when something like this happens.  I just want to talk to all my friends - especially those who have children the age of the victims - the age of my children - and share a moment of gladness that it was not our children there and sadness that there are so many parents mourning their dearest, most-loved, most precious babies tonight.
With much love to all....

Ladies and gentlemen - we have left Texas!!

It is crazy how big Texas actually is - not only is everything bigger in Texas but Texas is bigger than everything!
We spent almost three weeks crossing this state - 17 cycling days I think and over 1,000 miles.
And my thoughts and impressions???
We have seen a different side of Texas almost every day.  We passed through desert with cactus and a whole lot of dry sand and dirt.  We went through Hill Country - aptly named - that descended into a valley of rivers and trees; camps and resorts and mansions, retirement homes and lovely neighbourhoods.  We have seen big cities and small, prosperous towns, but we have also passed through (and stayed in!!) towns that are almost dead - their only reason for existence the proximity to the highways; boarded up businesses and abandoned homes - very sad.
We have seen real cowboys with cowboy boots and hats (like rural Alberta in places) but these ones are no doubt "packing heat" - we have seen plenty of signs and t-shirts advocating the right to bear arms.
We have seen cattle - yep, even the Texas longhorns - and sheep, goats and of course, horses.
We saw plenty of the Mexican influence; restaurants and signs in Spanish and especially - Mexican coca cola!
We have seen prickly pear, live oaks and wildflowers that fill the landscape with an undeniable beauty.
We have just gone through the Sam Houston National Forest - complete with logging trucks??!!
We have experienced chip seal; mist; heat & rain... cool mornings and hot afternoons.
All in all, I have been surprised at the immensity and the diversity here...
and now : Louisiana!!  Just in time for crawfish season!!

Rest day in.... just a sec... Navasota!

Yep!  We are still in Texas!!
After just four days of cycling, we have a rest day - unusual but always appreciated!!
I am not sure what Navasota is like actually - we are in a Best Western just off of the highway so downtown is way too far to walk...
Big excitement because there is a Walmart within walking distance - much purchasing of basic necessities (root touch up anyone??)
Other than Walmart, there are a lot of fast food places close by and a steak house for dinner tonight.

So what do we do on rest days??  Laundry, bike cleaning, catching up on blogs and e-mails and eating,
a lot of eating!  Usually there is a cocktail hour at 5pm - in the parking lot on our plastic chairs of course.  We try to go out for a nice meal in a real restaurant - food is very important when you are going across the States using only your own legs to get you there!!

I have made great friends on this trip and become re-acquainted with some wonderful old friends from the Pacific Coast trip.  Odd to spend two months with a group of people and then maybe never see them again!

Beautiful ride yesterday but we were fighting crosswinds again - one time I swear that the wind picked up my bike and moved it over a couple of inches!!  Some good solid body weight helps a lot - the smaller women tend to have some real issues with wind conditions like that!
Charlene and I did get lost and took a longer, but fortunately, very scenic route.  We got back on track in the end and were very happy to arrive in town!!  It is all part of the adventure...

Keep those e-mails coming!!

Ooops -

I think that I had written another blog in Fredricksburg but for some reason it did not post until just now...  Sorry!!  You can figure it out though.

A small confession:  remember that I fell the first day???  (Loser!!)  Well, it took me a couple of days to figure it out, but I am pretty sure that I cracked a rib that day!!  I remember saying to MarySlade (she of the Reeses Pieces) that I felt like I had jammed my chest, and I guess I did.  Fortunately you can cycle quite well with a cracked rib so it really wasn't a big deal and it has pretty much healed by now.  Just didn't want to say anything and have you worry (Mom & Dad!!)  It was just a pain when I tried to sleep  mostly.

Hmmm.... big storm just rolled into - thunder, lightning, rain, wind, hail???  Hope it passes by quickly and is all done by morning.

'Night Y'all!!

Janine

Yes! I am still hanging in there!

I have had another couple of great days!  We are now in Texas Hill Country and it has had a few steep hills, but the scenery has been spectacular!!  It is really nice to see green again...
It is springtime here so there are wildflowers along the side of the road, shrubs in bloom and the trees have that "newly- sprung" green about them.  (Sorry, if you are in Calgary in the snow, you had best not read this...)
We are now officially half way through the trip, which is so hard to believe.  I think that we are over 1,500 miles.  It is interesting to see the change - yesterday's ride was 80 miles and we didn't bat an eyelash over that - we all know what we can do now.  It was actually a great, great ride - a couple of very steep hills, but a lot of the day was spent up on some crazy back country roads - one time I swear we went right through the middle of a farm - with cows looking at us like we were crazy.
It is a rest day right now - in Fredricksburg, a town with a German flavour.  Still a gun shop in town though - what would a Texan town be without a gun shop?
So exciting - I received a postcard from Sheila in Camp Wood and today a parcel arrived for me from Patti - a wonderful woman that I met on the Pacific Coast trip - she sent a few thoughtful, small items and a delicious bar of chocolate.... whoops, does it make me look like a pig to know that I gobbled it up right away???
Thanks for all the e-mails my friends, and I do think of you often (what else do you do on a bike for hours and hours and hours every day???)

I am so far behind!!

I didn't realize just how long it had been since I had written anything until Sheila sent me an e-mail asking if all was well - thanks Sheila!!  And thanks for the picture of Dave Kelly and the theatre group.
I am sorry to have missed that...

So I have now looked at my notes, my hotel accommodation list, my mileage sheet and read a couple of the other blogs so that I can remember what I have done.....

April 2nd:  Camp Wood to Vanderpool (Fox Fire Cabins) - only 39 miles, but they were hilly!!  We have now officially entered Texas Hill Country - and you know Texas - everything is bigger out here!!
Some pretty challenging hills, but I actually relish the challenge but hate the downhills.  I don't like going too fast on hills that I am not familiar with - especially if you can't see around the next corner.
It was foggy, misty, overcast - very dramatic really but the view may have been better if you could have seen it!!  It was beautiful and green, and at the end of the cycling day, we were at Fox Fire Cabins - located on a lovely little river - charming, rustic cabins - peaceful... a nice treat.

April 3rd: Vanderpool to Fredricksburg : 80 miles.  That sounds like a lot and there were a lot of hills (still in Texas... you know) but it was so lovely.  We would swoop down a hill to cross the Guadalupe River - over and over again.  Up again, of course, but the road was lined with homes, vacation homes, resorts and camps - very prosperous, especially compared to some of the areas we have seen.
Then we turned off the highway and up a crazy steep hill and took some back road that was so much fun - There was virtually no traffic and this road wound through pastures and ranch land - once it seemed that it cut right through the middle of a farm!  Hills but not too bad and just plain fun to bike and bike and bike without having to worry about anything in front of or behind you!!
Our journey ended in Fredricksburg - a german town in Texas??  Full of small shops and restaurants;
very touristy.  We had a rest day here at the Super 8 hotel ....  had some great pie, some not so great steak, took my bike in for a new chain.... just wandered and ate and rested...
We are now at the half-way point!!!

April 5th: Fredricksburg to Austin : 78 miles.  No lunch - that makes Janine a grouchy girl... the route took us through back roads right into Austin.
Have I mentioned the wildflowers yet???  They are so amazing - blue bonnets plus flowers of yellow, fuchsia, purple, red... just scattered alongside the road and in the fields; I have never seen wildflowers like that!
We had thought that it was the end of Texas Hill Country, but no such luck - it was 78 miles of hill after hill after hill....
Supper tonight was fajitas served family style at a local restaurant in a strip mall - no one had had lunch so we devoured the food - so, so good!!  It is amazing how much food you need after cycling almost 80 miles!!  And for all those that asked if we were going to check out the music scene in Austin - I think that we were back from dinner at 7:30 and most of us were asleep by 9:00....

April 6th: Austin to Bastrop : 59 miles.  Okay, this was our first rainy day and it was a miserable one!!!
It was cold and it was either sprinkling rain or pouring rain for most of the day.  We were leaving Austin and our route called for turn after turn - trying to keep us off the busy roads - so we had to pay very close attention to our cue sheet.  Difficult for me to navigate because my new trip computer that I bought a couple of weeks ago has never worked properly so when it calls for a right turn in 6.5 miles, I have to either guess, hope to spot the road sign or follow someone else.  Thanks to Karen & Tanya, and later Sue, for being good leaders!!
And when I was with Sue, she got a flat tire, and just before arriving at the hotel, I got a flat tire... in the rain!!  My fourth flat and the first that I basically changed all on my own!!  Lunch was some chicken tenders from a gas station....
But we are staying at a Hampton Inn - what luxury : nice pillows, and the toilet is neither chipped nor stained.... and there is a Starbucks close by...
Oh and we have a fabulous new cook - hurray!!

April 7th : Today!!  Bastrop to La Grange : 41 miles.  A great day that made up for the miserable day
 yesterday.  We drove through the Bastrop State Park and then Buescher Park.  No traffic as we raced our way up and down hills and through the forest... well, there had been a horrific forest fire here 3 years ago, so the landscape was a little bleak...  Overcast but NO RAIN!!  and the wildflowers continue to amaze us!

Take care everyone!!

A Couple of Good Days!!!

Ah, what a difference a wind makes!!!!
The last couple of days have been a real treat - short distances, not too many hills or horrendous traffic - even decent accommodation - AND no headwinds!!!  Who even knew what a headwind was before this trip - definitely not me!!

I forgot to tell you all that one that horrible, awful, no good, very bad day, I had three knights on shiny bicycles come to my aid!!  There is another group of cyclists that are also doing the cross-country trip that occasionally cross paths with us (Bubba's group - a mixed group that does a lot of camping) and at about mile 50 that day, three of them cycled up beside me and suggested that I follow them.  One was on a recumbent bike and the other two on regular bikes and I tucked in behind them for close to 10 miles - they got me to my lunch stop - safe and pretty much sound.  I honestly don't know if I could have gone as far as I did without that help!!  Thanks Mike, Mike and Scott!!!  And Scott is from Kelowna!!

Oh - last night, Bubba invited us to their campground for an ice cream social, so I got to thank them again in person!  It was fun to compare notes with another group.

I was also thinking that I should let you know that most of us on this WomanTours adventure do not look like super-athletes at all.  In civilian clothes, we look pretty normal - you would NOT pick us out of a crowd as being someone who would take on a crazy trip like this!!  There are super-athletes among us but for the most part we look just like most other middle-aged women.

Sometimes I wonder what we look like as a group??  We will often arrive in these little "Mom & Pop" restaurants in these tiny, tired towns :  clad in our spandex and jerseys, pulling off our helmets revealing our wild hair - a little sunburnt, a little greasy and maybe even a little sweaty - but we don't look remarkable at all - except maybe, just maybe, as the weeks go by we are looking stronger, a little more toned and a little more confident that we can meet some pretty big challenges and still laugh at the end of the day.
If you think that you could never do something like this, think again - it mostly takes determination and a willingness to get on the bike and stay on the bike even when things get tough!!