Blue Boat Home

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on February 18, 2005]

Hi, folks! I've reached the southernmost point of my tour: the home of my friend Diane in Marion Oaks, Florida, just south of Ocala. It feels good to be here! I had some misadventures this week, but the joke's on me and I get it, so imagine me smiling as I tell you all about it...

I had a nice quiet ride down US-19 today, but when I got to Cross City and stopped in at the library, the librarian told me about a rail trail that parallels the highway all the way to Chiefland, which is roughly where I was headed.

On the highway this morning I saw a man walking, pulling a big duffel on a luggage cart.  I did a U-turn and stopped to talk with him.  He said that reading the Bible in Greek a year and a half ago had convinced him to get rid of all his worldly belongings (except the duffel) and live in what he called the "Celestrious Realm," which I took to mean the more or less natural world.  He told me that traveling faster than 25 mph damages the soul, and that I should camp illegally more often and "shit in the woods" whenever possible, the better to lead a celestrious life.  He a

Around 3:00 in the morning, the wind shifted and put Perry downwind from ... a paper mill!  It was several hours before I got used to the smell and could go back to sleep.  The day that followed was so humid that I could see my breath although temperatures were in the 60s F.  So the good news is that my laundry didn't dry smelling like paper mill!

I had a choice today between riding US-19 or a longer route nearer the coast.  I chose the highway because it had good shoulders.

I had two options today: I could ride east all day and reach Suwannee River State Park around sunset but have lots of camping options (close to Interstate 75) from there on south to Ocala, or I could make a shorter hop southeast to Perry and risk not getting a campsite but be farther from the big highways.

I packed up in Dan's house this morning and arrived at his coffee shop just after it opened.  Dan's car was parked out front, and the barista confirmed that he was sleeping there.  I checked my e-mail over coffee and then biked to the UU church.

I went to church today looking for Alex, not for freebies, but the members insisted I share their potluck lunch.  One of them offered me a room for the night as well, but I said I was headed out of town immediately.  No one remembered having seen Alex.

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group, February 13, 2005]

I've really been enjoying the longer days lately... for the first time since October I can sleep in, take my time riding, and still get to camp well before sunset. Well, most of the time, anyway...

My plan for the day was simple and elegant: I would ride north to Tallahassee and stay at a campground west of town.  Rather than follow the most direct highway route, I would go a few miles out of my way to the rail trail that connects Tallahassee to the Gulf shore town of St. Marks and enjoy the peace and quiet away from traffic.

I took my time leaving my comfy motel room this morning because I needed to make a tech-support call to the makers of my keyboard, which had stopped working, and they operate on Pacific time, despite being in India.  So I watched two episodes of Buffy and changed my rear tire, whose slow leak was getting on my nerves.

Last night was one of those magical nights when everything dries... Had I known, I would have done a bunch of laundry!

I rode into Port St. Joe and did some more route research at the library, but I was surprised to see how late it was getting already.  Come to find out I had just crossed into Eastern Time!