Arkansas and Oklahoma

After spending the night in Conway, Arkansas just North of Little Rock we traveled Northwest into Oklahoma and connected up with a section of Route 66. It was very picturesque and included a stop at this round barn which was totally restored by a group of volunteers -- all over the age of 65. It was interesting to tour and see how involved the restoration was for those folks.

Just a mile up the road was another attraction, but this one was very new and modern, called Pops. We stopped for lunch and marveled at the selection of pop flavors from all over the United States. Every flavor, color, and bottle shape imaginable were there for viewing or purchase. It is a restaurant, gas station, tourist attraction, park, picnic grounds, just a fun place to spend a little time.






On the outskirts of Oklahoma City we stopped to tour the National Cowboy Museum. It is a huge complex with historical displays and currently a display of American Crafts which was most impressive.







Following Route 66 into Oklahoma City, we managed to locate the memorial of the courthouse bombing that happened in 1995. A very fitting park and grounds have been erected to those who lost their lives in the bombing. The tree pictured survived the bombing. The chairs are arranged on the lawn according to how many died on each floor of the building, with the smaller chairs representing the children that died. Outside the entrance some of the temporary fencing has been left up so people can place items there in memory of those who died.






Tomorrow we will be continuing our travels North and West through Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado.

Trivia = We purchased gas tonight in Guthrie, Oklahoma for $2.19. Of course there are oil wells pumping the oil out of the ground located just a mile from the gas station in all directions.

Traveling Through Alabama and Mississippi

We spent the night in Florence, Alabama and spent yesterday morning touring Ivy Green which is the birthplace of Helen Keller. Behind this "Little House" where Helen lived with her teacher, Anne Sullivan; is the well where Helen learned her first word, "W-A-T-E-R". The other home is a Frank Lloyd Wright home in Florence that has been restored and is open to the public. It was awesome to be able to take a tour of it.


The drive down the Nachez Trace Parkway was just lovely and thoroughly enjoyable. It was the original pioneer trail of 475 miles, of which we drove only 50 miles. There is so much history with many stops at overlooks and displays. Driving across Mississippi was delightlful also. We drove for about 150 miles through flat Mississippi Delta farm land that was just beautiful.


Renewing acquaintances with Pat and John Stoltman and their two grown children Katie and Chris was wonderful. It has been about 30 years since we have seen them. We were able to tour Clarksdale, Mississippi, a nice town with lots of real Southern flavor with Pat. Chris works as a manager for a farm of about 10,000 acres where they raise sod, cotton, and soybeans predominately. He took us on a tour of the cotton and soybean harvest. Leroy was a "farmboy" again and delighted in a ride on a 6-row cotton harvester (John Deere of course)! Having had several textile classes as a Home Economics major in college, I especially enjoyed the tour of the cotton gin process.



Leaving the beautiful Mississippi Delta farmland, we drove to Little Rock, Arkansas and toured the Clinton Library at the end of the day. Very interesting and well presented. Tomorrow we hope to travel into Oklahoma and do some touring.

No miles traveled by bicycle.

Life After the RIDE

These Blue Ridge Mountains in North Georgia depict the views we have so enjoyed throughout Georgia and Alabama since completing our bicycling odessey on October 11.

We experienced rain the day after the completion of our "ride" so after worshiping in a 150 year-old United Methodist Church in Savannah, GA; we drove up to the kids cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains for a couple of days R & R and to celebrate Rinda's birthday there.

A midweek evening ride with Rinda and the grandkids. This is the Silver Comet Trail which is a rail trail that Leroy rode on Thursday to the Alabama border and back adding another 100 miles onto the seventeen the night before with the group. He also took in a twenty mile ride through Atlanta on the Freedom Trail ending at Stone Mountain Park. Included is a picture of the famed "kudzo" which was very prevalent along the Silver Comet Trail.


On Saturday we were priviledged to see both Liske and Anneke play in their soccer games. As a former kids soccer coach and referee, it was great to see them playing. Lena Jean is only a few steps behind them in everything they do even though she is only 19 months!

Here are the reasons we took a week of R & R in Atlanta after the ride. We had a great time in Atlanta seeing our kids and grandkids. Ballet, soccer, shopping, Stone Mountain, a picnic, building a loft library for the girls, building a butcher paper holder, cleaning a closet, bicycling on the Silver Comet Trail (see below for more miles Leroy has added) visiting their church, relatives, and friends; made for a quick week.

Meet our friends, Ausie and Beth Clement. We go back many years to Fort Dix, New Jersey Basic Training and Fort Benning Georgia pre-Viet Nam. It was a gorgeous drive North through Alabama to visit them in Athens, Alabama today. We have visited a few times with them over the years. The water tower just seemed to embrace the support for our troops all across the South.

When we left Atlanta on Sunday afternoon we had a great visit with Al and Pat VanderPol in Anniston, Alabama. They are friends we both grew up with in Mount Vernon Washington; also our paths crossed at Fort Dix, New Jersey and Fort Lewis, Washington during the Viet Nam era. We spent the night with Zeke and Linda Willis, Army friends from Fort Lewis who live in Birmingham, Alabama. It is such fun to just take up where we left off the last time we visited, even though many years may have passed in the meantime.

Miles Traveled during our week in Atlanta = 137

Total Miles Traveled = 2,871

Trivia = Stay tuned as we travel through more of the USA heading home to Sunnyside.

The Atlantic Ocean -- We Made It!!!!

What will 32 days of pedaling a bike get you? -- from Santa Barbara, California to St. Augustine, Florida - - 2,734 miles or 85 miles a day. After riding 72 miles today, I was able to dip the front wheel of my bike into the Atlantic Ocean at about 1:00 PM. After the bike took a dip it was time to strip off the shoes and socks and take a swim. It has been 40 years since I was stationed in the area that I last took a dip in the Atlantic Ocean.

The trip this morning out of Palatka, Florida took us up and over the St. Johns River and then for 35+ miles north parallel to the river. This is a dammed river so in places it was well over 5 miles in width. The land was very rich sandy loom and one of the towns we rode through was named Spud, so it gives you some idea of what takes place as far as farming; in addition there were hundreds of acres dedicated to sod farming. Almost every home had a boat dock some of which had multiple boats moored by it. The ride was entirely flat with the exception of rises in the road that would take me over a drainage ditch.

We took several hours of time to tour St. Augustine following the ride and then started our trip up north toward Atlanta, Georgia. We will, however, do some additional sightseeing before we reach our destination. Tomorrow we plan to attend church in Savanna, Georgia; followed by some touring in that community.

For those of you that are concerned that I had promised 3,300 miles, well you’ll have to stay tuned to see how I will ride those miles. The first couple of hundred will be ridden on the Silver Comet Railway Trail that runs from Atlanta GA into Alabama. This is a beautiful railway that has been paved for at least 85 miles. This will also be the location that I will get to ride with my granddaughters who are very excited to demonstrate their long distance abilities.


Miles Traveled Today = 72
Total Miles Traveled = 2,734

Trivia = I thought I was just swerving to miss another piece of truck tire when the thing started to move to get out of the way. It was a good-sized snake!

I had a pickup stop along side me and ask if the road he was currently on was the fastest way to get to Jacksonville. I told him it wasn’t, but I was not sure how to get to the closest freeway that would bring him there. He asked where I was from and when I told him the State of Washington he just said S--t. Seems like he doubted me!

We paid $2.91 a gallon for gas when we entered Georgia. Why is gas so cheap here?

Oh yes, in recalculating the miles there was an addition error back about 21 days ago of 11 miles, therefore the corrected total is 2,734 = WE MADE IT

Palm Trees, Hibiscus, and Humidity

Rode the first five miles out of Lake City on the sidewalks to avoid heavy traffic because of very foggy conditions. The next 25 miles was in dense fog through very marshy terrain. It was easy to imagine alligators crawling up out of the marshland to sample a bicyclist leg bone! When the fog did lift we found ourselves in Starke, Florida but the map showed it as Lincoln City. This town had a creek running through it named Alligator Creek.

It was an opportune time to stop for an early lunch break as I had my 13th flat tire. As we completed lunch and changed the tube, the sun was peaking through the fog layer. The afternoon was spent continuing on a road that was flat and straight for 35 miles. It was a very nice change of pace from up and down. However, not to be lulled to sleep, I suddenly found the seat leaning back like it has come loose. In checking I found the carbon fiber seat post had broken. Fortunately, Libby was only a mile ahead and a cell phone call sent her back to rescue me. The solution was that I moved the seat post from Libby’s bike to mine and it worked.

The remainder of the ride today was without incident, 83 miles after starting our day we found ourselves in Palatka, Florida.

Tomorrow is just a short 50-mile ride to our final destination, St. Augustine and the Atlantic Ocean, however, there is a scenic route I am considering along the St. John River -- what's another 20 miles?

Miles Traveled Today = 83
Total Miles Traveled = 2,651
Trivia = Windshield wipers on my glasses would have been a nice addition for the fog today. I had enough dew dripping off my mustache that I didn’t need much water for the first 25 miles.

75 Miles and Never Dry

Today began with overcast skies so Libby and I took off driving from Oak Hill Ranch in Monticello where we stayed last night at about 7:15 a.m. We hadn’t driven but two miles and the rain began again, so we returned to our warm, dry “cabin” at the Bussells. Spent the time writing postcards and getting yesterday’s blog started. Tried again at 9:15 a.m. and sure enough it wasn’t raining anymore.

The temperature was 75 degrees and extremely humid with water on the roadway so that every time a car passed me I received a shower, and each time a truck passed me I received a bath!! This was road grime water to top it off. Libby kept close tabs on me all day because it rained intermittently, but I pedaled on. Made a stop in Madison, Florida for lunch at McDonalds and then pedaled almost to Lake City before getting caught in a torrential downpour. Fortunately, I had to tolerate it for less than a mile as my rescue angel was waiting for me. More ups and downs with longer stretches of flat today, entirely without wind. Praise the Lord for small favors.

Right now we are in a motel at Lake City and I am doing bicycle maintenance as the rain washed away the lubricants from my last maintenance on Sunday, and left my gear chain full of sand and road grit. Also, my back tire is disintegrating so it is time for a new tire. (Thank you Luke for sending me on my way with a spare.) In checking my liner, I discovered another piece of steel belted radial residue poking through. No flat tube, however.

The first community we came through after leaving Monticello was Greenville, Florida. Libby saw a nice community park so she checked it out and found this great bronze statue of Ray Charles. He called “Greensville” his home, as it was where he was raised, where he had the unfortunate accident that caused his blindness, and always where he returned to see his family and friends.

Each town continues with the fall decorations, which are unique and joyful to gaze upon along our travels.

Miles Traveled Today = 75
Total Miles Traveled = 2,568
Trivia = Amount of rainfall today = Seemed like four inches.
Passed an enormous peanut processing plant in Lee, Florida as well as a Pilgrim brand chicken processing plant.

Monticello, Florida

October 8, 2008

We left Chattahoochee on Hwy 90 for just a couple of miles and then turned north to ride up into Georgia for a few miles before turning south again to join Hwy 90 in Quincy, Florida. We felt it was necessary to include Georgia in the ride since our daughter Rinda and her family live in Atlanta. From that point we continued on Hwy 90 for the rest of the day. There were many exciting times riding along 90 depending on whether there were shoulders or not along the road. In addition it had rained most of the night so the roads were wet and the frogs seemed to think the road was the stream. Hundreds of them had been run over by vehicles, which meant that the road surface was slick with frog innards. There are many times I need to ride the white line on the side of the road, but it too was very slick since water on paint is just like a lubricant. The last issue was that there may not be any mountains in North Florida, but don’t let anyone let you believe that it is flat. The ups and downs are not very deep, but they just never stop. This keeps me shifting gears between 6 mph and 20 mph all day long. In spite of the conditions, I was able to get in 82 miles before it started raining to hard to continue. About 3 miles short of Monticello, Libby came out and rescued me since it was raining fairly heavy which makes it difficult for drivers without their windshield wipers turned on to see this target.

The ride though Tallahassee put us right downtown along Florida State University and the Capital buildings as well. Since my brother Don attended FSU for graduate school while I was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia; we had visited the area many times in 1969. I will have to admit that there was absolutely nothing I could say I remembered about the location. As with most large cities you have to ride through 3-4 miles of shopping centers before you reach the heart of the original community. The nice thing about the new parts of the city; they have created bike lanes in which to ride. In the older sections you are back to just the white line!!!

The thing I do remember most about Tallahassee were the big oak trees with all of the Spanish moss hanging in the trees. Many of the roads are lined with these oak trees as well as Myrtle trees. In addition throughout the entire state of Florida the sides of the roads are mowed just about as neatly as peoples lawns. So regardless of the terrain you are riding in beautiful surroundings.

Last night we had the pleasure of staying with Reese and Jerry Bussell in Monticello, Florida. We have mutual friends in Birmingham, Alabama and they so graciously offered to have us stay in their "cabin" as our travels brought us within a mile of their home. It was a great place to stay and we so enjoyed getting acquainted as well as a wonderful home-cooked meal. Visiting with the Bussell s was a great way to enjoy the thunder, lightening and pouring rain outside.

Miles Traveled Today = 82
Total Miles Traveled = 2,493