I DID IT! Day 52: Monday, 4/27/15 Palatka, FL (74º at 6:00 am with dew point of 73º) to St. Augustine Beach, FL (76º at 2:00 pm with a dew point of 71º) 44 miles, elevation changes: +218/-290.

Theme for the day:  I DID IT! I successfully road Big Blue just under 3000 miles across the southern tier of the US, Coast 2 Coast! I rode every foot of the route. I loved every minute of the trip, even the soaking wet moments while riding in cold rain. What a wonderful feeling of accomplishment to ride through the lobby of the Hampton Inn in St. Augustine Beach, to push Big Blue across the sand, and to dip Big Blue’s front tire into the Atlantic Ocean. It was a day made in heaven! Hooray for Another Day!

Bike stats: 44 miles ridden very slowly from 7:30 am on an extremely humid day until 2 pm when I dipped Big Blue’s front time in the Atlantic Ocean.

Highlights of the day:

• Riding the last 44 miles of our just under 3000 miles Coast 2 Coast trip and dipping Big Blue’s front tire into the Atlantic Ocean. What a fabulous feeling of accomplishment!
• Having Joan, Pinky (Joan’s sister) and Martha (Pinky's friend), and Peter (Joan’s brother) and GiGi (Peter's friend) at the finish cheering me on: "The Holden Fan Club"

Before the SAG stop at mile 22 (I finally found out that SAG stands for "Support and Gear") I passed a farm and couldn't help myself taking two more farm shots of goats and horses.

Dave Moss, "Coach" riding his trike recumbent, taken through my fairing while riding.  We rode a good portion of the last morning together. I've been meaning to show you a trike recumbent. There were three ridden on this trip.

Selfie at the St. Augustine City Limits. We're getting closer to the finish line.

Our group of Coasters eating lunch at the A1A Ale Works in the old section of St. Augustine 4 miles from "the front wheel dipping in the Atlantic Ocean ceremony" spot. You can imagine how excited we all are.

The Welcome to St. Augustine Beach sign 1.4 miles from dip in. The second picture is my fellow Coast-2-Coast group of Coasters just before we all lined up single file to ride to the Hampton Inn. Can you find me? It is a fellow Coaster with his back to you on the right in the first picture. Almost there!

Dipping Big Blue into the Atlantic. I had tears in my eyes. I worked really hard for this moment. I rode Big Blue just under 3000 miles on this Coast 2 Coast trip, and since I first started riding Big Blue full-time on Cape Cod in the fourth week of June 2014 training for this ride, I have ridden her 7580 miles. We are one!

View from above of Big Blue's front tire dipping into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Holden Fan Club toasting my successful Coast 2 Coast ride. From left to right: Peter (Joan's brother), GiGi, (Peter's friend), Joan, me, Pinky (Joan's sister), and Martha (Pinky's friend).

The Holden Fan Club with their signs of support and celebration!

Joan and me!

All the Coasters on the Atlantic beach after the front tire dipping in ceremony. Can you find me?

 Thank you, each of you, who have followed me on my Coast 2 Coast trip through this blog. I could feel your love and support each and every day. It meant the world to me. I couldn't have done it without you, especially my family, Joan; Ashley, Tim and Annabelle; Jennifer; Abigail; and Will. A HUGE shout out to Abigail and Mitch Williams, her boyfriend, and to Carol and JD Williams, our wonderful friends from TX, for traveling to spend time with me on different rest days two weeks apart. These two visits were timed perfectly and REALLY picked me up and kept me going at times that I really needed it.

I love you all! 

Make it a great day!

John

Day 51: Sunday, 4/26/15 High Springs, FL (73º at 6:00 am with dew point of 71) to Palatka, FL (87º at 3:30 pm with a dew point of 71º) 85 miles, elevation changes: +1517/-1450.

Theme for the day:  The second to the last day of the ride with three types of weather today:

1. 1^st 30 miles, cloudy with occasional sun, humid and light tail wind ridden on pretty back country roads
2. Late morning 25 miles with scattered thunderstorms and some heavy rain showers ridden on a beautiful bike path through and around Gainesville
3. After lunch, last 30 miles ridden on FL Rt 20 East, clear with a few clouds, a strong tail wind, 10 – 15 mph with gusts to 25 mph, and hot with a few pretty views.

ONLY ONE DAY LEFT ON THE TRIP and 44 miles to ride to finish this cross country adventure.  I have loved the entire trip, all aspects of it. I am ready for it to come to an end tomorrow after 52 days. It’s time to go back home and to truly establish retirement patterns.

Bike stats: 84.6 miles ridden in 5 hours and 18 minutes of actual biking averaging 15.9 mph with a maximum speed of 32.3 mph.

Highlights of the day:

• Finishing the last high mileage day of 85 miles. I am in great shape to ride this type of day. I have grown to love these long days because of the satisfaction I feel when I complete them in a reasonable time. I rode the fastest today of the entire trip. The strong afternoon tail wind really helped.
• Biking in all the weather offered to our group today.
• Yesterday going canoeing on the Sante Fe River paddling 7 miles with Sam Hawkes. We saw lots of turtles out sunning on logs.
• The anticipation of the last day tomorrow. It is hard to believe that I am only 44 miles from completing this journey across country.

The beautiful canopied road that we rode on this morning before getting to greater Gainesville.

The beautiful bike path that we rode on through and around Gainesville before the thundershowers started.

A field of black eyed susans along FL Rt. 20 East after lunch and the thunderstorms were over.

FL 20 East the last 10 miles going into Palatka, FL.

At the canoe launch site with Sam Hawkes who paddled bow of our canoe just before starting our paddle of 7 miles along the Sante Fe River.

Here’s our group paddling on the river.

We saw MANY turtles out sunning on the logs in the river.

Make it a great day!

John

Day 49: Friday, 4/24/15 Madison, FL (64º at 6:00 am) to High Springs, FL (79º at 3:30 pm) 78 miles, elevation changes: +1283/-1316.

Theme for the day:  Riding the last 40 miles on Rt 90 AND a weather repeat of the last few days. Thus, I repeat what I wrote yesterday, "Hooray for another day! A day made in heaven! It was another glorious day to bike in all ways. I didn’t have to do much to make it a great day because all aspects of the environments I experienced today were exceptional." I am loving this weather.

I started biking at 7:30 am turning right on FL 90 and 40 miles later, I turned left off of FL 90 ending our time riding on Rt 90 in FL. I just quickly calculated that between TX and FL we rode 369 miles on TX 90 and 259 miles on FL 90 for a total of 628 miles on Rt. 90. Rt 90 goes across the entire country.

Bike stats: 77.8 miles ridden in 5 hours and zero minutes of actual biking averaging 15.5 mph with a maximum speed of 27.9 mph.

Highlights of the day:

• Finishing 628 miles on Rt 90. The sections in FL were beautiful with a very smooth riding surface and almost totally with a wide bike lane. Not so in TX as we bounced along on the chip and seal surface, often with no bike lane and lots of truck traffic.
• Another exceptional weather day for biking.
• Seeing more beautiful scenery

About to cross the Suwannee River.

The Suwannee River looking west.

Beautiful blackeyed susans along FL 90 with a ranch and cattle in the background. I saw lots of ranches with steers today. Many sections of the roads we covered with blackeyed susans.

A huge bull at a ranch after getting off FL 90 and getting onto back, country roads.

Another steer in the same pasture as the bull above.

Cabin 4 where I am sleeping the next two nights. Tomorrow is a rest day, thus no blog entry. We are staying at a FL state park in High Springs.

I am going kayaking tomorrow morning on a 7 mile float on a nearby river. I won't bring my iPhone with me in a kayak, thus I won't get any action shots.

Make it a great day!

John

Day 48: Thursday, 4/23/15 Tallahassee, FL (63º at 6:00 am) to Madison, FL (86º at 3:00 pm) 48 miles plus 8 additional miles, elevation changes: +1160/-1083.

Theme for the day:  Hooray for another day! A day made in heaven! It was another glorious day to bike in all ways. I didn’t have to do much to make it a great day because all aspects of the environments I experienced today were exceptional. I loved it in all ways. What a fabulous trip this continues to be.

I started biking at 7:30 am turning right on FL 90 and 48 miles later, I turned left off of FL 90 at the Colin P Kelly Fitness Center at North FL Community College in Madison, FL where we are sleeping tonight in a really nice gym. I tried to take my time to stretch out the day, but somehow still averaged just over 15 mph. It was truly an exceptional biking day: the weather including a slight tailwind, the road – very smooth; the company of my fellow C2C companions; and beautiful scenery.

Bike stats: 48.4 miles ridden in 3 hours and 12 minutes of actual biking averaging 15.2 mph with a maximum speed of 30.1 mph. I also biked, slowly, an additional 8 miles on the Madison County Four Freedoms Trail.

Highlights of the day:

• Stopping at the Lake Miccosukee dam and lake that was literally on the left as I rode along on FL 90.
• Stopping at Ray Charles park in Greenville, FL that was Ray Charles hometown as a young boy. There was a life-sized statue of Ray in the park.
• After lunch, riding by myself a few miles down the Madison County Four Freedoms Trail, a rails-to-trails bike trail that runs for 11 miles from Madison north-north east to the GA border. It was a beautiful bike path, but there were lots of branch blow downs in the wooded sections of the path. It was tough to ride around them.

The dam creating Lake Miccosukee, a close-up view so that you can read the sign, taken from FL 90, looking north.

The dam creating Lake Miccosukee, the wide view.

Lake Miccosukee taken from standing on the dam walkway looking north, the same direction as the two pictures above.

The beautiful swamp to the right of the dam, further to the right of the picture above. Can you tell that I thought this was really beautiful!

Ray Charles and me at Ray’s statue in his park in his hometown of Greenville, FL where he grew up as a young boy.

A cattle ranch I passed along FL 90.

The view looking north-northeast on the Madison County Four Freedoms Bike Trail. (Four Freedoms: Four kinds of freedom mentioned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in aspeech in 1941 as worth fighting for: freedom of speech and expression,freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Rooseveltspoke of the Four Freedoms before the United States entered World War II. He was presenting the war as a struggle for freedom and calling for aidto the Allies. From Dictionary.com)

Make it a great day!

John