Bike riding blog posts
I've been putting off sharing this story. I hardly know how to tell it. Once I made the decision to bail on the tour and fly home I had a lot of tasks to accomplish to make that happen.
I could have flown out of Tupelo but I thought it would be easier to drive to Nashville and fly from there. That way I would also be able to drive the rest of the Natchez Trace Parkway.
After a rest day in Natchez yesterday, I woke up this morning to severe thunderstorms and tornado watch. Well I ain't going nowhere. Call me a wimp but I'm riding this one out in my dry motel room. While I'm sure it's not an uncommon experience for cycle tourist to have to lay low and wait out inclement weather, it's just never happened to me before. In Oregon and Washington, where I've done most of my touring, getting caught in the rain may be unpleasant, but it is rarely life threatening.
I left St. Augustine on March 20, and crossed into Alabama on April 5. The weather was almost perfect with most days in the mid 70's. Only one day of rain which was a layover day in Tallahassee. I had many more days of tailwinds than of headwinds. I rode many really nice bike paths, some quiet country roads, and far too many busy highways. I never felt unsafe on the road as traffic was for the most part very respectful. I met some wonderful Warm Showers hosts, stayed in a couple of scenic campgrounds, and one really nice "old Florida" style motel.
Week one recap. I left St. Augustine a week ago and rode 316 miles to Tallahassee, and I'm only half way across the panhandle of Florida. I've stayed with fantastic Warm Showers hosts 3 nights, a couple of nice campgrounds, and a couple of motels. I've seen a lot of egrets, herons, turkeys, peacocks, and vultures. Florida is big on vultures. I've also seen bright red cardinals, which was a real treat. I've seen a lot of American flags, but relatively few Trump signs. I've seen 3 Israeli flags and one Ukrainian flag. Also lots of Florida flags.
Today I crossed the Suwannee River on my ride across Florida. Yes it is the Su - WA - nee River, not the Swanee River as Stephen Foster called it. Riding along you have plenty of time to think about stuff and so I spent a lot of time thinking about "The old folks at home". It's a song we all learned as kids, well before we learned about slavery. The lyrics had even been doctored to meet modern sensibility. But the song is indeed about how good life was "on the old plantation".
I added a new View to the system to tally up my touring stats. Here is what I have as of March 2024. My first tour was in 2005 so not quite 20 years. This includes overnight tours.
St. Augustine to Corvallis. There's a lot of country in between. I decided I could leave earlier in the spring if I started on the ACA Southern Tier, which starts in St. Augustine and heads west along the gulf coast. The other option would have been to head north along the Atlantic to the start of the ACA TransAm in Virginia.
I envisioned this as a road and rails-to-trails tour, with the occasional gravel road if it gets me away from traffic. I'm not planning any rugged bikepacking like the Oregon Outback, so I figured the Soma Saga was the best bike for the tour. The Saga worked well on my six days down the coast in 2022. But it needed work.
It's now late February. On March 11 I fly to Florida. I'll spend a week visiting family and then hop on my bike and ride home.