Life On A B-I7

Day 65

Lake City Florida to Orange Park Florida

Some mornings you start your day and you think nothing extraordinary is going to happen today. Much to your surprise, it turns out otherwise. After 16 miles. I saw a cafe that had a sign outside: “Breakfast Sacks.” I have never heard of a Breakfast Sack, so I pulled in to find out what it was. At this place anyway, it’s breakfast in Pita bread. I believe the cafe was operated by a Lebanese couple. I had a Breakfast Sack with 2 eggs, bacon, and sausage. It was very good. The best breakfast I’ve had in days. I thanked the couple and told them how much I enjoyed it.

I got to mile 40 and the temperature had climbed out of the cold zone. I felt comfortable. This was only the third day since leaving East Texas that I was not cold while riding. It was a good feeling. I started the day with two shirts on, a puffy vest, and a wind jacket. I had already lost the vest and now I was taking off one of the shirts. As I was finishing, a pick-up pulled up and the driver got out. He introduced himself as Pat. He is a cyclist himself and he works at the Senior Center in McCleanny. He invited me to lunch as his guest. I figured what the heck, I was ahead of schedule and it was only three miles back to town, so I accepted Pat’s invitation. When I got there Pat took me around and introduced me to all the Seniors having lunch there. It was quite the group, about 30 perhaps. They have lunch every weekday at 11am. Today was meatball subs. I chatted with a dozen or so of the seniors. After lunch, several wanted to look at my bike and ask questions about the trip. Besides Pat, I especially liked Gary, He was very curious about all the aspects of the bike and my travel. I don’t know if I will ever get back to McCleanny, but if I do, I have two friends there waiting for me. Two hours later I was on my way again.

At this point I figured it would just be heads down for the last 40 miles but at mile 55 I was pleasantly surprised when the route turned onto a beautiful 10 mile long paved rail trail. I’ve been impressed with Google Maps as a navigation aid. It puts me on bike trails like that one, and it also does a good job of routing me on streets that have bike lanes. I think Google Maps is a good tool to have in your travel kit.

Tomorrow is the last day of my journey. I’m very excited. I’m going to turn in early so I feel well rested for the last 70 or so miles to St. Augustine.

Miles: 80

Rode a wonderful Rail Trail for 10 miles.

Day 66

Orange Park Florida to St. Augustine Florida

Today was the final day of my journey to St. Augustine. It’s hard to describe the emotion that 66 days of cycling, most of them consecutive, will bring. I enjoyed each mile of today’s ride. I traveled 560 miles to traverse Florida from the Western tip on the Gulf Coast to St. Augustine in the Northeast. Today was easily the best weather I have experienced since leaving Alabama on November 8th. Yesterday was the only other comfortable day of riding. All of the preceding days were cold, some of them bone chilling.

I stopped for lunch in Palatka and spent two hours. I ate at the Magnolia Cafe. My friend and former riding companion from the pre-Austin days of the tour recommended it to me after she went through Palatka three days ago. It was a very good lunch. Afterwards, I went across the street for an Americano and an Apple Turnover. I took them outside on the porch. The sun was shining and I spent the second hour of my lunch break just sitting and soaking up the warmth. I fell asleep in the chair. I must have looked a little bit ridiculous. It was just what I needed to complete the last 30 miles of the journey.

There were a lot of paved bike trails on today’s route. That made the ride even more enjoyable. I arrived in St. Augustine at 4pm. I’m staying right downtown in the old quarter at a Hostel called the “Pirate House.” St. Augustine is on a bay. Tomorrow I will ride out to the ocean to dip my front wheel in the Atlantic, capping my coast-to-coast trip. It’s about 3 miles from St. Augustine to the Ocean. While today officially ended this journey, tomorrow will be the ceremonial conclusion.

While I was riding today, I wrote a poem about what it’s like to cross the country on a bicycle. It call it “The Country.” It didn’t come to me all at once. I would pull off the road to jot down various pieces. By the fourth time I pulled over (well out of the traffic) the poem was mostly complete.

When I started thinking about the logistics of this journey back in January, I realized I wanted to complete the ride in St. Augustine on November 19th. This is a special day for me. One year ago today I underwent open heart surgery to replace my Aortic Valve. I have always been an active guy. I played sports when I was young and I led an active lifestyle for most of my adult life.

When I was a kid, I had asthma. I remember trying to keep up with the other kids at recess. Typically I would have to sit down and watch them after just a few minutes of running around. I hated that. By the time I reached Middle School, I had “outgrown” much of that, and by the time I reached High School, I felt like I could keep up with the other kids, most of the time. But I didn’t have the endurance that they had. I dismissed that as being a result of reduced lung capacity due to childhood asthma, which was a factor, but not the only factor.

After my 11th Seattle to Portland bike ride, at the age of 64, I knew something was wrong. I just didn’t have the endurance that I felt I should have. I asked my doctor to do some tests. In the fall of last year I learned that I was born with a Bifurcated Aortic Valve. Normally you are born with three “leaves” in your Aortic Valve, I was born with only two. That causes a murmur, blood bypassing the valve when it opens and closes. In other words, reduced exercise capacity. A lot of things started to make sense to me.

The surgery was successful. There is a three month recovery from that surgery. Two days shy of the three months I was skiing again. It was during the recovery that I decided it was time to fulfill my dream of riding a bike across the country. I also thought it would be great to complete the ride by arriving in St. Augustine on the one year anniversary of the surgery. I am thrilled, and grateful, to have made that happen. This is a special day.

The Southern Tier is complete. Tomorrow I will ride out to the ocean and dip my wheel in the Atlantic.

Miles: 73

Arrived one day ahead of the group after giving them a 2 day jump on me out of Austin.

St. Augustine Florida

This has been an epic journey. When you complete an accomplishment like this, I suppose it is natural to ask yourself, will you do this again. Yes. There are more bicycle adventures in my future, I know that. I also know you only need to ride the Southern Tier once. There’s a big country out there, and a lot more to be seen.

I’m definitely not a Hemingway or a Stephen King. But a big part of this journey has been giving myself the opportunity write. By doing that I have improved my skill a tiny bit, but more importantly I received, time after time, a joy at the end of the day that I would not otherwise have experienced. That brings me to you, the reader. Thank you for stopping by, many of you daily, to read this what-ever-it-is. All I can say about that is, thank you. I hope this provided you with some small bit of entertainment.

This is the end of my “Southern Tier” journaling adventure. I know I will keep writing. I don’t know if it will appear on the site “Life on a B17” or not. Maybe some bad poetry once in a while. I don’t have any specific plans for the site. I’ll take it where the spirit moves me. I don’t know where that will be.

What else can I say about the journey? I’m grateful I was able to undertake it. I’m also grateful I was able to finish it. It is humbling to achieve something so extraordinary. It is also a memory I will cherish for the rest of my life. When I’m 90 years old and my friends and I are down at the gas station having our morning coffee, they will be talking about their glory days in High School. They will be recalling when they struck out this batter, or got that big hit. I’ll be talking about how I rode my bicycle across the country, “Just how I like.” After my morning coffee in the winter I’ll go skiing. In the summer after morning coffee I’ll go for a bike ride. Feel free to join me.

This experience has certainly brought me tremendous joy, but I was reminded time-and-again, joy is not what you find at the end of the journey, joy is what you experience along the way.

“If you can do it for joy, you can do it forever.” - Stephen King

Brad Adkins, November 20th, 2019