It was hot and hard going today. I've turned a nice shade of pink accordingly. Having wifi in a tent is quite the paradox but a luxury I wasn't complaining about so I lingered on a bit this morning, setting off around 9 with Tallahassee in sight.
There was nothing along the roadside today and traffic was few and far between save for the odd logging truck to give me a bit of a tow. I've not met another cyclist on the road so far but this may change past Tallahassee when i join the Southern Tier route.
Radio report: American worker union issues, God, dead ipod.
One way...
It was essentially three 10 mile straight roads before I got to the barely-functioning-it's-so-sleepy village of St. Marks down by the Gulf Cost. It was a welcome sight to stock up on water and sugary stuff though.
Part of the reason of me taking this route into Tallahassee was the 16-mile St. Marks to Tallahassee trail I'd heard about. It follows an old rail line which has been covered to give a nice wide cycle path that provided a much welcome change and went some way to counteract the monotony of the previous 30 miles. A feature that struck me was that at any road crossing it was the roads that had the stop signs, always giving the cyclist right of way - quite a contrast to the ubiquitous 'Cyclists Dismount' more familiar from UK cycle paths. It dropped me right into central Tallahassee.
I've been wanting to use all manner of American junk food to fuel this adventure, but all I'd found so far is damn Subways, there are loads of the things. I can't rely on peanut butter bagels forever (can I?), so I jumped at the chance to visit Whataburger when I saw it. CALORIES. A unwanted challenge of travelling solo is always having to look over the bike and be extra conscious of where I leave it, it makes popping into a shop to pick up food or drink just that little bit stressful.
A ride past the obligatory gigantic football stadium (apparently the rival Florida university of the Gainesville one) and up to Mia's, a family friend, and her apartment in a student housing community. We hung around out for the afternoon whilst I was introduced to some fine American daytime television, TLC - The Learning Channel - and its vital educational programming for selecting wedding dresses, took a car ride across town to Chipotle for dinner and chilled out for rest of the evening.
Where are all the selfies????
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