Highway 90 has been a solid road so far - still not much in the way of scenery but a steady trickle of small towns, fairly quiet for the most part and a nice wide shoulder. The majority of cross-country traffic runs on the nearby I-10 Interstate. A stop in need of some cash needn't divert me from the comfort of my saddle in drive-thru country. Speaking of my saddle, this Brooks has fully lived up to reputation and really started to mould to the shape of me now and I can feel it getting comfier by the day.
Most days I'll stop off at a supermarket to pick up food supplies; meal times rarely apply now, calories rule. A sizeable banana and PB sandwich to meet today's mid-morning nutritional requirements.
Not much to report until the day got truly great after reaching Ponce de Leon. As I mentioned, Teddy had said something about being able to camp at the State Park here. Not all parks have campgrounds, and the ones that do are often the expensive kind. This particular one was without, it was small and based around a natural spring and was an hour from closing time when I arrived at half 4. It was also totally deserted so I thought about waiting until somebody came to shut up shop but got impatient and went in search of a ranger. A road led me down to a storage depot where a completely uninterested park volunteer was camped out - anything? 20 miles back the way I came from on a bicycle is not particularly helpful, cheers. Disappointed I start to ride back into town when I see another volunteer and ask in hope. This guy, Montell, is great and says he'd let me camp but it's not up to him and takes me over to the ranger who lives just opposite.
To be allowed to camp on his patch is cool but Robert the Head Ranger and his wife, Roberta, straight up welcoming me to stay overnight in their house is just incredible. It's an overwhelmingly generous offer of hospitality but oh-so-especially relieving after a day cycling and the looming prospect of a small patch in the woods. We go to a local Mexican for a meal, we go to Walmart so I can pick up alcohol for my camp stove, we go get ice cream because who the hell doesn't want ice cream. Montell even invited me over for a couple of beers and a burger. Amazing.
It'll be two easy days into Pensacola and Robert has already sorted me out with a State Park contact further down the road. He mentioned that all parks should let cyclists camp out if they turn up, though I suspect it's one of those rules that doesn't ever get explicitly mentioned to the staff. I really think this should be the case. The only real headache in my days I've found so far is the uncertainty of a convenient place to stay the night - it's hard to get access to always plan ahead. I'm not averse to stealth camping, no doubt I'll have to some times, just would prefer the more legit option.
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