| Page 21 ......................Continued from previous page Day 89 - Thursday 4-11-02 We went to Linda's for dinner. We both had the lasagna. It was wonderful, if anybody is driving on hwy. 19 thru Cross City stop in to Linda's and have the Lasagna. Mary our waitress was a kick. Dave {cutter) Huycke a friend of ours would have loved Mary. She is what you think of when you think of your favorite ma and pa waitress. Mary is older and handles the show with all the finesse of an athlete. She stops and talks to you and Calls you Honey. That is what Dave would like being called honey. Yet you get the distinct feeling you don’t piss her off. She could handle a 250 lb. linebacker like he was a sack of potatoes. We have to thank Mary, Linda and Smiley (Kathy), we enjoyed meeting all you. Day 89 - Friday 4-12-02 - mileage today 48.5 - climbed today 0 I HAD A DREAM Last night I dreamt I was about to embark on an impossible trip. I dreamt that I had all these seemingly impossible things I had to do in order to prepare for this monumental trip. The trip was to cycle all the way around the United States. How can something like this be done? What will I need? How can I plan for this? It's too big for me! At this moment I woke up. I didn’t know where I was. I was groggy and somewhat lost. WOW what a dream that was, I thought. It was then that I realized that I wasn't at home and that it wasn't a dream. I was in fact in the middle of the very same trip I dreamt was impossible. How weird is that? As I write this it is dark and rainy, but thankfully, I'm safely tucked away in my tent. I'm listening to a great radio station. They are playing oldies by, Louie Armstrong, Henry Mancini and the theme song from Sleepless in Seattle by Harry Conic Jr. That is one of my favorite movies, Sleepless in Seattle. Myron is probably tired of hearing me go on about that movie. I mention it often. I'm an old softy at heart. A romantic I suppose, but if you tell anybody I'll deny it. I wish I were at my favorite coffee house right now listening to my oldies. I used to play the stereo, and my long time friend and roommate, Beth use to tease me that I was born 20 years too late. Ok, well maybe 50 years too late. Speaking of old music, we crossed the Suwannee River today. How does the song go "waaaaay down upon the Suwannee river, da da da da..” Ok, I can't remember. Anyway we were riding our bikes on a bike path, which used to be an old railroad bed. We crossed the river on an old trestle. I had to stop and take a picture. The rivers black waters slowly curved around the bend of its gentle sloped green banks. It was beautiful. We really enjoyed being on the trail and off the road. We wouldn't have known about the trail if it weren’t for Kathy, you remember (smiley). She walks part of it every day. The trail is 45 miles long. The section we were on was only 17 mile long. It ended in Chiefland. We didn't want to get back on hwy. 98 but we had to. There are no other choices. We even called the police department to see if there was an alternate road. 98 is a 4 lane divided, two lanes each way. It doesn't have a shoulder, so we have to ride in with the traffic. It looked like it would rain at any moment, making cycling dangerous, but luckily it didn't. Not until after I had my tent up, (thank you). We don't have far to go before we can once again get onto quiet side roads. Day 90 - Sat. 4-13-02 - mileage today 62.7 - climber today 0 DONT POP THAT BUBBLE Myron and I got up and found the Riverland Cafe and Jeff and Pam Killion the owners fixed us an awesome Spanish omelet. As we were ready to leave one of the customers we were talking to noticed Myron had a quarter sized bubble on his rear tire. The tire was worn right down to nothing and the tuffy was protruding. As Myron was looking at the rear tire I noticed that his tire on the trailer was flat. Both at the same time. The trailer was flat because a small wire from a steel-belted tire punctured it. We find those little wires all over the place. They are common on the side of the road. Myron fixed the bike tire while I fixed the trailer tire. To this day Myron refuses to say he has had a flat tire. He has had 5 on the trailer and almost one on the bike. If he had ridden a few miles on the bike the rear tube would have popped. Myron forever gave me a bad time for having so many flats. I have had 6 flats. When someone says how many flats have you had Myron says none, but Jim has had 6. Myron justifies his position by saying I haven’t had any on my bike. He doesn’t count the trailer, even though you have to stop and fix them just like it were a flat on the bike. In the late afternoon the wind is calm and the light is subtle, it make for wonderful riding. I was riding along listening to Prairie Home Companion. I can’t help but to think of Dave Cutter Huycke a friend of ours that rode across the country with us two years ago. David never missed listening to Prairie Home Companion. PHC is a radio show on public radio. We were loosing light fast so we stopped at a convenience store to ask about camping we were told of a RV park three blocks away that allows tent. We decided to get dinner then go to camp. It was 9:00 before we finished dinner. We went to the RV Park and were turned away. We tried another park and were once again turned away. Again we went to another RV park and the manager wasn’t there. We called information for the phone number of the local fire dept. and they patched us thru and it was a number no longer in service. We called once again for the phone number of the police dept. We talked to them and they had no suggestions for us. We walked over to ask some people sitting outside in the RV Park, where the fire station was. We met Charles and Gloria Miller. They were very kind and assured us that Perry the owner of the Shady Acres RV Park would not mind at all if we camped there. So we visited with Charles, Gloria, Mitch and Laura along with several others. We enjoyed meeting everybody and were thankful they were so kind to us. We set up our tents and had a great night sleep. Day 91 - Sun. 4-14-02 - mileage today 3.9 YES 3.9 - climbed today 0 FAMILY First let me say Thank you to Perry at the SHADY ACRES RV PARK in Hudson, Fl. Perry is the owner of the Shady Acres and he took us in when no one else would. We were like abandoned pets and he let us stay there free of charge. Thank you, Perry. FAMILY My Uncle Ed (Chum) emailed me to let me know I have family Patty and Richie in Bayonett Point, Fl. After I got the email I contacted Patty and she was more than happy to meet. Myron and I had planned to visit for lunch, but, we were getting along so well and having such a great time that lunch turned into dinner and we stayed the night. We had a great time. Patty and Richie treated us like family, pun intended. P&R are a kick in the pants, that is to say, they are fun people. We had a great time. |
 |
 |