Day 2, Gold Head

It rained during the night but was only cloudy when we got up around 7:00. Today we had more miles to do than yesterday so we were determined to get an earlier start. After a quick breakfast we loaded up a wet tent and started out by 9:00. Dup! It’s daylight savings and we lost an hour. It’s 10:00! Another late start. We headed out back the way we came, east. Back into that wind that was coming out of the NE. Ten miles later we turned to a more westerdly direction. What a relief that was. First thing you notice is how quiet it is, and then the respite on your legs. The road twisted and turned so the tailwind was sporadic but at least it was not a head wind. As we pedaled through the Florida pine forest we saw our first “Bear Crossing” sign. Not a very comforting sight. Susan asked me if we could outrun a bear and I told her “No, but I thought I could outrun her”. She never did quite get it thank goodness.

We stopped in Starke, Fla. at Mama Mia’s for lunch. It was a nice break and a good lunch but it was 2:00 when walked out with 40 miles still to ride. The road direction had changed some too and we had a tough cross wind but we pedaled on.

About ten miles down the road we stopped to take a break. We got off the bike and sat in the grass to relax a minute. I was watching the flags on the bike and trailer blowing in the wind when all of a sudden the bike blew over. I could not believe it. We struggled to get it and the trailer upright and then checked for damage. It had snapped Susan’s mirror off but beyond that I did not see anything else wrong. We moved my mirror to her handle bars and we rode off, but not until we had spent 15 extra minutes fixing the bike.

The wind and miles began to take their toll when we finally pulled over to take a break. As we stood by the bike I noticed the rear wheel was really hard to spin. A quick check and I discovered the brake was dragging. I mean like, “the brake was on” dragging! Biking uphill dragging!


Well, I started adjusting the tensioners and nothing worked. All of a sudden one snapped off. It broke! In the middle of freaking nowhere it just decided to pop off and fall on the road. While standing there with a look of shear horror on my face, I notice the quick release on the back wheel was flipped open and the rear wheel was about to fall off. I’m now thinking more than the mirror got dinged in the fall. I reset the wheel but with the broken tensioner the brake was dragging for sure now. I backed off the brakes, not the best situation when on a tandem puling a trailer, but at least we could pedal. It was also very obvious that brakes had been dragging bad, because as pulled off the bike felt like it was 50 lbs. lighter. Well, at least ten lbs. lighter.

Around 6:30 and another 70 miles we pulled into Ocean Pond campground. We set up the tent but again we were too tired to cook so it was more fruit cups and bread. At least with daylight savings we didn’t eat in the dark. Tomorrow was a short day so we knew we could relax. So after a short walk around the campground we turned in knowing tomorrow would be easier.

Breakfast toast.  It's really good.

Morning coffee thinking of those miles to do.

Panniers moved to the front.  A story all their own.

A wet tent.