Day 3: A change of plans

We got up this morning with no sense of urgency. Today was only going to be a 27 mile day. We cooked up some country ham we brought with us and some cheese grits. If we just had some eggs it would have been a perfect country breakfast. Well, less the biscuits, and jam, and butter and cold drinks, but still OK. After a leisurely cup of hot chocolate I decided to call the campground. Bad news, they are full. Nothing. And there are no hotels. We pull out our maps and start rethinking a route.


We decide to bike into Lake City. It’s big enough to have hotels and it is only 25 miles down the road but in the other direction. As we look at the map we realize we can continue from there to our next campground with no problems and less a few miles. A good plan is adopted and we start out.

We are going into the wind but we would not expect anything else. All bikers understand how this works. It is always a headwind. We arrive in town and eat at a locale place that is good and we met a few locale folks as well. After lunch we pulled into America’ Best Inn, or something like that. The good news here is they are not, I repeat, they are not America’s Best Inn. They are not even close. They are better than a tent. Maybe they should change their name to ”America’s Inn, we are better than a tent”. We did enjoy the AC.

The next morning we start out but things begin to go south quick. Nothing big, just little things; a knee causing trouble, a swollen ankle, the brakes beginning to drag bad again. We were reaching the edge of town and there it was. Enterprise Car Rentals. I swerved in just to check if they had a one way rental to Gainesville. They did. We got it. And within an hour we are back at our truck. We loaded the truck up, dropped off the rental and headed for Manatee Springs State Park. We wanted to see this park so we decided to camp there for the night. We picked up some steaks on the way in and had a great meal. Steaks cooked over hot oak coals still taste great. We even saw some manatees. Tomorrow we head for St Simons Island. The great thing about a bike trip is flexibility. If one route gets to tough you just head the other direction. It is an adventure after all, and a vacation. Got to remember that vacation part cause if isn’t fun Susan becomes unpleasant.

Country ham breakfast

On the dock at Manatee Springs

Deer in camp at Manatee

They followed us everywhere.  I don't think they thought we would make it.

Manatees