September 18 Crossing America

South Jacksonville, FL – Folkston, a distance of 63 miles.
5,257 miles traveled through today, 4,480 of them on a bike.

I awoke this morning to the aroma of pancakes and fresh brewed coffee, a very nice way to start the day.  Bobbi was in the kitchen flippin cakes, while George was already woofing down a batch.  Oh yea, I caught up and passed him eating six pancakes a few sausage links, orange juice and coffee.  Karl arrived at the table last but showed he could hang with me eating his fair share of cakes, too.  Thank you Bobbi, didn’t expect breakfast but was just the fuel I needed to tackle today’s 72 mile ride.

George helped me load my gear onto Spirit, Karl provided lube for my chain and topped off my tires with his floor pump instead of me having to use my little emergency pump as I had to do yesterday.  I was surprised the rear tire, the one I replaced the tube on yesterday morning, was down to 65 lbs.  Could it be I missed finding what caused yesterday’s flat or is my little pump that inaccurate?

Karl and I had visited last night about him accompanying me through downtown Jacksonville but was hesitant to accept as I ride too slow for him.  My intent was to get back onto the Adventure Cycling Association’s route and skirt the east side of Jacksonville and then ride across the north side of Jacksonville.  However, Karl was still willing to accompany me this morning and suggested by riding diagonally through Jacksonville we’d be able to cut today’s mileage in half.  I liked Karl’s plan better than mine, especially since he was going to ride with me to keep me from getting lost.  I said my goodbye’s to George and Bobbi, they are really nice folks and it was hard to turn Bobbi’s invitation to stay another day down but I’m already about 15 days behind the time frame originally planned for completing the Crossing of America.  With mixed emotions as I would have liked to stay another day Karl and I pushed off for the ride to Callahan, Florida.

I immediately noticed I felt a faint thumping as we rolled away from the  Prieto’s home but being the mechanical moron I am didn’t think to stop and check what might be causing it.  Well it didn’t take but a 1 ½ miles to learn what was thumping.  The rear tire blew out, sounded like a gunshot.  Cry Pete!  Fortunately there was a sidewalk next to the street and with Karl’s able assistance we quickly unloaded Spirit, flipped it upside down and removed the rear tire.  There was a two inch long rip in the center of the tire thread.  I shook my head again asserting how mechanically challenged I am.  Yesterday I had noticed a small cut in the tire and wondered if I should put a boot on it.  Ah, I said to myself I’ve had lots of cuts on tires and never had a problem why with them blowing out so why should I be concerned with this one?  Stupid me,
because I could see the inner threads of the tire were showing and I’m carrying
an extra 60 lbs of gear, moron me.  I should have changed it.  When will I ever
learn basic common sense when it comes to mechanical things; probably never
given I’m already 65.  Karl said he’d patch the tube while I put on a new tire and tube in order for me to have a spare tube if and when I get another flat.
I suggested he patch the tube, which I kept from yesterday’s flat, as it had a much smaller hole in it compared to today’s tube.  Nice we had everything put back together and were riding again in 20 minutes.  It is so nice to have someone riding with you instead of going solo.

Karl and I had gone about 17 miles when he suggested I might want something to eat now opposed to waiting until the northwest side of town as we were in a nice neighborhood here and there was a restaurant he had been wanting to check out we were passing.  I like riding with Karl and immediately agreed to stop and check it out.  The parking lot was full of vehicles and the place was packed to capacity with folks waiting outside to get in.  When we rolled into the parking lot we noticed one of the employees, so I thought, smoking some meat to serve later in the day.  We asked the guy doing the smoking if he’d mind us parking our bikes by him.  He said it was OK as he would be there for a while or one of his employees.  Oh, it’s the owner and we soon learned his name to be Mark.  Mark noticed Spirit was loaded for touring and showed a genuine interest in learning about my ride.  He had a new employee who had just completed a ride across America with 31 other riders.  They rode for Habitat for Humanity and did some work on projects as they crossed.  That sounded familiar as that is what we did with the Bike the US for MS ride.  We thanked Mark for keeping an eye on our bikes and headed to the entrance to his restaurant.  We quickly learned there would be a lengthy wait unless we’d like to sit at one of the outside tables, we took elected to sit outside.  Shortly after our waitress took our order for bagels and drinks the new waitress who had ridden across America came to our table and we visited about each other’s rides.  When she learned Karl had also rode across last year and is a local guy maybe he’d be willing to go for a riding with her in the future.  Ah, to be young again as I could tell there was a connection between the two of them  immediately.  The gal wrote her name and contact information on a dinner check and gave it to him.  Later Karl assured me he’d be calling her as he liked her.  Yea and she was darn good looking, too.

The bike riding waitress hadn’t yet left our table when Mark arrived to visit further.  He really was interested in my crossing of America and we visited a bit more.  The neighboring table overheard us and I gave them one of my cards.  After finishing our bagels and drinks, I went inside to use the restroom before leaving.  Coming out of the restroom Mark stopped me and said he’d like to give me one of his restaurant’s T-Shirts as a souvenir.  I learned the saying on the front of the shirt was from joke the guy on the Food Channel was there to feature the Metro Diner on his TV show ”Dives and Diners”.  I’ve watched that program and does stories on some really great restaurants and given how many folks are here this day and seeing some of the dishes being served I’m quite sure Mark is doing a fantastic business.  One dish I saw being served was an unusual looking order of French toast.   I had to ask the waitress who served it what kind of French Toast she was serving.  Oh my goodness!  She said it was stuffed with bananas and sweat cream cheese and topped with a heaping helping of blueberries.  If my stomach could have held anymore food, I’d ordered it.  I thanked Mark for the T-shirt and I’ll be proud to wear it.  Ilove folks like Mark who provides that extra special effort to serve up good
food, treats his help well and provides service extraordinaire to his customers.  All add up to a successful business, job well done Mark.  If any of you are in Jacksonville, Florida make the Metro Diner a must stop and eat.

Before I made it out the front door of Mark’s place a couple folks stopped me
to shake my hand and thank me for my efforts to help defeat MS.  Wow!  I felt somewhat like a celebrity and really good inside hearing all these folks praise for my efforts.

I don’t believe I would have found my way through the maze of downtown Jacksonville.  Thank you Karl, for your expert navigation as I probably would have still been lost in downtown Jacksonville.  By the way the skyscrapers and waterfront of downtown Jacksonville are exceptionally clean and beautiful to see.  If you tour the east coast skip going around Jacksonville, take a few hours to explore the downtown area you’ll be glad you did. Maybe get a motel the  night or better yet sign up at www.warmshowers.org so you can stay with the Prieto’s and have Karl or Bobbi and George will be willing to show you around the downtown.

Karl had planned to leave me on my own after navigating me through downtown area but we were having so much fun and enjoying each other’s
company he continued on with me to I-295 on the northwest side of town.  Where US highway 1 intersects with I-295 is exactly the opposite of where the Prieto’s live as they are at the southeast intersection of US1 and I-295.  Before
Karl left me he suggested I might want to save myself another day ride on the
road by continuing straight up US 1 to Folkston, my planned overnight for
tomorrow’s ride, instead of staying in Callahan tonight.   He further explained our current location was only 10 miles from Callahan and we had only ridden 28 miles for a total ride of only 37 miles.  Staying on US1, after reaching Callahan it would only be another 25 miles to Folkston making this day’s ride a total of 63 miles. I was going to ride 72 miles with my original plan.   Taking Karl’s advice I would be riding 9 miles less and eliminating a whole day of riding.  Plus he said there was nothing special to see by taking the Adventure Cycling route and may even be a little scarier for me since the road I would take in Georgia would not have a shoulder to ride on.  Karl you sold me and I took your advice and the ride was as you said.  I’m in Folkston tonight, a day earlier then planned.

Arriving in Folkston, I put game plan “A” into action specifically; find a fire department or church and see if either one will allow me to stay the night.  The first place I came to was the Folkston Methodist Church.  Since I’m a Methodist and previous experience it’s a good bet I’d be able to stay the night in Fellowship Hall here in Folkston.  Unlike Hobe Sound there was a good contact number to call the Reverend David Willett.  When the good Rev. Willett answered his phone I explained to him my journey and need to have a floor to throw down my sleeping bag to sleep tonight.  Rev. Willett totally surprised me when instead he advised me to go north of town on highway US1 and the church would pay for me to stay at the Star Motel tonight.  Thank you Rev. Willett it was more than expected, I would have gladly slept on the floor in Fellowship Hall.  I’m grateful to know I can count on Methodist
churche congregations to be Good Samaritans.

I checked in at the Star Motel I visited with the owner regards to the Adventure Cycling route between Folkston and Patterson, the next town I’ll be riding to tomorrow.  She was adamant I did not want to take the Adventure Cycling route as it was on a narrow road, she didn’t even like to drive on it.
Her advice, take US1 north to State Route 121/15 north to Route 84 east as those roads are wider, relatively straight and the same distance as the AC
route.  Given my experiences with Adventure Cycling routes on both the west coast and now the east coast, I’m going with the gal’s advice.  I’ll let you know how it works out.

Well, I’m exhausted, what’s new, falling asleep as I write and still need to take a shower.

Thank you for reading my journal and making comments as they are  appreciated.  Until next time, take care of yourselves and God Bless one and all.

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