Day 49 - the last day to the Atlantic!

The last day and the front wheel went into the Atlantic Ocean!  A great finish on a great ride.  The hiatus was logical in consideration of the conditions and just for that I had rain most of the days I rode.  At least it was consistent.
This just shows that if you keep your eye on the target, you will eventually hit pretty close - and get the wheel wet!

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Here are a few pictures of the trip down the last miles of highway 90 to the beach.  Lots of traffic indeed!

Here is the front wheel in the Atlantic!

Day 48 Again, no rain!

Day 48 of the whole trip.  I got in 93.2 miles and that included going through Jacksonville - the "final-exam" of the whole trip.  I only climbed 768 feet but it took me 7 hours and 30 minutes.  It was a slog through Jacksonville!
Here are a few more pictures.  I have just 16 miles left for tomorrow morning.

Day 47. No rain!

So, it was a great time across Florida on highway 90.  The shoulder/bike trail pretty much kept in place.  Indeed, this has been on highway 90 all the way.  Very nice.  The distance was 78.5 miles and the climbs were 1,895 feet over 6 hours and 5 minutes.  A nice day, but I did get tired.
Just a few pictures today.  I reallly liked the drive-through chapel!

Day 46 - rain on and off

Day 46.  Today was another great ride - well, it kept the bike clean.  I pretty much started by getting hit by a dog (a small little yapping mut), landing on my right leg, and not hitting him with the only rock I could find.  The rest of the day was on and off rain.  The mileage was 79.1 miles, elevation gain was 2,768 to the highest elevation 298 feet.  A good day none the less, and a great lunch at a Mexican place with no English - nada!  Here are some pictures;

 

Day 45 - finally!

 Day 45 of the Southern Tier Trip!  83 miles, 1,666 feet of climb, and a peak altitude of a whopping 301 feet.  I got by without oxygen though - just barely!
I came back to see my Mother-In-Law and some other relatives, as well as spend some time with Linda in Wisney Land.  So, I added a few days to finish the short-cut bike trip!  Here are a few pictures.  They do show some of the damage from the hurricane. 
Paul C
Oh, I did have half a day of rain today!!

Road Booty

It really is amazing how much stuff gets deposited on roadsides across America.   Just out of curiosity I wanted to see what we could collect on the southern tier trip.  We were quite selective in what we picked up, still it was quite the haul.  Here's a picture of the tools we found:

Included are:

63 sockets

3 screwdrivers

1 crowbar

1 cam-lock strap

3 pliers

6 box wrenches & 1 adjustable wrench

1 socket driver

3 3/8" socket extensions

1 pocket knife

1 allen wrench set

3 hooks

4 bunge straps- we only picked up 4, but we probably saw well over 100

1 ratchet driver

1 chisel

1 pry-bar

 

The other amazing thing was how much money we found, all coins.  And it wasn't all pennies!  $12.75 of the haul was quarters.

Here's the pile:

In all, there was $24.50 in US coins, plus 13 Mexican pesos, worth about 64¢.

We also found a fully functional LG smart phone, a worker's neon vest, several towels, a working USB charging cable, an iron skillet (minus handle), and a baseball cap.

I don't know if people leave stuff on their vehicles and it flies off, or if people chuck stuff out the windows.  In any event, it makes you wonder what future archeologists will think when they excavate our highways in another million years!

 

 

Nashville TN and on to the Arch in Saint Louis

I had the opportunity to stop at the Arch in Saint Louie, MO today.  It is such an amazing structure to see and to photograph.  Here are a few shots from my quick walk around the arch.

This shot was taken through one of the windows at the top of the arch.