ride for awareness 2007: Day 39 - East Palatka, FL to St. Augustine, FL 45.14 miles/15.0 mph average 2 hrs 47 min

Leaving East Palatka

One more short day. Not much to say different about this day that has not been said about others. We missed our turn coming out of town, back tracked and corrected. The route heads north along the St. Johns River. It is more scenic, but if we ever do this again, we'd stay on highway 207 straight into St. Augustine. Dump trucks replaced logging trucks on the scenic route, no shoulders, Sketchville Central. 207 is a wide boulevard with 8 to 10 foot shoulders. Shoulda. coulda, woulda stayed on 207. Next time for sure. The last 16 miles due east straight into a head wind (surprised?). We just laughed at it while dodging the dumpers. They must have been filling in low areas because they were swarming.

Dump Trucks, no shoulder, life is sweet

The plan for the finish included riding to the Atlantic, wheel dip and all. Once we arrived into St. Augustine, we realized quickly this would not be easy. Traffic converges on this little town like a blood clot. Everything backs up everywhere. Highway # 1 busts at the seams, while the streets in the city proper are Lilliputian. We canceled the beach ride, proceeding straight to the bike shop where dad and Emily's parents waited for us. There were no fireworks or tears (we cried them all out in Texas), very anti-climatic. In one word: RELIEF.

"Ask me in a month if I'd EVER do this again . . . "

fish-belly hand tops, tanned fingers

I'd turn around and ride back to Portland if I could see my mom again

My hamhocks were cooked - time to quit

We stripped everything off the bikes, put on our street shoes and left the bikes at the shop for shipping. Although we felt a bit flat at the end we were grateful to be safe and also pleased that we could get rid of the bikes and not look at them for a while (maybe UPS would divert my rear wheel to Siberia, no problem).

Let's dump the bikes and go eat

Dad already staked out the UPS store. We dropped in and picked up a shipping box to send all the ride-specific gear back home. We'd be in Manchester, NH for about a week starting tomorrow and did not want to drag the stuff around. Back at the Scottish Inn Motel, we combed through everything and packed just what we'd need for the remainder of the trip, the rest to the UPS store. Business tended to, we coordinated dinner with Tom and Cathy, Emily's parents. It was great having them in St. Augustine for the finish.

Tom and Cathy Ohlin, dining with a few undesirables

We drove to the beach (much further than we thought) stopped into a book shop, found a Dairy Queen (I ate a burger and fries - I just can't stop myself) for dessert then went back to the motel to rest up.