58.07 Mile Day - Yea!

Joan's View

We road on Route 1, a little bigger highway for a good part of the day.  The speed limit was 65mph and similar to an Interstate. At times, we had very little berm and it was especially bumpy where the state was doing an experimental concrete overlay on asphalt. Tony thought that was cool though.  

We had fun riding with Tom again and even came up with a few more hand signals.  Tom just laughs at us, but he is creative himself (forgot to get the picture of his orange construction vest). Going down any sort of hill, because the tandem is heavier, meant that Tom had to play catch up again because Tony & I got some nice speed :) Tony had us on a few scenic backroads here and there when he could, and we got a few fun pictures on those roads. 

Tony, surprisingly, spotted this engineering firm and it wasn't purple, green or even had Choice One in its name. It did have a good name in it though.


















Heading out of Daytona Beach, we also found the Goodyear Blimp parked at a small airport waiting for action in the upcoming Daytona 500.  Lots of cars were around checking out the grounded blimp from behind the fence as well.

Later on, we found a spot where we felt right at home (we live on Parkwood in case you didn't know).

Riding highway 1 for quite some distance and getting hungry, Cindy (who was ahead of us) found a cute diner near a flea market with good food for some empty stomachs.






At one point, Tony got a real shocker when our route took us on a sand road.  Tom was fine riding on it, but the tandem was swerving strongly so Tony decided that we should walk it so as to not crash or mess up the chains with the sand.    We looked back and smiled at our footprints.

We stopped walking the sand road to watch some hawks nesting on a pole.  

Lucky for Tony there was an ice cream lover's dream at the end of the sand road, and we stopped!  They even had a bubble machine outside of Frisbee's ice cream.













Arriving into Titusville, we can see Cape Canaveral. We checked into our adoringly quaint bed & breakfast, waited for Cindy to catch up with us and climbed into the hot tub for some relax time.  We finished up with dinner at the Cuban/Mexican restaurant across the street.  Once our bellies were full, we said our good-byes to Tom & Cindy.  Thanks, God, for great friends!

Tony's Side Notes

So, we took the road less traveled. When I planned the trip, obviously Google Street view didn't show the 1/2 mile of road that was made of sand. It is part of the adventure. When we were looking for lunch, we realized that there was a Chick-fil-A was about 6 miles back and Tom said, very definitely, "I am not adding anymore miles today."  That was the only thing Tom was that forceful on which made Joan and I laugh. By the way, the busy road we were on for so many miles, was the only route available to us. We really didn't feel that unsafe on it though. The wind wasn't as nice today.  It was a side wind, but at least it wasn't a head wind. Since the Winslow's left us today, we have to go back to carrying all our gear again.  No more being spoiled.

Riding Toward the Daytona 500

Tony's View

We left St. Augustine and headed to Daytona. It was sunny and warm again today.  Tom Winslow, a college friend, rode with us today and his wife, Cindy, followed and led by car. Cindy took our bags, so we rode with a lot less weight (hopefully we don't get spoiled). 

Our first stop right out of the gate was the Fountain of Youth, only we just stopped and got a picture. Joan doesn't need it because she looks so young (except in our kids mind). I know you punks at Choice One think I am old, but I know I am young and good looking.

 The next stop was about 15 miles farther down the road at Fort Matanzas. It is a fort on the Matanzas River that was placed at the throat of the Atlantic Ocean to guard the back door of St. Augustine. It was pretty neat.  We took a ferry across the river to tour it. The picture to the left shows us three on top of the fort looking down river. The other picture shows Cindy coming up the cubby hole on a ladder to get to the top. We headed out from there to get lunch. The wind was strong today but thank God it was at our back making it very easy to go 20mph. If any of you followed Wade and I on our cross-country trip on www.TonyChasingWade.blogspot.com, we always complained about the wind being a headwind. Joan and I are having good luck so far, so we came to the conclusion that Wade is the bad luck.

We ate lunch about halfway to Daytona at Captain's Barbecue, and it was awesome. Joan had ribs for lunch, and I had a Cuban sandwich.  We took the picture outside by the smoker. The restaurant had earned a bunch of awards, and we feel they were well earned. We actually rode on a lot of bike paths today and it was cool riding through the trees with Spanish moss on them. See the photo at left.

We rode for miles along beaches, and it was amazing how they were out in the middle of nowhere and very quiet. The picture shows Cindy heading to a beach to lounge and read while we rode. Something I shouldn't tell everyone is that also at this park is where I was looking back for Tom and dumped our tandem with Joan still clipped in.  Luckily, Joan didn't get hurt, and the only thing that really got hurt was my pride. It was kind of like the way Wade dumped Marla on GOBA several years ago, in slow motion. Yes, it happened even to me, dang it.

Tom was following us all day and he started calling me 3 feet Tony because of my shirt. He was calling me this at one of the places we stopped and some girls at the next table laughed and giggle at his name for me. We then rode on into Ormond Beach, which is pretty much Daytona, totaling 53 miles. With the wind at our back riding was top notch, even you bums at Choice One could handle it. After we got to the hotel and cleaned up we went on the Daytona boardwalk and enjoyed the sights along the ocean. Joan and Cindy did some go-cart racing and it got fierce. Joan's cart was much faster, and she enjoyed messing around with Cindy.








Later, we went to eat at a really cool fast food pizza place called Pie Five Pizza. They had a Periodic Table of toppings, some geeky fun. It was like a Chipotle where you pick one of 4 handmade crusts, then a sauce, then garlic, spinach, cheeses and all the other toppings similar to how you build a burrito. They put it in their oven and by the time you pay for it, it comes out hot and ready to eat. Tom thinks this company could be a great investment, seems like a great idea. Tomorrow looks like another nice day weather wise.

Joan's Side Note

Cindy already drank from the Fountain of Youth another time that she was visiting St. Augustine and said that it didn't work for her (amazes me), so I decided not to pay the $15 asking price for a drink from the fountain of youth.  I'll stick with my drug store bought lotions.

The Daytona 500 is here this weekend so there are lots of signs up welcoming "race fans." Cindy & I just decided to get in on the race with some go cart fun.

Lastly, Cindy brought her Mah Jong set along because I told her that Carol showed us how to play in China.  The rest of us played while Tony wrote his part of the blog.  Wow, American Mah Jong is sooo different!

Ready, Set, Go

Joan's View

An absolutely beautiful sunny day today!  Tony's preplanned route took us through some nice residential areas that were fun to look at.  We had our 1st armadillo sighting, albeit a little past its prime, about 17 miles into today's ride.  That information is for Laura Schwein's curious 1st grade class at Emerson Elementary School where I get to volunteer.

A little farther on down the road we stopped at the
Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve.  An estuarine is basically where salt water and fresh water meet and has lots of wildlife.
The Eagles were busy doing their Eagle thing outside of their nests, but we got a great view of an empty Eagle nest.   We did get to chill out with some feathery friends.  I guess it's not manatee season right now either.

We arrived at our hotel in Vilano Beach and ate outdoors on a deck with takeout from an excellent Asian restaurant.  The owner was from China, and he was thrilled to hear that we had just recently returned from a visit to his homeland.  Thank you again, Carol & Clyde, for being amazing hosts to us in China!

Around 4:00, lots of excitement as our ONU college friends, Tom & Cindy Winslow, arrived! Tom is riding with us the next 2 days, while Cindy does her beach thing but remains our access to a vehicle. After the hugs and some fast catching up, the Winslows took us to Castillo de San Marcos, an old fort built in the 1500's. The canons were very ornate, and Tony did a closer inspection of them.

We walked around old St. Augustine and roamed around historic Flagler College. Tony, was doing his usual shopping and found his favorite bike trip food - ICE CREAM! Tom was happy to join in.

 

 Tony' Side Notes

Well I was just super excited that our tandem didn't breakdown today and it ran great. It was only the second time that I put it back together from being taken completely apart. Yea! The trip along the shore not on the busy road has some really nice houses, one right after another for miles. Since I like houses that was amazing. Instead of dead groundhogs along the side of the road like in Ohio, we saw roadkill armadillos.  Wonder if they have armadillo day instead of groundhog day down here?  Overall it was a great first day, we got to do a lot and I got my ice cream.  My good friend, Ken, and my brother Jerry would be proud.  They like ice cream too!

February 17 Jacksonville, FL - Flight & Assembly Day

Tony's View

Well, we got to Jacksonville on the scheduled time of 11:00am, but we did have a delay in Dayton.  We were able to get right off our plane and board the next plane to Jacksonville in Baltimore just in time. The good news is they held up the plane to get our luggage on it (that means the bike could arrive with us). 

At the Dayton airport we ran into my next-door neighbor when I was growing up in Leipsic, Matt Hiegel. It was fun catching up with him on all the things in our life over the last 25 years, small world. 

When we got our bags in Jacksonville, we used Uber to get to our hotel 30 miles away. It was our first time with Uber, and it only cost $10.36.  What a deal! We spent the afternoon putting the tandem together.  It took longer than I expected, but we did get it together. Yes, there were times when it didn't go the way I expected it to go. We will find out how well tomorrow morning. After it was together, we brought our luggage to the UPS store across the street and sent them to Springer's in Key West, our friends where we will end up at to conclude the cycling part of the adventure.  

At left, Joan was waiting along the street with the bike cases for me while I ran back to get the address.

Afterward, we went to a tasty barbecue place called Bonos for dinner, and the food was pretty good. We went for a nice walk after dinner in the warm air.  Well, for Ohio it was warm, about 60 degrees.

Joan's Side Notes

     Thanks to Wade for waking up at 3:03am so that he could take us to the airport.  We amazingly walked out the door 5 minutes later (Wade planned it that way). Besides Tony running into Matt, I had a fun conversation with Peggy, a person I met on the flight to Jacksonville, who plays tennis and volunteers, just like me.  She & her husband were heading home to Amelia Island and told us some interesting facts about the area.
     Finally, Tony took a short rest on this chair on our walk tonight.

Anticipation Day - Day before leaving

Tony's View

Well today we talk facts about this trip. I have been planning this for 9 months now. Planning is a big part of the fun for me. Yes, I am a geek and there is an issue here. We will be spending every night in an hotel, no camping. I have every hotel already booked along with all the routes laid out, utilizing Google maps. This trip is being paid for mostly by Choice One. It is my 20th anniversary trip. How cool is that?

This will be the first bicycle trip that Joan or I have been on that wasn't fully supported, which means we have to carry everything ourselves on the tandem. Nobody is following by car carrying our luggage or being there if we have mechanical problems. Nothing like the first time. We haven't ever ridden the tandem fully loaded with the extra 75 pounds of cargo before, so when we leave from Neptune Beach, Jacksonville that will be the first time. Sounds a little crazy. Knowing these facts, we have to expect the unexpected. That is why we have no pictures to share fully loaded and why day one will be only 30 miles. Here is a picture in front of our house riding the tandem so that you can see what it looks like. Excellent photography by Marla. Wel,l enough boring information, flying out in the early morning.

Disassemble and Pack it up Day

Well it is time to get ready for our trip down the Florida Atlantic Ocean coast.  First thing to do is tear apart our tandem bicycle.  Next part is packing it into two suitcases and in a way to be able to put it back together again when you get to the destination. To the right here is what our tandem bicycle looks like when laying on the basement floor.  The next pictures are what it looks like when packed in the suitcases.

Those two suitcases hold most of the bicycle, but we have two more checked bags for other pieces of the tandem, such as the windshield, yes our tandem has a windshield.  The other suitcases also hold the clothes we will take on the bicycle. We fly out early Tuesday morning at 5:00am, when we get to Jacksonville we will put the tandem back together and ship the bags down to our friends in Key West, Lynne and Steve Springer.  We will tell you about that and how it goes when we get all this done on Tuesday. Really looking forward to this adventure, should be fun.