| Last page of Short Story of Bike Tour |
| All really great places to see. The outer banks were great, I make several stops to jump into the serf and at Jockey's Ridge, (Wright Bros. Memorial) there was a great deal of Hang Gliding happening on the sand dunes. I stopped and watched for a while and tried to borrow a glider so I could take flight here where the Wright's did but no one was willing to let me use their rig so I went on my way. I could have rented some equipment form the local shop but I would have had to spend to much time there and I really wanted to be on my way. It was Sept 13th before I heard about 9-11. I happened to be in South Georgia when bad weather and laundry needs were at a point where I decided to spring for a motel room and when I turned on the TV there it was. I thought for a few minutes that it was just some kind of great computer animation but it didn't take me long before I realized the truth. FINALLY Florida, even though I still have several hundred miles to go I feel very close to home and finishing this great and wonderful adventure I set out on. The sign at the State line says, welcome to Florida the sunshine state. The weather was the worst I had seen on the whole trip. Tropical storms and rain like mother nature was getting even for giving me such wonderful and unheard of weather all this way and now was going to make up for it all at once. I rode on to Jacksonville in pounding, driving rain and wind but it was kind of fun as it wasn't hot for a change and you can only get so wet then it doesn't matter anymore. It was to wet and windy to camp in Jacksonville so I opted again for a motel and then headed out in the a.m. in the same conditions. I got to Daytona late in the evening riding the last 10 miles or so in water about a foot deep. It gets a little hard to pedal when your foot goes underwater for about half of your power stroke. I got under cover in Daytona and decided to call my wife. (We live about 60 miles from there) I told her I was drowning in Daytona and she said she had 2 different out patient surgeries that week and really needed me to be home for the week to help her but she really felt bad about asking me to interrupt my ride but since I didn't have any SCUBA equipment with me it wasn't hard for me to decide where I needed to be right about then so I told her to come and pick me up. I got to go home for a week and really got a good rest and got the wife all fixed up and then she took me back to Daytona so I could complete the rest of the ride. At least the big tropical storms were gone for now and the weather was back to normal. After she dropped me off she headed on down to Ft. Laurderdale and got a room and I met here there 2 1/2 days later and I got there just as the storms hit again so we stayed there for a couple of days of R&R and then it cleared and the winds were out of the North so I decided it was time to hit the road. About 160 miles left to go and I thought only 2 more days now and it will be all over. Trina stayed one more day in Ft. Lauderdale and then headed on down to K.W. she passed me right in the middle of the 7 mile bridge and with a friendly honk she went by and then at 3:11 p.m. on the 30th of Sept. I dropped off the last bridge and onto K.W. and met up with the wife again and we spent 2 days wandering around the isle and having a good time. I was both happy and sad that the ride was over, on one hand you're very tired and need to have closure and on the other you're sad it's over and you just want to be just like energizer rabbit and just keep going. I was, however, at the end of the road and to keep going was out of the question. I packed my stuff up into the van and we headed for home and can you believe this, she made ME drive the 400 miles back to the house. I hope you all have enjoyed reading about my small adventure this year and if any of you would like to get started cycling and join me on some future ride I will be glad to help you get started and guide you on your way. It's a great way to see the country and to get yourself back into High School shape again. HA! (As Carolyn would say) Don't say you're to old either as none of you are older than I and while on the road we passed one group of 5 riders the oldest being 88 and the youngest was 76. Sorry, I didn't do a very good job keeping in contact and keeping the updates flowing on this trip but it was difficult for me to do as trying to find computers and stuff along the back roads is all but impossible in a lot of areas. I am going on a new adventure this year and I will be able to do a lot better, promise!! My adventure for this year has now changed, not to my liking but it's better than nothing. I'm sending a notice to Carolyn, along with this final letter, explaining what has happened and she will inform all of the other classmates. Thanks for coming along for the ride and I will do it again...Jerry |
|