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Day 6 - April 30 - Fog and Straight Roads

"100k by noon"

Hi, and welcome back to my bike blog.

The Entire Description of the Ride in One Paragraph

Today I biked 170km. The roads were straight. There were trees on both sides. There were few gas stations, and they were sparse. I did 100km before noon, and the rest after a long lunch. I averaged 24km/h today.

Fog and Straight Roads

Today was a very good day for riding. The roads were straight all day, and until about 10:30, there was a light fog that obscured the sunlight, and provided an air of mystery to the endless road ahead. There were times when I biked for half an hour without a single turn in the road. In the afternoon, as the fog cleared, I could see passing cars for minutes, and when one of them would turn, I would think to myself: "how exciting! In 10km, I'm going to have to do something!"

Yet there was something nice about it all. I could ride efficiently, and efficiently I rode. I hardly stopped, and when I did, it was only for water. I was never tired today, and for the sake of doing something along the way, I stopped at a mexican restaurant for two hours sipping sweet tea and chatting with friends. Eventually, like a trucker getting back on the road, I lazied out the last 70km, with only one stop to sit and remember how scary cars are when they go fast.

I took no pictures today during the ride, but you know, there's only so much road and forest that I want to put online.

The Trees They are A'Changin'

But there is one thing I noticed a lot today. I started noticing it yesterday, but today it finally hit me, that I no longer feel like I'm in South Florida. The forests are pine forests, and while there are palm trees here and there, they are small, and dwarfish in comparison to the wide oak trees, covered in Spanish moss. I biked through a state forest, and the whole way through, the smell of pine pemeated the air. Squirrels were jumping around, and the lovebugs were gone.

Some things, however, are the same. I still see snakes and lizards, and judging by the roadkill, nothing else has changed much. I must also mention here that tortoises make some very strange looing roadkill. I like them better alive.

The trucks are different. In Southern Florida, the trucks carried fruit or corn. There were dropped cobs and fruit on the shoulders of the roads every 100 meters or so. Now, the trucks carry lumber. Fresh lumber, that smells like the pine forests around it. Every truck is the same, carrying large trunks, and waving a small red flag on the back. Maybe it's the same truck going loops around me just for fun.

And so, tonight I decided to try out something new. Tonight I'm staying in a campground. It's cheaper than a motel, but more expensive than using someone's yard. Still, there's showers, wifi, running water, and outlets. Here's me!

The Future of the Blog

So I'm now pretty much caught up to where I wanted to be in terms of mileage. I am confident that I can push when I need to, and relax when I see something interesting. Due to random variations in weather, terrain, people, sights, and mood, I think I will not do the weekly schedule idea, instead opting for more of a "do whatever I want to do today" kind of blog.

Also, I've been told that the new maps, while spiffy, take a long time to load. If this is a problem I can revert back to the old style, or have both. I've still got a big to-do list for the blog, but keep telling me about issues that crop up. And thanks for the typo spotters!

By popular request, all images are now set at 100% screen width. That means lots of scrolling for PC users, and no more images for ants for mobile users. Moreover, I've added dates to the titles, since some of you aren't on a special vacation where you count days. Both of these changes have been made retroactively. Nice.

The Map

Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow!

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