First week out of Florida

Day 1, April 1st ..We drove to Monticello Florida from home. Started at the Florida/Georgia border and rode 45.3 miles. We took into account the 283 miles that Don and Jim rode in Florida in December toward the “Three Retired Guys” ride which is why we drove to “Florida/Georgia Line” as our starting point. Jim took a tumble at about the 22 mile mark and broke his collar bone and a rib. Unfortunately, he had to ride 25 more miles that day to get to the hotel in Camilla.

We took Jim to the local emergency room that evening where the x-rays confirmed broken bones and his ride was over. The black flies were killing us whenever we were outside.

Jim would like to give a shout out to all the Staff at the Archbold Mitchell County Hospital Emergency Department for taking such good care of him in a timely fashion.

Day 2, April 2nd..Drove back to Tampa so Jim could make his way back home. We had a great lunch at Sonny's Barbecue on the road to go with the pain killers Jim took (Motrin, Tylenol and Sonny’s Amber Beer). We unpacked the Van and took the backup bicycle off the roof.

Day 3, April 3rd..We dropped Jim at the airport early to get a flight back to Boston. We repacked the car to get ready to drive back up to GA on the 4th.

Day 4, April 4th..Larry and I drove to Cuthbert GA and spent the night at Justin Everitt's cabin. He was a very gracious Warm Showers Host.

Justin Everitt, All Around Great Guy

Day 5, April 5th..Drove from Cuthbert GA to Eufala AL to start our ride..We had Chick-fil-A breakfast and I took off on my bike. It was a hot day rode 45.5 miles. Larry parked the van at Hurtsboro and rode back to meet me. Then we rode back to Hurtsboro together. After getting into the car I still had a little more gas in the tank, so I rode ten more miles to Marvyn. After picking me up we drove to Buc-ee's in Auburn and bought barbecue sandwiches and then made our way to Opelika to our hotel.

Day 6, April 6th..Started at a McDonald's and then rode from Opelika to Lafayette to Wadley it was cool and overcast for the first 30 miles. Larry met me about 6 miles north of Lafayette and it immediately started raining. After about 5 minutes of hard rain, we were soaked and freezing cold and the rain lasted for the last 90 minutes of the ride. Lots of Rolling Hills and climbing throughout the day. We got a motel room in Talladega tonight because we were not keen to set up our tents in the pouring rain. 

We have 5 to 6 more days in AL depending on how the ride goes.