April 23, 2023: Oleno State Park, High Springs to Palatka – 80 miles and 1,318 feet of elevation

Today was our last full day of riding, with 80 miles into a relatively stiff headwind. We wound past beautiful country roads north of Gainesville, past Hammock Preserve, state forests and conservation areas. The trail today included a 15 mile stretch of the Palatka Lake Butler State Park Bike Trail, which rode fast and made the 80 miles seem a little more palatable. There was a minor catastrophe averted today, as one of the riders experienced a fall, injuring two fingers on the dominate hand that initially looked like a fracture. They took the rider, JJ, to the hospital for X-Rays, and found that he had “only” dislocated the fingers. He’s splinted now, and the doctor released him to ride tomorrow, our final day, as we leave here for St. Augustine. A shorter 35 mile day should help him accomplish his goal without too much difficulty. Admittedly, it made all of us a little more careful as we cycled the remainder of the day to our destination.

Yesterday, I learned something I thought would be interesting to pass along, involving ticks. Apparently, ticks are quite prevalent in Oleno State Park in High Springs, and we were warned several times to be extremely careful, particularly since we were camping there in tents. The experts report that ticks typically reside in dried up leaves, or in grass or weeds along paths. They do something called “questing”, which is a behavior exhibited by ticks as a way of increasing the chancing of coming into contact with mammals. When a tick “quests”, they climb up a blade of grass or other structure, and then roll onto their back, extending their front legs in anticipation of a human or animal to come into contact. Once the mammal comes near, the tick, they further extends their legs, and latch onto the mammal, where they can “nest” into the skin for up to 3 – 6 days, feasting on the mammal’s blood. I also learned that ticks dislike the smell of lemon, orange, cinnamon, lavender, and peppermint, so I immediately put lavender potpourri on my shopping list, the next time I am in a gift shop. We were also warned not to crush a tick, since their bodily fluids may contain infection-causing organisms. (We also learned not to flush a tic down the commode, as ticks do not drown in water. They have been known to crawl back up out of the toilet bowl!). Thus ends your lesson on ticks for today!

Tomorrow is the big day, where our 3,000 mile adventure comes to an end, in St. Augustine, Florida. We are about to receive information on the proceedings, which sound to be quite involved. I am hoping that they are similar to a “splashdown” of a space craft in the Atlantic Ocean, and think it would be only appropriate that scuba divers come lift us out of the water and onto a ship, where the president of the United States would be there to greet us, and perhaps request our autographs. I’ll be sure to let you know how close my imagination is to reality, once it happens tomorrow. Tomorrow’s ride is only 35 miles, and I am looking forward to seeing Jacob, who has flown from Texas to witness the actual finish. We plan on spending a few days in St. Augustine before returning, and our hoping to see some family from Orlando, who plan on coming up sometime this week. I promise to keep you posted on how things go! Until then, wish me luck!