Author Archives: jeffersmarkjgmailcom

It has felt strange not writing in the blog for the last few weeks. I’ve missed recording all of the happenings along the way, and communicating with you all. I truly appreciate all of your comments and notes of encouragement, and hope we can continue our conversation. I recognize that my posts will probably notContinue reading “May 11, 2023: Re-entry and Return to “Normal””

Today marked the 53rd and final day of our cycling tour across the United States. It actually started last night, where we had a group dinner and a short ceremony in Palatka, which is about 35 miles from our final destination in St. Augustine. Since they asked everyone to stand up and say a fewContinue reading “April 24, 2023: Palatka to St. Augustine and the Atlantic Ocean – 35 miles and 209 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 madeContinue reading “April 23, 2023: Oleno State Park, High Springs to Palatka – 80 miles and 1,318 feet of elevation”

Today’s ride went fast, over country roads and into some forest before emptying us out into a state park. Since it was Saturday, there were more cars on the road around Ichetucknee Springs State Park, where the locals, armed with canoes, inner tubes, and kayaks had descended to take advantage of the bright spring likeContinue reading “April 22, 2023: Live Oak to High Springs, FL (Oleno State Park) – 56 miles and 820 feet of elevation”

To tell you the truth, I wasn’t looking forward to today’s ride, after riding 85 miles yesterday with a fair amount of hills, a headwind, and the loss of an hour due to entering east coast time. That being said, my fears were completely unfounded, as the route today was relatively flat, and rode much,Continue reading “April 21, 2023: Tallahassee to Live Oak, Florida – 77 miles and 1,635 feet of elevation”

Today included a very long ride with relatively warm temperatures, into the mid 80’s. The route took us a little off of route 90 in Florida, and we took a number of back rides through some rolling hills. Just after our first SAG stop, we entered into the Eastern Time Zone, which gave us allContinue reading “April 20, 2023: Marianna to Tallahassee, Florida – 85 miles and 2,988 feet of elevation”

We awoke today to yet another cold morning, however after about an hour of so, most of the layers were shed, and we ended up with an 84 degree day. We were routed today through the town of DeFuniak Springs, and I must say, if you ever have an opportunity to visit, please do so.Continue reading “April 19, 2023: DeFuniak Springs to Marianna, Florida – 69 miles and 1,349 feet of elevation”

Despite a very cold night and early morning with a 41 degree wake up call, the cycling day was a relatively easy one from a mileage standpoint. That being said, the “wheels are starting to come off” for a number of riders, who experienced some significant damage and malfunctions to their bikes today and yesterday.Continue reading “April 18, 2023: Milton to DeFuniak Springs, Florida – 54 miles and 918 feet of elevation”

Today we had an option of riding a “short” straight route from Pensacola to Milton, Florida, or a “longer” route, that took us onto old highway 90 and then through Blackwater Heritage State Trail, adding about 22 additional miles to the shorter route. I opted for the longer route, leaving at 8:00am and arriving atContinue reading “April 17, 2023: Pensacola to Milton – 54 miles and 1,268 feet of elevation”

Today was a very different day from our usual daily rides. We started out a little early (7:00am), after being awakened around 4:00am with thunder, lightning, and a significant amount of rain, which persisted until around 8:00am, when we boarded a ferry. The ferry ride lasted about 35 minutes, and emptied us out at FortContinue reading “April 16, 2023: Dauphin Island to Pensacola: 56 miles and 453 feet of elevation”