Biking the Florida Panhandle – Part 2

This post is a continuation of the 7 day, 400 mile Bike Florida Panhandle ride that I did in 2005.  You can read about the the first part of the trip here – Biking the Florida Panhandle – Part 1.  This part picks up the journey in Apalachicola.  From there, I began biking Florida’s Forgotten Coast and made my way back north to Monticello.

Apalachicola – Day 2

We had two days in Apalachicola with our second day being a lay over day.  I decided to spend my time doing a ride out to St Georges Island, which was about 12 miles away.  It was a nice sunny day with temps in the mid 70’s.  Luckily, the wind had subsided. The bridges were much easier to ride than they had been the day before.

Once I got over to the island, I decided to explore. The island is quaint with no high rises; just houses and 2-3 level condos. It’s fairly undeveloped. I rode out to St Georges Island State Park at the far eastern end of the island.  The park is beautiful, reminding me of Cumberland Island; undeveloped, big sugar sand dunes, and desolate beaches. I spent 2 hours just hanging out in one of the pavilions by the beach.  I stretched out on the top of a picnic table took a nice nap.  It was  nice being lulled to sleep by the waves.

I rode back to the center of the island and saw my friend Julie at the main intersection.  She was decked out in a skin-tight blue racing suit with a hood.  It was the type you see pro cyclists wear in a time trial.  Not your typical Bike Florida biking garb, but it looked good on her.  I chatted with her for a while and then went to search for something to eat.

I ate at the Blue Parrot overlooking the beach.  It was nice just sitting there looking out at the beach and water. While there, I met Anne from Atlanta.  She was on the ride with her boyfriend.  Anne is a nice outgoing person and a big chatter box.  She just came up to me and suggested I try the Key Lime pie. I introduced myself.  Turned out we both knew my friend Larry.  She had ridden RAGBRAI with him the prior year.

I’m not sure how it started but the discussion morphed into my love of dancing.  After a few minutes, with her boyfriend patiently standing by, she asked and I gave her a quick Zydeco dance lesson right in the middle of the restaurant.  We turned a few heads but it was fun.

After she left, I hung out on the deck for a while and then headed back to Apalachicola.

Once I got back, I checked out the town and found a bar (Boss Oyster) down by the waterfront to relax in.  I came back later to have an early dinner.  It was quite busy so I sat at the bar and ate. I had a very good fried oyster salad and washed it down with a couple of glasses of chardonnay wine.

After dinner, I went back to my tent and laid on my cot for a while as the group next to me were up partying, drinking, and chatting.  Our tents were very close – within inches of each other.  I was tired, dozed off, and woke up several hours later with a very dry throat.  I realized that I had been sleeping on my back and, with the wine, had probably been snoring in a big way.

When I woke in the morning, I could hear people talking and saying things like; “Did you hear that noise last night?”, “Where was it coming from?” One guy even said he had once slept next to a generator and it reminded him on that experience.  I figured I was the culprit and that they were talking about my snoring.  I waited awhile for them to get over it and then stealthily sneaked out of my tent.

Sopchoppy

That morning, I broke another tent pole as I was sneaking out of my tent.  My plan was to ride with Larry and the girls but I had to leave early to buy another piece of pipe.  After getting my repair part, I rode along Route 98 (Gulf Coast Highway) to Carrabelle. This is a beautiful stretch of road along the water.  I had a nice ride up to Carrabelle Beach.  It was sunny with a slight on shore breeze.

I saw Larry and Cathy at the 1st rest stop, but I decide not to ride with them.  I wanted to relax and soak up the scenery at Carrabelle Beach.  I rode easy up to the next stop.  It was a newly paved road right along the water.  After the rest stop, the road turned inland to go to Sopchoppy.

An optional loop was down to Ochlockonee State Park.  Few of the riders went down into the park, but I like to ride all the miles and I was glad I did.  What a nice State Park right by a beautiful river.  While there I met up with Larry, Cathy, and Diane.  We chatted about what each of us did the day before.

I told Larry about meeting his friend Anne and giving her a dance lesson at the Blue Parrot. On hearing this, Cathy said she also wanted a dance lesson so right there in the road at Ochlockonee State Park, I gave her a Zydeco dance lesson.  She said it was the high point of her week.  I figured she must not get out much.  Larry and the girls took off but I stayed in the park for a few minutes to enjoy the quiet and the scenery.

I then rode up Route 98 to Sopchoppy.  It was a lonely road. I rode into the center of town, which was not much.  Sopchoppy has one block of stores and one stop sign. I ate lunch at a tent that some ladies had set up to sell food to the riders   They were all dressed in their best Sunday clothes (hats and dresses) and all were super friendly. They were enthralled with meeting the riders and asked lots of questions. They all wanted to feel my bike seat and could not believe I would spend hours on such a narrow hard thing. It was a nice moment sitting and chatting with these fine ladies.

I found my camp site about 2 miles out-of-town in a school yard.  I set up under a nice shady pine tree.  We had a nice meal of Jambalaya for dinner. We also had a worm grunting demo.  Worm grunting is a way to get earth worms to come out of the ground.  It’s done by rubbing a wooden stake that’s driven in the ground with old car leaf spring.  The stake vibrates causing the worms to want to vacate the area surrounding the stake.  I saw it work.

That night I was being careful not to snore. I had no alcohol and rested on my side. A few hours into the night, I awoke and heard a low rhythmic rumbling noise all around me.  I quickly figured out that the sound I was hearing was snoring.  Not from one person, but from dozens.  Loud snoring all around me. I was sleeping (really not sleeping) in the middle of a snoring concert with multi-part harmony.  I guess it was my payback for the prior night.

We had a terrific thunderstorm at 3 am. There was lots of thunder and sheet lighting. Some packed up and went for shelter. I figured that without wind and with no lightning bolts, it was ok. Later is poured. My tent with two patched up tent poles stayed dry but some woke to find themselves floating in deep puddles. I awoke dry but there was a heavy mist / light drizzle in the morning.

Back to Monticello

That morning, I ate breakfast with Julie and Morgan.  Morgan thanked me again for such a nice night of dancing at Bubba’s Karaoke party.  I gave her the same thanks.  I really enjoyed hanging out with Morgan.

I headed out alone in a gray mist / drizzle. I was supposed to ride with my friend JP (Jean Pierre) but I guess our schedules were off and I missed him.  I rode a steady pace.  I skipped the first rest stop as I was anxious to get the ride over with. I made it to the next rest stop, which was off the St Marks bike trail.  I refueled and rested a little but I was soaked and really really dirty with oily road spray.  I didn’t want to stay long and cool down so I headed out again.  It continued to drizzle. I rode hard for the remaining miles doing a 19-20 mph to try and get out of the rain as soon as possible.  Just as I approached the town limits, it stopped raining.  The sun came out and it got muggy as I cruised to the Monticello High School.

Just as I pulled into the high school parking lot, I saw Cathy approaching me.  She had gotten in early and had obviously just showered.  She looked terrific dressed in a nice white sleeveless blouse and pressed khaki shorts.  She came over to me and said “Oh, there you are!” I felt exhilarated from just finishing the ride and impulsively reached out with one arm and gave her a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.  I caught her a little by surprise.  I also realized I had just wrapped my road grimed, sweaty, rain-soaked chest, arm, and hands on her clean white sleeveless blouse.  I left some stains on her blouse and a dark smudge on her cheek.  Oh well.  It was a nice gesture.

I met up with Larry to say goodbye. Cathy and Diane came by and wanted us to go out to lunch with them.  Larry wasn’t that interested and I wanted to clean up, get some food, and then get on the road.

We said our goodbyes and hoped that we’d see each other next year.  This was the 4th year I’d ridden with Larry.  We both ride the same pace and enjoy each others company.

I cleaned up and then ate lunch in the school cafeteria with Frenchy from Lewiston, ME.  He said he hadn’t ridden all winter and just finished a 400 mile ride with the rest of us.  No bad for a 67 yr old Mainer!

And that’s what a Bike Florida ride was like.  I rode lots of miles, spent long hours in the saddle, and saw some nice parts of Florida.  I had fun times with some new people.  Along with my friends Larry, Jack, and JP, I got to meet Chris, Rob, Cathy, Diane, Julie, Morgan, Harold, Bubba, Anne, and Frenchy.  It was serendipity at its best.

It was a great week.  I’m so glad that I did these things while I could.