I made another long ride into the state of Florida May 23, 2015. My wife +Sylvia Wormley wanted to visit the Wakulla Springs State Park. We play this game where she picks out a destination that she wants to visit, and i ride my bike there and then we hang out and relax. As usual I could not stop and take all of the pictures that I wanted to, but here are the photos from the ride.
Tractor on GA HWY 37
I like riding my bike down roads where there are farms. When I get a chance to stop and take a picture of a tractor I do it. I have never seen a tractor of this type. I will have to research it to see what it is used for.
Pastoral barn on River Road
My friend Richard Thompson recommended that I take this road on my next trip to Florida on my bike. River road is really nice, lots of farms and low traffic. If you look closely at this image in the sky on the right you can see a crop duster. I am glad that I did not have to cross paths with this crop duster on this ride.
New county for my bike travels
This route was remote and it did not take me through any small towns that had gas stations or stores. I pass a lot of churches as this is the Bible Belt, so I started stopping at churches to get water. I use tablets to add electrolytes to my water. I started playing another game on this trip, see how far I can ride without paying for water. I am happy to report that I rode 131 miles and did not pay for water.
I have passed many corn fields on my bike. I have also watch large combines harvesting corn for bulk use. I have never witnessed the harvesting of corn by hand for consumer packaging. Earlier on my trip I was a plant that was taking tree farm pine logs and transforming them into the wire wooden crates that are being used for this corn.
The truck is being pulled by the tractor.
Farm hands picking and packaging corn
I have always wanted to visit Bainbridge
Prefect weather and slight cross winds
This would be my fastest average pace for the day
Downtown Bainbridge, GA
Bainbridge State College
After leaving Bainbridge I vered off course and got on US HWY 84 instead of staying on US HWY 27. I guess I wanted to do some hill training with strong headwinds. I was starting to get discouraged riding on this busy highway, but my spirits picked up when I reached the town of Climax.
Old store front in climax, GA
Climax, GA Memorial to locals who paid the ultimate price in WW II
I took my phone out and got my bearings. I decided to trust my garmin which was offering a updated route.
Finally got to florida
After meandering though some back county roads I got back to US HWY 27. I decided to stay on US HWY 27 until I got to Tallahassee.
After crossing into florida I saw this huge Confederate Flag. I decided to add it to my trip photos.
I really like the style of this sign
It was getting really hot at this point. I started playing another game. I wanted to take a picture of my Garmin display when my milage was the same as the air temperature. I got pretty close before giving up and focusing on getting to my destination.
98 miles 98 degrees
100 miles 101 degrees. temperature jumped up before I could get my phone out
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Seven Cycles 622 SLX leaning on a street sign pole at the corner of Lily Pond Road and Denson Road. I wanted to take advantage of the day light as I rode home this evening. The wind was blowing 13-15 MPH from the NW, so I knew I was not going to have a speedy ride home. I decided to just enjoy the ride and take some pictures. I have become a more relaxed cyclist post accident. I use to get so frustrated when I could not ride at least 50 miles a day. I would beat myself up if I was riding slower than 17 MPH. Now I just really enjoy the ride no matter what. It takes a lot to really calm me down, but now I think I finally get it, cycling is for relaxing. You may think that I was already aware of this fact since I have been riding all of my life, but sometimes it takes a life changing event to make you realize reality. I am glad I do not have deep dish rims. The wind was blowing so hard my front tire took a little more effort to...
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