Day 7-13 of the I Ride for Cancer 2012 Ride

Mississippi State Line

Ok so I’ve been so derelict on keeping up this blog, that I’m going to lump up my experiences into one blog post instead of putting off writing and falling further and further behind.

So here goes. 😉

Day 7 – Franklinton, LA to Perkinston, LA

This day was another day in Louisiana and dealing with the horrible roads. The morning was ok and I suffered another flat just outside of Perkinston. Can’t wait to get out of this state. Perkinston was ok, but the RV park was something else. They had signs posted everywhere about not doing drugs, so that left very little confidence in it for Vince and I. We just did our normal thing and went to bed early and got up early so it wasn’t a big deal I guess, but I’m sure we won’t be going back there ever again.

Day 8 – Perkinston, LA to Mobile, AL.

Alabama State Line

This is the day the rain started. As soon as I woke up, it was raining. Luckily it quit just before I left, but about 20 minutes into the ride it started again. Nothing too bad, just a light rain.

However, about 50 miles into the ride I crossed into Alabama and God opened the flood gates. My visibility went down to about 5 feet in front of me, which meant that the drivers couldn’t see me. BUT, there were very few cars on the roads thankfully.

So I stopped on the side of the road and let it rain. After about 15 minutes, I looked down and noticed that my back wheel had another broken spoke. Nuts.

I sat there for about 45 minutes until it let up enough to keep on going. Vince met me not far from where I had stopped initially and we switched out the wheel and had lunch.

I made it the next 30 miles to just outside of Mobile when Vince came and picked me up. We ended up staying in a motel that night as it’s just too hard to set the RV up in the rain.

Day 9 – Rain out

So it was a good thing that we stayed in the motel because it had rained so much throughout the night that Mobile had received 9 inches of rain. Even more importantly, Pensacola (our next destination) had received about 15 inches of rain and had a lot of flooding.

There were massive storms heading our way this morning as well. So after debating for an hour, Vince and I decided to hole up in the motel and let the storms pass. Great thing as Pensacola had received up to 22 inches of rain by the end of the day and they were having massive flooding.

Day 10 – Rain Out Again

This was almost a repeat of the prior day. In fact the storms were just lining up one after another. So we made a command decision to drive to get on the other side of the storms and get back on track.

That was a hard decision for me as I really wanted to ride the entire thing, but I’m trying to make it to Washington D.C. on National Pancreatic Awareness Day to help lobby to our congress folks to pass the Pancreatic Cancer Research and Education Act. And more importantly, if Vince and I had to stay in the motel another day, we would both go nuts!

So we drove over to Bonifay, FL and found a really nice RV park – the Florida Springs RV Park. The owner was extremely nice and inviting and the folks around the park were completely interested in not only the ride, but the Casita (the RV we are in).

Day 11 – Bonifay, FL to Tallahassee, FL

Florida State Line

I guess a few days off the bike does wonders. I had the best ride yet on this day. I had a slight tail wind (one of the very few I’ve had) and felt extremely strong. So I made extremely good time. The plan starting out was to make it to Chatahoochee, FL (about 70 miles) and see how I felt.

I got there at around noon and felt great. So after a quick lunch at Subway, we decided to push on the next 30 miles to Tallahassee and get a day ahead of schedule. One thing we didn’t really consider – all of the very big hills between Chatahoochee and Tallahassee. They slowed me down some, but I kept on pushing through and made it in at around 3:30. It was actually quite a fun ride despite all of the steep hills.

Now is where it gets interesting. The day before we had called the Capitol City riding group and asked about safe routes heading out of Tallahassee and was directed to a place called the Bicycle House.

Bicycle House is a non-profit bike shop that teaches people how to work on their own bikes and serves as a bike advocate around the Tallahassee area. They help with planning for bike lanes as well as volunteer to go out and work on the road shoulders and cleaning up glass around the city. It’s a really cool idea actually.

Scot Benton is the mastermind behind Bicycle House and he not only helped us with a safe route, but also volunteered to ride out with me the next morning. Also, come to find out, his dad also passed away from Pancreatic Cancer as did mine so we had a lot to talk about.

What a blessing that was. It’s strange how God has put us in the right place at the right time and lead us to the people who could help the most.

Day 12 – Tallahassee, FL to Live Oak, FL

So Scot and I headed out together and he rode 33 miles with me to Monticello, FL. We even had lunch for a bit. When we were done, I continued on towards Live Oak.

We made it into our next RV park destination – the Spirit of the Suwanee Music Park which apparently hosts music festivals almost on a weekly basis. We were lucky to get a spot as there was a music festival to begin the next day.

Day 13 – Live Oak, FL to Macclenny, FL

Today is the first day back where I’m facing a head wind. The forecast has the wind coming from the Northeast for the foreseeable future, so it’s going to make it exciting as I will be turning north after Macclenny.

The ride today was a tough one. I’m not sure why other than I’ve been nursing some saddle sores and they sure were hurting today. That combined with the heat and the headwind and the 60 miles I rode sure seemed like a 100 miles once I got in around 12:30. We couldn’t find an RV park here either, so we are currently in a Travellodge.

Well that just about wraps up this post. I know it was a long one and I’m sure I’ve left a million details out, but I felt I needed to get caught up. Tomorrow will be a 100 mile day with upwards of 15 mph headwinds, so please pray that my bottom doesn’t hurt the entire day like it did today and that my strength holds up.

Thanks and God bless you!

Best Church Signs from the Road

God will provide for all your needs.

What is missing from ch ch?

Is what you are living for worth dying for?

Gods word is set in stone. Trust God.

We aren’t in ministry for the income. We are in it for the outcome.

God looks down from on high and sees into our hearts

Words can either be hurtfull or helpfull.

God reigns and the Son shines.

Man sets the course and God provides the steps.

Worry is a burden God never intended for us to bear.