I don’t know what to say about today. I woke up early, packed up my tent and gear, and waited for Ed to finish packing and loading his bike—a first for me. Yep. I’m upping my game, as we count down the last 5 days to the finish line. Ed and I rode together all day, and somehow, I was able to keep up with him.
The entire group was pedal to the metal, today, to cover our longest remaining daily distance—66 miles—while battling 15 – 20 mph headwinds. We cycled over mostly level and straight roads that passed through civilization only once, early in the day.
And did we stop at the convenience store in that little patch of civilization? You don’t even have to ask. Of course we did. Tom C and Erwin had already scoped it out and messaged us with news of fresh donuts. But these weren’t just ordinary donuts. They were maple frosted donuts with bacon on them—something else I had never tried before. Hmm hmm hmm. They were delicious! I was so busy devouring 2 of them, that I forgot to snap a photo of them, and they were truly photo worthy.
After buying an extra bottle of Gatorade to hold me over, in case I downed all 4 of my 23 oz water bottles, we were back on the road. The scenery was the same tall trees we have been seeing the last few days, when we haven’t been riding next to beaches, interspersed with river and swamp crossings.
Before lunch, we started taking turns drafting off of each other for 2 miles at a time, and it made the rest of the day fly by.
As we set up our tents at the Perry KOA, I asked around to see if anyone had taken photos of things I had seen. We all had the same photos, even though we didn’t ride together.
Tomorrow will be a 60 mile day, followed by 3 shorter days that will take us into St. Augustine and to the Atlantic Ocean.
Living Our Bucket List 
Eileen, thank you for finding joy in the journey. Those donuts sounded mighty fine. Made me wish I ate donuts!
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I am definitely looking for the fun things. Sometimes, you really have to go out of your way to see them.
How are things at the MTC?
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How about if you ate just one?
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Hi Eileen. You must be getting pretty excited. I’m sure there was a time a couple thousand miles ago (sounds a bit strange, doesn’t it) when it seemed like the finish line would never arrive. But here you are now with just four short days left to go. It just goes to show what you can accomplish if you set your mind to it and just keep putting one foot ahead of the other (well, in your case, one pedal stroke after another). I know you’re probably thinking more and more each day about how good it will feel to hug your grand daughters and sleep in your own bed at night. But stay focused for the next few days on riding safe and staying healthy. The brass ring is almost within your grasp now. Go get it.
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One more day to go. Less than 40 miles. Two blog posts, then I can retire from that for a while too. I need a vacation!
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