Chance Meeting In Tally

For the first time since June 18th, I woke this morning in the Eastern Time Zone. Despite Sue, Kevin, and Dominic all having breakfast about five metres away, I was completely unaware of their presence until about 6:45. After all those nights of sleeping near train tracks I can pretty much sleep through anything. I suppose my deep sleep could’ve been blamed on the time change but I think I was just really tired. I’m still very much a night person and it was well past midnight again before I went to sleep last night.

By 7:00 I gradually managed to pry my eyelids open and began the day. The first part of that included enjoying a leisurely breakfast with my hosts. From there it was back to the daily routine of packing up and hitting the road for my usual departure time of 9:00 am. I think it’s a bit funny that after six months on the road I usually seem to start my daily rides around 9:00 am – regardless of what time I wake up in the morning. Sure, necessity has resulted in some very early mornings but unless there’s an exceptional reason to start early, I generally don’t.

As I rode away, Kevin snapped a few action photos of me riding past. At the time of uploading this update he hasn’t sent them to me but I’m hoping to get them. I have so few photos of me actually riding around. Oh, and before I left I was also given a piece of Ghirardelli chocolate. Why? Well, essentially it was for good behaviour. I’ll leave it at that.

I wasn’t on the road for very long when I stopped to confirm I was in fact heading the right way. Kevin had given me straightforward directions and, considering how briefly I had been on the road, I’m really not sure why I stopped. But I’m glad I did. As I consulted my map, a woman was leaving a nearby coffee shop and took note of my loaded bike. And that’s how I met Gabriela.

We chatted for a while and covered the usual “Where are you going?” and “Where are you from?” questions. When I mentioned that I was heading to Lakeland she said that she and her husband live in Bell. I’d never heard of Bell but apparently it is on the way to Lakeland. As such, she said I should stop by on my way through. It sounded like a great offer but for the first time on this adventure I’m on a bit of a tight schedule and I would need to check the map to see where exactly Bell was to see if it was doable. We chatted for a bit longer before we exchanged cards and returned to our regularly scheduled days.

As rides go, today’s was very enjoyable and relaxing. The winds were manageable, the sun was shining, and much of the ride was very scenic – especially at the beginning where I found myself pedalling along a very nice canopy road. The temperature was chillier than I would’ve liked but the day warmed up to a reasonably pleasant level by early afternoon.

As for today’s destination, the plan was to arrive get to Perry which would make for yet another (five straight to be exact) leisurely ride of less than 90 km. Just to be clear, I’m not doing short days out of laziness, it’s simply a case of where the towns are. And lately the towns all seem to be about 85 km from each other.

The ride was essentially flat again so it was was pretty much effortless. A such, I arrived in Perry by mid afternoon. My home in Perry ended up being yet another motel, this time an Econolodge. The upside to getting to a motel so early in the day is that it leaves a lot of time to get work done so I can pay for all these motel stays of late. Of course, despite the early arrival I still seem to be falling behind on my updates. Sigh. So much to do. So little time.

The rest of the afternoon was spent diligently working away. I know, I know … not exactly riveting blog material. However, as I was working away, I received an e-mail with the same subject line as this posting. It was from Gabriela. She had forwarded the picture she had taken of me and my bike and restated her offer to visit them in Bell.

I turned my attention to my maps and it turns out that Bell, Florida is very much on the way to Lakeland. Yes, I know. That’s what Gabriela had told me. But not only is it on the way to Lakeland, it’s also relatively close to Chiefland where I was hoping to stay tomorrow. The slight detour to visit Gabriela and her husband in Bell is now officially on the agenda.

Side note: In addition to getting work done, and confirming my route for tomorrow, the other big event of the evening was that I officially (yet reluctantly) booked my flight back to Toronto. As hard as it is to believe, the end is definitely near.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 87.47 km
Ride time: 4:01:05
Average speed: 21.77 km/h
Maximum speed:47.52 km/h