Day 1: Flat & Flats
Posted by the girls on Thursday, April 7, 2011
Word of the day: FLAT.
Today is Sunday, April 3, the first day of our bike trip! We woke up to discover that Emily had a flat front tire. It was nice to be able to take our time and repair it before actually heading out on the road. After leaving Paul & Mary Ann's beautiful house, we first headed to the beach at Peter's Point. I think it is necessary to start every trans-America trip in the ocean (if your goal is to go coast to coast). With this idea in mind, we slowly trudged over the boardwalk and through the sand to have our bikes reach the Atlantic Ocean. We dipped our back wheels in, took some photos, and then trudged back through the sand to start our route. After about 5 miles, we encountered our first hill: the bridge to leave Amelia Island. All was going well until we got to the bottom/end of the bridge and Michelle had a flat rear tire. We pulled over to the side of the road and proceeded to change the tube. No problem. Back on the road just a few minutes later. The rest of the 42-mile ride was rather uneventful. We had one more hill (another bridge to pass over the interstate) and took one short break.
After 3 hours of riding time, we arrived at our destination: St. Mary's River Fish Campground. The staff greeted us warmly and while Emily was paying inside, we met Sassy. Sassy is a deer that was raised by the campground's owner, Steve. Her mother was killed in a car accident, so the police brought the newborn fawn to Steve since he had raised others. Sassy is now one-year-old and likes to eat corn, grapes, and chewing gum (if she breaks into the store). She is way too friendly, but way too cute to ignore. We gave her a few pets and also managed to get invited to a free dinner courtesy of some of the semi-permanent campground residents/staff. After picking out our campsite, we decided it was time to eat. We used our campstove for the first time to boil some water and make ramen. Nothing fancy, but it filled us up. After washing dishes, we set up our two tents. We have two, two-person tents and plan on rotating who gets to sleep alone and who has to share. For tonight, Rebekah will be sleeping alone and Emily & Michelle will be tent-mates. We attempted swimming in the river here, but it was just too cold for any of us to handle.
Before dinner, we met Steve's girlfriend, Laura. She was super sweet and showed us around the campground. The most interesting point was the garden. Since the soil in Florida is too sandy, they have an above ground garden system. They use recycled plastic barrels and have made their own irrigation system. It was a wonderful concept. The strawberries that we nibbled on from the garden were delicious! The dinner they provided us with was also delicious: steak, baked potatoes, fresh green salad and fruit salad.
At dinner we got to another great man, Papa Jack. He will be turning 82 this month, but acts a whole lot younger. Despite the almost-blindness caused by his macular degeneration, he is an active, healthy man. He told us all about his travels to Europe and his hopes to return and go to Ireland for his 85th birthday. This sweet man even put some grapes in a Ziplock baggie so we could feed Sassy in the morning.
Today is Sunday, April 3, the first day of our bike trip! We woke up to discover that Emily had a flat front tire. It was nice to be able to take our time and repair it before actually heading out on the road. After leaving Paul & Mary Ann's beautiful house, we first headed to the beach at Peter's Point. I think it is necessary to start every trans-America trip in the ocean (if your goal is to go coast to coast). With this idea in mind, we slowly trudged over the boardwalk and through the sand to have our bikes reach the Atlantic Ocean. We dipped our back wheels in, took some photos, and then trudged back through the sand to start our route. After about 5 miles, we encountered our first hill: the bridge to leave Amelia Island. All was going well until we got to the bottom/end of the bridge and Michelle had a flat rear tire. We pulled over to the side of the road and proceeded to change the tube. No problem. Back on the road just a few minutes later. The rest of the 42-mile ride was rather uneventful. We had one more hill (another bridge to pass over the interstate) and took one short break.
After 3 hours of riding time, we arrived at our destination: St. Mary's River Fish Campground. The staff greeted us warmly and while Emily was paying inside, we met Sassy. Sassy is a deer that was raised by the campground's owner, Steve. Her mother was killed in a car accident, so the police brought the newborn fawn to Steve since he had raised others. Sassy is now one-year-old and likes to eat corn, grapes, and chewing gum (if she breaks into the store). She is way too friendly, but way too cute to ignore. We gave her a few pets and also managed to get invited to a free dinner courtesy of some of the semi-permanent campground residents/staff. After picking out our campsite, we decided it was time to eat. We used our campstove for the first time to boil some water and make ramen. Nothing fancy, but it filled us up. After washing dishes, we set up our two tents. We have two, two-person tents and plan on rotating who gets to sleep alone and who has to share. For tonight, Rebekah will be sleeping alone and Emily & Michelle will be tent-mates. We attempted swimming in the river here, but it was just too cold for any of us to handle.
Before dinner, we met Steve's girlfriend, Laura. She was super sweet and showed us around the campground. The most interesting point was the garden. Since the soil in Florida is too sandy, they have an above ground garden system. They use recycled plastic barrels and have made their own irrigation system. It was a wonderful concept. The strawberries that we nibbled on from the garden were delicious! The dinner they provided us with was also delicious: steak, baked potatoes, fresh green salad and fruit salad.
At dinner we got to another great man, Papa Jack. He will be turning 82 this month, but acts a whole lot younger. Despite the almost-blindness caused by his macular degeneration, he is an active, healthy man. He told us all about his travels to Europe and his hopes to return and go to Ireland for his 85th birthday. This sweet man even put some grapes in a Ziplock baggie so we could feed Sassy in the morning.
