80 miles out!

6/22/11
Athen Sinodinos

We’re only 80 miles out from St. Augustine!  We definitely made good time today, and we’ll finish early tomorrow.

We went to University of Florida today.  Florida is DOPE. I want to move here.

Anyway, it’s 8:45 p.m. I’m in Hawthorne right now, population 1,000, and I reek. I’m sitting in a shutdown auto part store parking lot, and I’m waiting for the guys to get here.

We’ve been raw doggin’ it.  Jack and Rick, they HAD to stop for sushi for blinner (we didn’t stop for a real meal today).  So now, they have to take one for the team and ride at night.

I guess we probably should have explained sooner how we plan our days, but think of it this way. Imagine riding your bike from Niles to Mission, to meet up with your buddy in a car.  But you don’t have a cell phone, and have never ridden that route before, and only know that in 3 miles, your friend will be waiting.  Where do you meet? 

Now take the three miles it takes to get from Point A to Point B, and change it to increments of 25 miles.  Before the riding starts for that shift, we look at the map and try to pick a spot about 25 miles out with services (gas station, market, RV park, etc.).  As the driver though, it’s hard to stop at a guaranteed spot because I have to figure out where I can legally park the RV and also where they’ll be able to see me. 

We try not to go too far, in case someone gets a flat or there’s an emergency.  Those 25 miles take roughly an hour and 40 minutes to get to the RV.  It takes about 40 minutes for the driver to get to the meeting spot (the RV can only go up to 45-50 mph).  So with that extra hour, I’ll bust out a lawn chair and relax, take Coco out, take a nap, or try to tidy up the RV.  The driver will try to stop and get ice, water and Gatorade for the guys finishing their ride.

I don’t have much more to say except that we’re excited to get there. I’m going to walk the last 5 miles with my bike on my back just to embrace the moment.  When I get to the sand I’m going to do 300 push-ups before I can touch the water.

I call it, “poetic justice.”

That’s been an inside joke for us on this trip.  There’s this Bart Scott YouTube video that we’ve watched, and I’ve been saying those two words – the guys keep giving me a hard time.  It totally explains the trip for me.  I want to remake the video when we get to St. Augustine.  I can’t WAIT!