It seems like all I did today was ride!

Oh wait, that IS all I did today!

I intended to "make up some ground" today but did well just to get to where I'd planned!

I got a late start, then The Girls kept trying to put me on to I10, which resulted in some pretty ugly navigation and a fair amount of lost/wasted time. I finally shut the GPS off and just followed Florida 98, that is, once I got to it. A refresher - I started the day in Alabama and was told by my waitress (last night) that as soon as I crossed the bridge I would be in Florida and the Eastern Time Zone. I guess I inferred from this statement that she was referring to a single bridge. I did cross a bridge. I spent much of the day crossing bridges. The first one led me, eventually to the Welcome to the Sunshine State sign. The Eastern Time Zone was nearly 200 miles away. In the interim I logged the 6,000th mile of my trip and took one picture.

By following the coast as closely as practical I ended up riding through many shoreside communities and dealt with traffic, stop signs and lights, and reduced speed limits, even when the area between towns was wide open the speed limit was typically 45 - 55. I had to constantly remind myself I didn't choose the route based on quickest drive time.

I did accomplish one thing today that I had been procrastinating over. I figured out how to carry my leather coat without wearing it. The heat and humidity make the safety element minuscule compared to the comfort issue. So before I put the rain cover over my suitcase bag I laid the coat over the bag, folded the arms up and over, then carefully slid the rain cover over it, ensuring that everything stayed put and was tucked in nicely. After cinching the rain cover I added my adjustable belt and tightened the  snap-lock ends.

This did lead to another issue however. When I got dressed this morning I put on a short sleeved hi-tech shirt ( my term for the material I wear for backpacking that wicks moisture away and evaporates quickly). So when I started down the road I was riding, for the first time on this trip, with bare arms.

My brother Tim's words "I don't burn (in the sun)" were echoing in my ears. I too, don't burn - often! So after about an hour I stopped and changed in to a long sleeve shirt, made of the same material. This helped protect my arms from the sun and, because of the evaporative quality of the material, was actually cooler than bare arms. This too, however, had a drawback, resulting in what I will call biker's tan (a close cousin to truckers tan).

It doesn't hurt 'cause I don't burn!

Other than that, all I did today was ride, do u-turns and ride some more. I had intended to reach Tallahassee tonight but passed south of there and I'm staying about a half hour ahead of schedule.

These Florida drivers like to drive slow, which is fine but they also like to have a lane to themselves. So two cars will drive side by side, under the speed limit, and back traffic up while not moving over to let anyone else by. I haven't seen this much 10 and 2 hand action since the first day of Drivers Ed! I'm fine with it but they need to remember, while they're strollin' down the road I'm getting an irreversible bikers tan!

Oh, and I forgot this from yesterday. I found your little buddy Jason, but now he's tangled with an electrician and has his mouth taped shut!