The last two days of riding and a donation in Plataka, FL

Meeting with Susan again on Wednesday afternoon was a delight. It is specular that she moved to a city on the Adventure Cyclist's Route.  Susan attended the University in Gainesville so she knew she liked the city and had lived in Florida for years previous to moving to New Mexico. Susan bought us a dinner and we also took in a TCYB, hope this does not ruin my discipline for eating well and light.  Mine was delicious because it was chocolate.  We returned to Susan's house and watched some comedians on video, Monty Python's "Argument Clinic" with John Cleese, a piece by Louis CK "Everything is Amazing and Nobody is Happy".  Good friends and a laugh equal great medicine.

Thursday morning we met up with Andrew again to ride together in two days to St. Augustine. I can not emphasize how important it is to have a cycling companion and Andrew is a delight to visit with, he gave us another book, Ivan Doig's "Bucking the Sun".

We met Eugene at the Wal-Mart parking lot in Plataka who used to work for the electric railroad from the Peabody mine to the electric generating plant lake Powell. This gentleman has been interested in gifting to organizations which lend a hand to others.  When Eugene read the magnetic sign on our truck he was hooked.  Eugene gave NUMC-FNB $20.00. Thank you Eugene for your generosity!

Andrew and I were minutes from taking off for the last day of the ride into St. Augustine. The SAG driver had only 26 miles to drive but the cyclists had 47 miles of peddling the southern tier route.We had fair weather except when faced with agriculture land on both sides of the road which allowed the coastal winds to nearly stop us in mid peddle. Forests on either side of the road is what we wished.  On our route a bridge was out, which is one worry for the cyclist, but Andrew with experience thought to ride ahead to check to state of repair.  Gratefully, we were able to ride and walk through the construction and not have to add miles to the day's ride. 

David found a parking place along the square in St. Augustine which made our finding each other easier in this tourist over run historic town.  Andrew and I voted to drive directly to the RV park to shower and eat.  It turned out there was no shower at the PepperTree RV park, this was a disappointment but food was quickly prepared by chef Diana for the famished cyclist.  We decided that early Saturday morning we would return to the city to check it out as tourists.  My favorite is without a doubt the Flagler College built by Henry Flagler, who was a partner with John D. Rockefeller in Standard Oil.  Mr. Flagler built railroads to bring guests to his hotels which he continued building south finally into Key West, and the history goes on. The hotel has been converted into Flagler College.