G.A.S.P.

This morning (3-6) Gene got on an airplane in Cleveland and I got on my bike in Mims, and he reached Jacksonville about 5 hours before I got to my campground seven miles south of St. Augustine.  It was a long day for me – from 8:30 to 5:30 and about 90 miles.  The long day today will allow me a chance to look around St. Augustine tomorrow morning, however, before I head north for my meeting with Gene at the ferry crossing.

Today was a really interesting day for me.  I passed right through Daytona Beach where it is “Bike Week.”  Not Bicycle Week, mind you, but “Big, Bad Bike Week.”   This week there are an estimated 700,000 motorcyclists (my finger did not get stuck on the zero key) in Daytona Beach.  This is an annual event – I believe I saw that it was the 87^th such annual event on some guy’s T-shirt.  They’re everywhere; they’re everywhere.  I counted passing motorcyclists (those going by me in both directions) once just for fun.  In just one mile, I counted 108.  That was pretty typical of the whole day, and since I rode 90 miles, I figure I passed about 10,000 on the day.  One more thing – these are not the quiet Honda variety.  About 80 percent of them are big Harley Davidson’s and they are really loud.   I yearned for the serenity of the Redwood forests.

To make matters worse, I was beset by bad luck right from the start.  The only clean T-shirt I had this morning was the one that says “Real Men Pedal Their Bikes.”  Okay, I made that up, but I would wear one (not in Daytona) if I had it, so if anyone knows where I can get one like that, please let me know.

I had an opportunity today (in fact, many opportunities) to see what I would look like if I consumed all of the calories that I am now consuming, but “rode them off” on a motorcycle instead of on a bicycle.  I felt it was not wise to take any photos that go along with this comment, however.

Late in the day, I stopped at Fort Matanzas, a National Monument just south of Crescent Beach.  If I had been ten minutes earlier, I could have gotten a tour of the fort, but by the time I arrived, the last boat of the day had already departed.   I think the last Ranger of the day had departed with it because the Visitor Center was locked and I didn’t get to stamp my passport.