Not Every Day is a Walk in the Park
By admin | May 3, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Bonifay, FL to Chattahoochee, GA
Close to 55 miles
I’m only in Georgia because of the campground a mile over the border, and because I’m so close to it. I’ll be back in Florida first thing in the morning, and then for the rest of this trip.
First, the nice part of the day. About eight miles in this morning, I met Sallie and Carl, a sister and brother from Florida and Texas. They were heading west, having quite recently started. They will go up through Mobile, Alabama, then follow the Underground Railroad trail to Kentucky, then to Oregon on the Transamerica route. They have a big summer ahead of them!
They are fundraising for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and they’re super nice. You can donate at their website, warmersummers.com, if you’re interested. They are also the only people I’ve seen who actually look like they’re carrying more than me.
Other than that, today was not my favorite day. This part of Northern Florida is like the south-est of the south. They have more guns and god, including more offensive gun advertising than anywhere else I have been. Most of the men under thirty look like mean neo-Nazi skinheads. At one gas station today, two barely intelligible farmer/hunter/swamp types tried to give me directions. All I could make out was a warning about “the blacks,” and something about Nancy Pelosi. Pickup truck engines are louder here than anywhere else, and cars seem to pass closer to me, rather than moving left. I see a lot of tailgating, the drive real fast and slam on the brakes right behind someone kind.
And I got hit by a car. Though I’m fine, just some scrapes on my arm. And it caused my new odometer to stop working! I’ll be in Tallahassee tomorrow, so I’ll stop at a bike shop to make sure everything else is fine with my bike. It seems OK.
A man in a pickup barely stopped at a stop sign, then turned right, into oncoming traffic, which was me, so I ran right into the side of his truck, fell over, and slid on the ground. He was so apologetic, and he said he just didn’t see me, which was obvious. He was a cute little old man, and I wonder if he should be driving. Everyone stopped, and a police woman was there about two minutes later, because she just happened to be driving by. We filled out an accident report, paramedics came and said I looked fine, too, and I rode five more miles to my campground. I can’t go swimming in the lake because there are alligators.
Thank goodness that was the worst of it. Tomorrow is another day.
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