Cycling Ellen

57 miles today
2,669.8 total

As we travel across the country by bicycle, our perception of the country is different than it is when traveling by other modes of transportation.  Our focus is often looking down at the road.  You’ve heard enough about road surfaces to realize that.  Today, I’ll start with a multiple-choice question:

When riding on Florida roads today, which of the following did I see?

a.    Money
b.    A huge snapping turtle (live)
c.    A 3-4 foot long rattlesnake (live)
d.    All of the above

The answer is d.  At almost every intersection with a shopping center on US 90 in Pensacola, there were not only pennies but also quarters, dimes and nickels.  It was bizarre to see so much money on the road, rather than an occasional penny.  A man in the bike shop in Milton, confirmed that that’s a local phenomenon.  Do people throw their money out the window while they wait for a red light?  I only picked up money when I had to stop anyway for a red light and the total was 37 cents (not all in pennies!).

After the busy traffic of US 90, we were all grateful to have a 6-mile stretch on a bike path.  I cheated a little bit with that question.  Actually, Micki, who was our sag driver today, saw the turtle right on the bike path.

After the bike path, we were on back roads through forest and fields.  I spotted a huge snake in the road including the rattles on its tail.  It was headed my way and I moved on.  Debbie was riding with me and she decided to go back for a picture.  As she got closer, it moved off into the grass (you can see that picture in my photo album).  That’s the biggest rattler I’ve ever seen and you can be sure, I took extra care each time I saw a “stick” in the road the rest of the day.

Over the course of our travels, we’ve seen all kinds of things on the road.  We even had a show and tell one night back in Texas sharing our finds.  Road kill has changed from the deer, javelina and wild boar of the West (with the infamous numbers of buzzards circling) to more possums and armadillos as we moved east.  There have been increasing numbers of snakes, turtles and frogs when we got to Louisiana.  It’s an interesting way to see how the landscape changes, eh?

OK, now that that question is over, here’s another one:

When riding today, what did we see fly overhead?

a.    A hot air balloon
b.    Blackhawk helicopters
c.    Domino pizza helicopters
d.    US Navy helicopters

Sorry, this question was a bit of a trick.  We saw over a dozen red, white and blue helicopters that I assume were from the Pensacola Navy base we visited yesterday.  In the fighter jet movie, we saw them practicing dropping care packages.  With the coloring, we were joking that they were Domino pizza delivery helicopters.  Too bad we seemed to be mistaken, especially since the waitress at the café in Holt never took our orders so I missed lunch.

We did see some helicopters that looked to my unpracticed eye like Blackhawks.  They were black and had two sets of chopper blades.  They were flying really low.  Does that make them Blackhawks?  We are also near Elgin Air Force Base here so they could be from the Air Force and not the Navy.

We finished the ride here in Crestview past several miles of more fast food places and motels.  For the second day in a row, the temperatures are hot and the pool is closed for health reasons.  The good news is that our Florida margarita party will be held tonight – our last state line crossing. That should get us ready for our last 90-mile day tomorrow!