Day 54 I woke up to a great smell in the house. Breakfast! Mom Maclean fixed an amazing breakfast of scrambled eggs, awesome sausage, biscuits, fruit and orange juice. Marc, Drew and I gave thanks for the bounty and enjoyed a great breakfast and time of sharing.
I packed everything up, refreshed my Camelbak, loaded up and began pedaling to Tallahassee. The plan was to make it to Bristol by lunch time to spend some time with Dan, Tammy and Elizabeth White. The first hour and a half was fairly fast but hot. I stopped at the 231 Plaza before turning on 20 east. I soaked up some AC, enjoyed a diet Dr. Pepper and refilled the ice in my Camelbak. I got rolling on 20 east and it was good. I did begin to notice some dark clouds ahead. From time to time the cloud would be over me and provide amazing shade. What a great break from the heat!
I arrived in Clarksville seventeen miles later and stopped for a Vanilla Coke and more ice. While inside the store it began to rain. I sat for a few minutes and the rain stopped so I got going. The next city I would ride through was Blountstown. The mileage sign said it was nine miles down the road but it seemed like I was there in no time. I rode through Blountstown and entered the EASTERN TIME ZONE ! I stopped to take a picture.
After the picture I began the ride up and over the bridge to Bristol. Dan let me know that he and Tammy were at Doobie Brothers Restaurant. After taking a picture of the Bristol sign I rode up to the restaurant. It was great to see Dan, Tammy, Elizabeth and Doobie.
Doobie treated me to lunch, THANKS! It was great to spend time with Dan and Tammy, they are awesome God people with servant's hearts. After an hour it was time to begin my assault on Tallahassee. As I was getting ready the rain picked up. There was a thunder crack but I didn't see any lightening, I put my phone in a zip lock bag and set off. I few minutes later I heard more thunder and did see some lightening so I pulled into the Piggly Wiggly and got out of the weather.
After a few minutes of quiet I decided to head on. Within a few minutes it seemed as though I got ahead of the rain. That seemed to be the case for the rest of the ride. The ride to Tallahassee seemed long and then riding through Tallahassee on 90 east was quite a challenge.
There was quite a bit of traffic and lots of hills. No problems with any of the cars or the hills PTL! I got excited as I realized where I was on 90 east in relation to Capital City Christian Church and the Best Western because I knew it was downhill past the church to the hotel. As I got to the hotel I called Celeste and gave her my stats for the day. 108 miles at a 15mph pace! It was a good but long day.
I got checked in and cleaned up so I could go out to dinner with Chip and Andrea. Andrea chose Famous Dave's BBQ and it was great. It was also great to visit with her and Chip. They blessed me with a great meal, I am so thankful for their friendship and encouragement. They dropped me off after dinner so I could get my blog message done, take some ibuprofen, put some icy hot on my knees and get to bed.
Tomorrow is the next to last day of the GTD 2008 ride! I will ride 90 east till I have to go into Live Oak. The ride should be in the 80 mile range. I am looking forward to slowing the pace a bit so the stress on my legs and knees will be lessened.
As always, your prayers are appreciated and THANKS for all your notes and calls as well.
bob g
STATS - Mileage Today 108, Pace 15, Riding Time 7:13
Total GTD cumulative miles: 3,354
