Around 3:30 yesterday I stopped for a second nap at a parking area for a trail head. A little while after I got there a college track team showed up. One of the kids had a pulled hamstring so he couldn’t run and we talked for a bit.

When the rest of the team started filing back in from their runs, I started to ask about the area to try and get a feeling of how much there was around and to find potential spots to sleep because the night before Ken had told me there was litterally nothing between Indian Lake Estates and Yeehaw Junction.

One of the kids told me that I had actually just passed Indian Lake Estates, so I figured I should keep going. In the next mile or passed a Post Office and a few houses, so it was definitely rural, but there was still some places.

I passed a building that looked like it was used for packaging crops. I needed to use a bath room so I went in to check it out even though the front gate was locked. Turns out the whole back half of the building was wide open. There were fans keeping the place cool, power, and bathrooms. The only thing that could have made this a better place to sleep was if it had a shower. Unfortunatly, the front gate was closed too tight to fit my bike in, and there were no other gaps to squeeze through, so if I stayed here I would have had to leave my bike elsewhere which was something I just didn’t feel comfortable doing.

So on I went. I don’t think I saw another building for five miles, and it was another ten miles and a half an hour after dark until I found a place that looked like I could crash at. First I tried a dicount ticket place which had a closed motel behind it. I was going to just sleep in one of the hallways between rooms, but a security guard came and kicked me out. I went across the street to another dicount ticket store and eneded up speninding the night there.

This morning I woke up at 6:30 and going down the street to a gas station to clean up. Now I’m back at the place I slept at, using one of their picnic benches to eat breakfast on. I think I might ride for a short bit after this even though I still really want to nap, but I should really do as much riding as I can before it gets any hotter out.

Yesterday was probably longer than I should have rode, 74.5 miles. I started off stiff then, probably from sleeping in a car all weekend, and I’m definitely sore now. I think I streched about ten or twelve times yesterday, but that still didn’t save me. I’m sure that in another day or two I’ll be right back into the swing of things.

After riding 30 miles this morning I was ready for lunch. I stopped by the Lake Wales Public Library to use their shaded benches and refill my water bottles.

I was still tired, I think this weekend is still taking its toll on me, so I decided to stop for a while. I used the internet for maybe 10 – 15 minutes and then took and hour and a half long nap.

I’m still a bit tired but I’m thinking about making today a short day, about 60 miles, so I should be getting to bed pretty early so hopefully tomorrow I’ll be fully rested.

Next stop: Miami.

OK. That’s not really the next stop, but its my next destination. I’m guessing that I’ll be getting there on Saturday, give or take a day. Planning this part of the trip took a lot effort than planing things further north because not only did we have to worry about the size roads we were on, and whether there were enough places tp stop for food and water (although I feel like I have 50 lbs. of food with me right now), but we also had to make sure I wasn’t riding through swaps for too long so I could have places to sleep. Ken and Jackie were huge helps with this last night since they know how the roads actually are instead of how they look on the map. We decided it’d be best to go back out to the coast and then ride down there instead of taking a more direct route to Miami.

I was in bed and asleep by 11 o’clock last night, but I still didn’t want to get up this morning. I slept in till almost 7:30, but was able to get ready pretty quickly since I had done most of my packing last night. Its supposed to be 95 today with the heat index at 106, so Florida is definitely giving me a “warm” welcome back.

Its about time to start riding now, so wich me luck.

Thanks again for all you help and being so hospitable Jackie and Ken!