Day 41, Chipley to Midway, Florida

Okay, I have to admit today’s ride was trying from a mental perspective. I have been on Hwy 90 since passing through Pensacola on Friday and that is almost two and one-half days of a very similar and tedious route. I am glad this is a safe, simple-to-follow, and reasonably well surfaced road, but I must have seen a hundred dollar stores in several dozen small towns. There is really nothing interesting for scenery here.

People have asked if I got bored with the long desert roads of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, but that did not happen. In fact, I enjoyed most all of it. This northern highway of the Florida panhandle is another story. In fact, we were to have a short 45 mile Hwy 90 ride tomorrow, bypassing Tallahassee, but Doug thankfully got advice from a RABA (Richmond club) cycling friend who is rerouting our route to provide scenery and interest through downtown Tallahassee on an 82 mile route. I didn’t need these extra miles, but we all agreed it should be worth the extra effort.

One interesting aspect of riding through the Florida panhandle is the attention and discussion we get at store stops. Today and yesterday we have gotten advice from interested locals. Yesterday a big man who showed a lot of interest at a store stop decided he needed to give us one piece of advise after we were already departed. He drives up along side me and rolls down his passenger window to say, “You guys be careful. Some people around here will ride all over the road”. I yelled back that we surely will do our best to be careful. The next day a interested person tells Steve Leibo that this town we were in is the most redneck you can get. He told Steve it is best not to do anything stupid around them because it will bring out the weird. Apparently these people are best to be left alone and they will do the same with us. This advice reminds me of stories and tales of people not taking precautions when around apex predator animals at the zoo or in the wild. As and example, don’t let your kids climb into the chimp exhibit, or don’t provoke that wild bull moose.