Le Chateau de Lafayette, Hampton, FL, formerly a courthouse, boarding house and public school, now a B&B.
Today is my wedding anniversary. I have been married for 36 years. I love my SAG guy. And today I had to keep reminding myself that there would be something waiting for me from my guy at the motel at the end of the ride.
I never thought I would say I'm ready for this ride to be over, but today, I was ready for this ride to be over. maybe because it is the second 70+ mile day in a row, and it's beginning to feel more like a trudge than a ride, or maybe because, this close to the end, it's hard to focus on the getting there rather than the being there. For whatever reason, it was a long ride mentally, and for me, a rather boring ride, which is something I hardly ever say about riding, since I enjoy the riding itself so much.
The weather was nice, and again, as has been pretty much true during the whole ride, we had moderate headwinds, today, was a benefit as otherwise it would have been a stinky hot, humid ride. The route was pretty much straight east along several small two lane highways with adequate to non existent shoulder, through a series of small towns which had marginal services. It is sad to ride through these small towns and see so many of the buildings along the main street boarded up, closed and in a state of general neglect. Throughout this ride it has become more and more apparent that the death of the small farming communities and towns is one of the dirty little secrets that no one talks about or is aware of unless they live there.
Janet and I rode pretty silent today, each of us lost in our own thoughts. We were also riding steadily from SAG stop to SAG stop to get the miles done before the heat of the day closed in. Over the 6 plus weeks of riding we have done together, we have developed an intuitive sense of communication and understanding in our riding that is very enjoyable. Janet usually leads and sets the pace and I have learned to find a cadence that allows me to ride about 5 feet back without having to constantly and consciously watch her feet on the pedals and her shoulders to aniticipate stops and starts. Whenever she needs a break from the wind, or feels like she wants to push a bit, she rolls out to the left, waves me up and I lead until I see her start to lag back in my mirror, or stop. We both spot wildflowers and interesting sights and signal a stop with a flat hand back, and we both point to interesting sights as we ride with an "on your right" or "on your left". And each of us will say something, tell a story, start a commmentary or question as the spirit moves us. It is a joyful way to ride. I learned to enjoy letting someone else set the pace so that I can ride as a tourist as much as I enjoy riding lead so that I can find my own pace. It's been an interesting transition and learning experience to go from a continually solo rider, responsible only for my own riding, to riding as part of a group and responsible for another person's safety and riding comfort as well. I have hopes that I might even be able to ride in a pace line or group with more comfort now.
The last part of the ride was through the town of Palatka and up and over a final bridge across the St.John River, so the traffic was heavier and the shoulder was trashy. I was concentrating so hard on the riding that until I got half way over the bridge, I didn't notice the brightly colored bee signs that started appearing. Janet, whose last name is Bee, did. I did notice the bright nylon bee flag on the motel sign and was beginning to puzzle over that as I rode down off the bridge and noticed several groups of people standing by the entrance with balloons and flowers, cheering and waving. In my hot ride induced haze, it took me several seconds to realize that this was various riders' family members, there to cheer them on, but I still didn't get the bee connection.
I checked at the desk and was informed that my roommate Lois had already taken the gift sent by my SAG guy up to the room. When I arrived in the room, the temperature was frigid and Lois was wearing all her cold weather gear while sitting on her bed working on her blog. The reason became apparent as I set down my bike and saw a large arrangement of flowers, all made out of sculpted and chocolate dipped fruit on the table. Not only had Phil sent a present, but it was a present that I could enjoy and enjoy even more by being able to share it out with the other riders and not have to worry about finding room for it in my luggage. What a guy.
Lunch and a shower later, the bee connection was explained by Peggy, whose cousin had been responsible for the bees. They had grown up together as children and had had a club called the "busy bees correspondence club" in an old chicken coop that had been remade as a club house. Over the years, the club has expanded to include various family members, husbands, friends etc. until now it numbers about 18. As we found out at dinner later, Peggy's cousin had even made a bee hive cake and had flown down from Michigan with it in her lap. I never did hear how she got it through airport security, but it was presented to Peggy, fully decorated with honey cream frosting and little pipe cleaner bees, along with a bee pin, in honor of her achievement.
Along with the beehive cake for desert, we had "biker bars" made by Laurie's friend Annie who has been visiting on and off throughout the last part of the trip. Like Laurie, Annie is a chef and caterer, and had been stocking the SAG vehicle with her delicious, nutritious bars whenever she came to drop in. This time she even handed out recipes- which could be a good thing or a bad thing. Then there was the lovely fruit bouquet which Phil had sent, which Linda allowed me to announce and be applauded for for 36 years of marriage. As Carol, the guide said, "that's no mean feat."
We were all feeling a bit nostalgic about this final dinner circle. Gathering in the evening in the shade before dinner has become a cherished ritual of the ride, giving us a chance to reconnect with each other and to share the day's ride experiences. Linda, our chef, has consistently provided us with substantial amounts of incredibly delicious and nutritious food in a broad range of cuisines and styles. This is not an easy task when you have a limited access to groceries, no means of long term refrigeration, only two burners, a hibachi and a couple of dutch ovens and a range of dietary needs which includes nut allergies, strawberry allergy, vegan and vegetarian diets, hungry bikers and a gluten allergy spread among 21 ravenous bikers, but Linda has managed each meal grace, humor and chef savvy that has kept us all satisfied. Although we have all been trying to "taper" and rein in our appetites, it hasn't been easy with Linda doing the cooking.
Because it was the last time, we lingered in the dark, doing the dishes, forestalling putting away the chairs, and just enjoyed being together as a self contained group of friends/sister cross country bikers for the last time, but the bugs finally drove us all indoors and bed.
Pictures from the dinner circle
Jan, Elizabeth and Janet
Laurie, her friend Annie and Susan
Robin and Elizabeth
Peggy, Mary Jo and Lois B
Marcy, Carol and Donna
Donna, Sherry and her friend Martine, Laurie again
Lois B and Marni
Peggy and Linda the chef with the beehive cake
sign at the Inn welcoming us and a bee from the "busy bee correspondence club" from Peggy's cousin.Today's stats
mileage 75.8
ride time 5.5
speed 13.3
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