Day 48: Biking to Madison

That is Madison, Florida.

It was a short day due to a snafu yesterday; only 55 miles today. That combined with a hotel stay and having lost an hour, as we entered the Eastern time zone, resulted in a late start from Tallahassee. At this point we savor every luxury: towels, bed, air conditioning/heat, short walk to private bathroom, multiple electric outlets, and refrigerator. We didn’t depart until 8:15.

Although rain threatened all day, we managed to complete the hilly ride to Greenville, FL (home of Ray Charles) and a flat, fast, wind-aided ride into Madison, FL without any precipitation.

In celebration of Madison County’s favorite son, we watched the movie “Ray” before bed. Long film, I didn’t get to bed until after eleven. We have a rest day tomorrow!




A quick review of our bike this afternoon revealed an issue. My favorite seat was damaged or worn. The leather was torn and was potentially the cause or at least a contributing factor to some irritations. Thankfully I wwas able to reinstall the seat that we began the ride on as I was forced to discard my “old friend”, Selle Italia ti. We have spent many hours together and traveled thousands of miles.




This evening’s meal was provided by our hosts for the next two nights. The baptist church arranged a potluck dinner. Southern fried chicken, perfectly prepared, was accompanied by every Southern comfort food imaginable with peach cobbler for dessert. After dinner a guest shared some history of Madison County and we were each asked to tell our reason for riding and our favorite part of the trip. Impromptu my reply was satisfactory, but after further thought, the best part of this experience has been gaining an appreciation for living simply and living in the moment.