Day 46: Marianna, Florida

We spent last evening before dinner having Chandler and  Murph supervise Jeff putting on new chains on both our bikes.  Worked like a charm for Lisa.  Jeff's chain is skipping in the middle gears, most often used, of the cassette - just waiting for the chain to stretch.

After a home-cooked meal prepared by the residents of the RV park, which included a whole plate of homemade cookies for each table, we walked over to the fire pit for entertainment.

Sunrise in Defuniak Springs

After the entertainment, our air mattress went flat. It was about 1:15 am when I was struggling to get a fully inflated queen mattress through the door of the tent.  The tent crew blows up a couple extra mattresses every night and leaves them in an empty tent, so Jeff went and found a double size and we put it on top of our deflated one, so we were able to sleep.




 The route to Marianna, Florida was 68 scheduled miles with a one mile change/addition due to road construction before we began.  The weather was perfect.  I believe this was the first day without the threat of rain.  The sun accompanied us the entire way.

Ken joined us back today; he was the one who had to visit the eye doctor for a tear in his eye which was giving him flashing lights in his eyes.  The laser treatment seemed to work.  He was able to ride all 68 miles without issue and without making it worse. Before we got out of town, Jeff was called into service to replace Gail's chain that had broken and fallen off her bike.  Good thing she was carrying a spare chain.

Jeff and I took the opportunity to visit Partners for Pets (Marianna, FL) no-kill shelter in Marianna, which added 8 miles to our route, but well worth it.  We dropped off a donation and met a bunch of cute dogs, small and large.  We played with a couple puppies that had just been dropped off and a three year old yellow lab mix named, Trapper. Trapper had been tied to a pole and was nearly starved to death when someone brought him to Partners.  He is looking better now, but still needs some weight.  He took a shine to Jeff.  We thought maybe some time out of his cage would make him happy; unfortunately, he would not go back in.  The manager had to come out and pick him up.  She said he is in a cage with a roof because he tends to climb up and out of anything else.  Still no reason to leave him to starve to death. All the dogs have rescue stories more sad than the next.  A pup had many scars on him because he had fleas so bad he was itching himself to open sores and someone finally alerted these kind people to rescue him.  Two tiny pups were dropped off just minutes before we arrived, found in a crate on by the highway.  Spay and neuter programs are nonexistent.  It is a vicious cycle, but people need to be educated on how to treat a living, breathing animal humanely.  It happens everywhere, not just here.

Luckily these dogs have a better fate than those shipped out of the county - they will survive the week.  Unfortunately, more dogs are being sent to a shelter out of the county because Partners for Pets are overloaded and has no more vacancies, but it hard for them to turn anyone away.

Two years ago, while we are at the camp we are tonight, Arrowhead in Marianna, FL, a man dropped off a puppy with the tent crew and drove away.  Someone directed Bubba to Partners for Pets (facebook), a no-kill non-profit shelter here in Marianna.  We have followed them on Facebook ever since.  By the way, Debbie at Partners for Pets says the pup, Coaster, was adopted to a wonderful family and they love the dog.

Milestone:  Just one more night tonight in the tents, and then we say good-bye to them for this trip.