Day 47: Tallahassee, Florida

Seventy-five difficult miles to and through the city of Tallahassee, Florida.  If anyone mentions that there are no hills in Florida, they need to visit Tallahassee and Pensacola.  The hills were not long, but they were steep.

Jeff took off early and was probably at the hotel by 12:30.  Lisa started riding with our usual group, but after the first SAG, about 10:30 ET, broke off to ride on her own--that was not really the intention, but was hoping to find other riders along the way to ride with; unfortunately, that did not happen, so she rode by herself.  She was trying to get to the hotel by 3:00 for the interview linked below.  She recorded the highest average speed of the entire trip and was doing good for time...until those aforementioned hills and traffic lights in Tallahassee, not to mention the Florida heat (we started out in jackets with temps in the mid 50s). There were a ton of turns in Tallahassee, and unfortunately, the Garmin locked up, so she had to rely on the arrows put down on the ground by Ed and Joyce (bless you both!).  That and the route sheet in hand kept her on course.  No wrong turns anywhere, and thank God for no flats (she actually prayed for this very thing, so thank God, indeed!).  She arrived at the hotel at 2:50, and we got the call from Michelle Li, reporter from WISC-TV 3 in Madison, WI, at 3:30.  Whew!  Just enough time to down a diet Coke and freshen up the helmet hair in time to be on the air, though I think I looked visibly tired. We are grateful for the added publicity for Pedal 4 Paws and Custom Canines.

Thanks to Verizon, we were able to conduct a short interview.

Verizon sponsored us by donating an in-kind donation of a Sony tablet, Samsung Note 4 smartphone, both with hotspots and unlimited data for these 2 months of the trip.  It has all proved invaluable, not only to us, but to several fellow riders who used the hotspot to reach loved ones at home when no WiFi was available in the remote areas we were in.  However, have to say that Verizon had the most extensive and available network connections as opposed to their competitors.

Milestone:  Entered the Eastern Time Zone.  We gained an hour coming over the middle of the Chattahoochee River.

By the way, Lisa says it is not her favorite to ride alone.  She found herself singing songs from Bruce Springsteen ("Living Proof,"  "Thunder Road"), Stevie Nicks ("Landslide"), Garth Brooks ("Baton Rouge") just to pass the time and hear anything but the sound of traffic and the bike wheels.  It makes us again realize how nice it is to have a group to ride with and how much we help each other get through those miles each day.

Dam on the Chattahoochee