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Thursday, December 6, 2001 - Panhandling Across Florida
64 miles. Quincy, FL to East Tallahasse KOA, 6 miles south of Monticello,
FL
That's right. That is exactly what we are doing.
George W. Bush panhandled his way to the White House and we are following in his
footsteps. In fact it is the only way to get from Pensacola to Jacksonville via
bicycles. We left Quincy and headed south on C.R. 268. It was warm enough to
start in our cycling shorts, to be another sunny day in the mid-70's.
It was typical north Florida rural riding thru mainly
wooded terrain. Twenty miles bought us to Tallahassee, the state capitol and
home to three schools of higher learning, most notably Florida State University.
After eating lunch we rode thru the city, including a pass by the university. It
is nice looking with quiet streets and the usual array of impressive halls,
frats and sororities. The streets are lined with pines and great Spanish moss
encrusted oaks which must be greatly appreciated in the summer.
After Tallahassee, we rode south on the St. Marks trail
for about 7 miles, then on to more rural roads. We took a break at the Natural
Bridge Battlefield State Historic Site. It was here on March 6, 1865 that the
Confederacy scored perhaps its last victory of the Civil War. A raiding force of
about 860 Union troops was repulsed south of Tallahassee by a scratch force of
militia and boys from the Florida Seminary School, now FSU. Tallahassee was the
only Confederate state Capitol not captured during the war, and they are proud
of it.
The route takes a big swing south, about 45 miles to
Monticello, {that is Monticello with a soft c, not a ch sound} instead of 20 by
taking U.S. 90, but it was well worth it. The long way has great biking roads.
On this stretch we rode past the three W's: Woodville, Waciss and Waukeenah.
Yesterday we entered the eastern time zone. We have
been operating on sun time, so even tho' we are getting up and going to bed at
the same time, it sounds a lot better to get up at 5:45 instead of 4:45. We have
been operating on the same time since entering New Mexico and it nice to finally
be on Eastern Time. Updated ETA to Jacksonville is Sunday.
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