Hey everyone!

Today we’re in Jacksonville, Florida with friends that I made back in July of 2006 in Oaxaca, Mexico. We were attending the same language school and hit it off. We’ve tried before to get together, but until now haven’t managed to meet up. It’s great to see familiar faces! I want to say thank you to the everyone in the Duff family for feeding us an amazing meal (the best we’ve had on the road so far), giving us a comfy place to sleep, and for spending so much time with us. You’ve been great friends and you’ll never know how much we appreciate your kindness. I knew I’d see you guys again!

We crossed the Georgia/Florida border a few days ago. We had a great time just before crossing the border at the Okefenokee Swamp Park. We rode into the park around 8:30 AM and I immediately started looking for gators. After about 30 minutes of looking I finally saw one in the ditch to our right. I tried to get a good picture, but the lighting was bad. Caitlin wondered if it was really an alligator, but when we looked away for a couple of minutes then looked back it was gone. Once we were in the park we bought a ticket for a swamp tour. From the boat we saw a mother with about three or four babies. We also saw a few other gators swimming around the channels surrounding the park. At one of the shows we each held a baby gator and a couple of snakes. I have pictures and I’ll be trying to put them up later this week!

Since we’ve gotten to Florida things have gone so much better. On the 21st we camped on a beach near Little Talbot Island. It was so beautiful. We walked along the beach searching for seashells, crabs, and whatever other life we could find. We found two starfish last night, one of which was on the beach. I grabbed it and put it back in the water. This morning Caitlin saved about four starfish. She also found a sand dollar.

The afternoon before we went camping we went to the Kingsley Plantation, the oldest plantation (still standing) in Florida. It had the most beautiful dirt road leading to it. It had a million shades of green on both sides. There were palms, palmettos, and old trees covered in spanish moss. I think it’s the prettiest road we’ve ridden on yet.

The last few days have been extremely hot, but being the resourceful cyclists we are we found a solution. Instead of buying ice cream cones from a fast food place for a few bucks, we found we could spend less money and get a lot more ice cream by buying a half gallon instead. Today we downed an entire half gallon of cherry vanilla ice cream in front of the grocery store. Caitlin said the good thing about riding bikes is that you can eat whatever you want. So true…

Yesterday at a McDonald’s outside of Orange Park, FL we met a really nice guy. He asked us what we were doing, where we were going, and wished us good luck. We had gone outside and were getting ready to pedal off when he came outside and said, “here’s something so you can buy a cold drink,” and handed me $40. I said, “are you serious?” I was shocked! He responded, “it’s in your hand, isn’t it?” smiling from ear to ear knowing he had helped us so much. We didn’t catch his name and he didn’t know ours, but he was so kind to help us. Thank you so much for helping us, mystery man!

We’ve encountered so many people that have gone out of their way to help us. In all, we’ve met so many more good people than bad. I would say for every one bad person we meet at least 40 good ones. I believed before we left that we would come in contact with more good than bad and I was right. I write a lot about the negative things that happen to us because those things are what make the trip an adventure. We get in those situations and have to escape from or deal with them. They make great stories because they grab your attention. But in the end what will make this trip truly memorable are all the good things that happen to us and all the good people we meet. I want to apologize if I’ve written too much about the negative things that have happened. I don’t want anyone to get the wrong impression. Overall, this trip has been an amazing ride. Every day is a new adventure and I look forward to pedaling my way to new destinations and experiences. I hope you all will continue to keep up with us. Thank you for reading!

May your tires be well-aired and a stranger always be willing to help. Thanks, again!