Day 48: Escape from Ant Hell

Roadside flowers

When last I posted we were contemplating an escape from "Ant Hell" and by the time we went to bed we had made a reservation at a Best Western in Live Oak, Florida.  John thought he was being bitten at night and when we got up in the morning we found hundreds of ants in our tent.  Our troubles were slight in comparison to some of the other riders.  Several were bitten all night and eventually gave up and went into the building.  Others stayed in their tents but woke up to find thousands of ants in their hair, their clothing, their luggage, etc.  We were confirmed in our feeling that it was a great time to make tracks for elsewhere.

Using just John's backpack (I carried it) and my big LL Bean purse-like thing (we bungee corded it to John's bike) we carried a set of clothes into which to change, toothbrushes and not much else.  We packed up and hit the road for Live Oak.  Upon arrival we had a great lunch at the famed "Dixie Grill" and moved on to the Best Western-- probably the most marginal BW I have ever stayed at but way better than sleeping with the ants.

This ploy earned us 36 of a supposed 79 mile ride so we were happy to have a relaxed breakfast-- again at the Dixie Grill and hit the road at about ten.  I mentioned earlier that since Pensacola we have been on U.S. Route 90, and despite the fact that it is smoother than it was in Texas, my bad attitude has reared up again.  Great stretches of the road run straight into the horizon-- a characteristic that makes it tedious in the extreme-- the only redeeming factor being the masses of wildflowers on both sides but that is not enough to keep me happy for days.  Fortunately today we were able to leave 90 and ride on local roads that are far more pleasant.

The great aggravation today was that the route was fully seven miles longer than the cue sheet and ended with a mile of road too sandy to properly ride.  One of Bubba's tricks with the cue sheet is to exclude any mileage into or out of a camp site and it is often a mile or more.  While annoyed I got past it pretty quickly but some of the riders are slower to bounce back and there was lots of grousing. The least patient four have gone elsewhere but we are in reasonably nice (and air conditioned) cabins tonight so we had a jolly salmon dinner and all was forgiven.

Tomorrow's ride is purported to be the same as today-- i.e. 79 miles and it will almost certainly be more than that.  Since it is our last full day of riding, I have folded my cue sheet so that I cannot see the miles and I will not let the mileage display on my Garmin.  These measures  are intended to allow me to focus on the pleasures of the ride.  I will let you know how it goes!