Day 31

What a beautiful ride today was! I left Gainesville a little before 11:00 and started up north to Wellborn, FL.

I soon got quite annoyed and pretty agitated. The new chain was skipping all over the new cassette. That's not supposed to happen! I found a bike shop (an awful bike shop) that wouldn't touch it so I had to call Bikes and More back in Gainesville to ask them what they can do. The owner, Paul, drove all the way out to see if he could fix it. Luckily, I had gone only 20 miles by this point. He arrived, checked over everything, took off the cassette, re-aligned everything and put it back together. Luckily, that was all it needed. I was back on the road in no time - with no need to go all the way back to Gainesville.

The ride was, like I said, beautiful. There were a lot more farms, and the sky looked like it was from a movie.



Just look at that sky!



There were a ton of these birds all over a farm. They looked like Great Egrets, but a little smaller.



I thought this speed limit was a little fast for this road. There is only one lane in either direction!



Luckily, I found a nice bike path to help me avoid all the cars flying by.



I'm glad I avoided sticking to the ACA route - I would not have gotten to see most of the beautiful scenery. I passed by a park that had natural springs, diving, and tubing. I wish I could have gone but it was already so late in the day and I probably would have felt lonely on a tube all by my lonesome.



There is a lot of logging going on down here. When they finish chopping down all the trees, they burn the land and get ready to farm it.



There are also a ton of cattle farms. I made friends with some cows as I passed by. I nearly perfected my MOO today.



Look at all that beef!



I was glad to see a lot of pasture for these animals instead of pens. Actually, I didn't see a single pen all day.



This was a nice road to bike down, except for the head wind.



Not sure what this was, but I likes the sign.



More cows!



This hill was beautiful. The trees shaded it, making it cooler. When I reached the peak, I got a faint whiff of late summer air. The cool air and that familiar smell, along with a crow squawking in the distance made me long for autumn in the northeast - probably the thing I will miss most on my journey.



I finally reached my destination. Though I did not see any blueberry farms (or much of anything else for that matter), I was excited to finally finish my day. Now to find a place to rest.



The beautiful sky followed me all the way here.



I ended up setting my tent behind a fire station. The guys there were so nice. They even let me take a shower and asked if I needed to do any laundry. The southern accent was a little hard to understand at some points - but that was part of the experience.



As night fell, the sky got even more beautiful. I sat for a couple hours just looking up at it - and munching on some Halloween Oreos.



Finally when night fell, I zippered up my tent and fell asleep to the sound of wild dogs causing mischief around the neighborhood.

All in all - an incredibly beautiful day. I really love my life.

Total mileage: 64