Wednesday, October 30, 1996
Time out: 11:15 AM.
Bah Humbug!
I slept late and decided to forego taking in any of the Disney attractions. Disney World is for kids and I couldn't stand it when my daughter was a kid. Epcot is for more mature audiences, but I was there earlier this year and once is enough (probably for a lifetime).
I didn't really enjoy my stay last night at the Disney All-Star Resorts Sports Complex. There were too many screaming "ninnies;" children throwing tantrums while over-indulgent parents stood idly by. At midnight, there were still kids in the swimming pool.
Here is a daytime shot.
The dining facilities consisted of a "food court" where one could choose from a selection of institutional food. For breakfast, I had french toast, sausage, a fruit cup and a 1/4 canteloupe (all awful). A batch of french toast was cooked up, then piled into a big pan for serving to whomever might want some. Everything else was prepackaged in shink wrap. I hated it all. I like my breakfast food to be cooked for me.
Dinner last night wasn't any better. Amazingly enough I can't remember what I ate.
The room itself was clean, but despite a non-smoking designation, it reeked of stale cigarette smoke. It was one of the worst smelling rooms of the trip. It was NOT a $69 room in comparison with the rates I've been paying for the last couple of months. I was paying double for the location. I certainly expected that. When I rode into the Walt Disney World complex, I stopped at the Westin Hotel on premises and was quoted a "10% discount" rate of $225 for one person/one night. The food was probably better. The Westins I've stayed at (Seattle, Vancouver, etc) have all been pretty good, but the price was more than I was willing to pay on this trip. Even a can of pop in a machine cost more at Disney World: $1.00 vs. 60 cents anywhere else in Florida.
The problem I have with Disney World is that it is all artificial. For 3 months on the road, I've lived in the real world. I prefer it to Disney's fantasies.
The sport of the Sports Resort consists of oversized baseball gloves, balls, etc. It has nothing to do with real sports. I thought the management might be interested in me because I'm real. I really pedaled my bike from Alaska. But, they're so caught up in the fantasy of sport that they didn't care. Oh well. I don't care what they think of me. The people of the world know better than Disney where reality fits in.
The sights along the road in an average day riding a bicycle cross-country far exceed what you'd see in Disney World. I suggest skipping Disney and seeing the real world.
The hotels west of the Disney World Main Gate appear to offer a lot more for less moeny than the properties in the park. The food offerings off-premises (on Rt. 192) looked a whole lot better: Outback Steakhouse; International House of Pancakes; various Chinese restaurants, etc. If you bother bicycling through the area, I recommend staying off premises.
I was also surprised by a total failure on Disney's part to make the park bicycle friendly. The roads into the park don't have bicycle lanes or shoulders.
Toward the western end of the Main Gate commercial strip, I stopped at a fruit stand and bought some orange juice to drink and some apples to take with me. I drank a pint of juice and as I was paying, the store owner gave me another pint of juice after finding out where I was riding from and to.
I headed west on Rt. 192 back to US-27 (about 8 miles west of the park). Then I headed south on US-27. At Noon it was 94 degrees. I was melting. The cotton headband I was wearing (under my helmet) quickly became saturated with perspiration. I dug a cotton bicycle hat out of my panniers and put it on instead. Later when I stopped for Gatorade, I but the headband back on, over the hat. I was drenched with perspiration all day. It was dripping into my eyes and at times I couldn't see and would have to stop about every mile or so to use my hand towel to wipe off the perspiration. I stopped frequently too for Gatorade (I lost count of the number of times).
If I could have, I'd have taken pictures of the heat, but I don't know how to do it justice. It was very very hot. US-27 was a four lane divided highway with 3' shoulders all day today, except for a couple of places where the road narrowed to cross a bridge or overpass and the shoulders vanished. There were no sights of particular interest. Cypress Gardens was off route a few miles to the west.
I stopped for the day at 4:20. As I headed south from Lake Wales
at around 4:00, I realized there was less than 2 hours of riding time left.
The first road sign I saw said that Avon Park was 23 miles south. I reached
a construction zone and asked a police officer there if there were any motels
before Avon Park. 
He said that there were none and
that I'd be facing some hills, so he doubted I'd make it before the 5:45
PM sunset. He said he was a bicyclist and his advice was for me to turn
back. So I did.
The Universal maps I am using divide the State of Florida into 3 regions: North, Central and South. Tomorrow, I'll be using the South Florida map. My journey is almost over.
Note: I downloaded PageMill 2.0 Beta 5 today from Adobe's website. Beta 4 (which I've been using for the last few weeks) expires tomorrow and won't work, but the released final version is not yet shipping and how would I get it anyway? Beta 5 will last until the end of November, but it doesn't include a spelling checker and several other features I've come to depend upon. I'm too tired every day to spell well, and I make a lot of typos. Sorry.
Total mileage today: 44.
 Florida |
  |
 Tailwinds Home Page |
© Ed Noonan 1996, 1997