Thursday, October 31, 1996
Happy Halloween!
Time out: 8:17 AM. Temp. 73°.
I had one of the worst motel rooms of the entire trip last night: the Red Carpet Inn at Lake Wales. In my room, I killed at least 100 ants and a couple of dozen other bugs, including a cockroach. There were insects in the bathroom, on the bed and all over my room. They were on me at several points during the night. At one point in the night, I took all the covers off the bed, leaving just the bottom sheet, so I could better see the bugs that were driving me nuts. I had an awful sleep.
It was real HOT again today: 93°. I got off to a good start after eating two orders of good french toast (the best in days) at the restaurant adjacent to the awful motel.
At the changeover from Polk County to Highland County, I lost the highway shoulder. It was a 4-lane divided highway with NO shoulders for several miles north of Avon Park. After a couple of miles of fear for my life, I stopped and asked a well-driller if there was any other way to go, but he said no. Luckily, however, after about 4 miles, I hit a stretch of new pavement and the shoulder returned. I had traveled 20 miles by 10:00. There were no hills like I was told by the Sheriff's deputy yesterday to expect. I was averaging over 15 mph today.
I saw some egrets.
My grandparents lived at Avon Park in the 50's and I went there several times as a kid to visit. Today, I couldn't recognize enough of Avon Park (from more than 35 years ago) to find their house. I do recall it was on a lake and there were water mocassins and alligators in the lake--way back when I was a kid. My brother and I would paddle around the lake with a boat made from two car hoods welded together. The Avon Park area has grown a lot since then; it was not recognizeable.
I passed a huge orange juice factory (2 pictures):
At Sebring, I stopped at D&S bikes to look for more headbands (none left) and seek input on routes. They let me use their phone to call the bicycle coordinator. It turned out that there isn't one for Highland County and nobody I contacted seemed to know much about the highway shoulders or traffic volumes.
 |
 |
The manager and a customer (photo) from Lake Placid discussed
my options with me at length. I was advised that Rt. 98 to Okeechobee is
too busy with trucks and is 2 lane. It was suggested that US-27 was my best
option and that I should stay the night at 
Clewiston.
From Clewiston, I have a 75 mile stretch through the Everglades with no
services whatsoever, so no matter what, I had to stop there for the night.
Everybody I talked to dismissed any thoughts of staying at South Bay or
Belle Glade, saying there are motels there, but "you don't want to
stay there." Okay.
At 1:30, I'd gone 40 miles and had a dilemma: 10 miles to Lake Placid, or 60 miles to Clewiston. Could I do a century (100 miles) today with 60 to go in 4 hours at 93°?
I rode on toward Lake Placid to see how much progress I could make. At 1:52 PM, I'd gone 45 miles but was having extreme difficulty with perspiration dripping into my eyes. I had to stop at least every mile to wipe my face. Otherwise, I was blinded by the sweat in my eyes.
At Lake Placid, I mailed home some superfluous luggage, including amazingly enough: my long johns, gloves, hat, down vest, receipts, etc. I was amazed I was still carrying that stuff. The orange groves and lake in the background near the post office were quite pretty:
It was about 3:00 by then. I concluded that the heat precluded me from realistically shooting for a century and Clewiston today. I rode through town looking for the Best Western and finally a couple of miles south of Lake Placid asked a State Trooper where it was. He directed me there and suggested I talk to another trooper about Dade County lodging options. I got some good pointers from the troopers.
The Lake Placid Best Western is 58 miles from Clewiston. The swimming pool felt real nice.
Comment: My award for the best drivers nationwide goes to UPS. Their drivers are always courteous and wave to me.
Today is Halloween and I am ready for it. I've been wearing my lycra Halloween costumes for weeks. At a sports bar in Dawson Creek, a slightly inebriated patron saw my lycra outfit and tried to pick a fight: "What are you doing--going for a bike ride or something?" I responded: "As a matter of fact, yes I am." He then asked: "Well where're you coming from and where're you going to?" I told him and his mouth dropped open and he said loudly "NO S _ _ _," and then he bought me a beer. I wonder if that trick or treat will work tonight (yes it did-Ed).
I didn't see any bugs yet tonight here in Lake Placid, but I did see several lizards and frogs on the premises as I went to do my laundry.
Total mileage today: 54.
 Florida |
  |
 Tailwinds Home Page |
© Ed Noonan 1996, 1997