January 28, 2015
Wrong Distance Call
Our preference is to just set off on a general route, and find camping or motels, and supplies as we go along. What we really hate is having to make reservations and in that way tying ourselves to a specific route and timing. But there really are spots where some planning is necessary to avoid going to bed hungry, in a ditch.
So as part of mapping panic (described in the previous page) Dodie did spin us around the whole 2200 kilometers/42 days, plotting out the daily distances and taking us from possible sleeping spot to possible sleeping spot. It took a while, because suitable campgrounds and motels are fairly scarce. Finally she was done, and we could turn to easier chores, like fitting the bikes into their suitcases.
Only later did Dodie notice a slight glitch - we were arriving at Fort Lauderdale for our flight out one day too late. Grrr. So that meant trying to go around the thing again, finding spots that were just a little bit further each time, to make the calendar give up one day by the end.
Doing this twice gave us an extra good appreciation of just what is (and isn't) available in Florida. For example, ask Google Maps for a look at the stretch from North Palm Beach to Boca Raton. It's a comfortable 60 km cycle. How about a place to stay over that range? A Google Map search for "Campground" turns up 562 hits. Dozens of little red prospects. Wow! Only thing, none (almost none) are actually what we would call campgrounds. They are RV parks with no tenting, or worse, RV sales yards. Have a look:
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To their "credit", ACA also agrees. There is actually only one real place - John Prince county park, 5 km off route. OK, we'll take it. But sheesh!
So, we rejigged the distances, managing to preserve some of our goals - hanging around in the Everglades, getting on the Teco-Auburndale. Van Fleet, and Withlacoochie trails through central Florida, and spending a day looking for pirates and such in St. Augustine. Ok, whew.
Speaking of whew, what ever happened to those 150 pounds of load that we cried about in the page "Weighty Matters"? Did we make dramatic cuts - like touring Republicans? Well actually, naw. What we did was just load as much weight as possible onto the back of the peasant class (Steve).
Even this strategy did not really produce dramatic results. As long as both bikes have all their bags and racks on, and those bags have something in them, even the lighter stuff, the share of the load on each bike is hard to move off 50/50. We have seen some couples where the stronger rider has panniers and a trailer. That is the real way to do it. But in our case, the 100 pounds of gear in panniers (including water, excluding the basic bikes) broke down this way:
Actually, while it was not even 60/40 as a split, one rider is carrying 18.6 pounds more than the other. That ought to count for something.
And oh, back to tenting. Even low life cats understand the need for a spot to pitch:
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