Day 14: Lake Placid to Sunray (Frostproof)

January 18, 2014

Seemingly in response to my whining about the boring surroundings, Lake Placid first put out a sign designating it the Caladium capital of the world, and then the Most Interesting Town 2013. That was enough to have us hang a left and head into downtown to see what all the excitement was about. It turned out that like the town of Chemainus near our home, Lake Placid has murals on the sides of many of the buildings.Moreover, there was music and a small crowd gathered near the center of town. We rolled up to two teenage girls and had our revenge by plying them with our own raft of questions.

The moon had not yet set as we entered downtown Lake Placid

"Why is this the most interesting town?" Laughter. Probably Reader's Digest ran out of other towns to name. OK, maybe its the murals and the caladiums.

"Where are the caladiums?" Only in Summer, they are hung from all the lampposts and trees.

"What is all the excitement about here right now?" A 5k for charity.

The lake scene to the east of Lake Placid town

With that information safely stored away, we returned to our northerly heading out of town. Actually our heading is more like NNW, which happened to be exactly the wind direction. So once again we had to plow directly into a head wind.

A roadside fruit vendor north of Lake PLacid. He could not answer our questions about orchard disease a little south.

Honey Bell oranges are only available here and in a limited season.

Look Avi. Avi is very often asked to use his "inside voice".

What you see when making a "technical stop" in an orange grove.

While yesterday I was looking for any signs to read along the road, we now entered the Sebring area. This is 30 km of continuous retail stuff, naturally all with signage. The retail includes all the usual suspects, Home Depot, Lowes, Walgreens, CPS Pharmacy, Walmart, Wendy's, and so forth, but also many independent sellers. Very notable was the number of medical offices, from dentists to eye doctors to cardiologists. All are in stand alone offices, seemingly vying with the tire shops and Cuban restaurants for your business.

Sebring is built around a lake, making it a lovely setting and providing a home for wading birds. We miss them, having seen few since the Everglades.

This quite developed area meant that we had to be alert for drivers exiting streets to our right and trying for left turns, or drivers coming up behind us and doing right turns. With the former, we would try to catch the eye of each one and make sure they were aware that a bicycle was coming. Otherwise, we know from our own driving, it is easy to focus only on the cars that will be in the way of your turn. Often catching the eyes was made difficult by tinted windows. And when you did peer through, you would often find the driver on the cell phone. Tinting is clearly legal here. Don't know about the cell phones.

I am now pretty much cured, and starting to look around with more interest and take more pleasure in the exercise of cycling. Poor Dodie though, is now really battling the cold, plus a strange pain like a pinched nerve in the back, which has been constant for a few days. Today, despite cold tablets, Ibuprophen, and anything else swallowable, she had to dig deep to fight the wind. She began to worry that the back pain could kill this tour, and the next one. I tried to encourage her to go slow and stop frequently, and stressed that there was no pressure to get to anywhere special anytime soon. Dodie already knew that this was the way to do it.

Since places to camp are pretty much nonexistent here anyway, we decided to head for a motel sooner than later, and stash Dodie in a nice soft bed. We did scope out some motels on Google Maps, but as we passed each one Dodie would say she was game to try for the next one. By the time we did finally stop she was pretty shaky. Too shaky almost to eat. However we went into a restaurant that was very reasonably priced and had great food, including a salad bar.

Before long I am sure that Dodie too will shake off the cold and the pain, so that both of us can really enjoy the cycle. In the meantime, with only one ill at a time we can lean on each other and continue to creep forward.

Entering Sebring. We did not tour the historic portion, though

An Aldi store! European friends will recognize this grocery. What is it doing here?

Look Ken Graham, a reason to come to North America

Part of the pamphlet from the antique tractor people.

Veggies! Just what the doctor ordered to build up Grampies' strength.

Where we are going next - following 27 through Polk County by Lake Wales and Winter Haven

Today's ride: 63 km (39 miles)
Total: 693 km (430 miles)

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