Day 1 Tavares, FL

April 25, 2019

An Inauspicious Beginning

Two years ago when we went to Canada (Two Far 2017), we traveled almost 5000 miles on one set of tires and had no flats.

That ain’t happening this year!

In a déjà vu moment reminiscent of A Little Two Far, when I went out to the garage to load the panniers on the bike, I discovered that our rear tire was flat. Not a big problem but it was an annoyance and did set our departure back a bit.

Before we got out the the garage, we had a flat. I guess rotating the tires caused an old patch to fail

However, I really got annoyed when we had another flat just 29 miles into our journey. To make things even more enjoyable, this happened when we had been riding in the full sun for over an hour on a busy 4 lane highway. The only solace I had, was that as soon as I heard the hiss of air escaping, I got to watch the tire pressure drop to zero on my Garmin, thanks to the TyreWiz app. How neat!! 😊

We had to walk about a hundred yards to find the faint shade that you see. Faint as it was, it was better than nothing

Fortunately, after I fixed the flat, we were only about 2 miles from our planned lunch break (Wendy’s in Wildwood). We took an extra long lunch and I drank gallons of Diet Coke and we cooled off in their A/C.

After lunch, we only had to ride a couple of more miles before we could stop at Russell Stover’s and enjoy their free sample of candy. (That’s the nice thing about cyclo-touring, you don’t worry about your daily caloric intake). I half expected to see someone from the PANTHERS tandem club there, because it is a favorite hangout of theirs, but I guess it was too late in the afternoon. Oh well.

After leaving Russell Stover’s, the rest of the ride was uneventful, but enjoyable. We got into our hotel a little after 5:30, rested up for a bit and then walked across to Ruby Tuesday’s for dinner and enjoyed their salad bar. We’re now ensconced in our room, watching TV and writing this journal entry.

LIFE IS GOOD!! - Kerry

A few other pictures from our first day - flat tires weren't the only thing that happened today. - Jeanna

Our community park - we're saying goodbye until September

We rode ten miles on the Withlacoochee State Trail, a beautiful rail trail a few miles from our house.

The city of Inverness has a large recreation project underway on the Withlacoochee Trail. There will be playgrounds, an old railroad depot with a watering tower, as well as a farmer's market and public restrooms on the site . The city is already very bike friendly, but will be even more-so upon completion.

Farmers Market / pavilion under construction.

We rode about 25 miles on SR 44. It's a busy four lane road, but has a good shoulder most of the way and some nice scenery. Just outside Inverness, there are some pretty lakes.

A few miles later, the road crosses the Withlacoochee River.

There are several cattle ranches between Inverness and Wildwood. Florida ranks #10 in the United States for beef cattle production.

Today's ride: 52 miles (84 km)
Total: 52 miles (84 km)

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Rich McKayAre you there yet? How 'bout now? How 'bout now?

Wishing you well on your journey... and hoping that you've gotten the flat tires out of your system!

Rich and Valerie
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5 years ago

Jeanna & Kerry SmithTo Rich McKayWe were there, but now now we're here and tomorrow we'll be there. Average distance between flats has jumped from 15 miles to about 43 - hoping for a four digit average as we get there
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5 years ago

Lou HarminHooray, hooray, finally on your way. I will look daily.

Lou H.
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5 years ago