Day 47: Wednesday 04/20/16, Marianna, FL to Tallahassee, FL

 

Sunrise this morning over the lake at our Marianne, Florida camping site.

 

Another early morning scene of the lake showing the Spanish Moss and fog still hanging over the water.

Day 47 distance: 76 miles

Total miles:  2588 miles

Elevation gain: 2409 feet

Map of today's ride:

On Day 18 of this C2C, a few miles outside of Van Horn, Texas, we left the Mountain Time Zone and entered the Central Time Zone. Today, on Day 47, some 29 days later, we finally left the Central Time Zone and entered into the Eastern Time Zone when we crossed the Chattahoochee River... (Take it away Alan Jackson!)..., about 21 miles into our ride today from Marianne, Florida. That is one big time zone!

It was another good day for riding with no wind of significance, blue skies, and roads with a wide shoulder. The first 55 miles were the typical forest lined roads we have been riding, although we experienced more hills than we had seen so far in Florida. However, after riding through Texas Hill Country with serious hills, today's hills were easy to master. The last 20 miles of the ride were  through the capital city of  Florida, Tallahassee. Tallahassee is the 126th largest US city with a 2014 population of slightly over 375,000 people. It is also the home of Florida State University. There were also hills in the city but other than a few busy streets, we rode almost exclusively on lazy urban streets, skirting anything resembling downtown.

This picture was taken from the middle of the Chattahoochee River Bridge. At this point we were leaving the Central Time Zone and entering the Eastern Time Zone.The reservoir behind the dam is Lake Seminole and primarily lies in the state of Georgia.

A scene on the road about 30 miles outside Tallahassee, Florida. Another beautiful road with a great bicycle lane.

Getting into the Tallahassee traffic. We only had a few busy intersections with this much traffic to ride through.

This is an example of the more typical quiet residential street on our route through Tallahassee today.

Fred Lipton, coaster from Toronto, Canada is greeted at a SAG stop by someone's Great Dane. The dog reportedly weighs 150 pounds and her name is Edna May. I think I know which one I would place a bet on to win in a wrestling match!

Meet coaster Julie Willmering from Tennessee. Coasters from 2015 may note a resemblance to 2015 coaster Marla Drewel-Lynch. In fact, a lady at the Baptist Church where we were served lunch this year approached Julie to tell her she remembered her from last year! Not only are there physical resemblances, but both Julie and Marla are very personable and excellent strong riders.

Since Mike Barga left this year's C2C (as scheduled), Florida coaster Mark Copher (pictured) and I have been roommates whenever we stay in motels. Just like when we tent, the Wolf Pack places all of our luggage in our rooms ahead of our arrival. Tonight we are staying at a very nice Best Western Motel on the east end of Tallahassee, Florida.

Another winner!