Category Archives: USA (FLorida)

Today’s distance / ???????: 9.20 miles / 14.8km
Average speed / ????: 8.6mph / 13.8km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 1h 04m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 1621mi (plus 266mi) / 2609km (plus 430km)
Ascent / ??: n/a
Descent / ??: n/a
End-of-day GPS coordinates: n/a

Tough leaving the warm atmosphere of Pensacola today. Knowing that I have more tough skating ahead. The only thing that keeps me going these days is the excitement of the unknown; a desire to see what is up the road.

Jamey and friend skater/surfer Charlie skated a few blocks to see me off out of Pensacola. I’m sure I’ve never seen so many skateboards in one place before, apart from a skateboard shop. Charlie is a bit of a collector.

We left from where I arrived in Pensacola – the public library. The white water tower eased into the distance as I rolled towards the west.

I was happy to have a cycle path and generous shoulders all the way out of Pensacola and to Pleasant Grove.

It was the following photos that totally ruined my plans for a long day on the board today.

Trash and Treasures Antique Shop. It kind of reminds me of the antique shop in the British TV comedy series The Old Summer Wine. In the TV series, once someone entered the shop, they didn’t leave without being pressured into buying something they don’t need by the elderly shopkeeper.

In this case, I wasn’t pressured into buying something, but as I was taking photos, the owner of the shop, a spritely 80 year old lady named Verna, along with two of her daughters rolled up beside me in their big old car, wound down the window, and asked what I was doing and where I was going. I did my explaination, and explained that I was also in today’s newspaper. Suitably impressed, they proceeded to abduct me for the rest of the day, taking me to lunch and showing me the local Naval Museum.

Despite the fact that I was gate-crashing Bonnie’s (lady holding the baby) birthday party, no one seemed perturbed by the fact that I was present; it was if this happened all the time. Further investigation into the lives of this lively family of four girls showed that they had done their share of camping in their time, driving near and far across the country for extended vacations. They would ocassionally come across a needy-looking person and take them under their wing. Thanks guys!

The navy museum in Pleasant Grove is incredible. It is massive, and jam packed full of very well preserved war planes.

Now, the culprit behind all the signs on the antique shop was of course Verna. Her husband passed away just over a year ago, and ever since she has been filling her time painting signs that express her feelings on all manner of subjects. The one below I found particularly poignant.

I was honoured when she showed me one she had made while I was away with her daughters Shiela and Donna at the navy museum. Stoked!

I ended up staying at Bonnie (the birthday girl) and Al’s place. I went to church with the family in the evening, and crashed at their place afterwards. It was a good thing that it worked out this way, as it seems as though my website was hacked either yesterday or today. I managed to get the issue worked out, and promptly changed my passwords on my server. I apologise if anyone was offended by the images and words that were displayed.

I am staying at Jamey Jones’ place in Pensacola. Great guy, a teacher at Ferry Pass Middle School where I did the presentation yesterday. Among other things, he is a big time skater. Back in the day, he was one of the original new style skaters.

This afternoon, Jamey and I went skating around the neighbourhood. Had I been a better photographer I would have had a nice shot of him doing some classy moves on his boards. As it is, we will have to do with a still off a DVD he features on.

Earlier in the day, Jamey’s sister Lisa took me to have a look at her workplace – the famous award winning J’s Party Shop. They use the old fasioned gas ovens, and create tantilising goodies.

Such sugary delights. Everyone in the bakery were stoked to have a ‘famous’ person visit, and I signed a piece of paper seven times, just so that everyone would have a signature of a Guinness World Record holder…I hope I make it!

I spent far too much time in the place, and ended up leaving with a box full of sugary treats to see me on my way.

The complex to which the bakery is part of is also home to other interesting spots, including a colourful salon. Someone is going to have to remind me of the name of the place…

So a massive thank you to Jamey, Lisa, Anne, Maya, and their many friends for a wonderful stay in Pensacola.

No skating today, but did get the opportunity to speak to 160 middle school kids at Ferry Pass Middle School in Pensacola.

Channel 3 News Clip

I showed my Powerpoint Presentation of my trip so far. It was well received, and I got some great questions at the end. By far my answer to the ‘do you bathe?’ question got the biggest reaction.

“Well, the longest I went without having a shower was 21 days…” I replied, explaining that in some countries (such as Tajikistan, where those 21 days happened), just turning on a tap and having running water sometimes isn’t an option.

Afterwards, I spent most of the day updating the website, which was at least five days out of date.

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FLASHBACK: This date last year – Day 172 – TURKEY: Oltu to Tortum

Today’s distance / ???????: 38 miles / 59.2km
Average speed / ????: 8mph / 12.9km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 4h 34m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 1611mi (plus 266mi) / 2594km (plus 430km)
Ascent / ??: n/a
Descent / ??: n/a
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N30.26.01.4, W087.11.26.8

I was out of the campground by daybreak at 6am. I am having to really make the most of the daylight hours now with the shorter days.

The east-bound traffic on highway 98 was bumper-to-bumper today. I was feeling rather self-counsious, knowing that the most exciting thing that most of the poor sods in the cars were going to see on their commute was some randon guy skating in the opposite direction. I could feel people’s eyes on me as I skated. If I were them, and had to do that commute everyday, I would drive half way and cycle the rest. Sitting in a car, driving at 1mph for 20 minutes is the craziest thing in the world.

A surprise came at about 9am when a car pulled into a MacDonald’s carpark next to where I was skating by, and the occupant of the car jumped out and yelled “You need breakfast?!”

It was Li-Anh, a local who had seen the article about my journey in the local newspaper (Northwest Florida Daily News article here, video footage here) – on the front page no less. LiAnh and her adorable little daughter treated me to a Deluxe McBreakfast (translated as almost as many calories you can fit on to a plate without actually serving sold lard coated in sugar). A wonderful calorific delight, the breakfast powered me to Navarre Beach, quite certainly the most amazing sight I have seen in Florida.

Navarre Beach is like a war-zone. Local residents seem almost non-existant, the streets deserted save for a few contractors working on sparsely distributed houses. A couple of guys are fighting back the sand using high powered petrol engined leaf blowers, clearing sand from the pavements. This is the scene of two consecutive major hurricanes, one in 2004, and one in 2005. In the hurricanes, sand dunes that protected houses and roads from wind-blown sand were flattened, along with many houses. The area is eerily vacant. It is rare to see a house without a For Sale sign in front of it. No one wants to be here, it seems.

A few miles along the Navarre Beach Road, the houses peter out, and a large gate across the road clearly states that noone is to continue along the road. In the distance, large buldozers push sand from the road. I decided to skirt the gate and hike along the beach to the side of the road, to find out what all the fuss is about.

A ton of TNT could not have destoyed the road and parking areas more extensively than the Navarre Beach State Park road is destroyed. Asphalt is twisted and sunken. Nature has taken back with force what once belonged to her.

Giving the buldozers a wide berth, I risk skateboarding on what remains of the road. I come up to more reconstruction work and am told to keep of the road. “We don’t have the proper insurance to have you here, boy! Git off the road!” I am told that 100 feet either side of the road is restricted access. No public allowed. I walk a further mile along the road in the sand, past the major reconstruction works, and start skating on the road again. I didn’t realise how far it was between where the road was closed – I had to skate to avoid having to walk the final 6 miles. There were no more construction officials or workers the rest of the way, and with a strong onshore southerly wind of about 15 knots, I was wishing I had a kite to pull me along the deserted road.

I arrived at the Pensacola beach side of the road unscathed and continued on into Pensacola. Sore feet, sore legs, I am ready for another break. A couple of days here should do wonders.

I met up with Jamey Jones, step-father to a friend of a friend of a friend. Thank you to Eric from Tampa for setting this up, and thank you to Jamey for allowing me to stay a couple of nights to recoup. Jamey has arranged for me to speak to 160 kids at his middle school tomorrow, so that should be good fun.

Today’s distance / ???????: 38 miles / 59.2km
Average speed / ????: 8mph / 12.9km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 4h 34m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 1611mi (plus 266mi) / 2594km (plus 430km)
Ascent / ??: n/a
Descent / ??: n/a
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N30.26.01.4, W087.11.26.8

I was out of the campground by daybreak at 6am. I am having to really make the most of the daylight hours now with the shorter days.

The east-bound traffic on highway 98 was bumper-to-bumper today. I was feeling rather self-counsious, knowing that the most exciting thing that most of the poor sods in the cars were going to see on their commute was some randon guy skating in the opposite direction. I could feel people’s eyes on me as I skated. If I were them, and had to do that commute everyday, I would drive half way and cycle the rest. Sitting in a car, driving at 1mph for 20 minutes is the craziest thing in the world.

A surprise came at about 9am when a car pulled into a MacDonald’s carpark next to where I was skating by, and the occupant of the car jumped out and yelled “You need breakfast?!”

It was Li-Anh, a local who had seen the article about my journey in the local newspaper (Northwest Florida Daily News article here, video footage here) – on the front page no less. LiAnh and her adorable little daughter treated me to a Deluxe McBreakfast (translated as almost as many calories you can fit on to a plate without actually serving sold lard coated in sugar). A wonderful calorific delight, the breakfast powered me to Navarre Beach, quite certainly the most amazing sight I have seen in Florida.

Navarre Beach is like a war-zone. Local residents seem almost non-existant, the streets deserted save for a few contractors working on sparsely distributed houses. A couple of guys are fighting back the sand using high powered petrol engined leaf blowers, clearing sand from the pavements. This is the scene of two consecutive major hurricanes, one in 2004, and one in 2005. In the hurricanes, sand dunes that protected houses and roads from wind-blown sand were flattened, along with many houses. The area is eerily vacant. It is rare to see a house without a For Sale sign in front of it. No one wants to be here, it seems.

A few miles along the Navarre Beach Road, the houses peter out, and a large gate across the road clearly states that noone is to continue along the road. In the distance, large buldozers push sand from the road. I decided to skirt the gate and hike along the beach to the side of the road, to find out what all the fuss is about.

A ton of TNT could not have destoyed the road and parking areas more extensively than the Navarre Beach State Park road is destroyed. Asphalt is twisted and sunken. Nature has taken back with force what once belonged to her.

Giving the buldozers a wide berth, I risk skateboarding on what remains of the road. I come up to more reconstruction work and am told to keep of the road. “We don’t have the proper insurance to have you here, boy! Git off the road!” I am told that 100 feet either side of the road is restricted access. No public allowed. I walk a further mile along the road in the sand, past the major reconstruction works, and start skating on the road again. I didn’t realise how far it was between where the road was closed – I had to skate to avoid having to walk the final 6 miles. There were no more construction officials or workers the rest of the way, and with a strong onshore southerly wind of about 15 knots, I was wishing I had a kite to pull me along the deserted road.

I arrived at the Pensacola beach side of the road unscathed and continued on into Pensacola. Sore feet, sore legs, I am ready for another break. A couple of days here should do wonders.

I met up with Jamey Jones, step-father to a friend of a friend of a friend. Thank you to Eric from Tampa for setting this up, and thank you to Jamey for allowing me to stay a couple of nights to recoup. Jamey has arranged for me to speak to 160 kids at his middle school tomorrow, so that should be good fun.

Today’s distance / ???????: 49.3 miles / 79.4km
Average speed / ????: 8.1mph / 13km/h
Time on skateboard / ????: 5h 42m
Total skateboarding distance to date / ????????????: 1575mi (plus 266mi) / 2534km (plus 430km)
Ascent / ??: n/a
Descent / ??: n/a
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N30.24.31.7, W086.41.59.8

Thank you very much to Mike, Jennifer, and Myranda Broxon of Bruce for putting me up last night. Really apprecaited!

Mike dropped me off back at the Freeport Public Library at just after 6am. It was still dark, so I sat in the light of the library exterior lights and ate breakfast consitsting of peanut butter on bread with bananas, along with some of the sand pear pastries that Jennifer had made last night, and insisted that I take with me. Not that I needed much encouragement – they were delicious.

I was on the road right at daybreak, and after only five minutes on the road I was off it again as a small rain shower passed over. I hid from the drops under the porch of an auto-parts dealer. Judging that I would be OK, I set out again.

It was foggy once again this morning, and as I approached the coast of Choctawachee Bay, mist began rolling in off the cold surface of the water. Even ni the morning this morning it was warm. So warm humid air hit the cooler water and sent great puffs of mist towards land. I stood on a beach looking out to the bay, not knowing whether the opposite shore was 100 meters away or 100km away, the mist was so thick.

It was around 8:30am when I was nearing Niceville. Two separate sets of reporters for local newspapers stopped me to talk for me, in both cases they had driven along highway 20 hoping to see me. I’ll get links to the reports tomorrow when they come out.

Crossing over to Santa Rosa Island, I spent the remainder of the day on gruelling sidewalks along side highway 98, or ‘Bloody’ 98 as it is called, due to the many fatal accidents on the roadway. I have been trying to up my daily mielage, and it is taking a toll on my body. My ankles and calves are sore, as are the balls of my feet.

I stopped just before dusk and rolled into a carpark and ate dinner – sour cream, a mysterious ‘canned meat product’ as described on the can, and some more bananas and peanut butter. Oh for the cheap pasta and pasta sauce of Europe…

As I was finishing my ‘dinner’ a walked up to me and asked what I was doing. “You know this is military property, right?” he asked.

I had an inkling that it might have been, but he didn’t seem all that concerned. Once I had done my spiel about what I was doing, he suggested that I stay with him and his wife that night, rather than camp out. “All around here is military property – you’d have a hard time explaining why you’re camping here” he explained.

Shortly after, his wife arrived. After a quick discussion with his wife, it was clear that his wife wished to have nothing to do with this random stranger that had apparently latched onto her husband. The guy apologised, and explained that it was not going to be possible for me to stay at their place. By this time is was dark, and the mist was once again rolling in from the Gulf of Mexico. He suggested I try at the family camping ground to see if the campground host would let me stay, even though I was not military.

I gave that a shot, and ended up in the campground.

Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 49.7 miles / 80km
Average speed / 平均速度: 8.7mph / 14km/h
Time on skateboard / 走行時間: 5h 42m
Total skateboarding distance to date / 今までスケボで走った距離: 1525mi (plus 266mi) / 2455km (plus 430km)
Ascent / 上り: +220m
Descent / 下り: -215m
End-of-day GPS coordinates: n/a

Another great smooth riding day, starting out with thick smoke fog.

Hit some soft sand on a footpath and fell off my board. I wasn’t going very fast however, so no major issues there. That makes fall number three.

I had made 50kms by lunchtime, and by the time I had arrived in Freeport I had almost 80km on the clock. I wanted to push on further, but while at the library, a woman overheard my conversation with another person about my trip, and asked if I needed a place to stay for the night. Jennifer was her name, and she put me up with her and her husband (Mike) and step-daughter (Myranda) in a small town called Bruce. It was a 10 mile drive to Bruce from Freeport back the way I had come. Jennifer promised to give me a ride back to Freeport in the morning.

Myranda is studying culinary arts at school, and Mike is an auto mechanic in Niceville, a 20 mile commute away. For dinner we had chicken and risotto. The chicken…chicken breasts…the biggest I have seen in my life. The margarine tub that was in the fridge…massive. Everything here in the US is on a bigger scale. Mike’s pickup truck is not a truck, it is a tank.

Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 61.4 miles / 98.7km
Average speed / 平均速度: 9.9mph / 15.9km/h
Time on skateboard / 走行時間: 6h 12m
Total skateboarding distance to date / 今までスケボで走った距離: 1476mi (plus 266mi) / 2375km (plus 430km)
Ascent / 上り: negligible
Descent / 下り: negligible
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N30.30.46.4, W085.24.43.5

What a difference a couple of days off makes. My legs were feeling strong again, I was relaxed and enjoying the scenery again. My skating style has matured slightly, with me realising that I don’t have to push as hard as I have been in the past. In the past I have pushed as though I was sprinting, trying to get every drop of speed out of the board with each push. I now sacrifice speed for endurance and take it easy. It makes a big difference in the long run.

It was misty until 10am today. A heavy mist than clings to the trees, hovers over the swamps.

As I was having a break at a petrol station, I met a New Zealand couple on their way across the US in a car. They were from Christchurch.

Had to take a massive detour off HWY 20, because of a lack of shoulders and heavy traffic. Smooth back road. Camped in the backyard of a church.

And what the hang is with this?! Piggly Wiggly This is a grocery store I came across today.