January 10th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (FLorida)
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.
January 10th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (FLorida)
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.
January 9th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (FLorida)
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.
January 8th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (FLorida)
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.
January 7th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (FLorida)
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.
January 5th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (FLorida)
Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 7.8 miles / 12.6km
Average speed / 平均速度: 8.6mph / 12.6km/h
Time on skateboard / 走行時間: 45 minutes
Total skateboarding distance to date / 今までスケボで走った距離: 1414mi (plus 266mi) / 2276km (plus 430km)
Ascent / 上り: negligible
Descent / 下り: negligible
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N30.25.08.5, W084.34.20.1
There comes a time when my body says STOP! Physically and mentally, traveling, buy any means, is hard work. With a more stable life comes patterns, regularity. With traveling, every day is a new environment. Constant adjustment is required. Add to this up to 100km a day skateboarding with a loaded pack, and the body needs time off to recuperate. And I mean, really lie in bed all day. Do nothing. I isolate myself from people, and just rest.
I stumbled upon the perfect place to do this, at Hall’s Landing county camping ground. Hot showers, quiet, secluded area, open fire pits, trees, a lake view…and best of all, free. Not a dime needed.
Such great circumstances undoubtedly attract more than just your random tourist on a skateboard. While long-term stays are not allowed, the campground was a temporary home to a handful of drifters, not too dis-similar to myself.
Charles, a gentleman of about 50 years old, who moved with a slow shuffle from a childhood bout of Polio, and sporting a few titanium rods in his neck from spinal reconstruction after a 42 foot fall from a power pylon two years ago while at work, is cycling around the circumference of the US.
Lee, another guy in his late fourties, is between work, having worked in Australia, Alaska, South Africa, and other destinations around the world.
Rich, pictured below, has been helping out at the campground for the last few months, and has his own home entertainment center well and truly sorted out in his converted panel van.
So in all I spent two days at the camping ground – three nights. I was entertained by stories from lifetimes on the road. Stories from ‘Nam…
January 4th, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (FLorida)
Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 46.6 miles / 75km
Average speed / 平均速度: 8.5mph / 13km/h
Time on skateboard / 走行時間: 5h 21m
Total skateboarding distance to date / 今までスケボで走った距離: 1407mi (plus 266mi) / 2264km (plus 430km)
Ascent / 上り: negligible
Descent / 下り: negligible
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N30.27.17.4, W084.28.53.9
Yet another smooth bike trail appeared, allowing me to get off the main road from near St. Marks to Tallahassee – the St. Marks Railtrail. Some signs on the trail didn’t exactly fill me with joy and excitement, but it was a welcome respite from the main road and continuing chilly northerly wind.
I didn’t get mugged, and arrived in Tallahassee late afternoon. I had to make the trek into Tallahassee, despite my dislike of large cities, to pick up a warm down vest that has been the focal point of a wee bit of a saga for the last week. The vest was ordered from Backcountry.com and paid for by Carlos Fernandez, of Key West. My thanks to him again for his support of my journey.
The issue came about just after Christmas, when the vest arrived in Tampa. Backcountry had sent the wrong size. I sent the vest back, and arranged for a replacement to be sent to a contact in Springhill. I would pick the replacement up when I arrived there. When I arrive in Springhill however, a completely different item had been sent to me. To their credit, Backcountry.com arranged for another replacement item to be sent ahead to Tallahasse, shipping of course paid, plus free return of the wrong item.
The saga continued to unfold when a few days later, Patrick, my contact in Springhill, called to tell me that Backcountry had sent the proper item to his place, rather than the Tallahassee UPS Store, where I had instructed them to send it. I had to ask Patrick to send the vest, at his expense, to the UPS Store in Tallahassee.
Now, when I arrived at the UPS Store in Tallahassee, there were two packages awaiting me. One from Patrick, and one from Backcountry.com. They had sent two vests out, one to Patrick’s address, and one to the UPS Store.
This messing up of the order was not the greatest first impression of an online outdoor retailer, I must say.
So, after picking up the vest – thank you to Steve from the UPS Store for his assistance – I headed west again. It was getting dark by the time I spied a sign indicating a rest area near Lake Talquin. I followed the sign to a state camping ground. US$26 a night was the going rate.
“There’s a free camping ground just up the road,” the camp host told me, “about three miles away.” He eyed my mode of transportation.
“But that’s a little far on a skateboard, I guess,” he said.
“Just pick a spot, and don’t bother me. You can move to the other campground tomorrow.” He kindly allowed me to stay the night for free.
Later in the evening, some more campers arrived, four Dutch travelers touring Florida by car. We took a ride back into Tallahassee, sampled the culinary delight that is Taco Bell (fast food at its generic best), and generally enjoyed telling stories of our respective observations of the US American Race.
This date last year: Day 165 – TURKEY: In Posof
January 3rd, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (FLorida)
Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 52 miles / 84.8km
Average speed / 平均速度: 8.5mph / 13km/h
Time on skateboard / 走行時間: 6h 13m
Total skateboarding distance to date / 今までスケボで走った距離: 1360mi (plus 266mi) / 2189km (plus 430km)
Ascent / 上り: negligible
Descent / 下り: negligible
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N30.10.29.3, W084.00.30.8
Brrrrr. I am glad that I was inside a warm trailer last night…below freezing temperatures in the morning this morning.
It was tough leaving the warm confines of Greg and Donna’s home.
It was a cold headwind once again until I got back onto highway 19 near Perry. The extra 10 miles worth of detour via Steinhatchee was well worth the warm locals and smooth roads, despite the cold wind.
The jerky Greg gave me was fantastic. He cuts and cures the meat himself, using hot coals. It is not overly chewy like some jerky can be, and full of flavour.
It kept me going along highway 98, the first real westward stretch of road so far in the US. I am finally heading west!
I have been listening to NPR radio on my little portable radio a lot these past few days. Keeps my mind occupied with current topics while I skate. Constantly counting from one to fifteen as I push alternately with each leg can get monotonous…
I found a nice secluded spot off the highway in some woods tonight. Another cold night, but snug in my warm sleeping bag and cosy tent.
January 2nd, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (FLorida)
Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 42 miles
Average speed / 平均速度: 6.8mph
Time on skateboard / 走行時間: 6h 21m
Total skateboarding distance to date / 今までスケボで走った距離: 1307mi (plus 266mi)
Ascent / 上り: negligible
Descent / 下り: negligible
End-of-day GPS coordinates: n/a
I spent last night in a very chilly campsite in my tent in some woods just outside of Cross City on the north side. Within moments of getting out of my tent, the condensation on the inner walls of the rainfly on the tent was frozen into a layer of ice. This morning is the beginning of the cold snap that was forecast earlier this week. I was quickly wishing I had more layers to wear, and imagined all the nasty things I could possibly write to Backcountry.com, concerning the mis-shipping of a down vest that had been ordered on my behalf by Carlos, an avid 14degrees Blog reader. The wrong size has been sent to me (no fault of Carlos), the replacement item wasn’t even a vest, and the correct item has been sent to the wrong place.
I wrapped up as much as I could, however, and despite my cheeks and nose feeling as though they would freeze off, once the sun came up I was feeling better about life.
The strong north-west wind was brutal all day, and despite the sun, I had trouble staying warm throughout the day. I began battling the headwind front-on along highway 19, but after an hour of that carry-on, came across a smaller road heading west that was just to inviting to pass up. Brand new black-top, sheltered on both sides by thick pine plantations, the road was not even indicated on my map.
The road, County Highway 358, led me to the small settlement of Steinhatchee, on the banks of another brown tannin-stained river. I stopped in at the only grocery store in town, and got a large cup of hot chocolate to warm myself up with. As I was sipping it outside, sheltered from the wind and in the sunlight, Greg, the grocery’s chief meat cutter, struck up a conversation. He was finishing work at 12 noon, and would be back home in Keaton Beach, about 17 miles from Steinhatchee for the rest of the day. He told me to come by his house on my way past and pick up some jerky he had made himself. With the headwind against me, I told him it would take me about three hours to get there. I wasn’t too far wrong – it took me all of three and a half hours, including breaks, to cover that 17 miles.
Halfway to Greg’s place, I found some shelter behind a state park warden’s hut near the highway, where I had lunch – peanut butter sandwiches. Two state park wardens were there, measuring up a very recently dead black bear that had been hit by a car. The black bear is protected in Florida, so any incidents such as this have to be recorded. The occupants of the car were halfway through skinning the bear when the wardens came upon the incident.
By the time I arrived at Greg’s place, it was almost dark. He invited me in, and I met his wife Donna. A semi-retired couple in their late fourties, they live in what is called a mobile home. If they really wanted to, they could put wheels on the house and have it towed to a different location. There are many of these homes in this area, some more ‘homely’ than others, Greg and Donna’s place certainly being one of the more homely ones.
A deck has been added out front, and a screened in patio out the back. Inside a modern kitchen is where Greg spends a lot of his time, doing most of the cooking at home. In the above photo, the warden on the right is Dan, from Perry. He had offered for me to stay at his place tonight, and at the time I was certain I would make it to Perry by nightfall. However, by the time I was going to head out the door at Greg and Donna’s it was already dark, and they offered for me to stay in their trailer outside – a large 23foot behemoth of a camping trailer. This sounded a much saner proposition than having to skate in the dark, so I ended up staying at Greg and Donna’s.
One thing that I have noticed in this area, is that all the houses are on stilts. Even large apartment blocks like the one in the left of the photo below. This, I have learned, is because if the tidal surges that come along with hurricanes in the area. The house has to be up off the ground, or it will be flooded. All new houses must be built this way here. Locals I have spoken to think that it doesn’t really help; the tidal surge washes away the foundations, causing the house to collapse anyway. With houses at only 1 or 2 metres above high tide line, I can see why any extreme weather would threaten real estate here.
January 1st, 2008 | categorizilation: all categories,USA (FLorida)
Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 29.4 miles
Average speed / 平均速度: 9.2mph
Time on skateboard / 走行時間: 3h 12m
Total skateboarding distance to date / 今までスケボで走った距離: 1264mi (plus 266mi)
Ascent / 上り: negligible
Descent / 下り: negligible
End-of-day GPS coordinates: N29.39.09.5, W083.09.44.7
I had to say farewell to Skip and Bob and their families this morning after a wonderful New Years celebraiton last night. Thank you guys! Perhaps someday I might even have to take up your suggestion that I make the switch from skateboard to Harley…
I spent all of today’s skating on the greenway trial that slithers its way from Chiefland to Cross City. This beautiful smooth asphalt cycleway meanders through forest and across rivers, including the Suwannee River.
