Last night we really did have another premier "camping" spot, just like the fire hall two nights ago. Although I don't think it ended up raining too much more last night, we slept really well knowing that we would be dry no matter what. One of the best parts about this spot was there were tables to sit at. We had bought our cereal and milk at the store last night, so we were able to wake up and have breakfast right at the table. What an enjoyable morning! We were all packed and on the road by around 8:30. After a quick stop at Subway across the street we were off riding through the misty air. I was so happy that it was only misty out and that it wasn't actually raining. The clouds lingered for the whole morning with not a glimpse of sunshine. What a difference from yesterday's riding it was. We were flying down the road since there was almost no wind at all, just clipping right along. It's was such a nice change of pace after so many days of headwinds. Before we knew it we had 20, 30, 40 miles done. We didn't even stop for lunch at our normal mileage, partly because there was pretty much nothing at all but trees for miles. When we were about 10 miles away from where we planned to stop for lunch, in Perry, Joey had a genius idea- Pizza Hut buffet. Now even though we both thought that would be simply perfect for a day like today, where we would have over 50 miles before stopping for lunch, we weren't sure if we would make it on time before the buffet ended. We figured whatever happens will happen and that we weren't going to kill ourselves trying to get there on time. Since we were going pretty fast at 70% effort or so, we were content. The last 10 miles were a little slower than the first 40 since we were starting to get really hungry and our muscles were getting a little tight. We got into the beginnings of Perry around 12:45 and were getting excited because we knew this town would be big enough to have a Pizza Hut. Now all we had to do was find it! We stopped at a gas station and asked where one was. "Three lights down, turn left and it will be about a half a mile down on your right" was what we were told. We took off down the sidewalk (because the road had no shoulder and a ton of traffic) all excited. We found our target and it was only 1:03!! The buffet goes until 1:30 and they usually don't put it away right away if there are still people "eating on it." We couldn't believe that we actually made it all the way there in time. Already 53 miles done before 1pm, it was going to be a day of lots of miles; a perfect day to fill up on pizza! I was SOOO hungry when we walked in the door and couldn't wait to start eating. That is one thing about the buffet- no cooking involved, so no waiting!! I asked if we could request our favorite kind of pizza (pepperoni and mushroom pan pizza), since they will normally make it special, and sure enough they did. That always makes it even better! I got a huge salad (they have the BEST french dressing ever- I always end up having a few salads just because of that!) and bread sticks while I waited for our special pizza to be put out on the buffet line. Between Joey and I we ate the entire pepperoni and mushroom pizza like it was nothing. Breadsticks, salad and those really tasty cinnamon sticks, we couldn't get enough. One nice thing, too, is that a lot of Pizza Huts have free Wifi now! We were able to eat our hearts out, get our internet work done and just take off out of town right from there without having to stop anywhere else. It really was perfect. After a nice long break, we hopped back on the bikes and headed out of town. The sun had actually come out and there were blue skies, no more dark grey clouds. We no longer needed our jackets, but I of course needed the sunscreen now. Once we were all prepared to ride again, we headed off. There was a bit of a tail wind even! Could today get any better?!? After our great lunch, we felt really great and were no longer tired at all. My bum is still a bit sore, but it's getting a little better every day. Other than that, the miles just flew by. For some reason Joey and I were in a super great mood and were laughing and joking around about everything the entire afternoon. I really love this flat land because I can actually keep up fairly well and we can talk the whole time. We are going to be working on a short little video for the FWM/our trip when we get to Uncle Ronnie's, as requested by John in WV. Since we were busy thinking about that, we had fun throwing lines we might say out and thinking of different things we could do in it. This could be really fun. After what seemed like a very quick 28 miles (although still not as quick speed wise as the first few miles today), we had a quick little break at a gas station before riding the last 17 miles to where we would stop tonight. Not that it's a very important note, but the clouds were really neat in the sky this afternoon and for some reason I just couldn't stop looking at them. They were kind of like little fluffs of cotton candy floating around. Other than that, more and more trees... that was all we saw on today's ride. Some were bare, some green, and some this really pretty reddish-purpley color. Neither of us believe that we were actually in Florida. When we think of FL, we think of towns everywhere and lots of people. But this "forgotten Florida" section (between Crowfordville and Cross City), as we called it, was so barren and didn't even have that much traffic on it. What a great day it was. Between the light tail wind, the flat land, the sunny skies, and of course the pizza, we felt like we could ride for ever. Even at 90 miles, I didn't feel hardly tired at all. Had there not been the issue of the approaching darkness, we would have easily been able to break our highest mileage in one day on this trip record. As we came into Cross City, the sun was setting behind us, so we knew that would definitely be where we were stopping. We found out where the grocery store was and even found a church and a McDonald's really quick. Since we almost always stop at McDondald's when we see one, that is what we did. We refilled on their great, cold, filtered water, used the restroom, and checked our email and Google maps. It is nice being in the same time zone as home now, because it makes it really easy calling home. We made a few calls and after sitting down for a while started to feel really tired. Around quarter to 8, we headed over to the church near the grocery store that we found. We were sad to see that no one was there to ask, but figured we would be safer there anyways. There was even a table and benches we could sit at- how could we get lucky enough to have a table two nights in a row!? The gas station was right next to the church too, which makes it even easier. Another perfect spot to spend the night. Joe had a chance to talk to John from WV some more about what we are going to do for the video. John is so excited about what we are doing and has worked so hard with the FWM and with setting things up so we can talk to schools and do a few other things when we get to Wheeling, WV towards the end of March. It is so nice to know someone who is so passionate about what they are doing, while at the same time so excited about what we are doing; it really does help us get "re-excited" about the trip we are on. I had time to do a little typing and feel productive despite having done a lot of miles. I am still so surprised that I don't feel super tired- after all, any other time we do this kind of miles, I usually feel completely drained. Another wonderful day; it's amazing I say this almost every day- we are so blessed. We didn't make it 100 miles, but we made it very close with our total being 97.39 today (and in a pretty good time of 7 and a half hours!!).
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