It was raining a little when we woke up this morning, but by the time we got ready to leave, it had stopped. Bernice made us a yummy breakfast of pancakes and homemade applesauce (pancakes + applesauce-- very good if you've never tried it, you should!). This morning I submitted our story for a chance to win a cruise through the Princess Cruise line. How amazing would that be if we happened to win a cruise- oh how I loved the cruise we took! Once we were all packed, done taking a few pictures, and had said our goodbyes, we were on the road. We were riding under cloudy skies and it was much cooler than yesterday, which was quite welcome. Still warm enough for shorts and just our jerseys, but not nearly as sunny. We knew the chances of rain today would be high, so we were hoping to get as many miles done as we could before it started. I was a little excited for today's ride because we would be following the same path as we did on our FL trip back in 2010. Originally, I was thinking that riding the same thing again would be a little boring, but the more I thought about it, the neater it sounded. After making our way through downtown Ocala, we were off riding through areas of not much but trees again. We passed through a couple small towns, but nothing real large until we got to Gainesville. There were bits and pieces along that way that we vividly remember, but other parts that didn't strike up any memory at all. Just before Gainesville is the Paynes Prairie State Park Ecopassage, which was something I was looking forward to riding through again. I remembered the little observation "dock" that was about half way through the area and was excited to stop there again to see what wildlife we could see. By that time we were both really hungry, so we snacked on one of our oranges. We didn't see much wildlife, but it was still a nice little break. As our bikes rode into Gainesville for the second time since we've had them, I was starting to remember even more. We rode past the University of Florida (home of the Gators) and passed by a Subway restaurant that I remember eating at on the FL trip. We stopped briefly at McDonalds to refill on water, and check to see where Wal-Mart was since we needed to get a couple things. From what we remembered, it was right on the same road we were on, but luckily we did check. The one that was on our road had been permanently closed and a Super-Walmart was built a few miles away on the other side of town. So, that's where we were off to next. About a half a mile into the ride there, it started to sprinkle, and then eventually started to pour just before we turned into the parking lot. I went in to get our food for lunch, new tooth paste and a couple other things and was happy to see that the rain had lightened up significantly by the time I got back out. Since we were hoping to find a nice spot to have lunch (instead of outside Wal-Mart where everyone stares at you), we hopped on our bikes and headed back towards the road we would follow out of town. We passed by a park, but didn't see any pavilions with tables, so we ended up eating under a church overhang. It worked out perfectly since there was no one there to bother us and we would be dry. I made up some pasta and added some diced tomatoes and cheese and we were ready to eat. By the time the food was ready we were both just SO hungry- after all, it was after 3pm and we had already done 50 miles. We usually don't wait that long to eat, but it just worked out to eat in Gainesville. I was also feeling really tired by the time I was done with lunch, I don't think that the food had quite kicked in yet. There was enough pasta left that we were able to put it in a little baggie and have it later for dinner if we got hungry. That is always really nice when you know you don't have to cook again that day. Once we were about 5 miles from Gainesville, it started to sprinkle, and then rain of course. A while later, it really started to pour. We had thought that if it was raining hard enough we would stop early, but since we were already soaked, it didn't make any sense to stop. Up until we crossed under the I 75, things looked very familiar. We passed by a gas station that had picnic tables/overhangs that we remember taking a break at for a while last time. It really was neat to ride this section again. After riding under the I 75, though, we didn't really remember things, strange how that worked. The rain had died down quite a bit and by the time we made it to High Springs city limit it had stopped. Joey had originally wanted to make it another 25 miles down the road to Lake City, but that was really far, not quite sure what he was thinking on that one. Either way, we decided to stop at a church that had a nice little pavilion with picnic tables. We hadn't quite made it to the center of town yet, but were pretty close. Upon asking the youth pastor, who called the pastor just to make sure, we found out that we had the go ahead to set up under the pavilion for the night. So nice to know we would be relatively dry since we knew some more rain and some thunderstorms would be passing through tonight. The youth pastor said that it was fine if we changed in the bathrooms inside (so much easier than changing in the tent!) but when Joey went to do so, he came back outside with his new change of clothes still in his hand. At first I was very puzzled, but then I found out awesome news- there was a shower in the church and we were welcome to use it!!! What an amazing surprise, that definitely made my day! The lightning and thunder had started before we went to bed, and sure enough the rain came with it. So, like last night, we are staying in a town for a second time while touring. This is the same town that we stayed with Lys in on the last tour. Since then, she had moved to Port Townsend, WA and we were able to stay with her there on this trip! We were her last guests before she moved out of FL and her first guests in WA!! So neat that we have gotten to see a few people from our "touring community" more than once! Another great day on the road. The legs and toosh were a little sore at different parts of the day, but they are much less sore than yesterday. Tomorrow our bodies should be pretty well back in shape for riding again. Our miles totaled 70.41 today.
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