Day before the Last Day

May 1st 2013 felt a long time away but....

       Today was the last Real Ride from High Springs to Palatka Florida, 73 miles, before we set out tomorrow for St. Augustine. Palatka sounds like some Polish-Mexican dance, rather like La Cucaracha in three-four time. It is another community which looks as if it's mainly for retired people in the central part of Florida.
       I set out with high hopes of doing it all but at 20 miles, I thought I had done enough - and since my biking buddy  Carla was the Sag Driver, I rode by myself a lot and didn't really want to. So I sat in the Sag and encouraged other people and filled up water bottles at the Sag stops and had a  really pleasant and undemanding riding day. We rolled into the Best Western in Palatka around 3 p.m. and it was overcast, and drizzling light rain, but still warm and humid.
       The swimming pool was warm and I swam for about 20 minutes and sat in the excellent hot tub, and then dried off and it was lovely. I collected my baggage and got out a teeshirt and cotton pants, the basic dress for dinner, and my sandals. I now have five teeshirts to choose from, having acquired three new ones along the way which certainly adds variety to my wardrobe.
       Dinner was out in the parking lot - our last picnic amid the white lines - and because of the drizzle, they erected a tarpaulin between the van and the trailer so that the cooks and the food wouldn't get wet.
       We had Happy Hour with drinks from the cooler at 6 p.m. and a superb selection of elegant hors d'oeuvres set out on the long table - different cheeses, small rice crackers, asparagus, bacon wrapped asparagus, and a rolled creamy goats cheese. That was an excellent way to start an evening with a glass of wine.
       The dinner was tenderloin, quinoa and rice, and a big mixed salad which had surprises like beets and artichoke hearts. We sat outside in our usual circle on the white plastic chairs talking and laughing and eating. Gale's husband is here and she brought him round to say hello to us all. And Carla's son Pedro, 22, arrived from Brazil and was also introduced. His English is not very good but he seems very sweet and helped put all the chairs away. A couple of other people were staying with family members or had gone to St. Augustine early to be ready for tomorrow. My daughter Katrina arrives tonight and will go straight to the hotel in St. Augustine where I will be tomorrow.

      FINAL MAP MEETING Carol handed out the Cue Sheets for tomorrow. We have to ride some   40 miles from here to St. Augustine, or 10 miles an hour, which is slow, especially since it's a pretty flat ride. Carla and I agreed to leave around 6:45 to 7 a.m. and we think we can do it. We end up at the Fire Station where for the last six miles we parade through town and have a police escort to our picnic on the beach. That's where we will dip our wheels in the Atlantic Ocean to signify the end of our cross-country ride. Amazing and somehow a bit anti-climactic, it feels to me.
      There were lots of photos being taken. Bell Brinn, who hurt her shoulder in an accident in the first week, came back to greet us all and get advice for doing the ride next year. She's from Colorado and it was good to see her again, and see her looking good again. We were all talking and laughing and enjoying the diner, and it was very hard to think that this was the last time we would get together like this to share our day's riding and joke and chat and take photographs.
      I said to May that it was odd to realize that other women had done this ride in years before and the more women would do the ride in the years ahead, and that we were just one group who had done it and completed it. It is like a shared rite of passage particularly for older women. May's sister, who had ridden with us for a couple of days, sent us some superb chocolates to go with the chilled fruit and mascarpone sauce for dessert, which were delicious.
        Tomorrow, breakfast in the hotel begins at 5:30 a.m., snack table is out at 6:30 a.m. and the Sag list will be ready for checking soon after that - and we'll set off for St. Augustine. The Speedy Lightning Riders will probably arrive way ahead of the us average pedalers - or they may start a bit later....Who know? But we all have to arrive at the Fire Station by 10:30 a.am. it says on the sheet.
       I've set my alarm, put out my riding clothes for tomorrow, packed almost everything, and wonder if I'll just go off to sleep tonight. Or not. Endings are just not as much fun as beginnings, but you can't have one without the other. And who knows what other adventures I can go on next?