Landing in Miami

Logistics and technical failure determined our routes today, and due to some mis-interpeted navigation, we rode more than we should have. What was supposed to be 85 miles crept steadily upwards towards the century mark, ending with 101.8 miles on my cyclometer. Strangely enough, though tired and starting to get hungry like I haven't in a long time, I feel fine. Like I could have done another twenty. I've got to be careful, though. I know that this'll catch up one day and I'll hit the wall, but right now I'm elated that I'm adapting so quickly. It's got to be the speed that we're moving at. Like crawling across America. I feel more like I'm walking than biking sometimes, and I'm being reminded constantly to slow down. That's been the challenge, so far, to move at an even, steady and persistent pace. I know it's wise, and that within a few weeks I'll be begging to slow down, but it can be hard to pull back sometimes. At the same time, I'm going to make sure we stop once in awhile to enjoy the beauty of the land we're passing through.

Our first day was almost a practice run, working out kinks and figuring out riding styles while following the Keys toward the mainland, and really, getting to know each other. Kevin, the retired firefighter. George, the pastor who's realizing his dream of biking from one end of this continent to the other. Jeff, the minister who's the only experienced hand at these kinds of travels, who seems to feed off of physical effort. Myself, who's really just happy that I get to do some of my favorite things, like filming, seeing land and sea I haven't tasted before, and mostly, riding around on my bike all day. I can't tell you how happy such a simple thing can make me. It's been far too long since I've coasted down long, open road like this.

I can already feel my mind relaxing. I've found myself thinking about things that should've been thought about long ago, feeling memories that I've filed away for future perusal come swinging back at me, the barriers and duties that have contained them fading a little bit as I concentrate on simply moving, a little bit every day.

And the road to Miami? Too long to go into detail now, it's midnight as I write this, and I need sleep. I can say that I never thought I'd meet so many kind, generous people in the state of Florida, and that biking down a two-lane road with overgrown glades and swampland on either side is both one of the most unusual forms of beauty I've known, with gigantic herons watching as you creep by their quiet but somehow always moving, slithering habitat, and one of the most terrifying, as trucks speed by, pushing you to the side of the shoulder, sucking you into their draft as they barrel past, not much room for either of you to move for the other.

Tomorrow, we see the other natural life of the land, cruising through the beaches of Miami and it's northernly cousins on our way to somewhere else...