The Folkston Funnel

I dropped the car off at JAX and unpacked and loaded my bike, much to the incredulity of the rental lady, who had a lovely musical southern black accent. This was big- i was properly nervous, and i hadn't stress-proofed myself by doing a couple of smaller trips. Goal setting kicked in. One step at a time I thought over and over. Firstly- How do I get out of this airport?!

It took me at least 20 minutes and two sets of dircetions to find aroute out that didn't end up on the interstate (bikes not allowed, and nor would you want to). Once underway i felt a lot better, the dappled sunlight shone on to the road from my left, leaving me highlighted to all the drivers behind. All to soon i hit the highway. I left Jacksonville city limits, passed through Callahan and pushed on to Folkston, Georgia.

You'll regret that! 

It was evening by the time I arrived but I had done 49 miles. Not bad my first afternoon!

Arriving in folkston my legs were tiring rapidly. i dismounted and bought some girl scout cookies. The lady selling  them directed me to Okefenokee (pron Okey-fen-nokey) restaurant as a place to sit. Walking there I dropped the bike down a large kerb, and the pannier rack fell apart. I couldn't believe it. I knew it wasn't overloaded.
Rather than moan I set about seeing what I could do. Actually what had happened was that I had partly mis-loaded the thing, and it had pulled apart rather than broken. No crazy fixing needed and I put it back together. I was lucky though, as more serious damage to the rack or bike could have been done. I fastened and extra safety cord to the rack to prevent the same thing happening again.

Whilst waiting to be seated I got talking with some folk (they had the proper southern drawl) outside the restaurant, and I asked them about camping. One gent suggested a hut by the railroad. The manager and the place were so friendly and welcoming, and after a hamburger (and a rest!) I set off two blocks to find the hut. The fella who suggested it hailed me as 'Mr England'. The hut was purpose built, with a speaker on the railroad frequency- these guys were proper trainspotters!

My bed for the night.
At 2am, I woke to a snuffling. Gave me real scare after stories of bears.
Fortunatly it was just a passing drunk, but I slept lightly,
with my knife in hand afterwards

A Canadian pair had driven 1200 miles to spend a week watching the locomotives go by. The Folkston Funnel focuses rail traffic from the NW and NE down through Florida, with as many as 40 trains passing a day. I was destined not to get much sleep! These monsters appear out of the night, sounding colossal airhorns as they pass, with the tail still hauling through long after the engine has vanished up the railroad. Some of them are over a mile long! Often trainspotters are given a bad press, but is there really anything less noble about their hobby than spotting, say, celebrities with bad hair days?

The camaradrie amongst  these folk was profound and I became a trainspotter for a night as they swapped stories and taught me a bunch of things about the railroads. I stayed longer than otherwise I would in the morning to say hello again, and Marian, the Canadian lady insisted I take her map of Georgia for my onward route. I am glad that she did! Thank you Marian.

I got my stove working for a breakfast of oatmeal, and then headed on a monotonous route to Waycross, were I am posting this from the public library.

These things are massive, and loud! This one is Union Pacific. Almost as tall as 2 storey house.

Pedalling

I'm off...next post will be from somewhere random...x

Delayed

I have put back the cycling 24 hours. the part from Miami only arrived today so I will set off tomorrow. It's packing time!
James, my bro, lent me a Brooks saddle for the trip. He assures me that they are the best, and I have had to work at it to get it into shape. It''s old, and has needed some tlc. Looking at it you would say it was of Amish construction circa 19th century. It is either a great gift from someone who cares, or a bloody great practical joke! Take a look at what he has me riding...

But the guys at Champion know of Brooks saddles, and one fella showed me photo of a monster chopper he had built, with a Brooks cycling saddle in place! I've pinched Naomi's saddle soap from her old stables kit box, and have been rubbing it into the saddle for days now, softening and making sure the leather isn't too brittle.



Non-fat foods. this will happen quite a lot, where i take
random photos of things i like- introducing: an orange tree

I took a trip to Walmart later in the day. Not as big as I had expected, but still a fair old size! The giant supermarkets in Britain are now competing but I've seen french hypermarkets, and the underground hypermarket in Moscow, that are bigger. I was trying to find fat foods. No such bloody thing. Everything is low fat, no fat, no anything really. We have swung too far here folks. Fat should be my choice- I'm going to need calories when cycling. What we should do is educate the populace to choose wisely, not make nannying decisions for them. Rant over.




I pitched my tent for the first time too, to get used to it so i would know what I was doing. And it immediately rained. Now I have a wet tent to pack away.

It looks a little loose, but stayed dry inside despite the wind



The Edge

This is it Phil- if you hand over this credit card there's no going back...

Trouble was, I had already fallen in love with the bike on the test ride. I'm not easily given to this kind of sentiment. Not about possessions. I don't get precious about my surfboards, cookbooks, dvds or footballs.

I had chosen to cycle because it was quicker than walking and more sociable than driving. And American public transport is non-existent or crap. i had expected the cycling to be a test of my strength- mental and physical, but as I settled to pedalling down the beach road the bike seemed to want to come with me. The only thing that stopped me was the surf shop on the left. I popped in and asked two throughly frustrated assisstants if they wouldn't mind keeping an eye on my bike (they wanted to be outside, and who could blame them, it was a beautiful day and about 18 degrees C/70 F). I met the shaper in the shop. He made Island boards (something with Island in the title at least). He argued that he was much better than European shapers and I humoured him. having nothing to base his assertions on I asked if he hired or had tester boards. No such luck!

Back outside boards were quickly forgotten as the bike and I launched back the way we came, flying past bikini clad girls on beach cruisers. I didn't even slow down. Fun was on two wheels at this point.

I handed over my card.



Champion cycles- aptly named!

 Dave and the guys at Champion cycles then had me give them the run-around for the next two days as we sorted out all the bits n pieces for the trip. I had emailed and phoned other bike shops in Jacksonville prior to flying out here, but nowhere had responded with the kind of service I was offered at Champion. The whole shop floor got involved, swapping stories and banter as we went through the set-up process. Dave listened to what I had to say, and then offered his professional opinion which I was happy to take. He was meticulous in the sizing process, from the bike itself to getting the saddle in exactly the right place and what a difference it makes!


Nothing was too much work for these guys and I could tell I had come to the right place as other customers would drop in and out, chuck wheels and tires in to be fixed and stay to chat a while, stoked about my adventure and offering their good wishes. I should thank Lee at this point for his recommendation. We next ordered parts in from Miami, and Dave pointed me in the direction of Black Creek for a couple of bits I needed. I had a bike! What's more, it came with free service for a year and Dave said he would help me sell it on consignment as I won't be flying it back. I had only purchased a mid-priced piece of kit but you wouldn't know it for the attention it was given.



Knowledge is key- some of the guys at Champion cycles, Jacksonville Beach, with my new toy.

 www.championcycling.net - 1303 3rd Street North, Jacksonville Bch - (904) 241-0900

So off I shot to Black Creek where they also sell kayaks and I was waylaid again for a time, chatting to Ryan about Stand-Up Paddle boards (SUP's) of all things. Another very helpful person later and I had a few more bits ready to go. Ryan had offered plenty of useful suggestions and I was grateful knowing that the stuff he suggested was what I had already packed and prepared.

The day was almost done but I still needed a turboflame. For this Black Creek were unable to help, but Ryan suggested Island Girl's Cigar Bar. Obtruse but I gave it a go and met a bunch of friendly folk there. It's at this point that I start forgetting names, having been bouncing round Jacksonville 9 hours by now. I almost messed up an intersection too, but got away with it! Candice I believe was the waitress who I charged with teaching me tipping in America. (Sorry if I got your name wrong) and she immediately replied that 'a hundred bucks was the start', to which I told her I would write out an English cheque, if she had a suitable blank piece of paper. One turbolighter, three cigars and beer later I was heading back to Lee and Nina's, before we all headed to a Thai restaurant.



My bike, next to my 'Mini-van'

 

Arrival

The flight into Miami didn't seem to take 9 hours at all, which was nice. American Airlines already had 'True Grit' on the in flight movies list. Even the food was bettter than simply edible. Customs then. Probably best described as the opposite of the cheerily all-American Welcome! messages constantly played at you via TV. It would be more accurate to show such messages after the CBP and TSA have had their turns. The huge 'all you need is love' message emblazoned in flowers across the airport wall was a nice touch.

In contrast with Heathrow, where my passport was checked once at customs/security and again with my boarding pass at the gate, in Miami it was checked at least 4 times, with questions. And there were swarms of customs officials, roving in gangs of 5 at a time. Who funded this over-exuberance? Paranoia is the chief suspect. I smiled and walked right on through without much hassle.

It is a sad fact that when I looked at the detained room-those who were to receive further checks, almost all the detainee's were what in America would be described as Ethnic. Strange as everything in Miami is in English and Spanish. Multi-culturalism has many levels it seems. It would be easy to simply hand out bad press and point out cultural differences throughout the trip. I am concious that in looking out for them I throw bias on my observations. So I must say that regardless of your colour, without exception, all of the security officiers seemed polite and helpful. No question was treated as reproachable. Given the juggling act between friendly and vigilant in their line of work this attitude was nothing short of remarkable. These folk see thousands of new faces per day, for only minutes at a time. The monotony must grate, yet it did not show.

On the trip from Miami up to Jacksonville the plane was a much smaller American Eagle, and the cabin crew numbered one humourous assistant. I sat next to Kim, a southern Belle who called me 'Honey', and who was returning from visiting family in Arizona. She was as excited as me about the take-off and during the short flight she told me of her work and daughter and didn't seem to mind my chatting at her. Perhaps the smile she wore was because of my accent and she laughed out loud at my pronouciation of 'Jaguar'! To me it was jag-u-ar, to her and the south it was jag-waar, or jag-wire. Miami from the air looks like a city mapped out on a computer and then plonked straight on the land- the model for Simcity. The main highway- sorry, freeway (or is that interstate?) ran for 15 miles, 12 lanes of dead straight concrete. And the lines- fields and reservoirs- all straight! What amazed me most was how much was built right on the Atlantic. This is flat land. Surely, I asked Kim, it floods during hurricanes? "Sure" came the reply "we just evacuate, and then rebuild once it's over."

Pimpin!!

Picking up the rental car was fun too. Chris the guy at the desk was having a helluva day and letting us know about it! I was delayed 30mins, which didn't bother me and when my car arrived it wasn't the little run-around Aveo I had ordered. None of these were left. It was a Mini-van. Ha! Mini doesn't mean the same thing over here. I got a seven seater wagon, no extra charge.

Lina's lake is idyllic

After an argument with the Sat-Nav, who refused to map read, I arrived an hour late at Lee and Nina's place (friends of Gemma and Chuck). Despite it being 9pm they welcomed me right in, and Chelsea v Blackpool was the order of the evening. they couldn't have done more to make me feel at home. Lee has been here 13 years and hails from Sunderland, so Newcastle are abhored. Lee calls the Sat-Nav 'the bitch' and I have adopted the same name. It suits. Nina comes from Maryland originally and has been in Jacksonville a while now despite employment upheaval. She blames Lee (for keeping her here, not for the job thing)!

Lina's place- they have turtles in the lake behind their house!





I think I have bent your collective ears enough for one post... talk at you again tomorrow.

The Plan

Monday - up at 0500 GMT.
Catch plane. Land and wait in Miami for connection to Jacksonville.
1845 EST (I assume, and this could be a problem) Land at JAX. Get hire car and drive to some friends of Chuck and Gemma's. Then over the next two days buy a bike and the final pieces of camping stuff. And food.
Thursday 1000 - drop hire car back at the airport and continue northwest on two wheels. Maps are not essential.
I'm like a kid at Christmas. Sleep isn't going to come easy tonight!

I'll let you know how it goes....

Set Up pt. 2

Packing is a thankless task! Musn't grumble though...
Everything I need fits into the panniers no problems. What I didn't factor in was fitting it into a suitcase- it's the sleeping bag that takes up the space. On the bike I will leave it in a dry bag, strapped on top of the pannier rack. No such solution when it comes to the suitcase.

Tools for the tour:

• Uvex Helmet 
• Enduro jacket
• Padded shorts!
• Mountainlife Camel Pack
• Lifesaversystems Water bottle
• Billy cans x3- One made into a multifuel stove piece
• Carradice waterproof 50L rear panniers (pair)
• Marmot EOS 1P tent
• Snugpak Softie Chrysalis winter sleeping bag
• Pacific Outdoor camping mat
• Highlander drybag
• Highlander U-shape pillow
• Blackburn waterproof lights
• Polar speedometer
• Topeak repair multitool
• Washkit
• Machete, Laplander saw, Leatherman Skeletool
• Canon digital Camera
• Opticron binoculars (a luxury!)
• A few sealable tubs
• Lengths of paracord (v useful)
• Electrical tape
• First Aid kit

And clothes- I'm taking a little more than necessary. Alongside the 2 t-shirts and baselayer fleece and bodywarmer, I am also taking a change of t-shirt and some boardies, because I do want to stop and explore along the way, smelling at least half decent!

Footwear- if I can fit the flops in I will but to cycle- nothing technical, just a comfy oldish pair of trainers. Technical equipment is expensive and the truth is we can make do without much of the gear. It does make you more comfortable but is often inflexible and designed for specific uses. Of course I have plenty of technical gear, but when it comes to clothing, it's really only the jacket (which has been lent to me by my uncle who has, for the moment, exchanged round the world cycling for a narrowboat. Check out his adventures at http://slowboattosomewhere.blogspot.com/). 

Besides- I'm going somewhere warm!

The water issue then:

If you are planning a trek or tour then you should at least investigate the Lifesaver Bottle. It was developed after Hurricane Katrina caused widespread devastating flooding, and although there was water everywhere, none of it could be drunk. 

This product will mean that I can trust in a fresh water supply almost anywhere outside a desert environment. Here is the website:  http://www.lifesaversystems.com/index.html