A week beside the beach

The days building up to the wedding also involved some of the following:

Hanging out at Lillies (formerly and famously Shelby's)

Driving around in the 'stang, and getting the wedding licence

And finally...here are the couple who's wedding was the catalyst for my tour.
I picked a less than brilliant photo, sorry guys, but it
kinda works as a great intro to you both though!

Chilling (maybe not the right operative!) at the beach

his n hers helmets

Stag Party

The first thing that I need to say is that I didn’t take my camera out on the stag do. I wasn’t going to take the risk of losing any of my photos, and I would probably have broken the camera, so if you are expecting to see results, I’m afraid I will have to disappoint. The Wedding is a different story but I’ll get to that later. I will, however, try and furnish you with a description of the evening!

The plan was simple- meet up at the bike shop at 6, rent beach cruisers and head to the first bar! This we did and drew many stares as the cavalcade of twelve men on cruisers pedaled amiably up the beach round, round the corner and towards Culhane’s Irish bar, with Bobo pulling ridiculous and surprisingly successful barspins and bunny hops. For those who don’t know, beach cruisers are the bicycle equivalent of Chopper’s. Definitely not stunt bikes!

Actually, before I continue, allow me to introduce some of the players:

- Chuck- the Groom, born Texas and has lived in Jax & England

- Brandon- the best man, has known Chuck many years now and is in charge

- Matt- Brandon calls him ‘Brother’. Has a silver tongue!

- Lee- a great friend of Chuck’s, a red n white Brit who has been in Jax some 13 years now

- Jono- Gem’s older bro, lives in Australia, hang around him long enough and things happen

- Bobbo- Gem’s younger bro, a talented musician, writer and producer

- Nathan- Gem’s sister’s fiancée, and a talented rapper/backing dancer!

- Manu- a French gentleman, has lived in England 14 years, and survives thanks to his beautiful accent!

- Fabian- another French gentleman, of sharp wit and easy friendship

- Mark- a true northerner who tells it how it is

- Thomas- a Dane, and a great one! Recently introduced to myself and ready for action

- Don- the detective

- Myself- if you followed the blog this far, that’ll do…

So to Culhane’s and some food, with the waitress Matt was very nice too. As Brandon pointed out, she needn’t worry as he was already married. Matt has a filter but when it comes off, the mouth runs with a wicked sense of humor, a wit that could skewer any adversary and is accompanied by a heart of gold. We got on straight away.

Pedaling onwards the convoy arrived at Fly’s Tie. Quickly organizing beers to maximize drinking time, and then sitting outside round a giant table. This for me was the best point of the evening. Although the entertainment ramped up later, here were 13 blokes, who had only Chuck in common. In truth almost none of us had met each other before, yet the conversation was easy and the mood great. It’s a lot less easy to find a bunch of guys who all get along than you would have believed from this night, yet we managed bonding consummately (*novel turn of phrase there Phil!), greasing the gears of banter with Guinness and Jagermeister! Well done fella’s!

After this we headed for Chuck’s favorite…Pete’s bar. More drinks and then we gathered around the foozball and ping pong tables. After heated competition in which Matt and I almost staged a comeback having been 5-0 down, we still lost and wept into our pints. Sort of. Anyway, misery had to take a back seat as all 13 of us attempted with reasonable success to play a round robin of ping pong- swatting at the ball with hands or paddles- whilst running around the table!

After this I forget a bit, apparently we went to Ritz, I was denied entry and the hens were flagging so we agreed to meet back at Pete’s. Jono went via a hotel lobby, on his beach cruiser, and we made it back to Pete’s and celebrated into the night.

Although not intentional, pedaling round the stag do was a neat accompaniment to my journey. The pedal home was less successful, involving multiple crashes and cycling over Atlantic Bridge on the wrong side of the 3 lane road. Foolish but funny too. Bear in mind that for the start and end of this evening, Brandon and then Chuck were cycling whilst carrying another bike over a shoulder! Chuck less successfully because he was doing it on the way home, after a skinfull, and for 4 miles! That about sums up the night.

The following day was largely hungover and involved a big ole BBQ for 27 mouths. The shopping list Gemma sent me was incredible, and Nina, Fiona and myself did the shopping inc 120 sausages without Chuck, having left him sleeping off the Stag party on a table in Costco’s café area! The celebrations didn’t end either. Gemma and Chuck always insisted that they required no gifts, and were more than happy just to have everyone who made it out celebrate with them, and in true G+C style, not only arethey having another party when they get back to England for those who couldn’t be there, they also refused to let Jono’s or Manu's birthday's, and Don + Fiona’s 30^th wedding anniversary pass by unnoticed. Cakes all round! It’s these things that gather such a group of wonderful folk around them.

Something to Say

Thanks to the last few weeks and a verse from The Animal Collectives’ ‘Summertime Clothes’ I think I finally understand the appeal of simply walking. I know a lot of people who go for walks, but it hasn’t computed in my head until now. As you will recall, this blogspot is called Rambling for the Impatient. I have usually required a reason to walk and as for running, Anna and I chatted briefly the other day about her marathon running, I mentioned how I can’t just run without purpose. I need a ball to chase or somewhere to get to in a hurry. I’m not an impatient person in many aspects, but under these terms I am. 

But now maybe I understand…

Cycling solo has given me time to think, and I have recorded many thoughts. But it isn’t just the time that is important; it is also the physical movement. The motion and energy needed to cycle isn’t as vigorous as you might think, particularly after you find a rhythm. The movement triggered my brain. I’m not the only person who paces as they think; it’s probably why I struggled to find concentration in so many classrooms. I didn’t underachieve at all but now I reflect, the education system didn’t do me and isn’t doing many others any favours at all. And now America is considering reform of the way sport is approached in education. I implore you- please do not change your system. I have seen what your proposed alternative is in the diabolical way sport is taught in many English schools.

I give you the lyrics from ‘Summertime Clothes’:

“But restless is causeless and I cannot hide

so much of my mind that it spills outside,

Do you wanna go stroll down a financial street

our clothes might get soaked but the buildings sleep

And there’s no one pushing for a place

let’s meander at an easy pace

And I want to walk around with you

and I want to walk around with you” 

Of course understanding this is harder without the context of the rest of the song and I recommend a listen. Personally I go for tracks with music I like and/or lyrics I identify with. Maybe you will be put off by the tune in the end, although one listen won’t hurt!

Nonetheless, this for me is an important verse. It encapsulates the origins of my restless feelings and then tells me that I am approaching restlessness the wrong way. I don’t need something to do, but some time to think. My spilling mind needs no more stimulation from buildings, or the physical world, and I’m glad that they sleep. All I need is the exercise of a walk to contemplate, or a companion to converse with: Causeless feelings solved in these instants. I might go for walks more often and take advantage of the beautiful place where I live.

At this point I would like to say Thank you:

To all whom I met along the way. I have named many of you already,

And to those who have been reading my blog and caught up with me at the wedding and whom are yet to receive the mention I wish to give.

I did not expect over 3000 page views. I would have been delighted at 1000. And the number of visitors staggers me. I have received an almost overwhelming response to this blog, and so many people have said they have enjoyed reading my thoughts and experiences.  Honestly I have surprised even myself, and although the pages have turned out every bit as happily and as clearly as I wished for, the fact that more than just my family have found humour and interest here is beyond gratifying. The coach in me hopes that somewhere I have inspired other adventures, but as I sit here now I am glad if you smiled with me along the way. I say thank you because without an audience to write for I would not have put as much effort towards this blog as I have, and consequently would not have got the same unbelievable level of enjoyment that I have experienced from writing about my travels.

I will tell you when I have put the final entry in here, although first I wish to do justice to an amazing few days with (as Brandon put it perfectly) the most down to earth, good looking bunch of people one could ever hope to meet!

Contemplation in the calm

It's been a busy week or ten days, as you would expect with a wedding and stag (bachelor) party to hold.

But before we get to all of this, I was just arriving back in Jacksonville. First I dropped Jordan and Ariel on 2nd street, Neptune Beach and guided them towards 3rd St (A1A) as hitching was likely to be best from there. Next Javier and I had to find the rental location where I was to return the car, and we had 40mins. It was at least a 20min drive and we had to get gas. As it turns out, getting gas in this country is harder than expected. You have to pay before you pull, and my pump didn't work. In England we just fill what we need then pay. Simples!
But the attendant was the nicest girl we could have hoped for and her directions to the Hertz rental location were absolutely spot on. We made it with minutes to spare and it seemed that everyone we met this morning was having a good day. Smiles abounded and the guy sorted a taxi for Javier, who has since made it to Gainsville, and I believe is now in Miami. For me, the Hertz driver gave me a lift the final few blocks to Lee and Nina's house. And I arrived back were I had started, a day shy of one month on the road.

Made it. An unusual finish to a bike trip but hey!

As they were out I had a couple of hours to myself to pull all my things inside and sit in contemplation in the back yard. The turtles were sunbathing and all of a sudden it felt as though I had never left. It was a strange dislocation, knowing how long each day on the road had been but feeling that somehow time had compressed all of these days into one and I was back gazing at the pond in Leena's yard. I recounted the days in  my head. I find this easiest to do by thinking of where I slept each night, and the journey to those places. I missed a couple of nights the first time i reflected this way, but that still leaves me with 28 days as clear in memory as i could wish for.

 Memory is a strange thing. It seldom gives exactly what you wish for. We cannot re-live the feelings we had as we were pedaling, surfing, cooking or writing in the present, but it gives a new perspective. Perhaps before I had spent too long fighting memory, willing feelings to be as strong or as real as they once were. Now I sat having finished the one thing I have wanted to have a go at for years.

I have wanted to cycle in America for years- since my gap year in 2003 before University. I think that I can trace the idea back that far. But it was always simply a dream; a wish never considered at length, until I began to work as a coach at Skern Lodge. Here I learned to kayak, canoe and surf, all of which had been dreams dating back even further. This instilled in me the belief that I could turn my dreams into reality without the need of chance or a lucky break. I could achieve the cycling on my own. So as the whirl of chaos at being newly single dissipated around May last year, and Gemma rang me and told me she was marrying Chuck in Florida, a plan hatched almost instantaneously. It wasn't borne on the wind and plucked from thin air. Now was the right time to chase the dream of cycling in the States, and the wedding of a great friend was the catalyst. The first plan was to go from Texas, point-to-point as it were. This would have costed far more and I realised it was unnecessary.

As i sat in contemplation I hardly moved. The swirling around me had calmed, and for the first time in over 15 months I was perfectly at peace. I had no other goal tugging at me and was able to totally enjoy the feeling of accomplishment. No-one could erase that feeling. I highly recommend it. True not everything went along as originally planned but the fault there is not to recognise the new opportunities afforded in the changed plans. Of course, being me and needing something to do, the need for a new goal will arise, but not just yet. I'm going to enjoy the calm for a while longer. Besides, the next weeks were about Chuck and Gemma.
And the one thing everybody is keen to know is the distance I covered... I broke the cycle computer so I can't really say for sure, but I have inaccurately calculated it to being 910 miles. This is from the internet and doesn't quite take into account my detours and use of less than direct routes, and I have yet to cycle to the wedding itself. But it will do. I think of the journey more in terms of the time between friends found on the route.

I don't smoke, but a celebratory cigar is a time to break that rule!