Great Alaska Adventure: Penultimate Day on the Road

I’ve ridden the Wichita to Orange Park trip several times, and each time it took me two long days of about 700 miles each day.   But because of the Ozark interlude and not wanting to push Marilyn too hard, we made the trip in four sections of about 350 miles each.  As a result, each day is an easy ride:  today only about 6 1/2 hours on the road and tomorrow will be about the same.  Sometimes a 9 a.m. start isn’t a bad thing.

Today’s ride was all on four-lane highway and, except for the 30 minutes we spent slogging through Birmingham stop and go traffic in the noon heat, it was a piece of cake.  We arrived at our hotel by 3:30 and by 4:30 I was enjoying a refreshing dip in the pool.  This evening I ate yet another larger-than-necessary steak dinner washed down with an oversized mega-calorie beer and followed by an absolutely necessary Dairy Queen Banana Creme Pie Blizzard.  The inevitable return to the gym can’t come too soon, even though I know my unused muscles are going to ache and painfully remind me of my sinful gluttony on the road.  I have a lot of pie-pounds that need to be worked off.  But it sure was fun while it lasted.

Marilyn and I looked back at the Great Adventure during dinner and agreed that it really has lived up to its name.  If you can stay with me for a few more days, I’ll post a wrap-up sometime Wednesday evening.

Tomorrow is our final ride to Orange Park. We may run into some typical north Florida thunderstorms along I-10 about mid afternoon, but we’ll be (mostly) glad to be back, wet or dry.