Lake City to Jacksonville (Beach)

Another beautiful morning was found riding out from Amanda's place in Lake City.  I had my eyes on Jacksonville for the night, though was not exactly sure how it would pan out.  The ride into Jacksonville was enjoyably uneventful, with a fairly good road shared with a large number of trucks.  I knew when I saw it marked "Trucking Route" as I left Lake City that life would get interesting.  It was not as bad as I thought as most of the drivers were pretty considerate, but it did make an already windy day feel extra blustery with all of the swooshing and suctioning of semis.  Lots of pine "forests" to see along the way...can you spot the lines?

Somehow this made me think of cornrows except with trees....pretentious BC Rainforest-resident perhaps?

The ride became more and more city-esque as traffic picked up and so did the truck traffic.  I saw many exciting sights such as the 'trucking hubs' or warehouses for Walmart and the Winn Dixie chain. I kept wanting to just trudge on, Jacksonville approaching, that when I did reach the "City Limits" and it took another two hours to see some large buildings I was slightly dying with suspense.  Seriously though, I've never been so happy to see a building over six stories tall as the Jacksonville ones.  As luck would have it, I was just about to melt into a puddle when I saw a big sign that said 'Farmer's Market'. Win.  Turns out it wasn't really farmers selling, but there was some local oranges and yams (such a luxury).  One guy even offered to let me sleep in his market stall space if I didn't find anywhere to spend the night.  Such a sweetheart.  

Rejuvenated by some Florida citrus taste, I headed over the bridge and into downtown.  It was about 3 or 4 in the afternoon by that point, and I figured I should start seriously thinking about where to sleep.  I found an internet cafe, parked Nancy outside, and went inside only to discover a magical substance:  chocolate potato chip cookies.  So good.  OK, perhaps just by circumstance, but still. 

Attempting to avoid paying an exorbitant amount for a hotel or camping in the concrete jungle (kidding, sort of), I put out last-minute messages on Couch Surfing and Warm Showers websites and caught up on some emails.  This was one of those moments where the power of internet fast-ness and people's friendliness was truly astounding.  Couchsurfer Sachin was the first to get in touch with me and made a very good case for making my way out to Jacksonville Beach.  His house was about 20 miles away and, while that was not huge, it felt rather daunting at that point.  I was still undecided as the cafe closed up and I thought I'd go sit outside on a bench and ponder my existence and how much energy was left in my leg-os.  

I hadn't gotten the chance to look up exact directions to Sachin's house before I had to leave the wifi zone, so when I saw four well-dressed men taking a smoke break outside a large office building, I decided to take my chances and ask if one of them might utilize their smartphone powers to help me out.  After some entertaining conversation, a perhaps well-meant but slightly too forward offer of a place to spend the night with one, and some good laughs, one of them offered me a lift in his truck out to the Beach area when he was done working as it was right near his house.  This felt like a good option, as this fellow by the name of Parker had been super helpful with his iPhone.  

I had a sort-of plan, some time to kill, and a little juice in my legs, so I went off to check out the nearby bicycle shop to chat about routes.  The guys in Zencog cycles were very helpful and I would certainly recommend a visit to them when passing through Jacksonville.  I then headed back to the business district to lurk outside of the office building in the hopes that Parker might appear.  I had some snacks and was just rethinking my decision when I heard a friendly voice.  Most excellent!  We loaded up Nancy and Parker gave me a lift all the way out to Sachin's, along with some great tips about the Jacksonville area from someone who grew up there.  Thanks, Parker, for your kindness, being an overall good guy, and keeping me from melting into a puddle of exhaustion!

Within a few minutes of meeting Sachin I could tell that it had been a good decision to take him up on his offer of a place to stay.  We had a great evening of conversation, delicious hole-in-the-wall Thai food, and 'Froyo' (I was beyond stoked to use that term with an almost straight face). 

OK, long post, long day, went to bed in the wee hours and had a lovely sleep in a warm house.  Another one of those days where it seemed unlikely but it all worked out magically well.