I want to thank everybody who responded to my message yesterday about my change of plan. Your warm words of encouragement and support, both by email and in ‘comments’ below, were incredibly welcome and gave me such a lift, so I know I can push on for four more days of dawn-treading on the pedals.

• Today’s Distance (miles): 51
• Time in saddle: 4h 30
• Max/min temp (°c): 28°/21° (cooler due to earlier start)
• Climbing (feet) : ?
• Calories used: 2,713
• Today’s 2nd Breakfast: All American Slam (again) in Denny’s, plus coffee and root beer.
• ‘Cafe’ time: 0h 30 (bike repair stop in the dark, but lit by a store window!)

THE JOURNEY PART: I got up even earlier than yesterday, ate, packed, left, cycled out of Daytona Beach and into the darkness, started to feel tired almost immediately (bad sign), got a punc$*£@, played lots of hi-energy music on my AirPods to inspire me, eventually arrived at my motel next to a Denny’s, ordered, ate. I don’t think I have anything much else to add about the first seven hours of my day, except that I saw loads of those iconic yellow school buses everywhere, so I’m assuming that the new term has begun today? That tends to put my trip in perspective, because as I recall, on Day 2 I was celebrating the end of the school year with this bunch of kids back in Nova Scotia – video from the kids’ dad!:

LESS-THAN-GRIPPING: A less-than-gripping day on the bike is always a good time to post some clips and to tell some stories that might otherwise get forgotten, or just squeezed out due to lack of space. Here’s one for a start: for context you’ll need to watch the first 30 seconds of this song from Polar Express (you can watch more if you like, but I’d understand if it makes you feel slightly ill), then click on the clip beneath it.

Our Jacob is travelling by train to a fairly remote part of Sweden via Stockholm for a hiking trip, and sent us this flavour of his sleeper-train experience:

SNAP SNAPS:

PAVILLION NEWS: I got in touch with Ol in Delray yesterday to check a couple of things. The main one was to make sure that my Finishing Line, the old Beach Pavillion, was still there; this is such a stormy part of the world that you can’t assume anything remains undamaged from hurricane season to hurricane season. I guessed that a Pavillion which has lasted since 1929 was likely to have survived for a reason, but better safe than sorry. Ol confirmed that it’s still very much available for finishing celebrations. There have been so many pavilions on this trip, perhaps I should do a photo-roundup at some point? Nice to end at one too.

SPOOKY MUSICAL DINER MOMENT: In the diner they played a song about a diner, a song that I’ve mentioned on this blog, and about a diner that I’ve also eaten at on this trip. Suzanne Vega, Tom’s Diner, New York City, y’all remember? Here’s the really cool Vega/DNA version that they’re playing right now:

It feels strange to even think about being in NYC, whilst looking out on the steamy Floridian landscape here, but with the very same bicycle resting by the window as it did at Tom’s, making it all possible:

DINER DYNAMICS: Very unusually, this Denny’s is run entirely by men. I just paid my bill so I could tip the guy who served me before he knocked off for the day (I often stay so long drinking coffee that this can be an issue, and I’m getting used to helping out when I can!), and I told them how rare it was, in my experience, to have an all-male Denny’s. They were really surprised. They said the company lets you move between diners all over the country if it suits you, and their experience was different. I spoke to the manager, Russ, for some time, about his world travels, and he told me a great story. After ‘borrowing’ a motorbike at the age of 15 to explore America, he then got a job on a shrimp boat, sailing out of Texas and way out into the Caribbean for weeks at a time. On the first voyage, he said,

‘I was sick as a dog. The swaying of the boat just made me wanna die. The captain told me ‘Get up the mast and bang the rust off it before we paint it!’. I said, Up there? And he said ‘Yes, hop to it’. So I had to climb to the very top and start banging all over the metal with a big hammer, and the flakes of rust blew away on the wind. The mast was moving so much I thought I was gonna die, so I came down and the capn’ said ’What the hell you doin’? Get the hell back up there til I tell you you’re finished!’ So I climbed way back up and I was there for hours, hours! I was so sick. When I finished with all the banging and came down, the capn’ said to me ‘Does it feel to you like this boat is moving?’ I thought about it, and I realised it wasn’t. ‘No it ‘ain’t!’ I said. ‘See?’ he said to me, ‘You’re cured’

ONE SMALL STEP FOR A CYCLIST: If I hadn’t had to move my bike, I could have checked in to my motel from the diner without even needing to step outside into the heat – connecting doors, see? If you look on the map above you’ll see that we’ve ended up just the other side of Indian River from Cape Canaveral, and the Kennedy Space Centre. Just those names have such an evocative ring, don’t they? Any other baby-boomers out there who remember hearing as a child when man first landed on the moon? Or looking up at the moon and thinking, ‘There’s actually someone up there, right now!’?

If I could have done things differently, I would have liked to cross over tomorrow to have a look, but it will be very early (so closed) and even though there’s still lots you can see, the NASA road bridge causeway is miles long, without a bike lane, and totally exposed to wind and (possibly tomorrow) rain. So sorry folks! To make up for the loss, I spoke to NASA and they kindly agreed to send over a goodwill ambassador to the motel, for a photo shoot. He was a bit of a one though, and tried to ride my bike. In those gloves! He had great all-weather gear for extreme cycling, but in full sun, he said, he always wished he didn’t have the hot water being pumped round inside his suit.

If you look the other way on the map, you’ll also spot that I’m only an hour (49 miles) by car form Walt Disney World, Orlando. The Google bike route is an insane 7-hour, 87 mile detour around Orlando. So again, another time. @Jane Lodge – was this the one you visited with family earlier this year??

I have zero complaints about leaving so early this morning. Ever since I arrived the skies have been darkening, and now lightning and thunder and rain and wind are making the motel feel incredibly cosy and un-campsite-like. I’m even wearing a fleece in the aircon because it’s a bit less hot outside now.

WHAT IS IT SAM?: This goose, duck or pachyderm (I’m trying) was very interested in me this morning. It paused by the creek and kept turning around where it stood for a better view of me. Red patch around the face/eye, in case you’re not as expert at these things as I am. Is it a wild turkey?

CHURCHES THAT LOOK JUST LIKE TAGINES:

OLD SIGNS THAT ARE ALSO FUNNY: