April 22, 2011. Marianna to Quincy, FL. 54 miles.

When we rolled out this morning we left the way we came in: US 90 and SR 71. The traffic this morning was very much lighter than it was coming in yesterday afternoon. Once we were out of town (about 5 miles riding) we were on lovely country roads like you see below. It was very rural, and there were some hills. At about halfway through the ride we entered the eastern time zone when we crossed Apalachicola River and climbed the big hill into Chattahoochee. It got more hilly after that, but the roads were great--we spent about 8 miles on a newly paved CR 268 with a nice wide shoulder before it narrowed down again before we got to Gretna. It was in this stretch of the old pavement that I got seriously chased by a big snarling white bulldog. I outran it by pouring on the energy (or adrenaline) and ramping up to about 25 MPH. Afterward I thought I had a flat tire. I stopped to check and found that it was just me shaking, not the bike! We had a note on our cue sheet that there was a town square with restaurants upon entering Quincy, but I did not see it and I DID see Kathie and Victoria ahead of me, so I rode into the hotel with them. When we got here we found that there was no food to be had in the area! We really lucked out when Tex called Kathie... She, Dianne, and some of the other riders were at a restaurant and were willing to bring us food. Yay! There was no way we were getting back on the bikes to ride the couple of miles back to town in 88 degree weather.

Katherine is a nationally known wound care specialist riding across the country to raise money (about $200,000!) for the WOCN foundation. If you would like to know more, go to www.wocnfoundation.org. You can also donate to this worthy cause. All along the route people have stopped to congratulate her and support us all.