Day 7: Marianna, FL to DeFuniak Springs, FL

Daily Miles: 59.2 Total Miles: 409.7

Old country barn along yesterday's route

Another day down! Today's ride was fairly uneventful. I set out at about 10 til 9 and planned to met up with mom ~32 miles down the road in Bonifay. In just two hours I had arrived and pulled up to the Holiday Restaurant, the only establishment in town, but so far there was no sight of Mary. I gave her a call and she had been busy getting an oil change and having the windshield repaired, so she still hadn't left Marianna. Although I was a little nervous about leaving my bike unprotected outside the restaurant, I decided to go inside and grab a bite to eat, rest my knee, and wait for mom. The restaurant was really crowded, and for about $4 I got a grilled cheese, fries, and a bottomless Coke. No complaints. I don't want to alarm any Golden Girl conspiracy theorists, and I would never suggest that Estelle Getty faked her death and is now the proprietress of a roadside diner in the Florida panhandle, but I would invite any curious parties to visit the Holiday Restaurant in Bonifay and draw their own conclusions. 

Mary decided this cave was as nice as some of our hotels

Mom showed up just as I was finishing my meal, and I took a few more Advils and decided to press on the 17 miles to Ponce de Leon. Then the hills started. My knee was still hurting today, but significantly less, but once I headed out of Bonifay things got real. I made it to Ponce de Leon and needed another rest. I had a snack and chatted with mom, and then finally set out to knock out the last 12 miles to DeFuniak Springs. Mom went on ahead and did the hotel recon and I plugged along up another set of never-ending hills. I checked my bike computer and learned that I had climbed an almost unbelievable 2,766 feet today. 

Don't hate on my sweet outfit

The fact that my knee is still attached to my body is a testament to the fact that it must be getting somewhat better. I had one extreme encounter today that, if it had ended differently, would have scarred me for life. I was heading up the road and I noticed a pigeon flapping around strangely. As I got closer, I realized that it was injured and confused because cars kept passing it on the left, but for some reason it wouldn't go into the grass on its right. I was probably going 15 MPH and as I bared down on the pigeon, it flopped right in the path of my wheel. I knew that I couldn't swerve or I would either wreck in the grass or get hit by a car, so all I could do was close my eyes and say, "Please God, Nooooooooooo." At the last second it flopped a fraction of an inch to the left and I looked down as my wheel BARELY missed it's chest. Ugh. It was easily the most stressful thing that's happened so far on this trip. Now we're in the hotel where we will stay for 2 nights. Tonight I'm driving down to Destin to meet up for dinner with Greg, one of my future business school classmates. 

Uprooted trees in Florida Caverns State Park

Mom and I are taking tomorrow as a rest day and are planning on exploring historic DeFuniak Spings, heading out to Falling Waters State Park to see Florida's tallest waterfall, and maybe even driving down to explore the beaches. And first and foremost, tomorrow we are getting the ball rolling on our fundraiser, so be prepared to see a blog post and/or receive an e-mail tomorrow! PS. We don't have any good pictures from today, so I'm putting up more from yesterday.