tallahassee to valdosta

scott of bicycle house and a riding buddy of his 'pulled me' along on an alternative route out of town, which includes the beautiful stretch, the last remaining stretch, of the first road through this area, now called old st.augustine road. we had left the shop around 5pm so i only got another ten miles along, for a total of perhaps 25, before dusk. when i passed over highway 10 i thought it might be 90, which i was going to take east. so i had to find someone to ask... tried to wave down a car without luck. i found a driveway that was not blocked by a gate and heard someone working in their shop. this was tom harmon, who i ended up staying with for the night!

this wonderful man, a most graceous, 'old fashioned' host, spoke to me about various topics, stories from his life, for the larger part of the evening. he humored me and said i could clean up the back porcha a bit. this is where the semi-feral cats get fed. i also found out in the morning that there was no compost pile, but they wanted to have one! it was the perfect opportunity, but i passed it up because i felt i needed to get on my way. i hope that my encouragement will help at least.

4/13
stuff found:
many butterflies, bungee cord, several gloves (mostly left hand)

rode 65+ miles to arrive in valdosta as the sun set around 8pm. the most pleasant section was the 'four freedoms trail' north out of madison. most of the trail is under the graceful branches of trees. i met two nice christian women who i received encouragement from and shared my blog with. when i tell people about my trip sometimes people ask if i am religious. it is a lot like a religious mission that i am on. but i choose not to put it in those terms.
i also me a guy on a walk from jacksonville to california! he shot a video of me to share on his blog. this is sure to be an interesting story. i felt a strong comeraderie with this fellow, nick. here is what he wrote about me, kind of funny:

'As I headed out of Madison I crossed a guy on a bike coming towards me. He stopped and we talked a while. He was a homeless hitchhiker and came from Washington state, riding part of the way and getting rides the other parts. He said he was doing it for love. He was a gentle spirit and a very soft spoken and quiet person. I asked if he needed anything and I ended up giving him a water. He was interesting. Said he didn't have a destination but would just circle the country a while.'