Touring - Gainesville Tour Day 10 /Conclusion

Now it was Day 10 and Sunday and I wanted to be back by Monday so I had an approx 120-140mile day ahead if I was to make it.I got another early start around 4 AM I think and rode the scenic route 98 on into Okeechobie (of course the wide shouldering soon again returned for the rest of the way)where I picked up 70 and the route of our first Fl. Tour back in June which brought back memories seeing the cowboy motiffed bars and liquor stores then heading south on 441 the grocery store we stopped at and then the Mcdonald's Dave scarfed down the greasy burgers at.I opted for the Golden Corral all you can eat breakfast figuring at the distance I had to do the best plan was to take it easy with plenty of food and water .And did I eat plenty of food but my mistake was probably eating an excess of protein in addition to carbs and fat which seemed to put me more in a recovery mode than an endurance mode however the waitresses did seem to notice my legs were getting shapely from the constant riding as 4 were all over me and they all were fairly cute and probably in their mid 20's.Maybe I should submit a picture to the legs thread however I don't have a camera lol.As I started out on 441 around the east side of Lake Okeechobie in a fairly liesurely mode I stopped at the Lake where Dave took the pictures that are on his journals of the first tour.It was even more scenic due to a number of small fishing skiffs in the estuary area near the lake and a ton of birds including a formatation of them on the parking lot resembling a disorderly troop .On around after Bob's Big Bass RV Park where I again disembarked from the first tour route the low class developement had stopped and then there were some fairly nice scattered homes and then almost no developement which was particularly nice .It was distressful to see the beauty of the natural landscape and then see it being ruined by the stark contrast of a new home being built with manicured landscaping however the lake itself and even the nearby Gulf and Everglades are being negitavely impacted by the levee around the lake and resulting water mngt practices anyway .I only really liked the circular stilted homes often built into the natural landscape .Around Port Myoca the sugar cane fields started with resultant truck traffic and low income immigrant housing.441 was well shouldered as was 98 which I took again as a shortcut passing some heavily polluting sugar cane plants and fields that had been purposely set afire .I was making good speed at this point and when I reached 441 again this time headed west towards West Palm Bch there was a ton of traffic but it was the So.Fl. indifferent type not the central Fl. or No. Fl. mean spirited type .So I rode on hitting the western burbs just as night fell and a steady drizzle started.Unfortunately my bike picked this time to get another flat but I changed it fairly quickly with the last tube.As I rode on just before 441 turns south heading to Broward 441 lost its shoulder and in spite of a reasonably wide outside lane the heavy fast moving traffic with the nightime made this stretch fairly nerve racking as did the unnecessary honkers who always honk after they pass you and usually drive minivans and usually are the ones holding everyone else up lol. After turning south there is wide shouldering the whole way and I have ridden this route enough at night on long rides dead tired that I knew I could then make it but when I stopped at a fast food resturant for a snack I become wet and chilled by the cool and windy rain though I think it was still in the low 60's before any wind chill factor.Nevertheless I put on my wool winterwear to avoid the chill and really struggled the rest of the way going pathetically slow and stopping often to rest. I got in kinda a slow groove near West Boca and cycled the rest of the way without stopping(except for lights) but believe me I was feeling far from impressive at the time I got home late that night.I will try to edit in the total and average milage for the trip if I can get a good estimate but as I don't have a cycle computer I am going to have to estimate it from online sources.