ST: Day 8

Daily Miles: 56.9

Total Miles: 489.5

Max: 25.2

Average: 14.7

Time on the Bike: 03:51:59

I slept pretty well and when I woke up my butt mostly felt “okay”. The morning ride was moist and cool from the humidity but it was still just t-shirt weather. 

I rode by the Tylson Air Force base where jet engines were blaring and fighter jets zipped by overhead at low altitudes and unfathomable speeds. Shortly after clearing the base I heard a “thunk” followed by my rear tire deflating rapidly. Crap, my first flat tire. 

I pulled over and discovered a 2.5 inch thin nail penetrating the tire. It went through the middle and poked out right through the side wall. It took a lot of strength to pry it out but I did. I then proceeded to take everything off my bike, removed the wheel and replaced the tube. 

It didn’t take me long and it wasn’t bad and within 20 minutes I was out and riding again. 

I passed into Panama City which was the largest city I’ve been in since Tallahasee. I had to cross a big scary bridge which I thought was going to be terrifying, but thankfully there was a good pedestrian  walkway barracaded from the traffic that I was able to ride on instead of the road.

After Panama City I reached Front Street in Panama City Beach. The low key beach feel from yesterday was replaced with towering hotels that stood guard along the shore. Mini golf courses, ice cream stands, beach stores and even a Hooters draped the sides of the street as I rode by. It reminded me a lot of Myrtle Beach or Daytona Beach, although I didn’t happen to see a Ripply’s believe it or not, not to say it didn’t exist there. 

I eventually made it to Rosemary Beach where I gave Marty a call. Marty is a host on this website called Warmshowers.com, a site geared towards touring cyclists, where awsome people like Marty host smelly travelers like me. 

He gave me directions to his home and I made my way over there. Marty is a swell guy, retired, with two white, fluffy little dogs. He’s originally from Michigan and went to Michigan Tech. He’s done a lot of touring and has hosted a lot of people as well. We took a walk on the beach with his dogs and saw a pretty spectacular sunset while sharing stories of our travels and getting to know one another. 

When we got back he made me dinner and we chatted over a few bears. I told him about my flat tire and how my tube was pretty much destroyed and unpatchable. I was planning on going to a nearby bike store tommorrow to buy another spare tube, but luckily he had a spare in my size sitting in his garage and was willing to part with it. It worked about pretty well and now I don’t  have to deal with going to the bike store and lose some time waiting for it to open.

I have a long ride tommorrow to reach Pensacola where Ive arranged another place to stay through warm showers. I’m almost out of Florida which is hard to believe. 

Onward again tommorrow. My butt feels “okay”, and that’s okay.