Prisons and pines from jacksonville to high springs.

First real day of riding today, 120+- miles from Jacksonville to High Springs. Up before the heat started, ready and good to go with bike, panniers, and food. Took a 14 mile bike trail from outside of Jacksonville to Baldwin, lots of mornins and questions.
Passed 2 dozen dead snakes, a raccoon, part of a bator, and a few abandoned bike cables. Sort of like pitons indicate a climb, cables and tubes indicate a bike route.
Prisons galore, plus recreational facilities and prison factories. Most be a dearth of license plates. Passed more pines than imaginable, chased by dogs, and ate some darn good fried chicken at an IGA in Lake Butler.
Feeling a bit outside of the norm right now at a cave diving masterminds' home, complete with yurt, bike deck, and chickens.
Tomorrow will be a trip to Monticello through what Rob says is land with more cows than people, kinda like Harney County, OR.
The land is flat, sun is hot, and soda feels so nice. I decided at the gas station I stopped at in Aculpua that each day will bring a new brand of soda label into my bags. I hope the south has a lot of good citrus flavours.

In Florida

Just landed in Florida,
assembled the bike and got an early start. Pictures and updates about to be bombarded across the internet

LAst papers and finals

Done with all final tests, just one last paper for environmental policy awaiting some sort of magical completion. Then, its off to Boston Logan, for a flight to Florida. I'm flying Southwest, which despite few non-stop flights to the places I tend to fly, is worth the extra time for two free bags, which can include ski bags. Traveling with gear tends to suck, but with Southwest I've never had problems with 50.1 pound duffels, multiple ski bags, and coolers arriving at the right place, on time. Plus, if you're flexible as to when you're flying, their prices are hard to beat and you can always change flights if a destination just deserves another day or if rain has swamped your tent.
But now its time to get back to work. 36 pages into an environmental policy solutions paper on ski area boundary access.

Life in bags

Its been quite difficult deciding what gets a spot in my D2R bags, let alone what is actually needed on a trip across the country. Everything fits into 4 bags on the bike: A seat post bag, a handlebar bag, and two panniers. Realizing that life can be sustained with these 4 bags is weird to think about. I have 3 days worth of food, enough sunscreen to keep me covered 10 hours per day, a little bit of clothing in case it gets cold, a tent for the bugs, an Exped Downmat for the best non-tempurpedic rest you can get, and some spare parts.
Will white tights really be necessary in the heat? When will I use laundry detergent? Where should I put my headlamp for easy access? How should my tent poles be attached? What use do I have for rope?
I asked these types of questions over and over, packing and repacking until I had an ideal weight (about 21 pounds) and an adequate amount of stuff for camping.

 My bed, with all my gear laid out to make sure nothing is missing

5 minutes later: Everything in bags, almost ready to go on the plane. 

Next stop: Jacksonville, FL by way of Boston and Baltimore.

Three days...

and I haven't even assembled my bike in the configuration I want. The constant debate continues of what parts, what gearing, and where gear goes. Gut decision on Friday will be the final deal...

Biking in the rain

A lot of people have a dedicated rain bike- fenders galore, grit, grippy tires, and old grit. I had one, and it got washed every day, lubed every week, and was stored inside at night. A good life for a bike.
Now that I’m in school, however, my rain bike doesn’t get washed. It just sits outside and waits for the rain, sleet, or snow to stop. Other people know that they can ride it if they have the code, the disk brakes stop in any whether (including snow), and generally the bike gets a good deal of use.
Not that I recommend abandoning your local bike shop, but if you can find a good mountain bike with disk brakes for $300, I’d say go for it. At least I did.
But back to the rain bike, as I call my maroon Motobecane. Sometimes a bike gets loved through use, not through maintenance and pampering. Bikes like to get beat up, used, and enjoy that feeling of pedals mashing. They like to feel useful.
So go out and ride an older bike, leave it outside in a safe spot with a good lock so its always rideable, and let your bike get the most use it can.

Photography ideas

I'd love more, but here's what I'm thinking for this trip (and have used in the past with success)
1. Places- both wide-angle and close-up, as well as people interacting with places
2. Landscapes+wildlife in general
3. Changes to environmental and built/natural environments
4. Constant colors or shapes
5. Patterns on the land or sea
6. Road signs, either as an integral part of the scene or by themselves
7. Abandonment, buildings, industries, roadside junk
8. Water, pollution, abundance, scarcity
9. Gear in use/ me.