Yes, we did make it back to Cincinnati. We are happy to be back with family and friends. In the spring, Mary Jo enjoys gardening and the lettuce that she planted in early March was ready for harvesting.



On the way back to Cincinnati, Ruth stopped to see her beautiful grandaughter, Maddie. As you can see, she is preparing her for a cross-country trip.
We loved the trip and are proud and happy about the accomplishment. We have no regrets about the way we did the trip - staying in motels, having all the motels booked before embarking on the trip, riding west to east although we had a lot of headwinds, and having our patient husbands sagging for us the first two weeks. If you are considering cycling the southern tier please feel free to contact us.
morleyruth@hotmail.com or mjpeairs@gmail.com
We urge all to take a chance and do some of your own exploring. Whether by foot or bicycle or traveling to another place, find out what's over the hill, around the corner, or down the road. We want to hear all about your adventures, so keep us posted!
Thank-you for taking the time to read our blog.


Ruth and Mary Jo

3045 miles and we are still good friends!!

Day 42, Palatka to Anastasia State Park, 47 miles

3052 miles! 42 days on the road! Eight states! We actually did it by just pedaling our bikes. It was an adventure of seeing backroad America and meeting so many helpful and kind folks.

For the last time the rooster alarm went off and for the first time Ruth got out of bed before Mary Jo. After seeing the beginning of the sailboat race on the St. Johns River, we started off for the last time.

We helped another turtle across the road and helped some workers pick cucumbers. Later this summer, the workers will be in northern Ohio picking cucumbers.

It was becoming hot and the wind was coming from the east. We approached St. Augustine and passed the park where Mary Jo ended her East Coast Ride nearly five years ago.

We went over The Bridge of Lions to Anastasia Island. With our excitement and maybe a few tears in our eyes we almost missed the entrance into the state park. We quickly turned around and there were Don and Bill with a congratulatory banner. Now we were crying.

We cycled down the park road to the beach, pushed our bikes through the sand, and reached the ATLANTIC OCEAN! The front wheels were bathed by the surf.

After setting the bikes down we ran into the cool, refreshing waves. We did it, we found the Atlantic Ocean.

Mary and George, who we have been sharing the road with these last few days, appeared to congratulate us. Next year they are planning to do a transamerica crossing.

The guys had done their usual and brought a picinic lunch to us. I don't have to tell you where the sandwiches were from. Then four champagne glasses appeared with a bottle of champagne.

Two beautiful trophies appeared; Ruth had a red bike on her trophy and Mary Jo had a blue bike. (Thank-you Evelyn.) We ate the best picnic lunch ever!

We arrived at the Super 8 motel with another congratulatoy message.

Tonight we eat a healthful dinner, hopefully no fried food. Tomorrow we head back to Cincinnati and we will try to remember how to live a normal life.

When we return to Cincinnati, we will do one more blog.

"It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end." - Ursula K. LeGuin

Day 41, Gainesville to Palatka, 61 miles

Today was our last full day of riding.

We left Gainsville before seven and soon found the connector to the Gainsville-Hawthorne Bike Trail.

The connector bike trail took us south of the University of Florida and we were soon out of the city and on the beautiful trail that led us to Hawthorne. The trail was spectacular with us going through swamps. Luckily we did not see an alligator but did help a turtle cross the trail.

In Hawthorne we reconnected with Mary and George who are cycling in the Southeast. Their final destination is Savannah.

We cycled with them until our stomachs told us to stop for lunch. We did find our favorite place and bought sandwiches for a picnic in a nearby park.

With a little drizzle we quickly cycled into Palatka where we are spending the night in a motel along The St. Johns River. Many sailors are gathering for the annual Mug Race to Jacksonville.

How are our bikes? We do not want to jinx our good fortune but our bikes have now gone three thousand miles without any major difficulty. Ruth had two flats and Mary Jo's odometer stopped working in Louisana. Both our bikes are road bikes not touring bike. Ruth rides a Trek Pilot and Mary Jo rides a Fierte Serrotta. Before the trip our bikes were completely overhauled and we both had new Continental Ultra Gator Skin tires put on the bikes. Because we did not have to carry camping gear, we were given the small Arkel bags by our children and these small bag worked well for our meager belongings protected by ziplock bags. We brought only the essential tools - tire irons, a small hand pump with a guage purchased through Adventure Cycling.com, a multi-tool kit, a universal rivoli chain tool, an extra chain link, a fiberax spoke repair kit, a small bottle of prolink to lube and clean the chain, and FIVE SPARE TUBES. Each bike has two cages for our water bottles. We have grown very fond of our bikes; they are our trusty steeds.

Mary Jo's bike

Ruth's Bike

How are we feeling? We do not have anything that hurts but we are doggone tired! If we had to ride more days we would but we are really looking forward to giving our bodies a rest.

" A Bicyclist's Ode to Subway Sandwiches"

"Cycling 'cross America really takes its toll,
But yummy Subway sandwiches play a mighty roll,
In powering the body to make the wheels roll.
It takes much more than sports drinks to achieve this mighty goal.
Wanna stop to eat there? There's no need to cajole!
A sandwich for the body and a cookie for the soul!" - Ruth L. Morley

Day 40, White Springs to Gainsville, 90 miles

After eating a delicious breakfast of French Toast and scrambled eggs cooked by our hostess, we started riding west to rejoin our route.

We enjoyed seeing our shadows in front of us but we were not paying close attenion to our route.

After riding seven miles we noticed the same tomato field that we saw yesterday.

Luckily a lady was there and she told us that we had missed our turn five miles back. Despite adding ten miles to our day, the morning was pleasant and it was the perfect day for two good friends to ride. We cycled back the five miles and turned south on route 137 and crossed I10. This is only the second time that we have missed a turn in nearly three thousand miles.

(Mary Jo by the tomato fields, YESTERDAY!)

Down the road we saw the Whistlestop Deli. We purchased sandwiches for our lunch and could not resist the blueberry scones and a quick jig with the chef.

At noon we stopped at the Ichetucknee Springs State Park. While eating our sandwiches we watched a man swimming laps across the pristine natural pool formed by the spring. We both had the same idea and quickly changed into our swimsuits and took a quick dip in the seventy-two degree water.

During the afternoon we cycled through beautiful pasture land and through the town of High Springs.

We were now approaching Gainesville. We followed the tree lined route 232 into Gainesville. There was a clearly marked bike lane and it made our cycling into the city less nerve-racking then cycling into Tallahassee. We cycled passed the University of Florida and found the Super 8 Motel.

Tomorrow we are taking a bike trail out of Gainesville and will cycle to Palatka. It will be our last full day of cycling.

Day 39, Monticello to White Springs, 78 miles

After our last few days of hard cycling, we slept in and did not have breakfast until seven. We enjoyed chatting with our hostess and then started east again on state route 90. We enjoyed the wide shoulders and light traffic and the shade of the trees. All was forgiven for the heavy traffic in Tallahassee.

We sooned arrived in the lovely historic village of Madison. We took a little cycling tour around the courthouse square and ventured down some side streets to view stately victorian homes. As Ruth was taking her last picture, she realized that her front tire was flat.

Now we were truly on our own-no husbands, no Evelyn, no other cycling groups, and no bike store until Gainsville, a hundred miles away. We calmly got out our tools and directions on how to change a tire. We methodically followed the directions. Twenty minutes later the tube was replaced, pumped up tp 100 psi, and the tire was back on the bike. We were ready to go again.

(proud tire changers!)

We bought a picnic lunch at a nearby grocery store and headed for Suwannee River State Park. Upon entering the park we met other cyclists who are going from St. Francisville, La. to Savannah, Ga. via St. Augustine. They told us that we would have the park to ourselves and we truly did. The view of the river was spectacular and the day was perfect for a picnic - tempeature in the low seventies, low humidity, and a slight breeze.

We were now off of ninety and cycling along real backroads with no traffic. We passed groves of timber, cattle and horse farms, peanut farms, and tomato farms. The locals call this "the other Florida."

Then we saw towering signs for McDonalds and gas stations. What was ahead? It was I-75! Cincinnati is just up the road. Mary Jo desperately tried to turn north but Ruth distracted her by buying McDonald's milkshakes.

We headed into White Springs and are staying at a B&B.

We ate dinner at the local restaurant whose name did not appeal to us. The pork dinner was better than the Odwalla bars fermenting at the bottom of our panniers.

Tomorrow we head to Gainsville; we only have about two hundred miles left to reach the coast.

"Way down upon the Swanee River,
Far, far away,
There's where my heart is turning ever,
There's where the old folks stay.
All up and down the whole creation,
Sadly I roam,
Still longing for the old plantation,
And for the old folks at home." - Steven C. Foster

We are longing to see Bill and Don. We can't wait for Saturday. Ruth & MJ