Day 2 : Vero Beach, FL to Brunswick, GA

267 miles

The bed is wonderful, so when “canopy” rings out at 3 am, I detest its grating against my groggy ears. The air is thick from a night of rain and my clothes and shoes never dried from last night. I am quickly struggling to pedal against the pain of chaffing, so I stop and wrap all of the hotspots below the belt in electrical tape to prevent further damage and quell the pain. I also stop at 5 am to get down an energy drink. My spirits lift slightly and I forge on into the morning’s first light. The road is less developed today and I make efficient time up the coast along the shoulder of Highway 1. I pass Cape Canaveral but see no rockets. This is where the first men to walk on the moon took off from on their Apollo 11 mission in 1969. 

The story of the day is a 20mph headwind that rips into me, bringing buckets of rain. I ride without a shirt, which is foolish as I am soon horribly sunburned. I will pay for my mistake in the coming days. It is difficult to sleep and my back peels as sheets of damaged skin fall to the wayside. Even through the clouds, the Florida sun cooks me. 

The riding is unremarkable. Flat. Boring. It’s Florida. Not a good place to ride a bike. But the rain keeps it cooler, and I have a wonderful bike lane for most of the day. I put my head down and pound the pedals. 

I re-up my chamois cream supply at a bike shop in Jacksonville before crossing into Georgia in the late afternoon, where the rain turns to sun and the 4-lane road turns into a quiet 2. The land is impossibly flat–one big marsh. I find a Dollar General where I buy dinner and manage to set up camp across the street in an empty lot that is being used as a staging ground for a construction crew. It’s the only dry place I can find to camp. The mosquitoes of Waverly, GA (just south of Brunswick) are delighted that I’ve chosen their town as my resting place and hum me melodies with their wings all night.