If you map it, they will come.

Location: Tallahassee, FL
Photos: here.
Video: here.

I wake up at 10AM again after going to bed at 3AM. Just not nailing these sleep opportunities like I want to be.

I know I'm going for a ride today because I keep thinking of what it would be like to be back at home at have it be 30 degrees and wet and I would be an a-hole if I didn’t take full advantage of a beautiful 70 degree day in Florida.

Strava finds me a ride that is 48 miles, but it leaves from some dudes house in a neighborhood, which I think cant be all that bad, because it’s a Sunday, and therefore he is probably home, and he is a rider, so he probably wont mind if I park right there.

Problem is, he is not home. But a neighbor is and he tells me the guy is a cop, not sure why, and that he is probably out with his wife but it would be no problem to leave the car there. I leave a note on it because it is a dead end and my car is very suspicious looking and I don’t want anyone to worry. Or tow me.

Just as I'm leaving the neighborhood a car pulls down the street and in it is a man and a woman. There were only a few houses and everyone else I had already met or wasn't home, so I figure this is the guy.

I flag him down and ask if he is "MW". He is. I brief him. They both kind of look a little stunned because this is kind of a stunning event, to be honest. He says it's no problem to park there and his wife tells me to be safe and I'm off.

The ride is stunning and goes through a bunch of canopy lined roads enveloped by these big beautiful live oak trees. There is hardly any traffic, AGAIN, and despite a little wind in my face, it goes perfectly.

The roads are all pretty funny too, like “Old Bumpy Road” and “Imaginary Lane” and “Nowhere Ave" and crap like that. There was one point on the ride, which I did not know until the ride was over, from where you can see the ocean. Which is 30 miles away, which tells you how few hills there are in this state. It was still a considerable amount of climbing despite this. And I felt good.

I went past a place called “Waccissa” and a national monument called “Love Mounds” and a Lake called "Miccosukee". Yeah, agreed, those are funny names and you can see that I agree in this video (which is also at the end of this post).

When the world makes it that easy, you just have to stop and make it forever.

When I got back to the start, "MW" was there and came down and chatted with me. Of course he ran my plates and had already perused the blog, which I knew he would do, and as any good cop would be expected to do. We chatted for about 45 minutes. Biking, Swat Teams, you name it, we touched upon it. Great guy.

On the way back I stopped at a little place on the side of the road called Bradley's Country Store, which opened in 1927. It was closed. But a guy in a bronze pickup showed up not too longer after I arrived and he drove in real slow and looked at me quizzically like most people do, especially when I am still in my bike kit. I think their anus might tighten up a little bit too.

Well, this guy was the owner of the place. His grandpappy was the one who opened it back in 1927. He went inside pretty quickly but did say “have at it” when I asked him if I could take some pictures.

Heres what I will say about people in the south. If you are from the north, and for some reason I scream it out loud that I am from the north, it takes a little bit to break them in. But they are no thicker than an egg shell.

As soon as they realize that you are respectful and friendly and not here to look down at them through your nostrils, then all is good. And then they are just a friendly as you could hope for, and then it is also genuine, not like northern friendly, when most of the time its just being polite despite the fact that they secretly hate you.