I've decided it's lame lumping multiple days in one posts… and makes for too long of a read, ergo day-by-day posting.
Continued from the previous post…. Since we got a late start and normal breakfast places weren't open we ate breakfast at Subway (thank god for the $5 footlongs…. we've been abusing that one), and departed Everglades City. Not a whole lot going on down in this neck of the woods, but it makes for good, safe riding. We made our first stop at about 30 miles where the first gas station was, located in Sunniland Fueled up quickly and hit the road.
Shortly after, Paul and I received our first rain traveling through a small town called Immockalee. It was Florida style, torrential downpour for 5 minutes, and clear a few minutes later. It was actually quite refreshing, and a nice way to beat the heat.
After Immockalee we only had another 20 to go to reach our destination La Belle, for the evening. On our path to La Belle, among lots of nothing, we saw little kids and dogs playing in farmlands in between the surrounding towns. They seemed very happy, and it was humbling to imagine what life could be like in different settings.
Once we arrived in La Belle, we found a pizza restaurant, that had about 10 different kinds of pizzas in a buffet. We of course made the most of our money there. La Belle is a nice, small, southern town with enough going on to satisfy all needs We shacked up at a motel in town that had a pool. For those who know me know that I view a pool as a perfectly good substitute for a shower. It also doubled as a washing machine since I went in with clothes on.
Before bed, I spoke with the family that would be hosting us the following night. We found them on a site called warmshowers, a site where hosts who are willing to put up travelers for a night plot their location on a map so that people can easily find them along their paths. Gary, our host, was very impressed with the mileage we had been putting in at the outset of our trip, especially with no training for either of us, and was eager to meet us the following evening We were excited as well.
We called it a night for our third day in a row in a bed (can't get used to this), and prepared for the next day.