Thursday, March 24, 2005

Apalachicola to Sopchoppy, FL

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Route 30 bridge
from Apalachicola
Today we had no choice, it was time for a return trip across the bridge from hell. Fortunately the wind was light and the ride was bearable. The worst part, as with most highway shoulders, was the broken glass that we tried to avoid. We managed the entire trip without a flat, in part likely due to the sturdy nature of the tires on our Columbia, Tioga Competition Pool (20x1.75). They are slick tires, said to have the least rolling resistance of any 20" (406) tires, but they are also thick and heavy.

Along US 98
Eastport
Kerie with a local
oyster shucker
We stopped several times to take pictures as we rode on US 98 along the coast. As we were taking pictures of the fishermen at one spot, a curious oyster shucker saw us in front of his shop and he came out to ask about our odd looking bike. It was a very pleasant ride, probably the best of the trip.

Carabelle Beach
The first rest stop was located on the beach, at a wayside rest area, where we loaded up again on sandwiches and cookies. During World War II, troops used the beach to train for the Normandy Invasion. They were among the first to land at Utah Beach in France.
Pat and friend
on a Double Vision
There we spotted a kindred spirit, our friend Pat, whom we met when we helped organize the Reston Century one year. Recumbent tandems were everywhere. We also met a gentleman from the Baltimore Bicycle Club who told us about rides to Shepherdstown, WV and Gettysburg.

As usual we spent some time worrying about food. We decided to stop by a Subway to pick up a couple of vegetarian sandwiches that we hauled to the next rest stop at the Florida State University Edward Ball Marine Lab.
Kerie cooling her heals
in the Ochlockonee River
A couple of albino squirrels were spotted in the nearby trees. The next stop was at Ochlockonee River State Park where we joined other bikers in cooling our feet in the tannin-rich waters. Our bird-watching friend on the Rans V2 was excited that he had seen a red-cockaded woodpecker, known to inhabit the pine trees of the park.

We lingered for a while at the park, walking along one of the trails, watching kids being towed by a powerful motor boat, one of many that passed while we were there. We didn't want to linger too long as we were anxious to see some worm gruntin' and oyster shuckin' in Sopchoppy.

Tent city was located in Myron B. Hodge Sopchoppy City Park, located along the Sopchoppy River.
Local worm grunter
with the tools of his trade
After a delicious peach slurpee served up by the Bike Detail guy. Actually the Bike Detail man was busy managing is many ventures; one of his helpers made the slurpee. Besides cleaning bikes and making slurpees, the detail man now serves coffee, rents chairs and towels, and charges cell phones. We may ride hard, but we also want to be pampered.

Local worm grunter
with bucket of worms
The big event of the day was the Worm Grunting demonstration. How this was discovered was never mentioned, but somehow it was learned that by rubbing a thick stake of wood with a heavy bar of iron caused large quantities of worms to rise to the surface of the ground. It's not known if the vibration irritates or excites the worms, but they come squirming out of the ground while the grunter (for lack of a better term) rubs the wood, which makes a low-pitched grunting sound.

The grunter was a real woodsman, the “2004 Worm Grunting King”, who spends his days with his wife collecting worms to be shipped around the country and used as bait. We had a front row seat. As the wood was rubbed we could feel a tickling sensation in our feet. The ground was dry and the expectations were low for actually seeing any worms come out of the ground. Instead the grunter had bucket of already harvested worms on display.

After a long bus ride we were finally able to shower and walk to a nearby local restaurant, Summers on the Beach, for more fried oysters, backed potato, salad, and some real hush puppies.

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