Kia was waiting for all of us when we came down in the morning.

She gets to sleep inside the house. Kia is a rescue pup the prior owners were ready to put down. She was born with only three paws but gets around fine on her stub of a leg!!!! Judith, our hostess, had an Akita that died. She got two others from the Akita Rescue but had to return them because they were too aggressive. Kia is only 1 year old and seems like a keeper!!!

Judith had all four burners going to feed our hungry group this morning!!!!

Fresh juice, blueberry crepes with real maple syrup and a cheese omelet, made with eggs from the chickens in the back back yard . . . and lots of coffee, got everyone ready for a big day of riding . . . 82 miles today!!!

Lots of great little sink/pot holes to check out on the route this morning . . .

We have been paralleling Interstate Hwy 10 for the last week or so, jumping from the north side to the south, staying in towns located 5-15 miles from it. Today we cross it for the last time as we head south and then east to St Augustine.

Great, lush foliage along the way . . . things are wet here!!!

We rolled through Wellborn this morning . . .

. . . and to this planation outside of town that had been HEAVILY thinned . . .

. . . the pine that were left almost looked like palm trees!!!!

. . . with their ‘lollipop crowns’ and thin boles,  I think they would be susceptible to snapping off in high wind storms.

Here was the first backyard observatory we have seen since the one our host at the Marathon Motel and RV park owned, way back in TX !!!! Wonder if this owner has mood lights lit around his at night!!!

So . . . does he???

I stopped to take this photo and noticed a rider coming through me, heading west. He had a blinking headlight and was pulling  ‘Bob’ trailer. As he rolled up on me I asked him where he was going but from his response and expression, I don’t think he understood English. The reason I had stopped was to take a photo of, sadly, the two dead beagles lying in the ditch on the right side of the photo. I took a closer photo . . . but am not posting it. Too sad . . . I hope they were chasing a bunny or something and had a great last memory!!!!

. . . and I wish I had had an apple for this stunning creature. He kept bobbing his head up and down over the fence, like he was asking for one. I tried to take a movie of him doing it but he wouldn’t cooperate!!!

This is interesting . . . in several areas of Florida the rural mailboxes’ face away from the road. The rural carrier drives into the ditch to put the mail in the box. Advantages are the carrier doesn’t need to stop on the road and doesn’t need to sit hallway across the car to put the mail in the box. They just lean out the left side of the car. Makes sense . . . but you need to have a wide right of way!!!!

Probably about the most elaborate memorial I have seen . . . again, on a long straight section of road . . . no bumps, no turns  . . . straight. . .

We have ridden by many, many examples of this type of housing in rural  FL. Haven’t really seen the great numbers of these since AZ. Some are abandoned but many are still being live in . . . yikes!!!

Great root systems . . . we are not in WI anymore, Virginia!!!

Today there was a bike trail, for about  15 miles, that connects two state parks. We  took advantage of it . . . easy and safe pedaling!!!!

We are staying in downtown Gainesville, near the campus. Not sure if the owner of the Continuum, located down the street from us, appreciates this fellow sleeping on the sidewalk, in the middle of the afternoon, out in front of the building he is trying to rent!!!