Update #40 - Oct. 06, 2003
Starke, FL - 8,622.3 miles (13,795.7 kms.)

This last week of riding was okay. Nothing really special happened along the way except for getting a large nail stuck into the rear tire while riding through the small town of Sparks north of Valdosta, GA. I had to get a new rear tire in Valdosta. I would have had to get a new one soon since the tire had almost 5,000 miles on it. I had the tire on the bike since Seattle, Washington.

I crossed into Florida Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning, I went to the United Methodist church in Live Oak. The reception that I got was kind of cold. There was hardly anybody my age or younger. Both of the ministers were out on retreat. Nothing happened afterwards.

Halfway between Live Oak and Lake City, I met up with another cycle tourist. I haven't seen anybody else on the road for months so it was great talking to him. I found out that he was riding the Adventure Cycling Southern Tier Route from St. Augustine, FL to San Diego, CA. He was from Scotland as was planning to take three months for the trip. I shared with everything that he might expect along the way since I've covered a lot of the miles that he was going to ride. We talked for almost fourty minutes.

I should be in the St. Augustine area Wednesday. I was going to ride straight east from Lake City to Jacksonville along U.S. 90 but I didn't know the way really well and I was concerned how I was going to ride through the Jacksonville area. I will be getting on FL A1A at St. Augustine and riding it through Daytona Beach. From Daytona, I will be possibly be riding on to Orlando through New Smyrna Beach and Titusville so that I can visit the new headquarters of the Wycliffe Bible Translators. I understand that there is a volunteer program. If that doesn't work out, I'll be either stopping to visit the people at the headquarters of Campus Crusade for Christ also in Orlando or riding to the Tampa area to check out the ministry "Food For the Poor", which primarily helps people in the Carabbean.

I'll try to post an update as often as I can if there are any changes in my plans.