54 Miles to Perry, FL ......

As I'm writing this blog, I've got an ice pack on my left knee. It was injured a number of years ago (originally falling off a horse and years later a snowboarding accident) and then I had arthroscopic surgery on it for a torn meniscus about 1.5 years ago. I know it's swollen, but hasn't been too problematic. Only 3 more days of riding and I am intending to ride every inch of the way, so I'll push through. There aren't that many of us who can say we did that, but I'm not sure of the exact number.

I feel as if I'm on the TV show "Survivor" because I've got bug bites, heat rash and have lost some weight that I didn't really need to lose.

Today's ride was short and pretty uneventful. The humidity today was high and the temperature was

in the low 80s. The bugs were an issue when we stopped, so we didn't stay long at the SAG rest stops. I rode with Sandy again because we do well together when the terrain is flat, as it was today.

I'll say a few words about my rest day, yesterday. Being Sunday, four of us decided to attend a church service at a church that was located right next to our hotel. I'm posting a pic of the sign in front of the church. It turned out to be an evangelical service with a lot of singing and the arms in the air and parishioners speaking out, "Praise The Lord", etc. I hung in there for about 45 minutes and then snuck out. I think it lasted a couple of hours....

The four women I had lunch with yesterday are the "foreigners". From the left: Sheila from Scotland, Joyce from England, Helen from British Columbia and Janine from Calgary, Alberta. Joyce is my roommate again tonight. Sheila and Janine paid extra so that they could always have a single room. There are pros and cons to that arrangement. The pros would be having your own space and not putting up with someone's snoring or whatever, but the con would be that you don't get to know some of the women very well, especially if you ride at a different pace.