Day 33: Tallahassee, FL to Lake City, FL

We shattered our old record of 106 miles with 124 miles for today! We decided to go so far because (1) we know that tomorrow is Sunday which means we get a rest day and (2) we heard that there is going to be a mini hurricane coming to Jacksonville Sunday afternoon and is sticking around through Monday! We figured that the more we rode today, the less we will have to ride on Monday which will probably be against really strong headwinds. The winds are supposed to be 45 mph! We are praying that this isn't going to be the case because we are so close (69 miles away from the Atlantic!) and would love to finish this trip on Monday.

Matt and I really enjoyed our lunch today. Pops bought a 37-pound watermelon for $5, cut it open with his pocketknife, and cut big pieces off for us. We ate it at this park pavilion that was in one of the towns we were passing through. In the park there was a Baptist preacher who was giving a sermon. He was really loud (I'm surprised he could keep up the volume for so long) and used big gestures, but there was only one person in the audience--she must have been his wife. I think she was video recording his sermon so perhaps they just did it in the park for a nice background.

Just outside of Tallahassee we passed the Letchworth-Love Mounds, and Matt went to go check them out while I rode ahead. Matt said he was really "digging" all of the archaeological discoveries and that he had "mounds of fun." For those who aren't familiar with mounds, they look like really big, oddly-shaped hills. Archaeologists can discover what the mound used to look like, how old it is, etc. This mound that we went by today was built about 1500 years ago by some Native Americans. Researchers believe it was used as some kind of temple or burial place.