I rode a homebuilt moped from Kansas to Florida the first couple weeks of november 2012--- remember click on any picture for a full size view

I drove my car home to leave it there, and wanted to take a long trip on the powered bike just to see what it could do.  I'll take a version of the powered bike with me on the boat.  Normally just use a regualr bike but if I needed to make a long trip, then instal the motor.  It's a 4 cycle weed eater motor.  I had 2000 miles on the old motor, replaced it with a new one before this trip. 

Leaving my Brother's in north west Arkansas----(note the text after the picture description is the text of emails I sent) -----(text starts here)------The first day went well, I left my brothers, there were two huge hills to climb, after that it was real good, old 71 is a good bike route south from Rogers, I worried some when I go to the area of the Bobby Hopper tunnel there was a sign saying next 17 miles extremely steep and winding, I looked for alternate routes but decided to push on through it. 1 mile up, up and up and then 16 either level along the ridge or down, it was really a very nice ride, and the engine pulled along with me pedaling in low gear all the way up. I had 2 flat tires the last one I put on the new tire I was carrying. I have trouble finding the slow leaks with a bike pump to patch the tube, lucky I have 3 spare tubes. I slept in the hammock tent along a branch of the Mulberry river, I had to move everything upstream a little to get out of the daylight only park. I had engine problems after the flat and the new tire, It seemed like it had no compression so I tore down the engine in the roadside park and was told I couldn't stay there. They said as long as hike up stream far enough they couldn't see me it was OK but leave first thing in the morning. I put the engine back to together in the morning and then tore the carburetor completely apart. I didn't find anything, I reassembled it, and adjusted the valves and the engine ran well. It still had carb problems every once in a while, and then it died. Attempted restarts and it made a bad noise and vibration. I pedaled into the next town, Ozark, and tore the engine apart. I found a broken piece that holds the cam followers. I asked around town if anybody knew anybody with a pile of broken weedeaters, they sent me to small engine repair place 10 miles south. I'm sitting there now in the front yard, nobodies home, waiting to see if anybody shows up. I asked a neighbor and they think he's around. If I find somebody with steel scrap pile, a hacksaw and a drill press I think I can build the part. I have the files I need. The first day I almost went as far as expected, probably close to 130 miles, today only about 30 miles.---Another ten miles late that afternoon, I was greeted with a "what the hell are you doing here?" No help except he told me there was an Elmer's supply in Paris south of the Ford dealer. I'm in Paris 8 am Sunday, not expecting much luck but I haven't found either the Ford or Elmer's place. There is a hardware in town and a Library with Internet. So I figured I send this. I camped out in a lake access boat ramp area owned by the Corp of Engineers, once again it closes at 10 pm, so I hid in the trees. Nice and quiet except for some animal rooting through the leaves middle of the night, I hung my food so I wasn't worried about that. It's nice a quiet without the engine but probably averaging 7 mph with the heavy packs.

My jungle hammock tent-- This is inside the Walmart clump of trees------ -(text continues 2)--I'm still in Paris, had a great buffet lunch yesterday at Roger's, I was talking to a couple local farmers, and they said they were heading that way. One of them also offered use of his shop, so I got the part built I needed, and then when getting ready to install if I found I had broken teeth on the cam gear. I'm waiting around for the local small engine shop to open to see if he has parts, If not the then I make some calls to Russelville and see if they have a junk engine with parts or if I need to order new, with next day shipping to there. It's about a 40 mile ride there. I'm having a breakfast at McDonald's using their power to recharge computer, phone and me with a sausage biscuit. I commented about an interesting sponge they use to clean the counter, and they gave me one, don't tell anybody. I'll also stop at the post office and use a box to mail stuff to Florida such as extra tools and stuff I don't need on the trip to lighten my load.----I've tried green slime tire sealant before and it didn't work for me, basically it made a mess that was impossible to clean and put a regular patch on. But I just bought a guaranteed no flat tube at Walmart, regular tubes $6 this one $8 I'm sure it has the same stuff in it, says It'll seal an 1/8 inch hole. So we'll see if the guarantee works. I'm sure it'll be tested. After a while, I suspect I'll have to pump up every morning to keep going, but might be easier than a full repair.----I found a real nice clump of oak trees just north east of the Walmart, It's just behind the small engine place and walking distance to McDonald's. The trees were the right space for my jungle hammock and lots of low shrubs to hide me and my stuff. The small engine place doesn't open till 10, so I've got a couple hours to find the post office and sort through my stuff, only problem is some of the stuff may change depending what I find in parts. Might get a whole engine, and strip of other possible needed spares to carry along. Or might get a different but equivalent engine and have to modify the mount. I've got the parts in Florida so I want this engine to get there in one way or another.----The picture shows the new finished part I made along with the broken parts. Drill press, drills, vernier caliper, hacksaw, files, center punch, hammer, a piece of 1/4 in steel plate and a couple hours.

The Mulberry river sw Arkansas, trip going well up to here.---------- -(text continues 3)---I'm sitting outside Robinett's small engine repair, I got here yesterday afternoon a little after 2. It was probably the hardest bike ride I've ever done. I sure wish I was on a road bike with 90 psi tires and no or maybe 20 pounds of packs. I probably have a 100 pounds in my packs. I haven't stopped at the post office to unload yet, I figured it might be better after I see what I get for engine repair. I've got a complete engine, same brand, just slightly less displacement for $20. No carburetor, but otherwise complete. The cam and most internals are the same, they give it less displacement by reducing the stoke and the depth of the cylinder/head combination. When digging out the broken teeth from the cam gear I found other pieces that I traced to a cage for the rollers in the roller bearing crank, so I'm assembling the smaller engine. Yesterday afternoon it rained but luckily I was in their shop. I figure a couple more hours getting the engine running and then off to the post office and continue south. On EBay this week is the engine parts I need for my 4kw diesel generator, actually supposed to be 2 rather complete junk units, they are in St Augustine, Florida on the east coast about 300 mile north of the boat, I expect to buy these, so I will be looking for a ride from there to the boat early next week. If anybody know anybody heading south, I'd be happy to share some gas. I have parts of a bike carrier on my bike and the engine/generators probably would fill half an average car trunk. A pickup would be ideal. I might find a small trailer their and increase my chances of finding a ride. If I get them my list of wants for the boat is getting real short. I've carried 100 pounds on a trailer behind the bike, but expect this would be close to 250 or more. Diesel engines and lots of copper, and if they have the fiberglass lead lined enclosures probably pushing 400. I need a shower real bad, I think I'll check out a truck stop. Yesterday I walked up many hills, just to give my pedaling muscles a rest, and also thought I might get an offer of a ride. I made the 40 miles in about 4 hours. I'd get soaked with sweat pedaling up the hills and then near froze to death coasting at speed down the hills. By looking at my shirt once it finally dries I suspect I should have something salty for lunch today. Often my meals have been cold cereal with lots of extra sugar for energy. I bought a 24 ounce box of raisin bran and package of fig bars last night, 2 meals later the box is half gone and the figs are history. I need to stop at wall mart and resupply my powdered milk and hopefully I can find someplace to buy a cup or two of sugar, I certainly don't need 5 pounds.---- next day

The engine pulled apart, found a broken cam follower support.-------- -(text continues 4)--------------Hurry sunup-----I'm in Conway McDonald's an early lunch and warm up the tootsies. $40, 2 used engines and a day of work and I'm motoring again. Robinett's small engine in Russelvile is a great place, I camped out in the woods next to it for the last couple days. A common problem of backpacking or in this case bike-packing in the winter is that you have to look for a place to camp at 5pm, have it set up by 6 and if you're by yourself probably asleep by 7. You wake up at 3 AM with nothing to do but try and sleep and wait for daylight. The smaller engines intake valve didn't seal well, wouldn't run, so we tried another, it's bigger, runs well good up and down the hills but has a built in ignition rev limiter that I'm up against almost all the time. I haven't figured the speed yet but suspect it'll be near 20. This morning I got on the road slightly before sunrise, I expect to be in south Arkansas and maybe Louisiana this evening.-------McDonald's in Dumas maybe it should be dumbass, they tried to charge me 35 cents for water, no place else have I run into this one. I'm freezing cold on the bike this morning. No breakfast this now, after a one hour bike ride. Last night I spent in the yard of a local farmer, I asked permission and he said sure, I was actually hoping he would offer a warm piece of carpet and maybe eventually a shower after hearing my story, no story, no luck. I'm out of sugar and milk powder, the last couple bowls of cereal, breakfast yesterday and dinner last night have been just cereal and water. The farmer had dogs, I introduced myself to them and even petted the 3 big ones, but the little one just barked and barked and kept it's distance. I hate small noisy dogs that never shut up. I stopped when the big was making a strange noise and it was getting dark, I was trying to make it to Dumas but figured I better stop their. After setting up the hammock tent and climbing in with my bowl of wet raisin bran, The dogs started barking, I figured if I lay completely still they would eventually get tire and give up, half an hour later, still barking 4 feet away, I was fully dressed in the sleeping bag, it's a 40 degree bag and not much protection from the mosquito net sides so I've been wearing my coat and socks, the last night I eventually pulled on my pants. I put my gloves on thinking that if one of the dogs got close enough I'd punch it in the nose through the tent and maybe it would shut up, But eventually I just gave a big SHUUUTTTUUUPP in a loud authoritative voice and it worked, Had to repeat it twice more in the next hour but even this morning the only noise was from the stupid little dog. You would think I'd be seeing a lot of the countryside, but most of my time is spent watching the rocks on the shoulder I am riding on trying to avoid the next flat tire. So far the guarantee on the inner tube is working and it's not even installed yet. If I'm not on the shoulder because it's too rough or non existent I'm watching out for the next vehicle going to run me over.

Getting ready to build the new cam follower support.-------- -(text continues 5)-------The drivers south east of Little Rock have been the worst, about 1 to 2% of them think that "Share the Road," means get that bike the Hell out of my way so I can have my share of the road. They drive all kinds of vehicles from Semi's to not restored 64 Pontiac tempests, but the Semi's and 4wheel drive jacked up pickups seem to have more of the drivers not happy with my using my share of the road. I knew when I started this trip that it was probably one of the most dangerous things I've ever done. The scariest part is the semi's at 60 mph missing me by less than a foot, they ought to have a cop do this ride with video equipment with backup 1/4 mile ahead, the let some of these people share the jail. I've thought about a fishing pole hanging a 4 oz sinker poised 3 feet to the side to break a windshield of these A-holes----.I hate the rev limiter, I'm probably traveling at 18mph, slower than the old engine and no reason to pedal. If I do I'm wasting gas, because the it just shut the ignition off till the engine slows back down. If I have to take this engine apart I'll look into replacing the ignition coil with one of the other ones I've got. I got rid of 10 pounds of tools at the post office, but I've probably picked up 10 pounds of engine parts that the post office won't take in the their priority boxes because they once had gas or oil in them, So I've still got them with me. If I end up pedaling again, I know now to lie and say they are machine parts. Time to get back on on the road, I'll check the local store for the powdered milk and fill my bottles with free water in McDonald's.----I still haven't even heard who won the election, but haven't bothered to ask either, I won't really make any difference, but I did vote this year. Haven't done that for a long time.---------If I wrote this this morning at 3am while awake in the tent I would have sounded like this, "Life is great" I'm in the sleeping bag, warm and not completely zipped up, I'm 1/2 mile south of Rolling Fork, MS 1/4 mile east of hiway 61, The Great Mississippi River Road. For a while yesterday I was on the River road bike trail, hiway 1. The evening before, I drove around town looking for a bar or buffet restaurant and was planning on asking if anyone would take pity on a tired and cold bike rider and offer a warm corner or couch where I could sleep and hopefully after hearing my story they would offer a warm shower. Not finding a suitable place I rode south and found a clump of trees in the middle of a huge bunch of fields, obviously an old home-site, now just 5 trees, a fuel tank, power pole and an old tractor. It's far enough off the Hiway so the noise is rather non existent and no dogs, I slept very well and woke up still warm. I was thinking, Rolling fork, sounds like a great name for a spaghetti restaurant, a Buffet with 6 sauces, an Alfredo, a green vegetable, a mac and cheese sauce, 5 or so different pastas to choose from, a salad bar and some bread choices. I would have stuffed myself, and hopefully found the warm shower and bed. But a 3am still warm was quite happy I didn't find that bed. One other advantage of sleeping under these trees, they are pecan and the ground is covered with pecans, I ate at least a pound before dinner of 4 PB and J sandwiches. I also resupplied my milk and sugar, and some Oreo type cookies. It was great to finally be in the warm south. At 6am I was starting to get cold feet and was completely zipped up and thinking that warm bed was sounding very tempting. I had a few pecans, added to my stash, about 1/4 were good the rest had started to decompose with mold inside.

I finished the part then pulled the cam out and realized the broken teeth.--------- -(text continues 6)----------- I'm in Vicksburg, MS as a write this, just had my 2 $1 McDoubles, 10:30am, Drivers had been good this morning except for one in a Toyota car something appeared to have an older man's hat, didn't even move over in the lane just like I wasn't there, no problem with the sun heading south west, and then there was a cop doing much the same thing coming into town. Yesterday I throttled back a little and pedaled most of the afternoon, feels like I'm going faster but probably not, but good to be doing something, I was fighting a slight 10 knot head wind all afternoon. I ran out of gas unexpectedly, I had a quart in the 2nd tank, this engine is using more but not a big problem. & days in the same clothes is getting old, I figured I'd be wearing shorts soon, and packed real light one pair of jeans, I could change socks but they are buried in the pack someplace and these are still working, I dry them out, like right now, have my shoes off. Life is OK, hopefully warm nights soon. The pics are Crossing the Miss and camp at rolling fork.-----------Sitting here waiting for the sun to come over trees I an eating pecans and Oreos with a slight flavor of gas. I'm out of water so I can't have cereal, last night was the first night I didn't have cold feet in the morning, I was completely zipped up and fully clothed even gloves when dawn approached. I had a flat right before dark, so I had to fix that, finally installed the guaranteed tube, I'm sure before the trip is over I'll get my money back for that purchase. Once again somebody showed up right when I was pumping the tire up to 50 psi to help, good to have some people at least have a thought of helping. I missed a turn about 10 miles back, it wasn't marked, after 4 miles I stopped and was trying to decide if I should turn around, or if there was another route, a 20 yr old local came up to help, I expect this might be the 3rd time he'd ever looked at a map and he didn't understand my need to shortest non hilly route. I'm on MS hiway 27 wanting to get on to 42 south of Oma, I need to cross the Pearl river and that was the question I was asking the guy, about other back roads not on the map with a bridge, he said all the roads have bridges, I took on and ended up on old 27, paved but loose rock covered, I'm sure the reason for the flat. I saw some interesting back country, but ended up back on new 27. I am seeing much more of the country since I am forced to use my share of the road, no shoulder, and not worried about flats, I can look around some more while riding. It's much more enjoyable. I'm not making anywhere near the miles a day or gas mileage expected, but I'm getting there. The EBay auction on the generators is in a couple days, I figure I'll also check for a boater that might be headed south to lake Okeechobee, might be able to swing a deal to get me, the bike and generators the rest of the way.----In Hattiesburg, standard 2 McDoubles and Internet, it's 11:30, so from Vicksburg to Hattiesburg takes me a day and an hour. There were hills all this morning and it seems I'm always fighting a headwind if any wind at all, probably 15 knots at times this morning. I paralleled a bike trail on 42 for a long way this morning, but it seems at a lot of the driveway crossing the bikes have to stop, not for me on 42. Should be in Alabama this evening and Florida the next. The picture is the night before under the pecan trees.

The new engine ready for a test----------- -(text continues 7)-----Finally in Mobile, My mood has been up and down much like the hills in eastern Miss and western Alabama. It started with stopping to ask a question, I thought I may have missed another turn, Mississippi sure wouldn't win any awards for having enough road signs. I saw a person working in her yard, I decided to ask where the town of Sand Hill was. I needed to make a turn there and saw a couple indications I may have passed the town and one unsigned intersection that may have been the turn. I have been riding on newly paved chip and seal (rock chips and hot tar,) I slowed down to turn up the driveway, my clutch is rather ineffective and the throttle sticks and my brakes are lousy at best. Needless to say there have been many right turns on red to avoid zooming into an intersection during this trip. I need to re-engineer the whole clutch and throttle set up. I've got some idea and had plenty of time to think about it. Any way I met this gal by accident and fell for her immediately, The loose rocks at the end of her paved driveway quickly made it clear no turns were allowed at the speed I was going with the load I was carrying. I did the lean over slide to a stop crash, my knee got another knock, same place as the last crash a little over a month ago, my helmet did it's job, you can tell be the marks on it. I ended up with a little scrape on my wrist and a tiny mark on my forehead. The knee is no worse than it's been the whole trip, about middle of the afternoon, it lets me know it's there with every pedal stroke. My shoulder also is sore but it;s the same one I dislocated a couple years ago and also hit hard on the last crash. Any way, I got up and introduced myself and asked about the location of Sand Hill, she told me it's a mile further up the road. She asked if I needed anything and I eventually asked about a shower and she said no problem, then after hearing some more of my story, she asked if I need laundry done. Anyway a couple hours of conversation later, clean body and in clean clothes I thanked her and continued on my way. It was starting to get dark she was heading to town with the boyfriend they passed me on the road and waved, I then found a great place to sleep abut a 1/4 mile down a pine Forest road, and settled in fro a great night sleep with a bowl of cereal, the last few gas tainted cookies and a handful of pecans. Overcast skies so no need to zip up all night long. Early in the morning before sunup I was done with my cereal for breakfast and back on the road heading south. I then had a flat, this is with the guaranteed "No Flat Inner Tube," So it'll go back to Walmart. I fixed it thinking about all the people passing by me with tires and tubes all over the side road intersection, they are probably headed to church to sing about and pray about helping their fellow man in need, but they pass me by because they got to get to church. In this area on the main road there seems to be about a church for every 10 houses you pass. Anyway I got the tire fixed, had to find the leak and then patch an old tube. I decided to change to the 2nd new tire for the trip, since I was riding on this new chip and seal. A mile or two down the road and another flat. I was way down at that point, also been fighting a strong headwind, all day often having to pedal downhill to keep my speed up, even with the engine pulling as hard as it can. Way, way down... I had just passed a place with a number of cars in the yard and decided they probably had a compressor and I needed to fix a lot of tubes, so I pushed the bike back to that place and announced my problems, They were happy to help. A very nice family, Sonny and Ruth in eastern Mississippi. I got 3 tubes fixed one needed 4 patches. I then headed east fighting the headwind. When I got into Alabama, I found the road I had planned on taking to be dirt, but even worse it was closed with a detour, so I was forced to head east 20 miles out of my way to Citronella and onto a larger hiway 45 to get to Mobile. Even farther down now. I decided in Citronella I needed a buffet meal, hadn't had any hot food except for hamburgers for a week. I found a restuarant, decided I was having whatever they served, inside the door and it said buffet, $9.95 drink included. Somewhat up a little. I sat down with a local had a nice meal, a nice rest and then pedaled the 30 some miles into the headwind into town. There will be some rain tomorrow, hopefully I find some shelter form that and have a day off from pedaling. The EBay item is history it just sold for $860, my bid would have been $453, so no need for a St Augustine detour. I should get off here and through town and across the bridge to Spanish fort to find a place to call home this evening.

Pecan trees south of Rolling Fork Mississippi---------- -(text continues 8)---And they call this camping--I rode across Mobile bay fighting a 25 knot headwind, water lapping at the road side, must be a new moon tide, the road is only 6 inches above the water. I stopped at a state park on the last island still in the bay, it was after dark, I forgot about the tunnel downtown and decided it would be better to go over the bridge, it was 5 miles north and then 5 miles back to the rest of the bay bridges. By the time I got to them it was getting dark so I rigged up the lights. I have an LED headlight and blinker LED tail light. I have had trouble with the light going off when the batteries bounce, so I moved the tail light to the end of the handlebar where I can see it still working. I also rigged them up to be wired to a 3 D cell flashlight so the batteries last forever instead of maybe 2 or 3 nights. While I was at it I modified the flashlight to use three 9 LED bulbs from harbor freight $1 3 AAA cell flashlights. That makes a very bright flashlight, that should also should last for a long time. Anyway I pulled into a state park long after dark, I was getting real tired after fighting the wind, and figured I might find a place to hang my tent. I was appalled at the $34 a night fee, but no body was at the gate, I talked the the nearest campers if a lighted building was the restrooms and they said yes but the other one had hot showers. After looking around I decided I'd chance it and hang my tent on the backside of a far away dark picnic shelter. I did so figuring I would leave before dawn and no one would be the wiser. I didn't sleep well, the drone of the elevated interstate less than mile away and also the thought of a swat team coming in to arrest me for not paying the $34 to hang my hammock kept me from restless. After sleeping some I decided to break camp and continue east. the wind has moderated but still a headwind. There is supposed to be a 70% chance of showers today, but the sky still had some stars, hard to really tell with all the lights in the camp ground. I packed up and then decided to check out the showers. After riding past all the running AC units on the campers, I now know the roughing it part, they have to push the button every 30 seconds on the shower to keep it going. I'm glad my dad taught me early on that camping was driving as far north into Canada as the roads went and then pitching a tent near a beautiful lake and spending a week there exploring the area. Anyways shower done, 2 in 3 days, that's much more than when I live on the boat, I had to pry open the gate to get my bike out of the automatic gate activated by a car somehow. I squeezed the bike out and then sat down to pump up the tire that had gotten slightly low. I turned on the lights and started the motor pedaling east. I'm sitting outside a McDonald's, all the light were on so I figured it was open, I had no idea what time it was or when they opened, it was 2:57 and they open the doors at 5. so I have my bottles of water and it's nice outside, short sleeve shirt weather.

Waiting for the sun to dry the dew before packing up for the day, soth of Oma MS---------- -(text continues 9)----It's been a most interesting long day, lots of mile covered. I'm now at a McDonalds inside a truck stop on hiway 231 just south of interstate 10. Just east o Mariana. After leaving the McDonalds this morning I continued pedaling east on hiway 90, with the lights n the bike. It was nice with no traffic on the dark hiways. After a few hours it was daylight and it was overcast all day, After about 40 miles or so I ran into wet roads, pedaled slow for a while, the engine doesn't drive well with a wet tire. I found a church that had a nice covered walkway and decided to take a nap with the bike and me in a dry spot if and when the rain started. It never started and the roads dried so after an hour or so I continued east, then the rain started, very slow at first and I kept moving at full speed, getting slightly wet but not a real problem, it then started to rain a little more and I started to look for place to get cover. I found a farm that had an outbuilding that looked good and the gates were open to it, I rode up to it, figured I get cover first and then go knock on the house door and ask permission. But the shed was wired with electric fence to keep animals and me out, so I continued on looking elsewhere, and it rained harder and harder. I finally found some trees and a scrap of fiberglass roofing big enough to cover the bike but not me. I had also remembered that I had intended on getting a 99 cent plastic poncho and painters tarp. I went to a lot of stores looking for a new tube, could have bought them if I remembered them when I was there. I did buy another pack of patches at harbor freight. I also took back the guaranteed tube to Walmart early this morning. I stood next to tree trying to reduce surface as much as possible. I got soaked, It stopped raining so I again pedaled slowly east, about a mile down the road a car pulled up and asked me who I was, it was the husband of the wife that lived at the first farm, she called him and told him of somebody looking at the shed on a bike. Anyway no problem once he found out who I was and why I was looking. While talking to him it started to rain again. There was a Semi with flat bed trailer parked just off the road, it was dry under the flatbed and the hod was up in the truck so I felt like it wasn't going to move. I put the bike under the flat bead and crawled under myself, got out my dry sleeping mat and covered up with my rather soaked coat. I woke up an hour or so later to the sound on a diesel engine starting. I quickly got out and explained my situation to the driver. He asked which way I was headed and offered to take me to this truck stop, about 90 miles east. I said sure. In the haste to get the packs off the bike and the bike on the flatbed, I may have misplaced a couple things like my bike lock cable. I may find it in one of the packs. Right now I've got all the wet things hanging up to dry and the tent set up and I'm warm and drying eating my two mcdoubles. Even got TV weather, It hasn't rained here. I haven't watched the forecast yet.-----I'm in Tallahassee, I got here last evening, stopped in Quincy McDonalds at 4pm to have an ice cream and find a CiCi's pizza buffet. I found 2 in Tallahassee, I went to where the first one was supposed to be, 1 block off my route, couldn't find it, asked many people, nobody knew anything. Found another pizza buffet, it was more expensive, and not nearly as good. It seems most of there pizza is a white sauce made with mayonnaise. I tried most of them and was not impressed, but I did manage to stuff myself. The had a meeting of DOGS, "Dads of great students," They provide male role models for grammar school kids that mostly have female teachers. I offered my website and info if the students wanted to contact me during my travels. I then searched for a place to camp, there was a large wooded area across the road but a few feet into the woods was a tall woven wire fence, after walking around for a while I found out it was the Mission San Luis, I have no idea what that means but at least I have a name. I then got on the bike and headed east. Right downtown I almost got run over by a car and beeped at by a couple motorists thinking I had no right to ride in the road. I had my lights on. I got stopped by red light and the throttle stuck, I was stopped and it quickly ate through the rather thin tire that was left and instant flat tire. .

3 engines apart = 1 good one.-------------- -(text continues 10)--------I've got a new clutch mechanism designed in my head. It will have a lever under the seat connected to the mount and engine pivot, it will have a lever throttle on that lever, so that the engine unit will mostly be self contained. The spring that holds the engine drive roller against the tire will be a compression spring activated when you lever the clutch to the drive position. There will be a handle bar clutch lever like a motorcycle, just like I have now, it will disengage the over center locking mechanism of the clutch. It will have to be reengaged under the seat. When the clutch is disengaged the throttle will automatically go to idle and back to whatever the setting is when reengaged. The handlebar cable release clutch will stay on the bike and easily disconnect from the engine unit. This will make the engine unit very easy to mount or dismount from the bike. Should be only one connection and the clutch release. Anyway I fixed the flat, and the clutch needed adjusting with the new old tire, it was the tire I first wore out and changed in Arkansas but it was the only spare I had at this time. I need to find a couple more good tires, and asked about that from a guy opeening his business, and they suggested a place on hiway 27 in Lamont, I'm heading that way starting south again. New tires are $20 in Walmart, almost new should be $5 at a used place. I found a good place to hang my hammock in a wooded ravine natural area behind some businesses at the intersection of 90 and 319. This morning I adjusted the clutch so I could motor instead of pedal like last night after the flat, and headed south on 319 to 27. At the intersection of 27 and 319 is the other CiCi's and a McDonalds, I should have come here last night but the other was supposed to be closer and it was getting dark. My knee felt great yesterday, maybe all it needed was 8 days of hard exercise and then a rest for a morning. It looks like today I'll have a tailwind. I also passed a couple other long distance bikers yesterday afternoon, they had nice road bikes with small packs, they came from California, but surely didn't have camping gear with them. I also bought the poncho and painters tarp.

Crossing the Mississippi river----------------- -(text continues 11)---------------I'm in Cross city on hiway alt 27, I should be somewhere south east of Ocala tonight. I bought 3 tires, a tube and a chain for the bike yesterday from a guy that had a bike pile of bikes back behind the barn. It cost me $7.50, he wanted $10, I had a $20 or $7 and the change in my pocket. I offered to ride to the gas station to get change, he said $7.50 is OK. I got to put a new tire on about an hour ago. Last night I slept a 1/2 mile down a dirt road into a planted pine forest, trees in rows, evenly spaced. 6 feet or so spacing both ways. I met 3 other long distance riders yesterday, rode with a couple of them today for a number of miles, actually I broke the wind and they drafted, it increased their speed by 3 mph or so. The terrain is perfectly flat here, probably not 2 feet difference in elevation in the last 50 miles. I broke the chain yesterday but was able to put it back together and it has been holding since. There is often a big load on the chain when I start the bike. I had a headwind again yesterday, and today also. some flags at a car dealer fooled me yesterday while I was writing my email, they were the tall flags with curved top poles, they were actually flying into the wind.--------I'm in Crystal River, found a place to set up the tent in a nature area near the water tower downtown. There is a McD's 2 streets down, hence the email. Today it started out slight misty rain, I stayed in the tent till late, I was back in the pine forest as explained earlier. I'm always surprised when I get the engine to start on a sand road, but it sure is nice to get back away from the hiway to sleep. After the last email at lunch I headed south, Florida has been real good at having wide shoulders designated as bike lanes and they seem to spend time cleaning them, so it's not bad riding on them. I had some Bubba butthole riding shotgun in a black 70's chevy PU decide it would be neat to throw a full water bottle at a bike rider. I was riding on the shoulder so no reason to be mad at me, just doing it for kicks. Luckily his aim was not dead on, it hit my shoulder and glanced off. I'd sure like to tie him to tree and hit him with a full 2 pounds of water at 60 mph, maybe then he'd think twice, probably not, if he could think he wouldn't have done it in the first place..

1st pine forest camp------- -(text continues 12)-------- Basically I think if caught they should be charged with assault with a deadly weapon, 2 pounds at 60 mph to bicyclist surely could be deadly. I watched for the truck for the next hour hoping I would see it pulled off at a business or something. I certainly would have had a conversation with them, most likely with something like a baseball bat. I then went through a construction zone and dumped the bike on uneven pavement, and then a cop stopped me because I was riding on the pavement instead of the roughed up shoulder, He didn't seem to understand I had the right to use a full lane if I chose. I also had to explain that to another cop this morning when I was using the lane instead of the wet shoulder. The first one seemed more understanding, The second one was trying to say I was a motorcycle and need stop lights to be safe, so people would know I was slowing down. Like it makes a difference between me going 15 mph and slowing down to 10 or even 5------ Nothing major hurt on the fall today, I'll just have a bruise where my pocket knife and keys are in my pocket. The new tire is doing great, level ground, and even a slight tail wind, don't have to pedal and make good time. I'll check with a guy that has the diesel engine I need for my small generator in Clearwater, so might head that way. I sent him an email but haven't heard back, I'll try to call if his craigslist ad has a number. I met another sailing couple at lunch today, their 38 boat is on the hard in St Pete------I'm back at the boat, everything is fine, I used all the tires, and maybe have one patched tube as a spare, 65 pounds on each front a back wheel and 195 for me. I gained 7 pounds during the trip. SW Florida driver are the least considerate of all. 90% do not make any attempt to move over, even when they are the only car on a 4 lane road and I'm fixing a tire or riding on the shoulder. I even motioned for a couple to move over while fixing a flat this morning and one came at me with his car. I tried to hit his car with my helmet. About 1/2 the semis make an attempt to move over, I think it depends if they are interstate or intrastate truckers. I suspect the good bike lanes cause a lot of this, the traffic doesn't have to learn how to deal with bikes most of the time and when they do they are real mad at having to change their plan even if it make no difference to their outcome. .

Sunday morning flat tire------- -(text continues 13)--- I finsished up riding east on 78 into a 20 mph headwind, I figure 1500 miles, 15 days, minus 2 for engine repair, 2/3 of a gal of gas a day while riding.

Morning drying after truck stop camp out night------- -(text continues 14)--- I baisically learned that I can use the powered bike to go a long distance if needed. The clutch needs improving, the engine makes a good brake, maybe an ignition switch on the handlebar would be better than using the choke on the engine to shut down the power to use it as a brake.

The clump of trees near the Walmart camp------- -(text continues 15)--- Since the 2nd to last tire was smaller diameter, and the clutch couldn't be adjusted for it, I disabled the clutch completely, engaged all the time. I cycled the choke on and off to go slow, the throttle was stuck full open and the choke was easier and the results more repeatable.

Jungle hamock in the jungle below the water tower

Last night on the road, between 2 orange trees

Back at the boat, 130 lbs total, bike + packs.

I gained 7 lbs, so I guess I ate enough extra sugar and carbs.