Day 40: Sylvester-Waycross 96 mi.(+5)

The last big challenge. We can't remember the last day we had a tailwind. Today was not going to be one. We can't complain about the weather. This being my 4th cross country bicycling trip, I've never had only one day of rain. And these southern, eastern days have had moderate temperatures and fairly low humidity. But compared to this day's riding 3 years ago my speed was almost 2 1/2 mph slower. We still had very shallow rolling terrain that, never-the-less, still required over 1,200' of climbing, but most of that was early and the terrain became flatter. But a headwind made itself known before noon and still posed an impediment. But I am gratefull it is near the end. It was 96 miles to our motel, so many decided to ride an additional distance to make the day's ride a 'century'(e.g. 100 mi.). This one was not a 'gift' as the one in Texas when I did 28.3 mph. But it was the 2nd to last day and the last big challenge so we are all optimistic about the last 'push' to the Atlantic Ocean tomorrow with almost certain sunny weather.