Day 32(9): Perry to Dunnellon, FL

 For those who might be new to this blog, I am a preschool teacher riding my bicycle across America and blogging for young children as I go. The purpose of this ride is to raise money for Ryves Youth Center in Terre Haute, IN

If you'd like to donate to Ryves Youth Center in Terre Haute, which is the cause for which I've dedicated this ride, you can donate here (all donations go to Ryves Youth Center; I receive nothing): Ride Across America

For information about what Ryves Youth Center is and the different services they offer, click here: Ryves Youth Center - Catholic Charities Terre Haute - Terre Haute, IN 

Yesterday I got a late start (for me, anyway) by starting my ride around 4 o’clock in the morning. I actually don’t like getting up that early, but I have to in order to finish my ride before it gets really hot in the afternoon. It’s cool enough early in the morning that I can ride without getting too hot. I rode from Rocky’s Campground in Perry, FL to my cousin’s house near Dunnellon, FL. It was a pretty uneventful route, almost all of it on highway 19 and 98 with a few miles on county roads. Highway 19/98 is a big highway and doesn’t have a lot of cars or semis on it, and also has nice wide shoulders which made me feel safe. Shoulders are the place on the side of the road where cars aren’t allowed to go unless they are stopping, but bicycles are allowed to ride on it.

I passed over the Suwannee River near Old Town, FL during my trip, you will see a few pictures of that below. The last 12 miles were on smaller county roads (see the first picture below). I rode around 110 miles and at the end I made it to my cousin Jessica’s house near Dunnellon, Florida. It’s great to be with family, I’ve spent a lot of time yesterday with her and her granddaughter, son, and husband. It’s been a lot of fun. Thanks, Jessica!

I hope you enjoy the pictures. Tomorrow I’m planning on finish my ride across the Southern United States by riding all the way to Flagler Beach, FL! I might go live on Facebook when I finish the ride, so if you follow me there, stay tuned!

What numbers do you see here? What highway do you think this is?

This is a picture of the “shoulder” of highway 19/98 that I rode on yesterday. The shoulder is the side of the highway, it’s safer because cars aren’t allowed to drive on it:

The trees here have a special kind of living thing called “Spanish Moss” growing on them. I think it’s beautiful. Sometimes it even grows on the power lines!

This is the Suwannee River near Old Town, FL. Someone once wrote a song about it called “Way Down Upon the Suwanee River”. A grown-up that you trust can help you find that song and listen to it if you want.

Do you see the boat in the Suwannee River?

What town is this?

These pictures were from Perry, FL early in the morning!

VIDEOS.from Day 31(8): Bainbridge, GA to Perry, FL (6/16/2026)

 For those who might be new to this blog, I am a preschool teacher riding my bicycle across America and blogging for young children as I go. The purpose of this ride is to raise money for Ryves Youth Center in Terre Haute, IN

If you'd like to donate to Ryves Youth Center in Terre Haute, which is the cause for which I've dedicated this ride, you can donate here (all donations go to Ryves Youth Center; I receive nothing): Ride Across America

For information about what Ryves Youth Center is and the different services they offer, click here: Ryves Youth Center - Catholic Charities Terre Haute - Terre Haute, IN 

These two videos show the bicycle trail that goes alongside Woodville highway just south of Woodville, Florida. This was a nice bicycle trail with no cars and a lot of bird sounds! See what you can hear in them:

 

A little bit later in the day I crossed over the Aucilla river on US Highway 98 and got to see Ward Island (which I thought I saw in the first video but it’s actually the 2nd video that has it). I reminisce about my childhood and wanting to live on one of the “islands” on the Wabash River near my hometown (which were actually sandbars).

PICTURES for Day 31(8): Bainbridge, GA to Perry, FL (6/16/2026)

 

 For those who might be new to this blog, I am a preschool teacher riding my bicycle across America and blogging for young children as I go. The purpose of this ride is to raise money for Ryves Youth Center in Terre Haute, IN

If you'd like to donate to Ryves Youth Center in Terre Haute, which is the cause for which I've dedicated this ride, you can donate here (all donations go to Ryves Youth Center; I receive nothing): Ride Across America

For information about what Ryves Youth Center is and the different services they offer, click here: Ryves Youth Center - Catholic Charities Terre Haute - Terre Haute, IN 

Apologies for the lateness of this! I’m absolutely OK and am visiting with family in Florida. I’ll describe the different pictures as we come to them. I would like again to thank Crystal, Justin, and Cierra at Rocky’s Campground who were a big help to me!

Early on Tuesday morning (6/16) I crossed into the state of Florida and left the state of Georgia. That place is called the “state line”. They didn’t have Welcome to Florida signs but they did have “Welcome to Gadsden County” signs, so Cherry Chicken and I took our picture there:

Here were some road signs we passed. This is for a big Interstate highway that we crossed under but didn’t drive on (Interstates are special roads for cars and for big trucks, but not for bicycles). What numbers do you see on this sign? What does it mean when you have “1” and “0” together?

This is what the road looked like during the day:

This was a river we crossed over:

What letters do you see on this sign? What numbers do you see? What does you think it means?

Do you see the yellow line going down the middle of the road? That means that cars have to stay on one side of that road so that they don’t hit cars coming the other way. Bicycles (like I’m riding) go down the SHOULDER of the road, which is the far side of the road between the white line and the grass. That’s to make sure we don’t get hit by cars.

Highway 98 is a “US Highway” or “United States Highway”. That means it goes through many different states in the United States—it goes a long way. The highway that says 59 is a Florida State Highway. It even has a picture of Florida on it. It doesn’t go quite as far as a US Highway. I rode down Highway 98, not Highway 59.

This was a bicycle trail I rode down! There were a lot of trees and, most importantly, NO CARS ALLOWED! That means we who were on bicycles can feel a little bit safer. I rode on this for about 10 miles.

This is a gas station sign. The bright red numbers tell you how much gasoline costs (for cars) and the green ones tell you how much diesel fuel costs (diesel fuel is what they use to help semi trucks move down the road—semi trucks can’t use gas). What letters do you see on the big sign above? What picture do you see below the letters?

This was a palm tree at the campground I stayed at:

This was a pond at the campground I stayed at:

This is what the campground looked like from inside of my tent. This is a palm tree. Do trees look like this where you’re from? Palm trees usually only grow in places that tend to be warm all around the year. Places that freeze a lot during the winter  and get really cold (like Indiana) are too cold for palm trees to grow.