to Niceville, FL

I was prepared for today's ride to take all day, so I hit the road at sunrise and rode fast and hard, at least by my standards.  The ride was uneventful.  Around 2:00 I arrived in the "Twin Cities" -- Valparaiso and Niceville, Florida.

Niceville was nice enough; it gave me a marked bike lane all the way to Rocky Bayou State Park.  The "bayou" looks more like a sandy lake than the swampy bayous of Louisiana and Mississippi, but I guess if it's a slow-moving river it qualifies.  And as for "rocky" -- well, I don't think I've seen a rock since entering Florida.  The ground is all sand!

My neighbors in the park are a bunch of tree cutters, who had just cut down a big pine tree in their campsite -- I'm going to assume at the park's request -- and reduced it to firewood to the accompaniment of a loud radio.  I hope they'll go into their trailer and watch the Superbowl indoors.

41.9 mi