Day 275 to 279, Miami to Jacksonville

Day 275, 60 km

Before I left Sanford's wonderful garden I made a last round to the fish ponds, to say good bye to them. There I met this cute snake, which is harmless.

 Then I said good bye to Sam and his girlfriend Nancy.

 I rode from Kendall in South Miami to Hollywood, which is north of Miami. In the center I once again saw the funny buses going on trails above the ground.

Of course I also saw a lot of skyscrapers

 
In the evening I arrived at Dave's and Leos house, where I had been invited to a Valentine's party two weeks before.

 They still had the balloons hanging in the kitchen and it felt as coming home. After coming to new places almost every day for nine months it really felt good to come there a second time.

Day 276, 135 km

I had a good breakfast together with the three couch surfers staying at Dave and Leo's house. The young guys were volunteering in schools talking about ecology and saving the world and had got a lot of unsellable food from grocery stores (they were dumpster divers). I like that! They even let me choose a lot of food to take with me on my trip.
I said good buy to them and continued north. I chose the roads going very close to the ocean so I passed a lot of beaches and harbors.

 The houses there were luxurious and people seemed to be very rich.

 The color of the ocean was impressive. Some surfers had a good time on the waves

 Sometimes I stopped at yacht harbors to ask if there were any boats going to Europe,

 And I even tried at some bigger ports. But all these stops need a lot of time so I soon gave up.

 In the evening when I was looking for a hiding place for my tent, I found an empty unlocked shed in a wood. I considered to sleep inside it but then I saw several huge spiders in the beam of my headlight. I preferred to sleep in my tent.

Day 277, 175 km

I had a good tailwind that day, which I used to make many kilometers. Sometimes I stopped at small grocery stores to buy some food, sometimes I took some pictures,

 and sometimes I took a swim on the ocean,

 In the evening I found a good sleeping location behind a huge store of Goodwill. There were fences in all directions, only a little inlet and a nice flat lawn.

Day 278, 135 km

I slept very well until 3 am. Suddenly I woke up because a rotating sprinkler was splashing water on my tent.  I had not put on the waterproof flyer on it so my choice was to either put it on or move the tent. I went outside and discovered that there were several sprinklers around me and they were all rotating but there was a dry spot further away. I decided to drag my tent and my bike there, but it was not so easy to navigate among those sprinklers in the dark... Finally I managed it and fell asleep again until the sun came up.
I rode all day but I had a bad headwind so I did not make so many kilometers.
In the evening at dusk I found a nice park where I cooked my dinner on a pier.

Then, as usual, I continued one more hour in the dark. Finally I found a very good hiding place in the middle of a town called Ormond Beach. It was 5 m from the ocean and 20 m from the public restroom.

Day 279, 135 km

I started the day with a big breakfast early in the morning (it always is much easier to wash the dishes when you have access to water). There were some pelicans very close to my table, hoping that they could get some leftovers. When I packed my gear they actually came to the table. But there were signs reminding that it was unlawful to feed birds...

 I had a bad headwind again. But I was invited to stay at the house of Barbara and George, warmshower members in Jacksonville, so I decided to ride all way that day. They asked me to come before 7 pm because they had a bible study group in their house in the evening.
In the afternoon the wind calmed down and I actually made it before seven.
Here is a picture of the bible study group, my host are in the middle: