Day 39 – 22 miles – 555 total

International Black Balloon Day. It is encouraged that you hang a black balloon if you lost someone to an overdose in hopes of raising awareness about the problem. I have participated every year that they have been doing it.

We hung our balloons and then hung out with Ryan and Lauren while she made us some pigs in a blanket for the road. I hope to make a trip back down sometime to visit for longer.

We headed down 1st Street through Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach, and Atlantic Beach. All great towns with beautiful homes and friendly people. Then we got back on A1A to head towards Mayport where we had to take a short ferry ride over to Fort George Island.

The ferry was fun. Many of the people who were in cars got out and came to talk to us. They were very interested in everything and they said they would share what we were doing with their networks. We’re starting the conversation about drug overdose deaths and they are keeping it going.

We got to the other side and we had beautiful bike paths for the rest of the day. The scenery was amazing and so were the people. The pollen wasn’t fun but luckily I had my allergy medicine handy and it helped. Spring has definitely sprung down here in Florida.

We picked a parking lot to a boat ramp that is part of a state park to set up camp for the night. They had bathrooms and it was a safe area where we could be out of sight. Unfortunately, we weren’t slick enough and a State Park ranger came and busted us.

We were very respectful and I told him that we were walking across the country and were hoping that we could stay for the night and leave without a trace first thing in the morning. Stick immediately followed up with, “we’ll be gone like a fart in the wind.” The guy laughed and said that he never saw us and told us to have a good night. He left the bathrooms opened for us too. Super cool.

We made our own meals and ate up and that was that. Time for some rest and recovery before doing it all over again tomorrow.