A long tough day today, but by reaching Gainesville we'll be set up to finish tomorrow. Not a very eventful day either: as per usual we're up early in the mist, cover a few miles to Monticello and follow our old friend Rt 90 for many miles. Traffic levels are manageable early and we make good time, but the shoulder is narrow and non existent in new stretches of road.
By the time the day has heated up we're back on the country roads and slog on mile after mile with a slight headwind. We do say goodbye to our old friend I-10 at last before heading south to avoid Gainesville. The back roads are pleasantly quiet and tree lined so the conditions could certainly be a lot worse, it's a tough day though, one for just putting the head down and trying to forget the distance.
The route isn't well planned for accommodation around Gainesville either, taking a wide detour around the city, so we have to go off route a few miles to get back to an exit on I-75 where we find a pleasant motel. With no rooms. Luckily we look sufficiently worn out and they give us a meeting room that actually turns out to be big and have all the usual amenities in addition to a boardroom table. We walk out to investigate the food possibilities nearby, which are nil at 9.05pm so we return to the motel where mark calls for a pizza while Tim makes use of the pool and hot (OK warm) tub.
