Blountstown to Tallahassee with another touring cyclist!

Friday February 19
True to his word David picked me up around 7:30 am and took me back into town. He dropped me off at the MacDonalds where I decided to get me a for one deal of egg mcmuffins! The wifi got taken up by teenagers so I figured I may as well get riding.
I was hardly a km or two out of town, when I saw another touring cyclist. He stopped to take a photo of the time zone change sign (yup, back to Eastern time again!) and was eager to connect. Said he was from England, and his accent confirmed it. 18 year ago old Callum, cycling the world to raise money for charity, cancer patients, in memory of his brother who died of cancer. Apparently he had started this segment of his trip in Houston as well and was going to Miami before heading down to Cuba!
Turns out he was the cyclist who was initially going to spend the night at the same WarmShowers host in Panama City, funny that.
On our first stop (at the good old Dollar General) I was confronted by an elderly man who said because I wasn't wearing high visibility clothing I would die, aww, thanks! I told him I was ready to die :) and joked with Callum that I should buy a neon yellow t-shirt off the sales rack, so what does he do? He grabs it, runs in the store and buys it for me! So I wore it over my cycling jersey for the duration of the day, just cause :)
I enjoyed riding with Callum, he was very good natured and pleasant company, and we chatted as we rode.
Time passed differently riding with another person.
I didn't mind breaking the wind (we had a headwind) for him seeing as he had more than twice the weight on his bike, besides it wasn't a long day, about 85 km all told.

We rode into Tallahassee, which, I learned is the capital city of Florida!
Found a MacDonalds in town where we got a bite to eat and hung out some more.
He let me use his laptop to upload my Strava (Garmin history of rides done), which was a blessing, since I so rarely get the opportunity these days!
His host was south of downtown and mine north, so we had some photos taken, I signed his Trek touring bike frame (which he plans to hang up on his wall once he's done), and we said our farewells. Perhaps we will meet again, perhaps not. He is not bound by structure or plan and hardly ever knows where he will go or be from one day to the next whereas, I like having some kind of structure, a destination to aim for.

I only had another 6.5km to ride, so I let my Garmin direct me to my hosts place.
They live in a lovely part of town, lots of mature trees and pretty homes.
The bike welcome mat at the front door assured me I was at the right place.
I was welcomed in by Jane Ann and her husband Jim. They are both avid cyclists and have done much touring, so after I got cleaned up we chatted about our experiences.
They chose to take me out for supper, which was lovely. We stopped on the way by the 500~year old Live Oak tree, which was magnificent! It sits in a peaceful little park secluded from the busy road.

Milano Pizzeria had a great selection of very appealing menu options. It's so hard choosing! Especially when one is real hungry :) I chose Gyros with a side salad since I haven't had the chance to have that in a while. The rolls we had as appetizer were more like garlic Parmesan cheese sticks rolled up and were yummy! I must've eaten half a dozen!

By the it was dark, but my hosts wanted to show me a bit of the Capital, so they drove me by the Capital State buildings and the massive Florida State University campus.
Jim went over the map and suggested route ideas for me. There are no hosts anywhere around for Saturday night so I am not sure where I will end up... The adventure continues!