May 10 - killer bees

Our family has a relationship with Killer Bees ... or at least Sandy's Mom did ... but that's another story.

My story began with Judith Longley arriving here about 6:45 and us riding south onto Merritt Island.  A few miles south on the Kennedy Parkway ... ouch !!  A bee stung me on the knuckle of my index finger, right through my skimpy glove.

For the next half hour I could feel the prickly sensation, itch and pain moving up my arm.  I took off my glove and my knuckles were about to disappear. 

This morning I'm still mostly knuckle-less and the skin is taut up to my elbow with some joint pain.

Judith wanted to flag down a car in case I had trouble breathing but no, I knew that it wouldn't be that bad.  That said, I don't remember ever having this much of an allergic reaction to a bee sting.  I don't even know what kind of bee/wasp/hornet it was.

When we got to Titusville, I went into the CVS, talked to the pharmacist and bought some Benadryl.  He said that was the only one that would help address a head-to-toe allergic reaction; all the others were specific to head/nasal.  I took the recommended dosage.

Still heading south, my legs felt like lead.  Whether that was the wind (it was blowing like crazy by this point) or the medication, I'll never know.  I also felt on and off again nauseous.  Great.

It was a long slog to the turnaround point in Palm Shores.  We were taking the scenic route on Merritt Island and once we got to Tropical Trail, were mostly protected from the wind.

The trip back was brutal.  The head-wind and now tail-wind was nice but US 1 gets worse and worse, ripples on the shoulder.  I ride the white line a lot; Judith doesn't, rides further onto the shoulder.  She's riding 23's that don't absorb any of the road; at least my 28's help with that. 

The joint pain, wrist mostly, was really bothering me.  Every bump on the road hurt my wrist.  Often I would ride left-hand-only for short stretches. 

Oh yes; it was hot.  Very hot.  Riding with the wind exacerbated the heat.  The mid-80's temperature was not a real indication of what we experienced on the road, in the traffic.

We finished up a little after 5pm, just over 10 hours on the road.  Abby was very happy to see us.  I was very happy to have this one over with.  I'd planned on riding today, Sunday, as well, but I've had enough of US 1 for this season.  I'm sure that in a few days I'll yearn for the smooth US 1, compared to Highway 522 chip seal, as well as the heat, but right now ... no.

Puffy and itchy but I can still type.  There's an implied subject in that previous non-sentence, by the way.  My hand and wrist ache.  My arm is itchy. 

Onward ...