ARRIVED IN ST. AUGUSTINE

We are finished!  We arrived this morning at Anastasia State Park and dipped our tires in the Atlantic Ocean.  We had a police escort through downtown for the last 6 miles in the pouring rain.
We started the trip in the rain and we ended in the rain with no rain to speak of in between.
Ben, my son, was here to greet me and has photos that I will post later.
We fly home Saturday morning.

 Leaving Palatka for St. Augustine at 6:30 AM.  Just getting light.
Nancy, Judi and Cher

Cher and Nancy at the Fire station awaiting our police escort.

OUR LAST WEEK!!

 On our day off yesterday I went to the Edward Ball Wakulla State Park.  The park contains the Wakulla River which is formed from a spring.  The photo above shows how clear the water is and the boat that we went on for a tour of the river.  Edward Ball owned the land and built a lodge which is still in use.  The State of Florida purchased the land from him.  The lodge sits on limestone cave system.

 There are turtles everywhere.

 One of 5 alligators we saw from the boat.

 People have lived on this site for 15,000 years.

Today we rode 51 miles from Crawfordville to Perry,  Florida.  The ride was flat and straight on Route 98.  We stopped at a gas station for chicken wings.  It is a nice change from our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
We ate at Mama's Italian Restaurant tonight and had a delightful time.  The owner made sure that we all had good food and great service.
We have 3 more days of riding before we arrive in St. Augustine.
It is hard to believe we started almost two months ago in San Diego.

DAYS 48, 49, 50 ,51

Wednesday found us biking from Pensacola to Crestview, Florida.
This was a trip of 65 miles, mostly flat and some along a very nice bike trail.  The scenery is pretty much the same, lots of pines and quiet roads. 
Thursday was our last day of over 90 miles.  We did "90 on the 90"from Crestview to Marianna.
Route 90 is the original road across the southern US and we have been on and off it the whole trip.  Today we did 90 miles on it.  It is quiet with a nice shoulder and goes through a few small towns.  Interstate 10 has replaced this road as the main route and parallels the 90.  There is not much in the little towns anymore.  We did stop at Sally's for an early lunch and meet a nice local couple who bought us lunch.

Sally's

Friday we rode from Marianna to Quincy.  We are in the middle of the Florida panhandle and it is not flat.  We crossed the Chattahochee river which is line between Central Standard Time and Eastern Standard Time.  We are now back in the easter time zone.  

Today, Saturday, we rode 47 miles from Quincy to Crawfordsville.

Some hills today but flat at the end.  Some people went to the state park to swim and see alligators.  I am going to tomorrow on our rest day.  We have a van that will take us in the afternoon.

We have had great weather in the low 80s.

Only 4 more riding days!!  We never want to see another hotel breakfast!

DAYS 45, 46 AND 47

Two states since I last blogged!  We spent two nights in Dauphin Island, Alabama and then cycled into Florida today.
Our rest day was at Beach Club condominiums on Dauphin Island.
They are right on the beach and a highlight of the tour.   The beach is beautiful and the island very pretty.  We rode bikes around and ate good seafood.
Today we rode 58 miles from Dauphin Island to Pensacola, Florida.  We are finally in Florida!  The trip is nearing the end.  We took a 45 minute ferry ride off of the island. The ferry goes past the largest the oil rig in the US.  It is hard to gauge the scale of the rigs out in the ocean. 

The rest of the ride was along the coast.  We saw mostly beach houses and in Florida, hi-rises along the beach.  This is not my favorite part of the country.  We did stop at a good seafood restaurant and ate very good shrimp.  The riding is good as we had a bike lane for most of the day.  Bike lanes in Alabama and MIssissippi were pretty much nonexistent.

Judi, Cher and I entering Alabama

 A red flounder and a drum fish

 Pelican off the pier waiting for fish bits

 Our condominiums (mine was at right on 2nd floor)

 Beach in front of Condos on Dauphin Island

 Our whole group ready to board the ferry to mainland Alabama

 Oil Rig-the largest in the US

Finally, entering Florida!

Day 41, 42, 43 and 44

 Cher, Carla and Lucy in Louisiana

 Welcome to Mississippi

 Our lunch stop at Scooter's

Rural Mississippi, I believe this is in the National Forest 

Ice cream stop in Fort Ramsay.

I am finally getting caught up on my blog.
Wednesday was another long day, 88 miles from St. Francesville to Hammond, LA.  It was a really lovely ride almost all on back roads through the countryside.  I even had a catfish sandwich for lunch.  
Thursday we rode from Hammond to Bogalosa, LA.  This was a shorter day, only 55 miles but again through very pretty rural countryside.
Friday we rode 61 miles to Wiggins, Mississippi.  We woke up to cold and very cloudy weather.  During the night I thought there was a tornado going through my room.  It didn't rain during the ride but it never got above 55 degrees.  We have the a great variety of weather on this tour.  We have found the people and the drivers in Mississippi very friendly.  They give us lots of space on the roads and often stop to let us cross a road.
Today we rode to Moss Point, MS, a ride of 75 miles.  Again, all through rural countryside.  Fortunately the weather was in the 70's.  We did go over two very high bridges.  A number of people had flats on the bridges due to the metal bridge joints.  I have been lucky to only have two flats and one broken valve stem but the trip isn't over yet!
Dogs in Louisiana and Mississippi can be a real problem as people do not keep them chained or fenced in.  I have found that yelling go home loudly seems to work.  So far no one in our group has been injured by a bike-chasing dog.

DAY 40 REST DAY AT THE BUTLER GREENWOOD BED AND BREAKFAST DAY 41 ST. FRANCISVILLE TO HAMMOND, LA

We had a great rest day at an old plantation.  The main house has been inhabited by nine generations of the same family since 1790. It was an indigo and cotton plantation before the Civil War.  Now they support it through several cottages that they rent out.  Two of them are the original cook's house and the kitchen.  We had a tour of the main house which has a lot of the original furnishings.  The trees on the property are gorgeous.  I had a room in a the Pond House with Mel and Marilyn.  We had a lovely porch and a deck.
Every cottage was unique.
I did not go into St. Francesville but we did go out to dinner.  I had crawfish ettoufee which was delicious.  A great rest day.

 The Mississippi River

 New bridge over the Mississippi

 Original child's bed in the plantation house

1792 Plantation house with old oaks.

Today we rode 88 miles to Hammond, LA. It was lovely ride through several towns and pretty countryside.

DAY 39 103 MILES!!

I did my first century ride.  I now can cross that off my bucket list.
We rode through Louisiana bayou country.  The highlight for me was crossing over the Mississippi river on a new high bridge.
We are in St. Francisville tonight and tomorrow night.  We have a rest day here.  We are staying on an old plantation.
I will post photos tomorrow.