St. Augustine - We made it! - April 28

The final day was a short 38 mile ride to St. Augustine.  Our riding group is now considerably stronger, and we only required two and half hours to reach St. Augustine.

We spent an hour wandering around in the "old" St. Augustine, and then gathered for lunch, before heading out for the "wheel dipping" in the Atlantic Ocean.  With all of the pomp and picture taking, the "dipping" took up most of the afternoon.

That evening, the group had dinner at the Sunset Grill across the street from our hotel.  I think that most of us were still in state of disbelief that we had finally completed our journey.

High Springs, FL - rest day at the O'Leno State Park

Did very little today, and just recuperated for the final two days of our tour.  Went on a short hike in the park, took a nap ...

A view of the Suwannee River, on the route to High Springs.

 

In the morning we went on a short hike with the O'Leno Park ranger..

Tallahasee to Madison, FL

Another great cycling day.  Today was a fairly short 50 mile ride, and we took time to explore some sights along the way.

In Monticello we stopped at a great little bakery with excellent scones and cinnamon rolls.  Jim insists, that though the cinnamon rolls were good, they do not surpass the ones we enjoyed in Alpine, TX.  Nonetheless , he shared a second roll with me.

We later visited the memorial to Ray Charles in his hometown of Greeville, FL. Later in the day, after dinner, Bubba arranged for us to meet with Ms. Pritchard.   She had been a childhood friend of Ray Charles, and she shared her childhood memories with us.  Ms. Pritchard's life is as remarkable as Charles.  She came from a poor family, but managed to raise 5 children, and then go on to teach school for 38 years -- and serve as both myor and councilwoman in Greenville. 

A dining room at the bakery in Monticello.  Interestingly, the bakery offered a large number of products for bee keepers.

Our riding group stopped every 10 miles for 2 or 3 minutes.  At one of these "butt breaks", we came across a large number of nesting egrets.  Though difficult to dicern in this photo, there were scores of birds at this location, a hundred fee or so from the highway.

Me jamming with Ray.

DeFuniak, Milton, and Tallahassee, FL

Two more beautiful days for biking with light tailwinds and highs in the 80's. 

Milton was our last tent camping day.  From here on out, we will be spending the overnights in cabins, public places (e.g. gyms), or motels. 

It's been a great tour, but I think most folks are looking forward to an end.  Also, most are reflecting on their experiences, and how these experiences may alter their future dreams and aspirations. 

Milton to DeFuniak Springs, FL - April 21

We had a perfect day for biking: good weather, good road, and gently rolling hills.  

Also memorable were the meals.  Waffle House for breakfast, great country cafe for lunch, and another fabulous dinner by Ann (steak, spiced shrimp, and spinach ravioli. 

After dinner we had a campfire and entertainment. Jim Hubbard, a resident of thr RV park where we camped, did a couple of hours of c & w.  He had a very good voice.  The riders are very much into c & w. The couples danced. And the single women danced with each other. One of the riders is a dance instructor. She led folks in the electric glide.

At one point tHubbard did a song about a person that was a cancer survivor. Bubba asked all of the cancer survivors to come forward. They all joined hands and sang along. At the end, they did a group hug.  It was pretty touching. -- I think that there were 8 - 10 people who participated. A pretty big portion of our group. 

These are wildflowers that prevalent along the roadsides in this part of Florida. 

Daulphin Island, AL to Milton, FL - Easter Day, April 20

This was a challenging day with a 85 mile ride. Our route started with a one hour ferry ride at 8:00, so we didn't start the ride until 9:00. 

The day began with a a beautiful sunny morning.  However by noon, a cold front moved in and we had cooler temps and a strong north east head wind.  Everyone agreed that it was one of our more difficult days. 

To celebrate Easter, the Wolf Pack had placed inflatable bunnies and chocolate eggs by our tents. Unfortunately, the raccoons discovered the chocolate eggs before we did!  My bunny was my traveling companion for the rest of day.

The ferry ride was quite interesting and afforded views of the many oil rigs close to shore. 

Our route took us through Pensacola, past many of the old bay side homes. We originally had planned to eat at "Nicks Boathouse", but found it very crowded due to Easter.  We ended up eating at an open air food court down the road.  Food was served from 4 kitchens housed in Airstream trailers, each with a different food venue.  We all thoroughly  enjoyed the stop, and it got us back to the ride fairly quickly.

Dauphine Island, AL - rest day

It's been 10 days since our last rest day. Everyone was looking forward to this, especially after the long wet ride on the previous day.

I visited Fort Gaines in the morning. This was a strategic base for the Confederacy.  It is now a privately supported museum, and quite interesting. 

Spent the afternoon cleaning up the bike, taking a nap, getting a massage, and enjoying a couple beers. This morning, the skies had cleared, though we still had a very strong north wind.  By afternoon, things began to dry out from the storms of the prior 2 days.

I feel well rested and ready for tomorrow's 84 mile into Florida. 

Vancleave,MS to Dauphine Island,AL

A pretty good day considering all the elements.  Because we modified our itinerary to stay in a motel last night, we had a somewhat longer day today. 

Fortunately, the worst of the storm passed through while we were asleep. My group started riding around 7:30 this morning while there were still light showers. Showers continued as we rode for the first 40 miles. The remaining 40 miles were in overcast skies, though we had an hour of sunshine and blue sky.

In the early afternoon, we had yet another accident. Mike Gibson fell from his bike after his front wheel was caught in a storm grate.  Heddi was following close to Mike and was also caught up in the accident.  Mike broke his clavicle, and unfortunately will end his participation in the tour. Heddi now has complimentary abrasions to the ones she received several days ago. 

Another sad incident occurred to my group as we encountered a young Labrador dog.  He began chasing us from the left side of the road, while a car passed us, also on the left. The car struck the dog, and did not stop or slow down. We we able to contact a neighbor, though the dogs owner was not home. 

The property of the dogs owner was fenced. Why, or how, did the dog venture beyond the yard?  -- Why did the driver who struck the dog not stop to inform the dogs owner of the incident?

Poplarville, MS - April 17

I realize that I need to post a few pictures of the landscape in Louisiana and Mississippi.  One or two would suffice, since it has been very simillar mile aftrer mile.  It has been rolling hills, almost continuously borderd by pine forests.  Some are protected National Forests, but most are commerical, for wood pulp.  On weekdays, there is a constant line of logging trucks carrying the harvested lumber to the pulp mills.  Even when the trucks are not present, we see the residue of bark and small branches on the road shouders.  

The rains from earlier in the week have resulted in flooding throughout the region.  We first witnessed this on the Pearl River, as we crossed over this boundary into Mississippi.  Some of the peripheral bridges were almost at the river waterline.  

Today, as we were riding to Vancleave, we learned that our destination campground was flooded and not available.  Bubba and staff secured alternate accomodations at a Motel 6 in Ocean Springs.  As I am finishing this posting, another large storm system is moving from the Gulf toward our planned route for tomorrow.  We will wake up tomorrow, check the the weather conditions, and decide upon a plan for reaching Daulphin Island, AL.

Franklinton, LA to Poplarville, MS - April 16

Today we crossed into Mississippi!  Got off to a cold start, as overnight temperatures challenged the state records. the morning temp in Franklinton was 35. Once on the road, we quickly warmed up.  Temperatures were actually very pleasant around 10:00 when the sun was up. 

Bubba had mapped out a nice route, with the last half over country roads where we had little or no traffic.  The hills and the roads we reminded me of our earlier trip into Blanco, TX. 

It was a short day and we did our best to stretch out the day.  We stopped for donuts in Bogalousa, lunch at "Scooters" in Poplarville, and ice cream sundaes at the local Sonic. 

Clinton, LA -- Birth of Granddaughter!

This most notable event during my ride from New Roads to Clinton was the the arrival of my first grandchild, Eleanor Grace Myers!

Clinton to Franklinton, LA

We had a very nice 60 mile ride through rolling hills.  This was a refreshing change from several prior days of flat forested countryside.  We had a cold start, at 45 degrees, but the hill work quickly warmed us up. -- Note that tomorrow, the weather forecast is for record low temperatures, and may be as low as 35 degrees.  Consequently, my riding group has elected a later 8:15 start 😊

Rosedown Plantation

Traveling from New Roads to Clinton, we visited the Rosedown Plantation.  This is a restored mansion and gardens, now owned and maintained by the State of Louisiana. This is a magnificent restoration, where 90% of the furnishings are original to the property. 

The Big Muddy

Traveling from New Roads to Clinton, we crossed over the Mississippi River.  The bridge on Highway LA-10 was magnificent!

Accidents

Yesterday we had several accidents. I fell from bike as a resort of a dog chasing after our group. The dog came directly from some shrubs and surprised our riders. In the milieu that followed, I touched Sue's rear wheel, and quickly went down. Remarkably, received only a scrape to the knee, and there was no damage to the bike. 

Another incident involved a collision between Lora and Jack. Jack received a fairly deep cut to his arm, and was taken to the ER for follow up treatment.  Lora's bike had some serious damage. 

In another unrelated accident, Ketti fell and sustained some scrapes to her arm and leg. 

I have no idea why all of these incidents occurred on the same day.  Perhaps we are all becoming somewhat weary from the tour. 

DeRidder, Mamou, New Roads Louisiana

Spent the last last two days cycling across Louisiana; three more until we reach Mississippi. 

We have definitely entered a subtropical world, that is a total departure from the desert Southwest of the earlier weeks of our Tour: flat roads,  lots of roadkill, snakes, bugs, above ground crypts, heavy morning dews. 

Yesterday's hightlight was our visit to Fred's Lounge in Mamou.  Mamou claims to be the "Cajun music capital of the world", and there is a live music broadcast each Saturday from Fred's. 

Today we  crossed the Achafalaya swamp on the "8 mile bridge" with police escort. The bridge had no shoulder, and the trip would have been very scary without the escort that Bubba arranged. After we crossed the swamp, stopped at the Buckhorn Cafe for a catfish po boy (huge!). 

Silsbee, TX to DeRidder, LA

Another good riding day.  We finished the 72 miles around 2:00, averaging 16 mph.  Good road with with wide shoulder. Probably the only negative was all of the debris left by the lumber trucks that roll down this highway.

Highlight of the day: Bubba treated us to dinner at Presley BBQ.   For appetizers, he ordered several large trays of crawfish.  This was a real crowd pleaser for 40 hungry cyclists :)

Silsbee, TX - our last night in Texas!!

After 19 days we will finally leave Texas and head for Cajun country. 

We again had great weather; high in the 70's, sunny skies, and a light head wind.  The terrain has gotten much flatter, and now it it would be nice to have a few more hills - be careful what you wish for!

The highlight of the day was our lunch stop at a little rural general store.  The store sold gas, groceries, farm supplies, cattle feed, plumbing and electrical supplies.  Additionally, they had a small kitchen featuring fried bogna sandwiches, and managed to feed our group of 40 hungry bicyclists!

Shepherd, TX - Shraderville Sanctuary

Beautiful day, beautiful ride.  We had a short 62 mile ride into Shepard, with calm winds and smooth roads.  Most of the route was through the Sam Houston National Forest.  It looks like we will have a repeat for tomorrow's ride into Silsbee; Silsbee will be our final stop before we leave Texas.

Our overnight accomodations are at an eclectic campground, the "Shradersville Sanctuary". It is reminiscent of the "El Cosmico" campground at Marfa, TX.  Below are some panoramic views of the campground. However, it is difficult to capture the mood in this two dimensional photos. 

Richards, TX - Mexico Hills Ranch - rest day

We spent the day at the Mexico Hills Ranch.  This was a rest day with no planned agenda :). This was a very peaceful and delightful place.  It appears that that proprietors, Ernie and Doris, are operating the ranch as a hobby/business.  

They have approx. 50 cattle on their 80 acres.  Additionally, they are developing a campground catering to the needs of cross country bicyclists and motorcyclists.  Ernie has constructed several buildings including small guest houses, shower and bathrooms, a laundry/bicycle garage, dining shelters, and bar/rec room.

Ernie and Doris provided guided tours of the ranch via tractor and hay wagon.  After dinner, Bubba arranged for a lecture by a local historian on Navasota and the legendary Frank Hammer. The speaker was also the artisan that created the life size statuary of Hammer that is located in front of the Navasota City Hall.