Cycling Ellen

11.6 miles rest day
76.6 miles today
2,612.8 miles total

At lunch today, a seafood place on Perdidio Key, you could hear people say with an air of disbelief, “We road our bikes from California to Florida”.  Here we are, not yet to the Atlantic but in the state we have been saying was our destination since March 7.  We tend to take each day’s ride as a separate entity.  Today we are going to ________.  We’ve crossed state lines, much more frequently recently, and can feel the progress but putting it all together and realizing what we have accomplished so far is taking some getting used to.  It’s feeling really big all of a sudden and still a bit unreal.

Yesterday I explored the island a bit taking in the exhibits at the Estuariam and the Audubon bird sanctuary.  The rest of the day was spent walking the beach, swimming in the pool, reading, swimming in the pool, having some lunch and swimming in the pool.  You get the idea.  It was a really relaxing day.

This morning we headed for the Eastern end of the island where I took a spin around Fort Gaines (Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead).  We boarded the ferry at 8 and enjoyed a leisurely ride across Mobile Bay.  At the landing, Mary was waiting for us after a rest day with her husband.  We headed out across a thin strip of land with water on both sides.  There were all kinds of houses that had recently been built and for sale signs everywhere.  It reminded me of the Caribbean with houses painted in pastel shades.  I think this is all post-Katrina construction.  We could get glimpses of the ocean beyond the homes.  Later down the road, we could see the beautiful white sand beaches and the blue of the Gulf.  In Gulf Shores, I saw my first mini-golf course of the trip along with the requisite t-shirt shops, tattoo places and souvenir stores.  There are also huge condos all along the beach.  Thank goodness for the state parks where the beaches and dunes are preserved.

The Florida line was not obvious but we still got a sign to photograph.  Mary’s brother-in-law, Alan, made a big welcome sign and parked himself along the side of the road not far from the border.  Thanks, Alan.  He also told me that he would be staying the weekend for the mullet-throwing contest.  Apparently, thousands of people come to toss a mullet (a kind of fish) across the state line.  Sorry we’ll be missing that one!

A few of us veered off the route to visit the Naval Aviation museum at Pensacola Naval Air base.  This is the home base for the Flying Angels.  There were hundreds of planes so we only had time to see some of them but the exhibits were interesting.  My favorite part, though, was watching a movie on being a fighter pilot at the IMAX theatre.  I love flying without leaving the ground.

The last few miles to our hotel were dreadful and dangerous cycling.  The road’s shoulder is under construction and there was not enough room for a bike and a car next to each other.  The thrill of being in Florida was tempered by the terrible road conditions.  But, here we are, ready for a good night’s rest and to start out fresh in the morning.

Wow, we rode our bikes from California to Florida.