Entering the Deep South

Today's Mileage: 54

Cumulative elevation gain: 700! A new high!

Weather: Sunny, 60-80, perfect biking weather!

Attitude: Still tired, but happy.

We are in the rural deep south now. Small farms, lots and lots of piney-woods (mostly lumbering plantations of longleaf pines, I believe.), dogs giving chase. Someone got bit today. I forgot to bring my whistle, and don't suppose I will find a place to buy one until we get to a larger city, so I hope yelling "go home!!!!" will serve in the meanwhile.

 Tonight we're in Blackshear, Georgia, at the one and only hotel. We are 20 or so miles off of the Adventure Cycling route tonight, and our guide says it's because this is the only hotel for about 100 miles.

For much of the day it felt like I was riding near my dad's house in Michigan, except for the palmettos and Spanish moss. 

just a pretty little church

lots of these blue flowers along the road

I'm a sucker for lone-tree pictures

Escape From Florida

Mileage: 66 yesterday, a mere 55 today.

Cumulative elevation gain: about 500 feet each day

Weather: 70, cloudy, rainy

It’s been a great couple of days of riding, mostly on back roads and residential areas. Yesterday we stayed on lovely Amelia Island. I’d never heard of this place, but it is just beautiful. We were on bike trails for 10 miles or so, and got to take a very short ferry ride across the St. Johns river.

I swear the same group of 5 pelicans played tag-team with me for about 30 miles up the coast. Unless pelicans just always fly in groups of five?

Today’s ride was the first one so far under 60 miles. Yesterday’s would've been under 60 but I added 2 miles to get to Starbucks and then was so energized I rode on a bit to explore the island. Amelia Island would be very high on my list of places in Florida to come back to.  Lots of wooded areas, lots of beach access. The village of Fernandina Beach is one of the prettiest I've seen on this trip, but I only got to see it on a drive-through in the dark.

Last night one of my old high school friends (Ronda Haggit Bokram) and her husband picked me up and took me for a home-cooked dinner. It was so great to catch up with her and meet her daughter,  and I've had a warm glow all day today thinking about it.

Today’s ride started in a deluge, and many sought shelter. But I actually think it’s fun to ride in rain when it’s warm. I overslept this morning and got a late start, the very last one to leave. Then found a Starbucks just 7 miles into the ride, which put me even more behind, but still was here by 1:30. Why do we have to leave so early on these short days? It’s a mystery to me. Our fastest rider was here before noon.

And “here” is not really a place that one would want to hang out. We are in the little town of Folkston Georgia… yes, we finally escaped Florida!....with our group spread between the only two hotels in town. And they are both, shall we say,somewhat the worse for wear. My room smells, quite literally, like a moldy ash tray; the towels are threadbare; the carpeting and upholstery is stained; the bathroom vanity is broken. Still, it’s a place to sleep and only for the night.

At one point today we were on a busy highway and the shoulder disappeared under a jersey barrier for several miles due to construction. I was doing my usual “please protect me, please protect me” chant under my breath, and what do I see behind me but our WomanTours van, which escorted me through the entire construction area. I remain a devout agnostic, but thank you god, anyway.

Then just after we entered Georgia the shoulder on the busy 4 lane highway turned to rumble strip, all rumble strip, and nothing but rumble strip. Trying to ride right on the white line, watching in the rear-view mirror to make sure cars were pulling over into the other lane, bouncing on the rumble when they didn't…..This was fairly terrifying and I would not willingly ride that 4 miles again. We have a half mile on the same road in the morning but it’s through the town and I will be on sidewalks or cutting through parking lots.

The reporter for the local town paper came and interviewed us at dinner tonight. Soon we’ll be famous!

Beach on Amelia Island

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St. Mary's river, going into Georgia. I think.

Egrets

Beautiful estuary near the St. John's River

On the ferry over the St. John's River

Escape from Florida at last!

Shoulder from Hell

The first hill we've seen on the entire trip

Lovely bike path on Amelia Island

I’ve been concentrating on keeping my shoulders down and relaxed,  not leaning on my hands so much, and taking ibuprofen at the first twinge of pain. Very little pain the last couple of days, much to my relief.

A Rest Day

Mileage today: zero!


What a nice relaxing day in St. Augustine. I walked to the coffee shop this morning for breakfast, did my laundry, cleaned my bike, and then went off to explore the "pedestrian mall" just a couple of blocks away.

 Lots of ticky-tacky-tourist shops and a few nicer ones. I wanted to buy a more comfortable pair of shorts, as the zip-off pants ones are just not doing it for me. I went in a half-dozen shops advertising beach wear, and none of them had shorts! I finally gave up and bought a ......drum roll......DRESS! I haven't had a dress on in at least 10 years (except for Halloween and my birthday costume party), but it seems cool, comfortable and simple. And then the very next shop I went into of course had exactly the shorts I'd been looking for, so I bought them too.

I had to stop at the gourmet popsicle shop, where they had flavors like pineapple cilantro and pear chablis. I had the very tasty pear gin.

It was just a short walk over to Castillo San Marcos. It, like many of the older structures in town, is built out of coquina, which is basically sea shells.

Gate into the pedestrian mall

Shells in the fort wall

Shells in the pillars in the pedestrian mall

Shells in the sidewalk

I treated myself to a sinful breve for my afternoon coffee, and then spent a little time in the pool and hot tub. Then out to dinner with a subset of our group, where I had a mango daquiri that was possibly even better than the mango shave ice I had yesterday. I do love mangoes.

Since I've been experiencing so much neck and shoulder pain I had one of our guides look at my bike this morning but there wasn't much she could do other than tilt the handlebars upwards about 1/4 inch. I guess if it continues to bother me I'll consider shopping for a different stem to shorten my reach a bit.

One more day in Florida.

Wrong turn, T-storm, Ice cream and a butt wash

Today's mileage: 65
Avg. Speed: 12mph
Cumulative elevation gain: 600ft
Weather: 75 and T-storms, 90 and sun
Attitude: Happy to have a rest day tomorrow!

Today seemed like the hardest yet, but also the best. I've been getting a bit bored with the mostly straight, flat route, but today at last there were some adventures!

After the first turn this morning, I came to a T where there was no turn shown on the cue sheet. It was a dead end in one direction so I took off in the other direction, thinking it was just a minor mistake on the cue sheet. It took me a mile or so to realize that I had turned the wrong way at the first turn! So I got to ride an extra 3 miles today. Maybe that was why it was so hard....

Once back on the route, there were some cars stopped ahead, due to a couple of turtles crossing the road. A police car drove up, turned on his lights and stopped traffic, and the guy got out and carried the two turtles safely across.

We stayed on pleasant, low traffic residential streets for awhile and then came back out to A1A along the ocean, but this time there was a lot of accessible beach and it was very pretty. Along much of the coast they've made it illegal to cut across the dunes to the beach, so there are a lot of wildflowers, including a fair amount of prickly pear in bloom.

A bit of rumbling, a few drops of rain, and then a wham-bang downpour of a thunderstorm. And absolutely no place to take shelter! After a few miles of this we came to one of the little boardwalks across the dunes to the beach, and there a half dozen of us huddled under the boardwalk until the storm subsided. It was raining so hard most of the cars had pulled off the road. I actually think it's fun to ride in the nice warm rain down here.... even in the pouring rain it was still 75 F..... but not too smart to do in lightning. The storms here seem to only last 15 minutes or so, and it was fun to watch,

 We all got pretty sandy from sitting under the boardwalk so went and rinsed off in that nice warm ocean afterwards. A few miles later we came to our ice-cream stop, and found a hose next door to finish cleaning off self  and bike.

And the ice cream.... I didn't think I wanted any but then saw they had toasted coconut. Sooo good!

Unfortunately about this time, less than half way through the day, my neck and shoulder started hurting again, and I rode in pain for the rest of the day. There may be a recumbent in my future. A stretching stop about every 5 miles and a gas-station frappucino got me to the edge of St. Augustine, where a mango shave-ice, the best thing I have tasted in a long time, made the last few miles fly by.

I finally figured out why my camera lens keeps fogging up. I've been carrying it in my cameback, next to the ice. Duh.

Oh boy, there are two police cars right outside my window and they've stopped a black guy. Better get my video recorder ready. They're cuffing him. And into the car he goes, with no violence, thankfully.

Ice cream AND a butt-wash!

Policeman carrying turtle. I asked him to pose but no dice.

Miles of riding through puddles after the rain

Tailwind!

Today's mileage: 67
Cumulative elevation gain: 326 feet
Avg. speed: 14 mph!
Weather: 89 and hazy, with a tailwind
Attitude: Better and better!
Tonight's stop is Port Orange, Florida

Boy, what a nice tailwind today. I tried to dawdle but was still in by 1:30 pm, a good 90 minutes before the room was ready. For most of the day I rode in my big chain ring and nearly highest gear, easily tooling along at 15-16 mph.

Luckily, there was a Starbucks right across the street from our hotel where I happily spent an hour. The only problem with that is that even after the room was ready,  I was unable to sleep during my afternoon nap time.

The rides are getting more and more pleasant as my body adjusts and as we get out of south Florida condo land. About a third of the ride today was on pleasant back streets, once again along the Indian River. Lots of egrets, lots of wildflowers and butterflies. We got to see Cape Canaveral in the distance.

One of our SAG drivers has come down with some flu-like thing, and a couple of other riders are not feeling well. Trying to stay far, far away from them....

Pretty field of lupine-like flowers, but I don't think they were lupine.

Cape Canaveral in the distance

Pretty bushes of pink and yellow flowers

and red

Sunshine and a Headwind

Today’s mileage:63

Cumulative elevation gain: 426 feet

Avg speed: 11 mph

Weather: 85, sunny and windy

Attitude: Tired but happy

No rain today and it was nice to see the sun. It is so hot and humid here I am sweating all the sunscreen off my arms about every half hour, sun or clouds, and I've  gotten a bit sunburnt the last couple of days. Today I bought some “arm coolers”,  thin white sleeves that are supposed to keep you cool and sunburn-free.

My legs are doing fine but at about the 30-mile mark each day my neck and shoulders have started hurting. Now carrying ibuprofen on the bike with me.

Today for the first time we rode on a really pretty, quiet, scenic road through Rockledge, along the Indian River. It only lasted about 6 miles, but it made the whole day so much more pleasant. Tree-lined, lots of beautiful older homes, what I think of as the “old Florida” kind with tin roofs and wrap-around porches. Unfortunately then we had an unpleasant 4 mile jaunt on a busy 4 lane highway (with a bike lane) to get to the hotel. No ocean front for us tonight; we’re right next to the freeway.

I did manage to find a Starbucks today! There sure aren’t very many of them along this route.

Would you believe that we have not one but THREE women from Australia on this trip? They did not come together either.

Indian River. 121 miles long, really more of a lagoon.

And he may also have landed just down the road...

Rock Ledge, oldest city in Brevard County

More of Rock Ledge. That's the Indian River on the right.

More of Rock Ledge

A steamy tunnel of Banyans

Island Hopping

Today's mileage: 64
Cumulative elevation gain: 536 feet
Average speed: 12 mph
Weather: Cloudy, rainy, sunny, 75-88F

I lost count of how many bridges we rode over today, island hopping along the barrier islands and over several big rivers and lakes. Tonight we're in Vero Beach, and our hotel is right on the beach, just lovely. Warm turquoise water and just enough surf to make it fun to walk along.

Today's ride was much prettier than yesterday's. There were lots of pictures I would have liked to take, but it's so steamy here my camera lens was all fogged up. (I have it drying out in rice tonight.) Far fewer condos, lots of parks along the beach. Cardinals and mockingbirds singing everywhere. Tunnels of banyan trees. Brown pelicans and Ibis.

I did put on my raincoat for about 15 minutes today during a downpour, but most of the rain was not coat-worthy. By noon the sun was out and it got even steamier. We did not pass a Starbucks all day, so I had to make do with a grocery store frappucino and a coke slurpy.

I was here by 3:30, plenty of time for a long, air-conditioned nap before dinner.

This is my first night with a roommate. I will have one about every third night on this trip. Really glad I'm doing that, as it's much easier to get to know people that way. I'm still a long ways from knowing everyone's name, though.

Hoping to see manatees tomorrow as we ride along the Indian River.

Banyan tunnel, copied from another rider's blog

Condos,condos,condos, condos, condos

Staying tonight in Jupiter Beach, FL.
Today's mileage:63
Cumulative elevation gain:498 feet
Weather:75-85, cloudy, rain, sunny: perfect biking weather!
Attitude: Tired but happy

And here's what we saw today: CONDOS, CONDOS,CONDOS, CONDOS, CONDOS, beach, CONDOS, CONDOS, CONDOS, CONDOS, RICH PEOPLE HOUSES, beach. It's too bad that Florida has not seen fit to have more public beach access. And even where there weren't condos,most of the time the view was obscured by trees.

We are riding mostly right on A1A, and quite a bit of the time there is a bike lane. Started out in clouds and got rained on a bit, but never enough to don a raincoat. Most of us found a Starbucks this afternoon for cold drinks and a rest.

Yesterday Kris and Bob got me down here in time for our 1pm orientation, and by mid-afternoon cousins Mike and Mary had joined us for a visit. Since it was their anniversary,Kris and Bob went off on their own for dinner while Mike and Mary stayed for the send-off banquet.

Our cook for this trip is a young thing who has never done this before, but dinner tonight was great. Salad, enchiladas, guacamole,  rice,strawberry shortcake. It's a mystery to me how she can do all of that on the two-burner stove in the back of the trailer, and in 85 F heat and 80% humidity, no less.

One place with no condos

Leaving Home

Oh, it’s hard to leave Whidbey Island on a perfect spring day. Clear blue sky, everything green and in bloom, birds singing…. I can’t imagine anywhere more beautiful.  But here I am at Seatac with a three hour wait before my flight.

I am flying through Denver, and will get into Orlando about 10:30 tonight. Cousin Kris will pick me up and I will spend a couple of days with her. On Tuesday she and her husband will drive me to Fort Lauderdale in time for a 1pm orientation. I’ll pick up my bike from the bike shop nearby, and then meet cousins Mike and Mary who are driving over from across the state to attend the send-off banquet that evening. And then early the next morning, off I ride towards Maine!

There are somewhere around 30 women riding on this tour. The touring company is WomanTours, and this will be my 8^th tour with them. I know at least a half-dozen of the women from previous tours. All of our luggage gets transported in a big trailer, and in the back of this trailer is a kitchen from which most of our meals will appear. Also in this trailer will be the beer cooler and a plentiful supply of wine. We’re not roughing it. We’ll be staying at nice hotels and I’ll have a room to myself 2/3 of the time.

We’ll ride anywhere from 38 to 97 miles per day, averaging somewhere around 60… thankfully the 97-mile day doesn’t come until about halfway through the trip. Our SAG vehicle, Bo-Peep, will be waiting for us every 20 miles or so with snacks and water, and is always on-call for a pick up, mechanical help, etc.  We’ll get rest days about once a week, and if all goes well, we’ll ride into Bar Harbor, Maine on June 11^th.

Although we all start riding close to the same time, riders get pretty spread out during the day, and I’ll probably ride by myself most of the time. I prefer it that way, as I enjoy the scenery more that way. Also, I’m slow. On one of my previous tours, I thought I had really improved, as one day I found myself riding with one of the fastest riders. Then another one of the fast ones showed up and she said “OK, let’s go!”, and the two of them left me like I was standing still.

From Maine I will fly on to Michigan to visit my dad for a couple of weeks, and then on to Seattle on June 27^th. I won’t actually get home until the next day as my flight gets in too late to get the shuttle back to the island.

Pre-trip musings

My big bike trip is looming huge on the horizon. Just two weeks from tomorrow I will be meeting up with a great group of women to ride from Fort Lauderdale to Bar Harbor, Maine.

After $$$ of work (new shifters, cables, wheels, tires, cassette, chain) my bike is at the bike shop getting packed for shipment. I could literally have bought a brand new bike in Florida and just left it when I got to Maine, for less than it has cost me to get this work done and ship my trusty steed from home. But I suppose it wouldn't be quite as nice a bike, and I'd still have to have that work done on my bike when I got home. That's what I'm telling myself, anyway.

It remains to be seen whether I'm really in shape for this trip. I've ridden a total of about 500 miles so far this year, and my longest ride has been 45 miles. Hopefully the fact that it's very hilly here, and the first week or so of our trip will be in flat Florida, will help.  I definitely feel older than I did when I rode my first cross country, the Southern Tier, 10 years ago! And I'm sure not carrying any less weight.....

This will be my 8th tour with WomanTours . I've done:
The big island of Hawaii -- 2003
Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon loop -- 2004
Southern Tier from San Diego to Florida -- 2005
Arizona spring training -- 2006
Underground railroad, from Mobile Alabama to Niagara falls -- 2008 (after which I rode on to Michigan self-supported)
Northern Tier from Anacortes WA to Fargo ND -- 2010 (after which I rode on to Minneapolis self-supported)
Death Valley -- 2012

I've ridden my current bike on all but the first of those rides, and have ridden 1000+ miles per year even on non-tour years, so I suppose it must have a good 20,000+ miles on it. It was probably time for the new shifters. I think every other component has been replaced at least once.

I guess you could say I like WomanTours pretty well! I am so looking forward to getting into that "bike, eat, sleep" routine again. There's just nothing else like it.

Stay tuned.....