Day 33 (Dauphin Island to Pensacola)

I forgot to mention the couple that we saw a couple of days ago. We were riding from La Rue and were about 20 miles into the ride, when we saw two fully laden cyclists riding toward us. We stopped and talked to Kris and Gord McDonald, a couple from Canada who are riding the route from east to west. Kris rode west to east with the Adventure Cycling group 16 years ago, and was waiting for retirement to do it again. We exchanged a couple of stories and gave them our information so that we can get together when they make it through Phoenix.

Today was a regular 6AM start. We loaded the car and drove to the Dauphin Island Ferry where we were first in line. There were 7 vehicles on the small ferry and it ran us over to the east end of Mobile Bay in half an hour. There Karen and I got our bikes ready and headed in to Pensacola. That ride is so very flat and boring, except for some interesting flood proofing architecture, but today it was a fight because of the 15-20 MPH headwinds all day. We could barely hold 13 miles an hour riding into the wind. The Bridges made the ride interesting (check out the Garmin Connect link for ride data, the only elevation spikes are the bridges).

The Dauphin Island Ferry

Today's Wind

The Final State, we are in Florida

Father was supposed to meet us at the Florida border for our first break. He was parked about 31.5 miles in behind a "Police No Parking" sign. He said he had been down the road a couple of miles and there was no place to park. So we took our break and started rolling again. At  32 miles we passed from Alabama to Florida, and I got a flat tire at the "Welcome to Florida" sign. As I was changing the tire, on the side of the street in a souvenir shop parking lot, father went driving on past without even looking at us. So much for a support vehicle. He obviously lied about checking out the street and not seeing the Florida signs, about there not being any parking, and he doesn't pay attention when we are broke down on the side of the rode as he drives by. I am so tired of him saying, "I didn't see that", "I didn't know that" and on and on. He has left us hanging so many times, and when we do call his phone for help, he doesn't answer. He will say that he doesn't get the calls, but we show them to him on his missed calls log on his phone. If it wasn't so close to the end of the ride, I would adapt and change the plan again.

We finally caught up with father on Main Street in downtown Pensacola. The bikes were loaded up and we found a motel and dinner. Dinner was at McGuire's, an Irish pub and brewery. It's located at the corner of 9th Avenue and Gregory. Excellent food, good beer, and some of the best service ever. We then did our shopping for food and snacks for the next few days (should be the last five or six days) of riding.


Maps and numbers:
 http://connect.garmin.com/activity/237105389#.UIoHv-AM8n8.blogger