Day Thirty Six - Rainy Day Sunday and Five Week Stats

The rain stopped long enough for us to tear down camp and get packed up. We rode ten miles to breakfast at "Another Broken Egg". It was the only breakfast place around and in hindsight we were happy about that because it was amazing (see photos)! It was overcast all day with a light rain much of the time. It only rained hard once and we were able to duck under cover and chill for awhile, so we never got soaked. We rode along some beautiful beaches and towns, as well as some pretty tacky stretches. After sleeping in our "tent saunas" last night, we have opted for an air conditioned hotel room tonight. We've got tents and rain flies draped all over the room so they can dry out. It was a short day - 50 miles - to Panama City.

Stats Through Five Weeks (a day late):

Miles: 2,443

Flats: 42 (only THREE this week)

Additions to Road Kill: chicken

Destiny Rescue TTD: $10,212 WOW!

Riders Added: 1 (Zack, who is keeping us laughing!)

Day Thirty Five - Gorgeous Beaches

The Gulf Coast is absolutely gorgeous! Pensacola, Navarre, Fort Walton, Destin and Santa Rosa beaches had clear greenish blue water and white sand, AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS!

We stopped for lunch at The Slippery Mermaid in Navarre and had the best sushi we have ever had! Then headed to Destin to indulge in some ice cream, but on the way Rick got a flat. While we were fixing the flat, a man named Larry Dean pulled over to see if we needed anything. He had a an air compressor in his trunk, wow! It didnt work at first but he was determined to make it work! Eventually he got it to work and we were on our way. What a kind gentleman!

We made it to camp 79 miles later. The park ranger told us that it would probably rain, so Rick set up a tarp over our picnic table to keep everything but our tents dry. It did rain gently through the night.

Day Thirty Four - Plan B

We spent last night at the Dauphin Island Campground, located across the street from the ferry dock. The first ferry of the day is at 8am, so we made sure we were there by 7:40am. As we left camp, Zack realized he had a flat tire, so he walked his bike to the ferry planning to change it on board. Unfortunately we soon learned that the ferry was shut down due to mechanical problems and would not be running for at least five hours (possibly days). Please understand that the entire reason we had routed our trip through the Island was to avoid having to ride all the way around Mobile Bay and through the city of Mobile, AL, which is exactly what we now had to do! This made today's ride 92 miles rather than the 70 that we had planned. Today's ride would have been even longer had we not taken the tunnel under the Mobile River which added a lot of fear and trepidation to our trip since the tunnel is not intended for bicycles. On the plus side, Mobile turned out to be quite nice and we were able to meet up with Dan Hunter, who works in Mobile, so Zack could get a few important items he had forgotten at their house. Our route also took us by Battleship Memorial Park. We had never seen a battleship before and it was quite impressive!

The last 15 to 20 miles in Alabama were miserable, as we rode on 6"-15" wide shoulder between rumble strips and grass along a busy highway. We prayed that the shoulder would get better once we hit Florida. Thank God once we hit the Florida line, not only was the shoulder better, it was brand new pavement with a 3 foot wide bike lane!

Amazingly we have been in four states in the past three days. We crossed our last state line today, but it will take our final week to get across Florida!

Day Thirty-Three - Sweet Home Alabama

After a wonderful breakfast at the Hunters, we rode out on the beach road following the coast line into Alabama. Eventually our 73 mile route took us over a dramatic causeway bridge to Dauphin Island. We stopped at the only grocery store on the island to pick up food for dinner. A kind gentleman, fellow shopper asked us about out trip. When he learned that we were staying at the campground tonight, he offered to take our groceries to our campsite. As we had room on our bikes, we thanked him, but did not take him up on his offer and rode on to the campground. Once here, we were surprised when the same man pulled up in his pick up truck and offered to take us out on his boat. We accepted and John treated us to a wonderful hour long tour of the island by boat. The padded seats and ocean breezes were heavenly! We are so enjoying southern hospitality!

INCREDIBLE NEWSFLASH.....we have reached our goal for Destiny Rescue!! Thanks so much to all who have given so generously!! We are excited to see how much more will be added to the $10,000, we are in AWE!!

Day Thirty Two - Zack Attack/Tours by Tonia

Today's ride breaks down into two chapters: Chapter 1- Leaving Louisiana and Chapter 2- Mississippi.

We rode out through the French Quarter and got onto 90 East. We spent most of the morning drafting behind Zack. Thirty five miles into the ride Zack went through his initiation by getting his first flat tire (our only one of the day). Once we crossed the Pearl River, entering Mississippi, we met up with Tonia Miller who rode with us the rest of the day. It was a real treat to have a local guide us through some lovely back roads. She even treated us to lunch (huge muffaletta sandwiches). She got us to the home of Dan and Lee Ann Hunter where we enjoyed their beautiful pool overlooking the bay before being treated to a spectacular meal!

Today's total mileage was 89. It was fun having others to ride with today. The scenery was gorgeous! We have been very impressed by the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Day Thirty One - Grand Tour of New Orleans

We met up with Brian today who lead us on a bicycle tour of New Orleans. We saw it all, from the warehouse district to the garden district, Tulane University to New Orleans sculpture garden, and out to the lower 9th ward, which was so badly devastated by hurricane Katrina. Although it was our day off, we ended up riding 28 miles, but it was a great way to see the city!

We ended the day with a wonderful dinner out at Nola, an Emeril Lagasse restaurant. Perfect ending to a perfect day! Now packing up for another early start and heading to Biloxi, MS tomorrow!

Day Thirty - Now with Fifty Percent More

Linda and Mark gave us a great send off this morning. We jumped on Airline Highway and rode it all the way to New Orleans. It now seems humorous, but on the first Louisiana bridge we've seen that has a shoulder, we were pulled over by an officer who told us that it is illegal to cross any bridge in Louisiana on bicycle. Oh the irony!

We made the 75 miles to New
Orleans in great time and with no flats. As we walked into our hotel lobby we were greeted by our son Zack, who flew in from Charleston today. He will join us for the remainder of the bike trip.

We met up with Brian Sands, one of Rick's friends from college who lives here. We enjoyed dinner together, followed by coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde. Brian then gave us a tour of the French Quarter. We are looking forward to a rest day tomorrow.