March 9, 2023 – Keep Calm and Pedal On

We made it to Florida this morning, aka The Sunshine State, and we had our first day of rain. 🤣

It actually just sprinkled most of the morning and didn’t rain hard enough to put rain jackets on. And it’s warm so we didn’t mind the sprinkles a bit.

We could see thunderboomers behind us though, as we road through Orange Beach, Perdido Key and Pensacola and we were determined to “out peddle” them.

What really urged us forward was a planned rendez with Tom’s sister Vickie and her husband, Jim in Milton. We pushed on and arrived to our campground in time for much needed showers and laundry.

It’s getting to be that time of year again… bike travelers abound! There are six of us camping here tonight. Our tandem-riding friends, Dave and Lisa and Mike and Carl from Little Rock showed up shortly after us. They finish Saturday in Gulf Shores and rode from Key West.

We took a short spin on an old road today, and I mean really old. The Old Red Brick Road (old SR 1 which now parallels US 90 just outside of Milton) was built in 1927 and made from bricks. Also known as The Old Spanish Road, it’s one of the few existing brick roads still in use today and used only by walkers, runners and cyclists. It’s a bit bumpy though… I’ll take a bike lane any day.

It was a real treat to see Jim and Vickie who ubered us into Milton and treated us to dinner. Not only did the melted mozz cheese on my lasagna and “real” salad greens put a smile our faces it was good to hear about their weeks spent in Palm Coast and Destin.