Tag: camping

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We had a couple unexpected visitors last night as we slept beachfront sans tent fly under the stars. Raindrops came and went about 3am, however just a sprinkling so we just pulled the fly up.

The other visitor? Black rats. They are, according to the ranger, an invasive species that live in the marshes and are a huge nuisance. No kidding. At one point we peaked out with our headlamps and saw four scampering around on our bikes. One of Tom’s bike bags was chewed through. Finally after moving the bikes and taking almost all the bags off and hanging them, they left us alone. Whew! Black rats. Who knew? 🤷🏼‍♀️

When we awoke we walked to the beach which we had it all to ourselves and spent time watching the sea and shore birds find breakfast. Grateful to take our time, as we just had a short ride today and we had a few miles “in the bank” so to speak, we were soon on the hunt for a cup of coffee as well. Plus our family Uber was making better than expected progress.

We stopped for coffee after packing up, then split a grouper sammies for lunch. Post lunch we teed up for The Seven Mile Bridge.

We were enjoying quite the tail wind fiesta, the scenery and cruising right along about 15-16 mph (even on our mountain bike tires 🤣) on the two lane bridge that actually IS seven miles long when all of a sudden we noticed a bright red semi truck hauling a tanker trailer was approaching. In our lane. 😳

Was he really passing a Mustang on a two lane bridge at 55 miles an hour in a no passing zone? We were riding on a wide shoulder but didn’t know how far he was coming our way or how his rate of speed, the surface wind and the fact that he was approaching close in front of us instead of behind us would affect the handling of our bicycles. Or worse, did he even see us?

I held onto my handlebars as tightly as possible while Tom loudly asked him where he got his CDL. Tom also noticed the driver wasn’t looking at us and instead in his side mirror to ensure he had clearance to pass the Mustang. The truck zoomed close by as we hugged the side of bridge wall. The incident lasted less than 15 seconds but I’ll never forget it. Aside from that, Seven Mile Bridge was a piece of cake and we are looking forward to crossing it again on Monday. In a car.😊

Way back in Marathon, Texas we told ourselves we’d take a pic in Marathon, Florida in the Keys. It seemed so far off but today we passed that milestone.

From Marathon to Marathon, and more, with just 50 miles left to the Southernmost Point.

Baha’i Honda State Park was our camping destination. When we checked in, the Ranger put us in “overflow” camping (on the rocks, no shade, next to the highway and to expect “visitors”, meaning black rats AND raccoons) but it actually worked out so perfectly.

We had a beautiful view of the cove after sunset and hung out at a picnic table in the shade at the beach for almost three hours where we ate a Snack Shak dinner, popcorn and rehashed the last couple months.

When the sun finally set we hustled back to the “hill” and set up our tent.

Our family Uber (Anne, Gordon and John) came within 100 yards of passing us tonight, they on US1 and us camping on “the hill” by the highway. We were FaceTiming each other from our tent using our headlamps as a beacon in hopes they would see us and honk. Not sure if we connected but we loved the thought. We cannot WAIT to see them tomorrow.

Loose ends: If you look closely at the pic of Tom riding on Seven Mile Bridge above you’ll notice something is missing. Yep he made an accidental donation of his Bentonville Brewery hat to Miami Dade County as we cycled through Miami. Looks like we will need to go back, Dan and Christie! 🍻

Tom also has the trip record for best Wordle solve at two guesses and I have a streak of 65 days going. Gin scores are 8-5; Greg, Tom is going to need more lessons.

My sleeping pad has a hole in it and needs to be blown up throughout the night and Tom’s back bike tire has had a nail rolling around inside of it since Tallahassee.

Finally I’m going to need a new crown since my 40 year old one finally popped off on the first day we saw the Gulf of Mexico. I saved it for a souvey. These are just quirky things that one thinks about while riding for hours on a bicycle.

Just 36 miles to the Southernmost Point tomorrow. We’re going to take in every mile. Thank you for the prayers, encouragement and follows.

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Blue skies. Blue water. Who knew there were so many shades of beautiful blues?

We cycled past Key Largo early in the day and with plenty of time to ride to Long Key we took our time to marvel at the water, the sky, and the kamikazi lizards scampering across the bike trail.

Every once in a while one of these would lumber across like he owned the trail.

It was another near perfect day of cycling but the icing on the cake was the sweet tent site Tom found at Long Key State Park where the sites are walk-in only and beach front. Past hurricanes have shut down the regular camping area so it’s quiet with only four beach front camping sites.

We got all checked in and then cycled back a mile to get a bite to eat and a bevvie or two. There must be something about big chairs in Florida. I don’t quite understand it but we most always stop and take pics.

After dinner, there were solar showers to enjoy and then into the tent. Some of our family members (the Key West Roadies) are already on their way to pick us up. Just two short days of riding left.

Good night from Long Key.

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We were delighted to see a stellar sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean before we started our ride. What a way to start the day. 🌅

Miami was on our to-do list today. As such, we scheduled a shorter ride and allowed almost a whole day to get through her.

Miami is a magnificent city. Neither of us had been there during the day and approaching the city on a bicycle and then riding through gives one an up close view however it’s not for the faint-hearted. The city is clean, modern, diverse and very busy.

Bike lanes are scant, the sidewalks are full of pedestrians and although legally bikes are permitted to use the full right lane, we weren’t about to test that city ordinance. First we tackled the city of Miami Beach then crossed the causeway to take on the big mama. She is gorgeous, but again it’s traffic mayhem for cyclists. Lots of honking, not at us but cars at each other. And scooters galore!

In fact coming off the causeway we saw a cyclist down (a roadie) being attended to by EMTs. It looked like he tried to come down too fast, hit a curb and did a face plant. Ouch!

Having put those cities in our rear view mirrors we celebrated with sammiches for lunch.

Our post lunch ride was stop and go almost all afternoon even though much of it was on a “bike trail.” Those are supposed to be air quotes. 🤣 Someday it will be magnificent but it’s just not ready for prime time yet. Still, in most aspects it kept us away from traffic; it was just hard to get any momentum going.

The highlight of the day was meeting our buddy Finn at our Florida City campsite. He’d just finished his open water diving certification in Key Largo and took an extra day to meet us. His timing could not have been better (and it’s difficult to coordinate rendezs on bike tours).

Bar B Que, bevvies and some bantering back and forth made the evening go too quickly. See you in Indy, Finn!

Tomorrow we officially say hello to the Florida Keys… on bicycles. 🚴🏼‍♂️🚴🏼‍♀️

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We made it! And what a lovely morning it was for the easy cruise into St. Augustine. We’re both beyond grateful to have completed this first (and longest) leg of our bike trip. Whew! Did we really peddle all that way?

Coast to coast, 3,144 miles… that’s a lot of peddle strokes.😂

Although the official Southern Tier bike route ends in the city of St. Augustine, we crossed the bridge to get to St. Augustine Beach where we dipped our front tires into the Atlantic Ocean as we dipped our back tires in the Pacific Ocean 56 days ago.

From there we peddled two blocks south on A1A to Salt Life restaurant and treated ourselves to a celebratory dinner. I mean tonight was not a night for peanut butter and Nutella wraps.

We talked of the towns we cycled through, the people we met, the hills, the wind, the struggles and the accomplishments and wouldn’t change a thing… well we mighta kept that extra set of gloves and socks we sent back with Troy as a cold and storm front moves in on Sunday. 😬 Good thing we kept our puffies.

After dinner, a campfire (our first of the trip) was the perfect way to end the day. We said goodbye to Gary, a cyclist we met back in Suwannee River State Park who finished his New Orleans to St. Augustine trip today and will head north tomorrow to Jacksonville and beyond.

Tomorrow we head south along the coast just 500 miles to our Key West destination. Once back in Indy we will wrap up the entire ride, but tomorrow we continue to keep calm and peddle on.

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Today’s moment that gave me pause to reflect was meeting Earl. A gentle giant both in physical and spiritual stature, he started his walk across America on March 1st on Jacksonville Beach and is headed for the Pacific Ocean near San Francisco.

We asked him “why” and I’m sure he wanted to ask us the same. ☺️ He answered though and what he said got me thinking. He said it’s important what he “attends to”. His attention (time) is his most valuable asset. What he invests his time in forms his life. He felt he needed time for extended reflection. I know this. Tom knows this. It’s a good reminder. Would love to catch up with Earl at the end of us journey to see what else he can share. However, he gives no attention to social media so I can’t “follow” him. Now that gave ME something else to think about.

Tom wanted me to let you know he’s pretty sure he was standing in a hole next to Earl in the above pic . 😂

The sign before we crossed the Suwannee River said it was was “historic”. I know it’s mentioned in a song but what else?

The Suwannee River originates in the Okefenokee Swamp (the largest swamp in North America) and flows about 260 miles until it reaches the Gulf of Mexico. It’s darkish water runs through state parks, is fed by natural springs and flows by Civil War battlefields. And yep, in case you’re wondering, there’s ‘gaters in there.

The dogs are still out in rural Florida albeit most are chained up or fenced in. However once today, we met four loose dogs who wanted to welcome us to their county 😝 while the fifth dog sat on the hood of the car in the yard and watched the whole scenario unfold. I don’t give these dogs my attention anymore. Well let’s just say I don’t have a visceral fear of being chased and bitten. We just stop, holler and they run away. So thanks for the prayers, all.

In case you were wondering, Tallahassee was our fourth state capital. We also rode through Phoenix, Austin and Baton Rouge. 🚴🏼‍♂️🚴🏼‍♀️

Digs at the Suwannee River State Park tonight.

Flushers out of order but tent sites are 💯

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We didn’t plan on riding over 80 miles today. There was a whisper of a tailwind this afternoon, and a brewery in our sites but it was the Opening Day Little League Baseball parade in small town America that started the day off right. That got us reminiscing about the “old days.”

That and a gorgeous morning riding down the gauntlet of pine trees with scattered pine cones as big as my big head.

Tom scored a sweet camping spot less than a mile away from a brewery specializing in ribeye steaks. Yum!

It was the perfect night to cozy up in a tent under the stars.

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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.

Seems like a lot of people from Indy head elsewhere for the winter and I can’t say I blame them. Where to for us in Winter 2024?

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It’s as if our ferry godmother paid a visit to Dauphin Island and fixed the ferry ramp. Once fixed we were on our way to Gulf Shores.

But first, we cycled to the beach for breakfast. At that point we decided we’d check out of our hotel room and wait at the ferry dock still not knowing if it would be fixed today, tomorrow or next week. I guess positive thinking works!

After a 40 minute ferry ride, we cycled east through Gulf Shores to our campsite and arrived just before nightfall.

At the ferry station we met Dave and Lisa from California who ride a tandem and pull a trailer. You should see how they can maneuver this rig through traffic. It’s impressive! When they get to St. Augustine they will head north to Myrtle Beach as we head south to Key West.

Route rap with Dave who’s tenting next to us with Lisa.

For the second graders:

Will wants to know what if something happens to your tent and you don’t have another one available? Although some bicycle travelers would consider sleeping outside without a tent, we would not. What if it rained? What if there were critters roaming about? A cross country bike rider we met a couple weeks ago woke up and had a skunk ready to say “good morning” when he got out of his tent.

So if we don’t have a tent available we would look for a hotel. Or, we would check on a Warmshower host in the area. These are people who host bike travelers in their home for one night. Will, what else do you think would be nice to offer bike travelers besides a bed to sleep in?

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If you’ve been following us for a while you know when we were shivering in Arizona, New Mexico and parts of Texas, we could hardly wait until we could cycle in short sleeves and shorts. And we couldn’t wait to see the Gulf of Mexico. Today was that day! Well kind of. 🤣

We were so socked in with fog for most of the day we hardly saw anything. 😂 Well maybe except the ginormous guitar by Hard Rock Cafe in Biloxi.

Early this morning we met westbound rider, Mary and her pooch Migs who travels with her on her bike in a chest carrier. She estimates she’s carrying about 80 pounds with gear and doggie. Woof!

We rode through towns along the Gulf mostly on bike lanes without any sense of a schedule, because we had none and took breaks when we took a liking to unique signs, carvings or other local landmarks such the Angel Tree in Bay St. Louis. Created by chainsaw sculpture Dayle Lewis (from Indiana 😉), one of the below pictured Angel Trees is located near Our Lady of the Gulf Church however there are two more located on Demontluzin Avenue, one of which was used as a life raft by three Katrina survivors and their dog.

Tom found his favorite bike shop in Ocean Springs this afternoon when he stopped to add air to our tires with a proper air pump. They have a beer tap in the store. What? The only time we’ve seen that is at The Hub right outside of Pisgah National Forest. Ok now Tom has two fave bike shops.

Tom scored a nice campsite at a state park right on the route.

However, as I write this at 1:30am, a pesky raccoon just opened up my bike bag and tried to run away with my peanut M & Ms after he ate my crackers and peanuts. Tom chased him away and he dropped them so I got my candy back. I’m sure he’ll be back. Once they know there is food, they always come back. 🦝

For the second graders:

Jackson wants to know if you have enough clothes with you. What if it rains and you get all wet? Yes we have plenty of clothes because we wear the same clothes all of the time. We don’t need new outfits everyday to look good. Instead we wear clothing to keep us warm, cool or dry.

If it rains and it’s cold, (below 45 degrees or so) we put on a raincoat right away to keep our body warm and dry. Continuing to ride our bikes helps keep us warm. If it’s warm out, we just ride in the rain and our clothes dry while we are riding. If it is storming and there is lightning we always find shelter until it stops.

I have a question for you, Jackson. How many pair of shoes do you think we bring?

Brody we will answer your question next time.👍🏻

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Tom created a route using Ride with GPS on his phone, synched it to our Garmins, and it guided us safely back to our route where we hooked up at Audubon Park in the New Orleans Garden District.

However before we left Metarie Larry took us to 7am Mass at St. Catherine of Siena (first time riding in a car since San Diego) where Tom and I heard one of the most compelling homilies about the fourth commandment. The priest’s delivery and content were 💯 After Mass, Larry introduced us to Fr. Andrew and I had to ask… “Father, how old are you? ‘Cause I’d vote for you if you ran for president.” He laughed and said that he was 29 years old. Well dang… not old enough. Before our goodbyes he gave us a blessing.

Friends, it seems like it took us a long time to get here but we DID make it to New Orleans, aka, NOLA, The Big Easy, The Crescent City and more. And we rolled in on a perfectly sunny Sunday morning. We’d both been here before when we ran the Mardi Gras Marathon so it was fun to see some familiar sights. We agreed NOT to wait in line at Cafe DuMond for a beignet. Nope! We did however score some freshly made doughnuts in Bernard Parish at Gerald’s Donut House and some fresh brewed coffee to soothe our crawfish hangover. 🤣

There are lots of pics of NOLA in the vid below. What we really enjoyed however was getting out of town and riding through The Rigolets and among the marshy areas of eastern Louisiana. There’s so much water with egrets, herons and osprey to watch as we cycled by.

We road into Pearlington and grabbed a couple of burgers and tots at a local place on the water just a mile from our campground.

And when we got to our campground, sure enough the owner was there with his 23 year old cockatoo ready to show us all of Mozart’s tricks.

I think Tom kinda got attached to Mozart.

And oh yeah… we’re in Mississippi now!

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