Ok, now we're done!! Rode the final 30 miles to St Augustine, FL today on flat roads and the wind was actually assisting us somewhat, which was a rarity these past few weeks. Oh, and did I mention the rain showers that we rode through and got us soaked! At least it was warm. Nice easy ride with the biggest obstacle being the final bridge to go over. Got a nice view of St Augustine from the bridge just before we finished off the ride and saw the ocean. Did the traditional dip the front wheel in the Atlantic Ocean to officially end the ride. What a great group of riders I was privileged to spend 6 weeks of my life with. Most had been on epic rides before and their experiences really helped me to settle into a groove. Think I've got some new friends for life, and might have to try some other tours one of these days. For now, just looking to get home and cook for my sweetie. Rubber side down, see ya soon!

Nope, still not there yet but this shot is of the St Johns River looking back at Palatka, FL, where we rode about 70 miles to today. Roads were a little damp to start but it didn't rain on us at least. Scenery was basically the same with some of the roads being a little rougher, but overall still good. Also rode another rail trail which was a nice surface but with a lot of debris from falling limbs. Made decent time but had that pesky wind again so it could have been better. So tomorrow is the day we finish this epic journey. Weather is potentially iffy for tomorrow but we may actually get a tailwind, although I shouldn't say that too loud. We have 30 miles to St Augustine, FL and the Atlantic Ocean!! Stay tuned - enjoy!

Rode to High Springs, FL, about 71 miles today. The forecast was for rain later in the afternoon so there was a focus on being done so as not to get wet. We thought the wind would be more helpful, and at times it did, but alas, it seemed to quarter us more often than not. Scenery wise not much changed, but we did stop at Ivey Park near Branford, FL for lunch which was right next to the Suwannee River. Got a shot of the river and an old tree with Spanish Moss on it. Sure was purty. Our hope of staying dry ended when a cell opened up on us real close to town. So we did get wet and are now drying everything out, after doing laundry. Tomorrow is another 70 mile day in which we go from High Springs to Palatka, FL. Looks like it will stay dry but the winds will again be a challenge. Stay tuned - enjoy!

Another sunny day with temperatures a little cool to start, but it warmed up and was very pleasant. We rode about 69 miles to Perry, FL, and am trying to remember the last time we had a tailwind. The winds pestered us again but with less miles to do and somewhat flat terrain we were done by 2 pm. The excitement for me today was riding on a rail trail. I've ridden trails before but the neat thing about a rail trail is it's generally very straight and the slope is usually never more than 2%. Makes for a very pleasant ride. In this part of the country they are lined with trees, and with no traffic it's very enjoyable. Tomorrow we may have to endure some precipitation again, although the reports vary as to when and how much. The one thing they do agree on is that we should finally get a tailwind riding to High Springs, FL totaling about 74 miles. The water may slow us down but the winds should help. Stay tuned - enjoy!

Rode about 78 miles from Chipley to Midway, FL, and as you can see we took a very brief jaunt into Georgia. Where we stopped for lunch it turned out we were only a half mile from the Georgia line so just had to check it out. Fortunately there was a sign welcoming us as there was not one welcoming us back into Florida when we turned around. Apparently this area in Florida is called the highlands and has some decent little hills, nothing extended, but enough to get our attention. Was sunny and dry however with a breeze quartering us for the most part. We also lost an hour since we are now in the Eastern time zone. The roads continue to be nice and it only gets tight when we go through small towns. Most of the time there is a bike lane or decent shoulder. The country side continues to have a lot of Lodge pole pines and logging is somewhat prevalent. The rolling hills will continue as we start our ride tomorrow, then as we head SE to Perry, FL, it will flatten out considerably. Shorter day, only about 70 miles with good weather expected, although we could have a pesky breeze again. Oh well - enjoy!!

Another no picture day as it rained a good bit of the day on our ride to Chipley, FL, about 85 miles. No downpours but enough to get us wet. Just when we thought we were drying out, we went through another cell, but at least we finished in sunshine. We followed the Gulf coast again for a bit, then headed inland NE to Chipley. This brought in a few more rollers so we got a little more climbing in today. The roads in Florida have generally been pretty good and there usually is a bike lane, but the traffic near the coastal resorts was a bit heavier than we would like. Once we moved away from the coast we were able to get on some back country roads which are preferable and have less traffic. Hopefully this will be our last wet day but still not looking more than a day ahead. Tomorrow we ride about 80 miles to Midway, FL which is near Tallahassee. Not quite sure of the distance as we're going to detour up into Georgia so that we can get another state. Weather should be dry and sunny so looking forward to that. Till tomorrow, enjoy!

Nope, not done yet, but we did make it to the Gulf coast. Since I had never been before, had to take a picture. Rode today from Gulf Shores, AL to Ft Walton, FL which was about 76 miles. Winds were blowing in from the water so basically quartered us the whole time. Roads were generally good, with bike lanes or decent shoulders most of the way. Heavy traffic at times with spring break still occurring for some areas. Very nice to ride along the waterfront with the white sandy beaches as some areas are still protected and not built up. Quite a few high rises in more developed areas. The bridges were again our hills with some lasting long enough to be a bit unnerving, but at least there was a decent shoulder. As you can see we are now in Florida and we hope we'll see plenty of sunshine for this last week. For tomorrow we have a longer ride of about 86 miles to Chipley, FL. We'll ride along the coast again for awhile, then head NE and inland. Could get some rain overnight, but at least 1 forecast said it will stop by the time we get going. I'm going with that one. Enjoy!

Hope everyone had a happy Easter, ours was quite fun. Only had about 67 miles to ride from Moss Point, MS to Gulf Shores, AL with a wind that would pester us but not annoy us. Flat day with the only real hills being some bridges we went over. Our route took us into Alabama, our 7th state, and down to Dauphin Island where we took a ferry over to Fort Morgan, then road the beach road essentially to Gulf Shores. Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan protected Mobile Bay at one point in time. My brother and his wife, Bruce & Pauline, came down to visit. So great to catch up and exchange stories about our grandkids. Love getting together with family whenever possible. Not certain if I say that enough! One comparison to other beaches is how white the sand is. Can't wait to see more of this as we follow the gulf coast into Florida after our last rest day tomorrow! Enjoy!

Rode about 70 miles to Moss Point, MS today with another gorgeous day. No precipitation and the winds were against us a bit, but again manageable. We meandered through some pretty country roads with really good surfaces and not much traffic. Most were lined with lodge pole pines but then we saw this pond. It's hard to tell but there's some pretty white flowers that are coming out. The reflection is kind of nice too. To get to Moss Point we went over a bridge into Pascagoula and got this view of their shipyard, and beyond is the gulf. Later we went over another bridge going into Moss Point. Other than a lot of rollers early on with one decent size hill, those 2 bridges represented the other 2 hills for the day. Tomorrow we have even less climbing as we ride into Alabama for our last rest day in Gulf Shores, AL. We even get to take a ferry as part of our adventure. Plus my brother Bruce and his wife Pauline will come to see me in Gulf Shores. What a great treat!! Always love to see family!!

Got back to some great weather today and crossed over into Mississippi on our ride from Franklinton, LA to Wiggins, MS. It was supposed to be a 79 mile day but with a bridge out and a detour we added 8 miles to that. For the past few days we've been more into rollers. No real big hills or climbs but just a steady dose of ups and downs. Reminds me a bit of the Texas Hill Country with different vegetation. A lot more pine trees here and a bit more water. We've tried to stay off main roads whenever possible and in so doing you can see the cutest things. Case in point today was a mini horse foal that the owner told us was only 5 days old. In the picture I took you can't tell but the foal has a white tail. Very pretty and apparently somewhat unique. Besides checking off a new state, this was also our 30th day on the bike and we've had 4 rest days. The miles just keep rolling along. Tomorrow we ride about 70 miles to Moss Point, MS, which gets us down to sea level and close to the gulf coast. Had some shrimp tonight and can't wait to see what other fresh seafood we'll get to enjoy. Yumm!!

For any tour like this over 6 weeks, you figure you're going to have to deal with bad weather. Today was one of those days. Might be hard to tell but today was a wet day and this picture was at the end of a sloppy day after about 78 miles into Franklinton, LA. It was raining early when we normally leave but the forecast said the heavy stuff would be over by noon. Sure enough, around noon we took off but still had to deal with rain for about 2 hours, then it took another 2 for the roads to dry out. We also had 10 flats today as the moisture somehow helps to allow impediments into the tires easier. We've had 2 wet days and both those days we had more than our share of flats. Dennis, the owner of our tour, rode with us and basically pulled the whole way. Superhuman effort and he sets a mean pace. It was very much appreciated! It also helped tremendously that the roads were pretty good with a wide shoulder for the most part and that the winds weren't blasting in our face. Tough day to get started, but great day to overcome adversity! They say it's not what you accomplish but what you have to overcome that's important! Tomorrow we're expecting very good weather as we ride to Wiggins, MS, about 80 miles and another state. Stay tuned!

Added a few extra pics today to make up for yesterday. We had seen a lot of calfs, but no foals until yesterday. It was a treat! Today we rode about 84 miles from Ville Platte to St Francisville, LA. Forecast called for the possibility of showers, but we lucked out and hit some wet roads, but missed the rain. Pretty flat again today except for 2 bridges over rivers, the Atchafalaya and the Mississippi. A lot of water all around us today. Also some pretty bad roads. Some had shoulders but they were so beat up it made it very difficult to navigate. We basically had to slow down and spread out. Also had to ride on an elevated highway over a bayou. There was no shoulder and the road surface was good, but if we would have needed to stop to fix a flat, there was no room. It went on for 3+ miles and fortunately everyone made it through without incident. So we are now east of the mighty Mississippi, where the radio & tv stations now begin with a W instead of a K. Staying at a Lodge next to a golf course. Too bad it's only for 1 night. Have a 75 mile ride scheduled for tomorrow to Franklinton, LA, but it's supposed to rain with lightning tomorrow, so we'll see. Nothing we can do about the weather, so we'll get a good nights sleep and make a decision in the morning.

After an off day in DeRidder, LA we rode 75 miles today to Ville Platte, LA. On the off day I iced down my sore shoulder, bought a new helmet, and just plain relaxed. My body overall felt very good today, still sore but was able to ride without much discomfort. It's only uncomfortable when I lift my arms over my head and on the bike I don't need to do that so it's not an issue. The scale for the profile of the ride today went from 0-100' so it was flat roads again and the only issue were some strong crosswinds. We're pretty used to that by now and with fairly decent roads most of the way and limited traffic, we still made good time. Sorry about no picture today, there wasn't much to take a picture of other than a new foal. I'll have to steal a shot from someone else for tomorrow. The other interesting thing we saw were flooded fields which we assumed were for crawdads. Turns out we were partially right. Sounds like they grow rice, then just before they harvest the rice, they "seed" the fields with crawdads. Then after another month they drain the fields, harvest the rice, then flood the fields again and it becomes a big old crawfish pond they can harvest for awhile. At least I thought it was interesting. Tomorrow we have about 84 miles to St Francisville, LA. Possible rains coming in late so we'll try to beat them and hope for the best. Pretty flat day again but winds could be a factor with crosswinds again, but that seems to be the norm.

Rode 84 miles from Kountze, TX to DeRidder, LA today, and it was another somewhat easy ride from the standpoint of being mainly flat with mostly a helping wind. We also finally left the very wide state of Texas and are now in Louisiana for our 2nd to last layover day and are 2/3 of the way through this adventure. Today was not without it's travails however as I was involved in a crash. We have a 4 person group that rides in a paceline and the person in front of me touched wheels with the person in front of him and went down, sliding right in front of me. With nowhere to go I went right over him doing an "endo" and fortunately performed a successful tuck and roll, landing on my left shoulder and elbow then rolling over to my right side. We have a retired PA riding with us who assessed our injuries, cleaned them up, and for me fortunately determined I could ride on, which I did. I will be sore tomorrow but with a rest day will have an extra day to get better before we're back on the bike for Tuesday. We were both very fortunate not to have broken anything or injured our head more severely! On Tuesday we will ride to Ville Platte, LA. Right now it's saying we may need to deal with rain but we'll worry about that on Tuesday. Tomorrow the focus will be on getting better!

A very short day as we rode 54 miles from Cleveland to Kountze, TX. Pretty flat roads that were decent with a helpful wind means an average of close to 19 mph. Not bad for just cruising. I managed to get some more wildflowers as my only picture for the day. My neighbor is doing some consulting work in nearby Beaumont and joined us for dinner. Nice to see a familiar face so far away from home. If you think what I'm doing is impressive, we met a husband/wife team with their 4 kids ages 5, 7, 9, 11; that have been on two 3 person bikes for a year riding around the country. They've ridden about 8000 miles and are about to end their journey soon in Houston. Pretty amazing times 6!! Tomorrow is our last day in Texas as we ride about 80 miles to DeRidder, LA. Looking forward to continuing this adventure into another state.

Ride to Cleveland, TX was about 74 miles. Weather is warming up and getting wetter, as in humid and water features. Rode over a fairly long bridge that went over Lake Conroe today, and suspect we'll see a bit more of this coming soon. Typical day through back country roads with a few small towns thrown in. Lots of traffic but our route tries to keep us off the busier streets whenever possible. Yesterday I posted pictures of flowers, today it's animals. The llama was running with a herd of cows, not certain if it was confused or what. Tomorrow will almost be like a rest day as we only have about 54 miles to go and will be our last full day in Texas. This state really changes from one end to the other, each part having its own beauty. Looking forward to moving on to the next state however after our last night in Kountze, TX.

Rode about 78 miles today from La Grange to Navasota, TX. We continue to see more and more wild flowers and ride by quite a few ranches with all kinds of cows and other animals. These back country roads aren't always the best surface but they're good enough to enjoy a nice stroll down a quiet country lane. Rollers again which meant a little up, a little down, with nothing extended. Looks like we're skirting north of Houston as we've only got 3 more days left in Texas. Continue to ride through parts unknown and it's kind of fun. Tomorrow we stick to this 75 mile or so routine as we ride to Cleveland, TX. Winds more than likely will be more of a issue than today. Today with our zigzag pattern, actually had the wind at our back when we rode north versus east.