Day 30: Big Lagoon State Park, Florida to Dauphin Island, Alabama

February 3, 2014

At our 5 a.m.wakeup time it was raining, so despite being partially sheltered, the tent got soaked. We had no option but to pack it up wet. However, we did have a sheltered enough nook by the ladies restroom door to enjoy a cooked breakfast in the sort of dry. Usually, we would pull out the tablet at this time and eagerly look for guestbook or email messages. However all the water and mist flying around made it too risky to have electronics out.

Breakfast nook by the ladies' washroom door

Our home in the woods, too bad it was a locked washroom.

As we left the park there was a sign to the effect of thank you for visiting the real Florida. We thought this government department was clearly at odds with whichever department promotes the likes of the Orlando attractions. Anyway, we could see what they were talking about, because immediately on leaving he park gate we were back to a world of cars and retail businesses.

This version of a "normal" world soon changed to an entirely different reality. The Grampies do this all the time. They seem to crawl slowly along on their bikes, but in a flash they enter a different world. The other part of it is that the Grampies are normally only vaguely aware of what happened. Later, they learn that everybody knows all about this new world. This happened, for instance, literally every time we entered a new region of France, last year.

So this time we crossed a bridge and zap, we were in Gulf Shores. On our maps it looked like a key (Perdida Key), a long spit of land with the Gulf on one side and Mobile Bay on the other - and finally a ferry ride to another island (Dauphin Island). What we did not know was that not only is Gulf Shores the subject of countless tee shirts and post cards, but that spit of land is lined with 30 km of giant condominiums and hotels. By giant, we mean enough to fill a city. I guess you could say it was a city, but strung out in a long long line. One weird thing, we believe this city was mostly empty, the thousands of units, vacant. Nothing will really happen here until after Spring Break.

Over a bridge and into a world of pastel houses

The first condos we spotted one the beach. We thought this was it, but it was jsut the beginning of 30 km of them!

The Grampies reach the Gulf of Mexico (at least one, the other seems a bit tardy). We have now cycled by the Pacific, the Mediterranean, the North Sea, the Baltic, the Bay of Biscay, and the Atlantic as well.

This looks just like along the Mediterranean

Surrounding the condominiums were equally vacant, but mostly very substantial houses. Most looked new, and they were decorated in every shade of pastel. The designs were often unique too - most were built on stilts, many had gingerbread type decorative trim, and in spots most of the roofs were white.

White roofs to keep the houses cooler in summer.

We are finally done with Florida. It was as long as Texas is wide.

Alabama started off with this great cycling shoulder

About halfway down was Souvenir City, remarkable because the building is huge and pink. Nearby were other brightly coloured businesses, reflecting the bright and pastel overall style of the place. Naturally we stopped at Souvenir City, and learned that though deserted now, it would get 300,000 people walking through during the season.

This was billed as a casual dress Baptist church

An unexpected whack whack interjected itself into our reveries about what Gulf Shores is all about. I hit the brakes and jumped off the bike. Then we slowly rolled it a few inches, trying to see whether the frame had cracked, or what. It turned out that a four inch nail was sticking out of the rear tire. It actually took some yanking to get it out. It had missed the Rhinodillo tire liner, but I doubt if even that liner would have stopped it.

We pulled all the bags off the bike, flipped it, and put in a new tube. While we were at it, we patched the very obvious hole in the old tube. Later it occured to me that this giant nail probably went through the tube and punctured the opposite side as well. Indeed, we later found two additional punctures on that opposite side.

Beyond Pine Beach, and entering the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge the giant condos stopped. Now the beach front became filled with stilted two and three story pastel houses. These were not exactly organized into streets, but seemed more pluncked down. It was an interesting landscape.

As the spit of land narrowed, we were exposed to a very very brisk north wind, off Mobile Bay. The temperature was 10 degrees. So what had started as a cruise through a wild and weird new land became a chilly struggle with a tough cross wind.

We knew that the last ferry off the spit was at 5:45, but to avoid landing in the dark at the other side we would need an earlier one. So we plowed on as fast as possible. We arrived at the ferry dock at 3:30 and found the next boat to be 4:15. We took the time to put on all our warm clothes. this turned out to be a good idea, because the little ferry had really no shelter for foot or bike passengers. In this land, you are supposed to be in a car. Especially in February.

The Bay was rough, and salt spray sometimes came over the bow. I made sure my camera was safe under my rain coat. We found a little hole for us and the bikes to huddle in, and braced ourselves in there for the 40 minutes as the boat lurched around.

Our legs were stiff from all the bracing as we rolled off onto Dauphin Island. There is a RV park right at the ferry landing, but it looked very damp and wind blown. We were already frozen, and putting up a wet tent in the wind was really not an option. We cycled down the island, past the obvious remnants of a Mardi Gras parade. A lot of this was multi-coloured bead strings.

We arrived at the Gulf Breeze motel, the only one on the island, and found the price (including tax) to be $76. That is the highest since Key West. But look, this is a free country. They are free to ask what they want for their standard motel, and we are free to go freeze in the dark. We coughed up our $76.

We hung our tent parts in the wind on the balcony, and found other wet stuff in our panniers. At least for tomorrow, we will have a dry tent to give us better options about where to stay.

We know there is a big bridge coming to get off the island, and the one of us that hates heights is not happy. Still, we are passing through increasingly interesting areas and by tomorrow will be all set to go.

The dunes along the spit between the Gulf and the Mobile Bay

An RV park - not what we think of as camping

Beside the Fort Morgan parkway, a reasonable bike path

This gallon of water costs $1 at ubiquitous Dollar General stores. A good option for water that does not taste weird.

Now a stiff cold side wind changes the ride

Rolling onto the little ferry in the wind

The cold, damp RV park by the Dauphin Island ferry dock.

Today's ride: 79 km (49 miles)
Total: 1,721 km (1,069 miles)

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