April 12, 2024
Day 1 - April 12 - Pensacola FL to Gulf State Park, AL
Two States Today
Ed’s Story
Woke up early this morning and found that my front tire only at 30 pounds. The omen …had to replace a tube even before we started.
We we left shortly after I got back from returning the rental car. We looked for a bike shop to replace the tube I used but the first shop we found had none. We found a second shop and on the ride there the back end of my bike sounded like R2-D2 with all the chirping and squeaking. It’s shifted OK and braked OK so I knew it wasn’t with the drive train.
At the shop, I found one of the bolts holding my rack to the bike was missing. I know it was there when I left because I tightened everything. This was a mystery. The bike shop graciously provided me a bolt and blue loc-tite to install it. After that, everything was right with the world or at least the bike.
We continued riding through Pensacola, past the Naval Air Station and beyond. We hoped to get to Perdido Key by noon. We had to climb a nice sized bridge over Dolphin Pass to get to the key. My downshifting worked great and I was able to climb the bridge. We ran into a local sheriffs deputy who saw us riding up the bridge and wondering whether we would have to push the bikes up. We didn’t.
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We saw numerous large hotels and condos on the waterfront. I don’t even want to think about what they cost.
After entering Alabama, we had to cross the Perdido Pass Bridge. This was even longer and higher than the first one we climbed.
We arrived at the state park around 3 o’clock, set up our campsite, showered, and headed out for a cold beer. Our first stop was at a restaurant associated with the park lodge. I was disappointed, no dark beers, even the brown ale I wanted they were out of.
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We left there and rode some more to the Big Beach Brewing Company… finally I was able to have a nice porter.
Made it back to the campsite as the sun was setting, had a light dinner, and here we are tucked in our tent writing the journal.
Tomorrow is a short day I’ve only 28 miles as we go to Dauphin Island, where we are overnighting at a WarmShowers host.
Until tomorrow, happy biking.
John’s Story
We hit the road at 9:30 this morning. I guess we started north of Pensacola proper because we came across this sign as we headed south through the neighborhoods towards the coast. The air is surprisingly dry so close to the water, thanks to the stiff northwest wind behind the cold front that swept the stormy weather out of here yesterday. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the stiff northwest wind was in our face most of the day. It was supposed to be 10-15 mph, but it felt more like 20-30.
Ed managed to get a flat tire before he even rode the bike here, so after changing the tube in the hotel room, we ended up stopping at two bike shops to find a replacement as we left town.
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https://wildflowersearch.org/search?oldstate=elev%3A61%3Bgms%3A8%3Bgmc%3A30.416%2C-87.288%3Bcat%3AW%3Blocation%3ACP86%2BCM+West+Pensacola%2C+FL%2C+USA%3Bpetals%3Amany%3Bcolor%3Awhite%3B&buttonName=none&hab=&Elev=&Submit=Submit+Values&PlantName=fleabane
8 months ago
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While Ed was off showering a critter got into some of his food. Later, on the bike trails in the park, we saw many small critters that looked like overstuffed kangaroo rats in the grass alongside the trail. Could they be the culprits? I have no idea what they were. The two guesses I would hazard are picket gopher and baby nutria. No pictures unfortunately.
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It was getting dark as we found our way back, so a quick cold dinner and I to the tents.
We talked to a biker on the way to the brewery who told us he encountered an alligator lying in the middle of the bike trail today. So far I’ve only heard frogs in the area next to my tent. Hopefully they’ll sacrifice themselves when the gators come for me tonight.
Today's ride: 51 miles (82 km)
Total: 51 miles (82 km)
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8 months ago
8 months ago