Day 3 Flagler Beach, FL

April 27, 2019

Now we're really coasting!

We rode east from Astor to Ormond Beach and then north to Flagler Beach. It was warm and sunny - a beautiful day for cycling. Now that we are within sight of the Atlantic Ocean, we can say that we are really "Coasting Along".

Our first stop today was at the Barberville Pioneer Settlement. It includes buildings and artifacts from the early 19oo's. It had the expected things - log cabin, school, post office, blacksmith shop, print shop, school and train depot. It was all interesting to see. There was one thing I had never seen - a turpentine still. Turpentine production was an important part of Florida's economy in the first two decades of the 20th century. Many of the turpentine camp workers were African Americans who lived with their families in or near the camps. Prison labor was also used. I had read about this industry, but but never seen a turpentine still. There is one at the Pioneer Settlement undergoing restoration.

The type of still this girl from the North Carolina mountains is familiar with. My grandfather called the whisky "stump liquor" because you left your money on the stump and came bacl later for your bottle.

They had this scooter type bicycle with no pedals. Anyone seen this before?

There were a few animals, including one very friendly goat. He jumped up against fence and begged for attention.

And, Cathy, this is for you. Any of your equipment look like these?

In the settlement office, we met staffer Jack Whitman, a cyclist who has built his own recumbent and is working on another one.

After leaving the Pioneer Settlement, we had over 20 miles before the next place to stop. We decided against the first McDonald's we came to as it had no good place to park the bike. That turned out to be a good decision. We rode on a few miles and found Pagano's Pizzeria. We had a very good lunch and got to meet the terrific staff. Thank you all for a nice visit.

Leaving Pagano's, a woman walking down the sidewalk stopped and said "We have a Screamer." The Screamer is the other recumbent tandem built by RANS. It was one of those small world moments that everyone enjoys. We talked about cycling and cycle touring for a while. Her husband has done a some cross country touring on his single recumbent. We gave her our card and hope to hear from her again. We're always on the lookout for tandem buddies.

Crossing the (steep!) bridge over to Ormond Beach, we got our first glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean. We will see the ocean on many days of this trip. Maybe we'll try to keep count. That sounds like a Kerry thing to do.

Crossing the Halifax River in Ormond Beach and our first view of the Atlantic on this trip

Kerry here...

Most of today's ride was good. While busy, FL-40 between Astor and Ormond Beach had a nice wide, smooth shoulder with very little debris. The tailwind of yesterday turned into a headwind, but it was very mild and didn't bother us much.

As soon as we crossed the above bridge, we turned left onto John Anderson Drive. It follows the Halifax river for about 9 miles and was a very scenic ride. For anyone cycling thru Ormond Beach this is a much better option than A1A.

Another view of the Halifax River. Most of the houses along the river were just as nice as the view.

Traffic along John Anderson was moderate and all the drivers were very polite. The entire drive has a posted speed limit of 30 MPH, so it was a relaxing ride...

The speed limit along JA Drive. We had no worries about getting a ticket for exceeding the limit.

Until we saw the following...

We didn't even try! We just cruised along at 12 MPH and hoped we didn't get a ticket for deceeding the limit!

After we got off of John Anderson and onto A1A, things were not nearly as relaxing. A1A had a 50 MPH Limit and NO shoulder at all. To make matters even more unpleasant, the final 2 miles of our day was thru a construction zone where our lane was funneled between concrete barriers. I had no choice but to claim the middle so no one would try to pass. At least the speed limit in that section was only 25 MPH and everyone behind us behaved (or at least they didn't honk their horns and yell at us). Needless to say, that since I am writing this tonight, we made it safely to our hotel.

Tomorrow should be better, because we're only a block away from the end of the construction zone, and if I remember correctly, A1A north of Flagler Beach has a shoulder.

Finally, whether you call them a "brief", "pod", "pouch", "scoop", or "squadron" we saw several groups of these fellas cruising the coastline along A1A .

Today's ride: 48 miles (77 km)
Total: 135 miles (217 km)

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Lou HarminLots of great information. Things sound good and I hope it remains this way. lou
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