Day 4 Vilano Beach, FL

April 28, 2019

The view leaving Flagler Beach this morning. We were in sight of the ocean almost all day.

Today was a great day. The cycling was good, the places we visited were fun and we met a bunch of nice people.

Since we got close to the coast yesterday, we've been seeing this flowering vine. It winds through other plants. Can someone (Bill!) tell me what it is?

We stopped at Fort Matanzas National Monument. Visiting the restored fort requires a ferry across the river which wasn't going to run for 45 minutes after we arrived, so we watched the movie they had about the fort and just walked around the area. The movie was well done and we learned that "matanzas" is from the Spanish word for slaughter - which the Spanish did to French Huguenot soldiers and colonists from Fort Caroline, near present day Jacksonville, in 1565.

Matanzas Inlet, which the fort was built to protect

One of our favorite meetings today was at the Fort Matanzas Visitor Center. This is Ebony, a Doxiepoo (Dachshund Poodle mix)

As we approached St. Ausustine, we rode through Anastasia State Park where we had nice views of the ocean and some large sand dunes.

Our final visit of the day was the St. Augustine Lighthouse. We climbed the 219 steps to the top and had a beautiful view of St. Augustine, the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean.

The spiral stairway in the lighthouse, looking up from the bottom. It's 219 steps to the top.

Looking north from the top of the lighthouse

Looking west from the top of the lighthouse

We are staying at Vilano Beach for the next two nights, just across the bridge from the St. Augustine historic district.

The Usina bridge to Vilano Beach. It has a nice wide bike lane, but the traffic was crazy.

Looking south from the bridge. You can just make out the lighthouse on the left side of the photo.

Tomorrow is a zero day. Nelson and Rita (my brother and sister-in-law) drove down from Jacksonville and are staying at the hotel with us tonight. The plan for tomorrow is eat, sleep, walk on the beach and play more cards.

Kerry here...

Today started out especially well. Our hotel did not offer breakfast, so we stopped at a 7-Eleven where I had a power breakfast - a chocolate iced donut and Diet Coke. I felt great the rest of the day :-) .

As Jeanna mentioned, we had a good ride today. We had a good shoulder or bike lane the entire way, and a nice tailwind (most of the way) to boot. The only time we lost the tailwind was when we reached the Usina Bridge (see pic above). As soon as we rounded the corner on the bridge, it turned onto a strong headwind - just in time for the only climb of the day. Go figure!

After we checked into our motel, we spent an enjoyable evening with Nelson & Rita. After we got back from dinner, Rita & I tromped Jeanna and Nelson in a game of Euchre, which was the perfect end to a nice day.

Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 177 miles (285 km)

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Lou Harminwriting are interesting to read and fun to "ride" along with you.
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5 years ago

Jeanna & Kerry SmithTo Lou HarminThanks, Lou. Glad you're enjoying the trip.
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5 years ago