Day 15 - Milton to Loxley - Two Far 2021 - Sooo... Far

April 23, 2021

Day 15 - Milton to Loxley

Farewell Florida

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We've been watching the weather forecast for the last few days and the strong likelihood of thunderstorms, possibly severe, exists for all day tomorrow. We decided to go ahead and take tomorrow off, then ride on the rest day planned for April 26. That keeps us on schedule and dry!

We didn't leave the hotel until almost 10AM this morning. Kerry finally found a museum he wanted to visit that was open! The West Florida Railroad Museum is open from 10-3 on Fridays and Saturdays, so we planned to get there when they opened. On the way to the museum, we rode on US 90 along side the Old Brick Road Trail. It is a reconstructed section of a red brick highway built through here in 1921. It is much too rough for us to ride, but we did encounter the first touring cyclist we've met on this trip riding on it.

The Old Brick Road Trail - five miles of reconstructed old brick highway

This guy - whose name we didn't get - has been touring for years and had made several cross country trips. I don't know how long his little companion peeking out of the pannier has been traveling with him.

The West Florida Railroad Museum is housed in the former Milton rail depot.

A late generation caboose, built in 1965

L&N 18050, built in 1951 by Pullman Standard. Pullman Standard built over 100,000 of these PS1 40' box cars

A 1/8 scale model of an 0-4-0 steam locomotive. This is an actual working scale model and was used to take children for rides in the outdoor train garden.

The story behind Old No. 99. Sorry for the poor photo, but the lighting was bad - Kerry

The West Florida Model Railroad Club has a large HO layout in the Gatekeeper's house at the Museum

Our route took us across the Escambia river and north of Pensacola.

Not far west of Pensacola, we got to Alabama. It only took us two weeks to get out of Florida!

We were immediately reminded of one thing we really dislike about riding in Alabama. They are one of the states that puts rumble strips in the shoulder, making the shoulder completely unrideable.

And this road was a designated bike route!

The scenery was nice.

Kerry thinks this is oats. Is he correct?

We left US 90 on a short bike path and then took local roads to get to our motel.

Looking forward to a rainy and restful day tomorrow.

Today's ride: 60 miles (97 km)
Total: 694 miles (1,117 km)

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