A Leisurely Day in Georgia

It was a bit of a leisurely spin today.  We stayed at two no-name motels last night so Emily (our wonderful chef) made breakfast for us this morning at 7.  I was on the road by about 7:30 and was able to shoot this headless self-portrait on a quiet road.  

A few miles out of town we came to a rather large complex.  Turns out to be the D. Ray James Correctional Facility.  

Interesting tidbit - in the 2000 census the population of Folkston was roughly 2000.  In the 2010 census the population had more than doubled, to over 4000.  This perplexed me at first, since the town had obviously seen more prosperous days quite some time ago.  Turns out they expanded the municipal boundaries to now include the prison!  

We went mostly north today, on quiet rural roads.  Nothing spectacular along the way but just a nice easy & pretty ride.  A combination of forests and rural residential with some farming - some cows and horses, along with some crops - corn and perhaps tobacco.  Wildlife sightings today - not too much - cardinals, pileated woodpeckers, turkey vultures along with dead possums & armadillos.  And - waaaay too many loose dogs.  One of our riders was bitten on the foot.  I think I know which dog it was.  I was off my bike trying to walk past it and it was still coming at me, growling and with teeth bared.  The owner finally materialized and reluctantly agreed to restrain them (there were 4) until we were all past.  I really wish people would either chain them, fence them or train them!  Let's hope this doesn't go on too long.......

Pine trees (and logging trucks) were with us again today.  As I stopped to take a picture of a different type of pine tree (slash pine, apparently, vs yesterday's longleaf pine) one our riders came by and turns out she is a part-time pine tree farmer in Florida so I got a bit of a lesson.

Some nice wild flowers in the ditch.  

Spotted my first Baptist Church.  The first of about five for the day and we'll see many more as we proceed through the Bible Belt.  

As I was taking the above picture, our van ("Babe") and trailer passed by.  Chef Emily at the wheel headed for the grocery store and then to the hotel to start on dinner.  

Although the headwinds picked up a bit towards the end, the lovely ride continued right to the end of the day.

Stats for the day:  89km from Folkston GA to Blackshear GA.  Still pretty flat.  We only climbed 900 feet today.  The day started out cool (12C) and warmed up to about 24C by noon.  

Bye-Bye Florida

Well, the forecast went from dismal to dire today. But - we started out the day dry!  For a block. Then we quickly went from a gentle rain to a downpour. We were on a busy and noisy road, and then added construction to the mix, which also took away our bike lane. 

Our route today took us inland, heading west most of the day. Yesterday I started noticing pine trees and today we encountered a lot of logging trucks and also their debris on the shoulders. 

The rain lasted just a half hour and most of the traffic went to/from I95 at about mile 13, so our day improved from there. 

At about 25 miles we turned onto quiet and smooth rural roads. We crossed over the creatively named Boggy Creek. 

Saw some nice flowers in the ditch. 

Saw some cows, horses and goats. Lots of cows in Alberta, but two differences with these. We don't have too many palm trees in our pastures. And - if you look closely you'll see a cattle egret to the left of the cow. These birds commonly hang out with cattle and eat the insects & ticks right off them as well as the insects stirred up as the cattle graze. 

The house below is typical of the ones on our route today, although some posher and lots smaller and not so well kept. 

Lots of pine forests beside the road. Obviously previously logged and replanted. Skinny trees, though!

A different variety of birds today. Bye-bye pelicans and other sea birds. I saw an owl, a great egret, cattle egrets, and lots of turkey vultures. 

Every little lane and driveway off the main rural road is named. I found the one below particularly amusing. 

About 4 miles from the end of the day we crossed into Georgia.  That means margaritas tonight!

The shoulder looked substantial, but was totally unrideable!  Let's hope that doesn't become a habit. 

Our destination tonight is Folkston GA. 

Two claims to fame. The Okefenokee Swamp is close by. We didn't go there due to crappy, narrow, busy roads. Second claim to fame. The Folkston Funnel. Every train that goes to Florida comes through Folkston. That's over 60 trains per day. Just 6 passenger trains (3 each direction ). They have a viewing platform and I had a nice chat with 2 good ole boys who obviously spend hours each day watching the trains go by. Went to the Folkston Museum and a nice lady there offered to take a carload of is to the swamp (we declined). Had a great long chat with another lady in another shop and she was looking for a way to follow us on-line. Very very friendly folks in Folkston. 

Small town that's well away from the interstate so we're spread over 2 motels. 

Stats for the day:

88 km from Fernandina FL to Folkston GA. Still no significant elevation gain/loss. 

On the Road Again.....

We had a well-deserved rest day yesterday in St. Augustine.  I was happy for the break.  Five consecutive 100+ km days in the heat had left me a bit drained.  I played tourist a bit - a ghost tour on Sunday night, and then yesterday a tour of the Castillo de San Marcos (a fort built in the 1600's), wandered around the historic district, took a tour of Flagler College (built as a ritzy hotel in the 1800s), napped a bit and then out for dinner to a fabulous Spanish restaurant.  

Fresh legs were ready to get back at it today.  We had some great views back to St. Augustine as we crossed a bridge out of town.  We rode much of the day on SR A1A (again), with a mix of residential and undeveloped areas.  Lots of wildlife and bird refuges and sanctuaries throughout the day.  After about 20 miles we had our daily stretch (10 km today) of posh houses on a narrow strip of land between the ocean and the intracoastal waterway.  These ones were closer to road, which allowed us to often look right through the house to the ocean.  This area is called Ponte Verda, which has a large tennis centre that is apparently well known in that community.  

We passed through the towns of Ponte Verda Beach, Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach and Atlantic Beach.  Once on a straight road again, we (Ann & I) did a push to catch the 11AM ferry from Mayport.  

The forecast for today was pretty dismal; we were sure we were going to get wet.  But - our luck held - at least until we got off the ferry.  It started to rain a bit, so we turned into a restaurant and had lunch.  By the time we left there the rain had stopped.  Lucky us! 

A lovely, leisurely ride from there.  Past large wetlands and over another bridge to a 5km bikepath through Talbot Island State Park.  Everything is so lush!  But, the vegetation seems to be changing.  More wetlands, less palm trees, more pine trees.

Then on to Amelia Island.  Lots of money here!  Resorts and golf courses abound.  

We're actually staying at Fernandina Beach, which is at the north end of Amelia Island.  We're not staying at the Ritz Carlton (entrance pictured above).  

Our route today was just 58 miles, so Patricia and I went out exploring the north end of the island and topped it up to 70 miles.  We were looking for the lighthouse (locked gate) and the house where Pippi Longstocking was filmed (couldn't find it), but we did find the beach.  Not really a beach kind of day - cooler, windy, big waves... but still beautiful!  

We turn into wimps pretty quickly once off the bikes.  A bit windy and cool, and we had dinner inside tonight.  Ann took her bike in for some repairs on the way in to town.  She got the loaner (below) and was a tad concerned that she might have to complete the ride with the loaner if she didn't get hers back before the shop closed.

Stats for the day:

112 km

1200 feet up and 1200 down

temps between 17C and 21C

Heartbreaking.....

No, nothing is going south on the bike trip.  I'm talking about the earthquake in Nepal and my heart just breaks for the people there.  So many lives lost, people with life-altering injuries and so much infrastructure destroyed.  The recovery and rebuilding effort will be monumental and will last many years in such a poor and disorganized country.  

Meanwhile, in our privileged lives, our bike trip goes on......   Today's route was from Port Orange FL to St. Augustine FL.  It was advertised to be one of the prettiest routes of our days in the Sunshine State.  We've had such great days that I'm not sure how you can choose, but it was a nice one.  

Just a mile or so into our ride a turtle was crossing the road.  He was in lane 2 of 4.  I signalled to a car coming up behind me.  The car came to a stop.  It happened to be a police car so he turned on the lights and was going to stop traffic until the little guy got across.  But - the officer was on his way to an appointment so had to speed things up by picking the turtle up and carrying him across.  The turtle lives to see another day, but judging by the roadkill around here he may yet end up squished if he doesn't learn to stay off the roads.  

We've left the 156-mile long Indian River behind and were now riding parallel to the Halifax River.  We followed roads with the river to our right.  Nice residential areas and then into downtown Daytona with views of bridges over to the beaches.  Really quite a cute string of shops and a few parks.  Quick picture taken as the light was about to change.  Also in my defense I would like to add that with bright sunshine and dark sunglasses it really is a guess about what I'm taking a picture of.....

Nice little park with a statue of turtles....

After Daytona we passed through the subsequent communities of Holly Hill and Ormond Beach.  Then some elevation for the day - the bridge over the Halifax River.  Then north on John Anderson Drive for about 15 km.  Beautiful residential street with large homes backing onto the river on our left and the ocean out of sight (for a while) on our right.  I've noticed that they build houses differently down here.  Rather than the wood frames that we have at home, they use cement blocks down here.  I'm sure it must have something to do with hurricanes......

Then it was back to ocean views and within spittin' distance of the recommended ice cream shop.  

Just as I pulled in to the (closed) ice cream shop, the skies opened and we (Pam was already there) waited out the storm for quite a while.  

We headed north to clearer skies, although into a bit of a cross/head wind.  The scenery was nice but not spectacular as we continued north on A1A through several more small towns.  Stopped for lunch in Crescent Beach.  Scenery picked up as we approached St. Augustine.

I dawdled a bit coming into St. Augustine.  This was the terminus of our Southern Tier ride in 2013, but it was raining so hard that I didn't slow to look around or take pictures.  

Climate appears to be so warm and wet here, that vegetation even grows on top of street signs :)

Still made it into the hotel in good time.  Had to wait for our rooms, but all is good now.  Dinner momentarily.

Stats for the day:

105 km

Still haven't made it over 1000 feet up or down in a day.  Not sure those climbing muscles will be available when called on somewhere down the road.  

A bit of a ramble today.  Must be time for a rest day.... yay!

Good to See an "Old" Friend

It was a treat for me today to have a visit from my good friend Penny.  She lives in Orlando and made the drive over first thing this morning to meet us at the hotel and then travel along with us all day.  We went for lunch in Port Orange and had a nice visit before she had to head back home.  She even got to help change a flat tire! (not mine).  Thanks Penny.  

We had to ride about 4 miles before we got back to the river, then enjoyed a lovely 10 km ride along Indian River Drive.  

It is so nice to see the live oaks and spanish moss that was so prevalent at the end of our Southern Tier ride.  Also - the road kill is starting to pick up.  Today - armadillo, turtle, possum, turkey vulture, and many unidentified decaying lumps.  

We spent quite a bit of time on US 1 highway - a 4 lane divided road.  But - traffic was pretty mild (being Saturday) and the shoulders were quite good, often with a designated bike lane.  We passed through a number of small towns, but also started to see some hints of agriculture.  Farm supply stores, cows, horses and goats.  

Our first SAG stop was in Titusville.  Just before reaching that point we passed the turnoff to the Kennedy Space Centre and the Astronaut Hall of Fame.  I would have loved to have visited, but alas not on the schedule.  From our SAG stop we could see the launch facilities at Cape Canaveral.  

After some more mileage on US 1 we turned onto a beautiful 10km stretch on Riverside Drive.  Again - river on the right and beautiful homes on the left.  Lovely landscaping and lots of trees.  It was also  a happenin' wildlife spot.  I saw dolphins jumping in the water and then two herons flying low over the water, followed by two pelicans.  On our final stretch into town I saw this fellow walking down the sidewalk.  

Stats for the day:  110 km.  We had a bit of a tailwind, which made for a relatively easy and enjoyable ride.  GPS says I burned less than 1000 calories :(.  Maybe I didn't need snacks, lunch and dinner.  I haven't been hungry since we set out.  Hmmm  -  trying not to gain weight this time around.  Not sure that's working out so well.  Imperceptible elevation (other than a few bridges).  Temperature ranged from 22C to 36C + a bit of humidity.  Drinking lots and lots and lots of water.