Day 42: Big Lagoon State Park (Near Perdido Key FL) to Mary Esther FL

On the eve of a rest day and being at my brother in-law’s house delayed yesterdays update until this morning.  I arrived at Denny and Belinda’s house early in the afternoon and fun began immediately.  Belinda treated us to her Million Dollar Spaghetti dinner. It was delicious.  

Million Dollar Good!!!

Beer on the Gulf Beech

With a short ride planned, the morning started slow, but I ended up leaving around the normal 8:30ish timeframe.  The morning sky was beautiful with the sun rise to the East and the moon to the West.

 

Taken seconds apart in different directions

Ready for a short ride

The ride yesterday was interesting through Pensacola FL then turned boring.  There were actual hills in Pensacola that surprised me.  After the city, the ride was two roads, one packed with cars using the only bridge into Gulf Breeze FL and the other US98 filled with shops.

 

The interesting part of the ride
Joe Patti's was recommended by Bob, arrived a bit early for lunch.

The not so interesting part of the ride.
I was moving faster than the cars.

With the Pensacola Bridge being out of service, I looked around a little bit for a local boat for a ride across.  With high wind there was not a lot of early boat traffic so I moved on.  The ride needed to go around both Pensacola and Escambia Bay via a bridge on I10.  When I got the I10 on ramp, I had a good view of the bridge and the 5 miles to the first exit on the other side.   I spent more than the normal amount of time agonizing on using this route knowing if I went all the way around the top of the bay to Milton FL it would add another 20 miles.  I decided to give it a go… 

I10 Bridge

Now the real story, unfortunately no pictures.  As I reached the end of the on ramp there was a truck hauling glass (the ones were the glass sites upright on the sides) with two guys making some adjustments.  I asked if I could get a ride across the bridge.  With some hesitation they said yes, and I jumped in the back, laid down and held onto my bike.  With a thumbs up to the driver through the back window, off we went.  There was no tailgate, so I had a perfect view of the cars behind us.  He said he would go slow, but I did note that we were in the fast lane and no cars were passing us.  It was invigorating and scary at the same time.  About 4 miles later he pulled over and let me out about a mile from the exit.  I asked if I could take some pictures and got a very direct NO.  My only record of the event is my Strava speed recording for the ride – we hit 68 mph, not so slow. 

He said we would go slow...
Not True

Today's ride stats:

Start Time: 8:34 AM Central Time              Finish Time: 12:57 PM Central Time

Elapse Time: 4 Hr. 22 Min.                         Ride Time: 3 Hr. 38 Min.

Distance: 59.8 Miles                                    Average Speed: 15.7 mph ***

Climbing/Descent: 817/981 Ft.                   TSS: 135

Average Power: 173 Watts                           Normalized Power: 187 Watts

Calories: 2364                                              Ave/Max HR: 113/146 bpm

*** Includes the truck ride.

During the ride, I ate a Cliff Bar just before the truck ride.  I did drink both of my water bottles along the way.   After I made the right turn onto US98 I stopped to make a few phone calls.  Two very nice people stopped to make sure I was OK.  One of them pulled over a few hundred yards in front of me and waited.  When I road by she asked if I was OK.  I figured out that I was leaning on the handlebars using the speaker phone.  I must have looked like I was hurt or dying.  I learned my lesson, for my next call I will hold the phone to my ear and smile. 

 

Today is the last rest day for the trip, total of 4.  When we leave on Thursday, we have about 10 days to navigate the final ~500 miles.  Sandy and I agreed we will abandon the ACA from here.  We will stay to the coast and go through the Ocala area.  There are more camp sites and we have not spent much time in this part of Florida.  For Thursday’s ride, the forecast is for 20+ mph winds straight out of the north.  We are still in the pan handle of Florida so this will be a cross wind.  I need these winds middle of next week. 

Things you see in Florida.