Yesterday (Friday), our friends Dennis & Lyndsey met up
with us again about 20 miles east of Alachua on the outskirts of Gainesville and
lightened our load by taking the trailer and gear. (They were in their minivan this time, not on
the Spyder). That was such a shot in the
arm and we were able to scoot along about 5 mph faster than with the trailer. We
rode county roads 241, 232, and 222 into Gainesville, then state route 26 out
to Melrose and Putnam Hall, then 100/17 to East Palatka.
We stopped in Melrose for lunch where D&L had scouted
out a fantastic restaurant – The Blue Water Bay Restaurant. Melrose is a small town and it was amazing to
find a restaurant of this quality. Lots
of fresh seafood, white tablecloths, and excellent service. After lunch it was on to East Palatka and a very
nice Best Western and another great meal at Musselwhite’s restaurant next door.
At that point we could almost smell the
ocean, just 32 miles away.
In Palatka,
we crossed paths again with the ACA group.
We had heard at the Waffle House in Alachua that the group had been
there the day before, so we thought they probably were already finished with
the ride. But they had stopped for the night
in Gainesville on Thursday.
This morning we woke up jazzed to think this was our last
day of this quest. Rick checked weather
as he usually does and informed me that the forecast was for a 70% chance of
rain, winds from the NE at 20 mph with gusts to 30, and a coastal flood
warning. I thought he was joking as he
tends to do from time to time to see if he can get me riled up. He was NOT joking. Just off the coast of St. Augustine the radar
showed a nasty little storm cell. Oh
boy, we’ve had really pretty great weather this trip. What a forecast for the last day!!
The ACA route to St. Augustine was 40 miles and skirted
north up along the St. John’s river for awhile before turning east on county
road 214. However, we missed our first
left turn to get on that route and ended up on CR 207 which goes
northeast. It was a four-lane road with
a good shoulder and traffic fairly light as it was Saturday morning. We decided to just stay on 207 which was the
most direct route into St. Augustine. At
Hastings, we crossed paths with Ed, Arthur, Rick, and Greg from the ACA group. They had decided to go this same route also
to try to beat the weather. A few miles
farther along, we came across John and
Berit from the ACA group who were making a left turn to rejoin the regular
route.
We somehow managed to get to St. Augustine without getting
rained on!! We did have a 15 mph
headwind with some gusts up to 25 or more, but without the trailer, we still
managed to make decent time. At one
point there was a bike path that paralleled CR 207 and trees sheltered us from
the wind – that was really nice for a brief time.
Arriving in St. Augustine – what a beautiful city!! And a very watery city!!! There were several places where high water
from the inter-coastal waterway had washed up on the road and we had to ride
through some spots of 6-8” of water (we went around some places where the water
was a foot deep or more!). We managed to
get through this and the traffic and make it into Anastasia State Park,
savoring the last mile out to the beach.
Tears of joy? Nah, I did that
last night realizing that unless somebody knocked us off the bike today, we would make it.
AND WE DID!
Day 63
Total miles: 66.3
Time: 4:11
Avg: 15.85 mph
Day 64
Total miles: 32.95
Time: 2:15
Avg: 14.64 mph
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| The Last Mile |
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| Ed in Palatka, FL |
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| St. Augustine, Flagler College |
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| The Last Mile |
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| A glimpse of the Atlantic |
.JPG) |
| THE FINISH! |
I'm at the fire station so i didn't have a chance to call. What an amazing trip! It will be hard to top! Congratulations! I hope to see you soon!
ReplyDeleteBen