Bicycling Florida to Texas
Through
Alabama, Mississippi,
Arkansas & Oklahoma
2008 - May - June
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Pensacola FL to Orange Beach AL
Distance: 22.3 Miles
We only had a short distance to travel today so we slept in. To Mary Kay that means 6:00 AM. I was still tired when we got on the bicycle. The really good news was that the route was very, very flat. The bridges over the inter-costal waterway were the only times that we had to use the granny gear.
For most of the day we were cycling at least 13 miles per hour. The bad news was that for several miles we traveled on a busy two lane road with a very poor surface and no shoulders. Mary Kay was not a happy camper while we were on that road; the traffic was also heavy with everyone hurrying to the beach.
We reached our destination of Orange Beach before noon. We checked into the motel and believe it or not our room was ready. We managed to get the bicycle into the room and then when out to find some lunch. After we came back from lunch we headed for the back of the motel and the Gulf of Mexico beach. The beach is very white sand and the water is warm.
What a change from the beaches in Washington state and Oregon. We walked down the beach in the edge of the water for quite a distance before we returned to our motel room where we finally removed our bicycle clothes and took a shower. We ate dinner and on the way back asked if there was a guest laundry. There was no guest laundry so we did laundry in the room and had drying clothes hanging on everything. Tomorrow is a rest day from the bicycle, and we are now in Alabama our 42nd state to bicycle in.
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