Folkston to Blackshear, GA. 55.5 miles

A beautiful spring day of riding on mostly quiet roads.  We are at the Comfort Inn tonight with feels like The Four Seasons compared to last night's very sketchy Relax Inn- oh well it makes for a good story.  Surprising number of bikes and wide shoulders on roads in Florida. Georgia not so much- they like the dreaded rumble strips on the road shoulders.

    Katie and Mary D on Fernandina Beach

    A group celebrating state crossing( notice my very stylish

     Chicago socks)

   This sweet little pup's older pit bull brother bit one of our 

    riders in the foot today

  Train expert Roosevelt telling us about

   trains going through Folkston yesterday

Fernandina, FL to Folkston, GA. 56.8 miles

State crossing today. Goodbye Florida, hello Georgia! Inauspicious beginning with a deluge while crossing the bridge over the Amelia River. Trucks spraying from the left, deep standing water to the right while the rained poured down- we all made it. Heading inland for a few days and today we saw way too many logging trucks. We did manage to dry out and had some quiet riding for a few hours. In Folkston now waiting for our state crossing celebratory margaritas. 

   Beautiful bird pictures from yesterday Thanks Kathy Q

   Blue heron

     Florida in the background

    Train watchers at the Folkston Funnel. 60 trains a day

St. Augustine to Fernandino Beach, Florida. 59.9 miles

A near perfect riding day today . Cool and overcast, a bit of a cross wind and a combination of amazing scenery including a lovely beach street with mansions so wide my camera lens could not capture them, acres of grassy marshland, protected wild lands and bird habitats, a pristine bike path through a forest of live oaks, empty white sand beaches and a ferry ride across the St. Johns River.

   The rain stayed away today because of Katie our good luck charm wearing full rain gear

   How many women does it take to change a flat?  We could be a bad joke!

  Team Five K. Three Katherine's and two Kathleen's 

   Great egrets, snow egrets and pink roseate spoonbills 

  Driftwood Beach on the Timucuan Trail

  Kathy Q from Texas on the bike trail

Saint Augustine. First Rest Day

A day of rest and fun with friends. Patty and Steve Appel and Deb Gleason came to visit. A perfect day of a few errands to Walgreens, the bank and then wallking through historic downtown with a delicious lunch at the Colombia.

We are in... the Land of Thematic Mailboxes

    

Port Orange to St Augustine. 64 miles

Five days in a row of 60 plus miles...check.  I think I have my biking legs back!  A day a lovely scenery, old Spanish style houses with live oaks draped in Spanish moss along the Halifax River, beautiful white sand beaches from Flagler Beach to St Augustine and weather wise a calm start followed by thunder storms (took refuge in a bar but it was way too early to have a drink) topped off with seering heat and hot cross winds .  Back in St Augustine, the ending point for our 2010 southern tier ride and we are even back in the same hotel.

  Beautiful post office in Daytona Beach

  Sally's ice cream in Flagler Beach

 Near Fort Matanzas National Monument 

    The rig. Trailer carries our bags and has a retro fitted kitchen

     In the back

Cocoa to Port Orange, Florida. 67.1 miles

Oh that fickle wind. Today it was an angel as we seemed to fly up US1.  Hot hot hot but after all, it is April in Florida!

  Really?

  We thought about keeping this guy as a boy toy to do our laundry

  but he was headed to Key West- raising money for Boys and Girls Club

    Cape Canaveral ( would you know if it wasn't?)

  Yes that is a marachino cherry on top of a piece of fish!

   Lunch in New Smyrna Beach

   Magnolias as big as your head !

A Horse of a Different Color, A Day of a Different Wind

Eighty plus  degrees, full sun and full on head winds all day- what a long hot day. 

Vero Beach to Cocoa 63.8 miles but we finished the day- to survive is to win!

   Katie and "Canada" taking a break

   Señor Ponce de Leon standing sentry in a county park

   with clean bathrooms!

   Lunch in Melbourne after bridge crossing the Indian River in the background

    Flowering and aromatic jasmine wrapped around a palm tree- a feast for the senses

Jupiter to Vero Beach. 65.3 miles

More condos , more mansions-- ladies this is not west Texas!  And lots and lots of bridges! Periodic rain showers but clouds and rain kept us coolish

The big bunch before take off in Ft Lauderdale

This is our yellow brick road

Beautiful banyan trees canopying a road near Tequesta

   Bridges and waterways everywhere