From the lobby computer of the Marriot on the east side of Pensacola, FL:
By cross-country standards, today was practically a Recovery Ride--which back home means riding an hour or an hour and a half pretty slow to help the legs recover from a previous hard effort. We rode about 85 miles from Bayou La Batre, AL to Pensacola, FL. Another beautiful day, and for a change the wind decided to take it pretty easy, and also blow from the south rather from the east.
But what really helped make it an easy day was that other than riding over three bridges high enough for really, really big ships to fit under, I seriously doubt we climbed/descended more than ten feet total for the day! Talk about flat--pan flat, flat as a pancake, pick your analogy. After all the miles we've been doing, my legs let their feelings be known at the slightest hint of an incline, and they liked today a lot!! Also, Alabama redeemed itself in the bike-lane department. Once we cleared Bayou La Batre, we had dandy bike lanes just as smooth as a baby's behind all the way to Florida, and Florida did pretty well too. It was almost as though the powers that be realized "Wow, we have a nationally known bike route coming through here! We'd better make sure to lay down some good bike lanes."
After I wrote last night's blog, I learned that Bayou La Batre was severely decimated by Hurricane Katrina, a fact which wasn't really obvious coming in from the north side like we did yesterday. But on the way out today we saw clear evidence of unrepaired damage, particularly closed businesses. We also saw a few boats that had been tossed well inland--into swamp/reeds--then abandoned, left to rot away.
But all that changed the moment we rode onto Dauphin Island, a delightful place full of brown pelicans, rich people, boulevards, palm and pine trees and quite a few (but not all) houses built on stilts. Most of them are painted in bright pastel shades of pink, lavender, lime green, baby blue, even orange and yellow. Some have hurricane shutters for the windows, some don't. They look much prettier than the high rises, believe me! We savored tasty morsels at a bakery, snapped a few pictures, then hopped on the ferry to ride across Mobile Bay. Beautiful, calm ride, and we counted at least 10 oil derricks on the water, but thankfully no oil slicks.
Back on land, we rode twenty beautiful miles to Gulf Shores, where we got a big surprise. We were prepared for things to get more commercial as we neared Pensacola, but Gulf Shores is clearly a big, and I do mean BIG, destination for beach-bound kids of all ages. Think Saugatuck or South Haven, then multiply by at least 100. No kidding!! Not just the beach, but also the shops, the high-rise condos, bars, restaurants, you name it. But the nice, big bike lane continued, and after pausing for half an hour or so to gawk in utter amazement, we kept on rolling. Unlike most beach areas, this one has beaches on both sides--the Gulf on one side of the road, and Mobile Bay then Perdido Bay on the other.
After about forty miles of beachfront development, we finally rolled into Florida, past more high rises and the big Naval Air Station and into the outskirts of Pensacola. A few shipyards later, we came to the old, and I do mean OLD, downtown. The signs claim Pensacola is the oldest settlement in the USA--settled in 1559! This is a big tourist area, no doubt about it, and the motel prices are two or three times as much as we paid a couple of days ago. Good thing it has a pool and hot-tub--and a decent computer!
One of the inevitable realizations of doing a ride like this is just how big this country of ours really is. Oddly, that feeling was reinforced today by all those high-rise condos. It's hard to believe there could be enough people well enough off to own one of these (and interested in doing so) in the whole USA. Yet I know perfectly well there are dozens, or more probably hundreds, more of them further south in Florida. Unbelievable!
We're in our last state now, with about 520 more miles to go, and about 2600 done.
No comments:
Post a Comment