Rest day then big day

Because of some very bad weather, and the fact that it was about time, we took a rest day Thursday in Gulf Shores AL. Early in the day the sky was falling and we were very glad not to be on the road. We got some laundry done, shopping done and Jake got a hair cut.

It cleared a bit and we walked to the beach area, about 2 miles away, to check the place out. The town is a very nice beach resort location. When we got to the beach the weather started turning bad again and we ended up stranded (if you can believe this) in a bar on the ocean. These places have people whose only job is to serve you drinks. It was good to be out of the rain and lightning. We saw lighting strike the water just at the edge of the beach, pretty wild.

Friday we got a early start and headed to FL. The weather was great and we had a slight wind in the back. We road through a very nice part of Pensacola over high bluffs overlooking the bay. It was surprisingly hilly for FL.

We did have a mishap in the City of Pensacola. We made a wrong turn that took us just a couple blocks off course. We took the opportunity to have a snack and get our bearings. When we rolled away from the stop, I went the right way on a one way street and Jake went the wrong way to get to where we had to go. As soon as I noticed Jake wasn't with me I went back to where we last saw each other (survival tactic). Jake thought, "we just talked where we were going, so I headed there". So Jake road a few miles ahead and waited and I stayed where we were just knowing he would come back.

I waited about 25 minutes and thought "Maybe he can't find his way", so I rode to try and find him. As you might expect we past each other on side streets as he did come back and I went to find him. I asked a jogger if he had seen a goofy guy pulling the yellow trailer. He had, going the opposite direction from which I had came. Then we found each other. About 45 mins lost

What is funny about this is that each strategy (Go to where you were going or go to the last place you were) makes sense and would work, but they don't work if employed at the same time.

As we cruised down a country road in FL we came to the Blackwater river that had swollen it's banks and was now running across the road we needed to take. We took off our shoes, put all the bags on top of the yellow dry sack on the trailer and headed in. About 100 yards later we were out and the dry sack lived up to its name. The sack was actually floating and trying to pull Jake and his bike down river. Yes this is an adventure.

We spent the night camping right on a lake. It was a full day of riding and we set up camp in the dark. 130 miles is my biggest single day of riding and one of Jakes biggest.

All in all a great day with big miles that takes some pressure off for getting in on Thursday.