Good bye Mississippi! Hello Alabama!! Today was a great riding day. We were only scheduled for 42 miles so we had plenty of time. Some ladies stopped for an airboat ride, others stopped at a Botanical Garden. The first and only SAG stop was at a grocery store so that was a real treat! 🤣
At mile 38 was the Dauphin Island Bridge. And it was a doozy. Even from a distance, I was intimidated. Once you start, you’re committed. As you may have guessed, the wind was not in our favor and it was roaring. 3 miles long. It started as a slow ascent and then came the big hump in middle. I’ve done a lot of hills on this trip. Every cyclist has their own approach to hills. Mine is to look at the top once, maybe twice, then don’t look up again! 😂. Don’t stop. You might not be able to unclip and then fall. Even if you can stop, it’s too hard to start again then you walk. (Several of our riders ended up walking, 3 tapped out before the bridge) When the pedaling gets easier, look ahead. It works for me!
The bridge had a nice wide shoulder, unfortunately, it was peppered with glass, nails, stones and metal shards. As if pedaling against the wind wasn’t hard enough, I had to maneuver around all the debris. I’m certain I ran over a lot of glass. I just couldn’t avoid it. 🤦♀️
Dauphin Island, population ~1,000 people. A few restaurants, 2 gas stations, 1 small grocery store, and an abundance of condos. We are staying in condos on the beach tonight and tomorrow (our rest day). The island is 3 miles in length. A very bike friendly community.
Tuesday morning, we take a ferry over to Fort Morgan then on to Pensacola, FLORIDA!
One more state line to go!
Dauphin Island Bridge.
View from our balcony
Alabama Sunset over our SAG vehicles
Walkway to the beach
Today’s route
That bridge is unbelievable! You're amazing, Diane!!
Wow that bridge is intimidating driving over it- can’t imagine what a challenge you had with all the debri too! My friend’s sister has a home in St George island after Port St Joe - she sends me pix of Apalachicola Bay and beautiful sunsets. Cheering you onto into the sunshine state!