Day 43: Dauphine Island to Milton, Florida

Palm trees in the wind by the ferry

This promised to be a long and very hard day.  Severe winds were forecast and we had to begin the day with a ferry ride across Mobile Bay.  There was much head scratching and pondering on the part of the ferry crew before they decided that it wouldn't do to leave thirty some bicyclists in the lurch.  So on we got and off we went with the wind blowing like crazy.  (It is hard to take a picture of wind but you can see the waving of the palm fronds in the top picture.)

Much to our amazement, as soon as we left the shelter of the harbor, the waves began to crash up on the edges of the ferry, so much so that the people standing up on the observation deck in the picture got wet.  The ferry dipped and lurched and the waves came right up onto the floor.  It was certainly the most thrilling ferry ride of my lifetime... and although I was not afraid, I was at the margins of my comfort level and there were others on the boat who found the experience quite stressful.

The ferry trip meant that we didn't begin an 85 mile ride until close to nine and with the wind gusting capriciously at up to 30 knots we knew there was a challenge ahead.  On the other hand, the riding was lovely along the shoreline through Fort Morgan and Gulf Shores and there were some trees to shelter us from the wind.  At about mile 32 we crossed the line into our eighth and final state, Florida.  Our route took us along Perdido Key, lined for many miles with huge resort hotels and condos--  like a linear Las Vegas.  Next was a bit of fiddling around as we took a southern route around Pensacola and then a very scenic ride along the Pensacola  Bluffs.  Finally we joined our old "frenemy" Route 90 and headed north to Milton.  Route 90 in Florida is a great improvement over the same road in Texas.  The shoulder was great, the traffic and speed limit reasonable.  Nevertheless, it was after six when I finally arrived at the campground-- more than nine hours on the road.  Temperatures in the last few days have been cool and the nights wonderful for sleeping.  Any bugs that might think about feasting on us are being blown away by the winds.