Day 6; “Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened” - Dr Suess - Touring buddy go for launch

May 21, 2021

Day 6; “Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened” - Dr Suess

Last day of the tour is always bittersweet. I mean, it feels great knowing you’ve accomplished something and you’re headed to the finish line of the tour. But is that really the goal of the tour, to finish? Or is the goal of the tour to do just that - tour. To explore; to see things from the saddle that you would miss in the car; to experience travel from the eyes, ears, and sense of a pedestrian rather than an automotive passenger. To wit - how about his example from today’s ride?

We’re riding along the pedestrian path through Hammock and the trail darts into tree cover outside of vie of the road. In there, there’s a picnic table in shade, covered by a wonderfully built pergola. Now who would experience this or even know its there? Only the walker or the cyclist using the path. Path was nearly empty today.

Sun just coming over the Daytona Beach horizon

I was glad I had a GPS to help us guide ourselves on today’s route. It helped us (1) turn right from the hotel parking lot onto Florida A1A, (2) travel 53 miles to our destination. That meant the route had the ocean on our right when houses weren’t built to block the scenically route’s view.

Scenic route A1A riding north. There’s a great path just to the left of the road and gets you out of traffic

WW2 watchtower, erected during the war to reduce German submarine attacks off the coast. And yes, they were effective

Sprinkling rain showers just after they passed overhead in Flagler Beach

We stop for lunch at a roadside Citgo station which has a small room in the back with a pizza oven. We order slices of pizza and Gatorade and it’s surprisingly good, standing outside in the shade watching other patrons coming and going into the store.

This is the pathway through Hammock which I talked about earlier in this entry. It paralleled A1A for about 6 miles

No real reason for this umbrella to be here but why not take a picture of it? It’s the most colorful thing ever.

Just your average mini golf course in St Augustine Beach

Nothing like some Italian ice at a roadside stand on a hot afternoon

We roll into our hotel around 2:00 and check-in. There’s a gentleman parking the vehicles in the lot and we get to chatting. Turns out Mario is a Cat 1 bicycle racer. I only raced Cat 4 so I’m standing next to someone who can really hammer on the bike. The Nextel step after Cat 1 is to go pro. He’s inspired to get back on the bike after seeing Kath and I make the ride from Daytona Beach this morning and from Tampa on Sunday.

We finish with a nice dinner in town and then walk the historical area. It’s fairly crowded on a Friday and we realize it’s the weekend now. The realization of not knowing what day of the week it is becomes apparent when today we had to remember it was Friday.

Tomorrow is the retrospective. Thanks for sticking with our journey so far.

Heart

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Today's ride: 53 miles (85 km)
Total: 282 miles (454 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	5
Comment on this entry	Comment	4

Lednar De NallohEnyoyed your journal, especially the big boys toys at Cape Canaveral. You,re lucky to have such a pleasant cycling partner.
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2 years ago

Paul MulveyTo Lednar De NallohThanks, Lednar! The Kennedy Space Center was fantastic. I was just editing part 2 of the trip in video and there are several clips of me all giddy with excitement being around all that space hardware - truly a fascinating experience.
And I'll have to agree - I have a great cycling partner. Her e-Bike was the best Christmas gift ever :-)
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2 years ago

Bob DistelbergLooks like it was a fantastic trip! I've also been a "space geek", ever since watching those first Mercury and Gemini flights way back when I was a kid. I'd love to do a tour down there some day.
And thanks for adding those videos. They really add to the story.
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2 years ago

Paul MulveyTo Bob DistelbergThanks, Bob. We found the A1A portion to be the more scenic, especially the last two days. Crossing the FL peninsula was fun but there were those pockets of civilization which we had to connect with some high-speed (shouldered) roads. Not as scenic. Plus we were against headwinds the whole eastbound portion. I would think if you planned a trip along the east coast using A1A (and visit the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville) it would be a good trip. Cheers!
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2 years ago