Day 7 - St. Augustine to Atlantic Beach - Two Far 2022 - Reunion Bound (the long way around)

April 16, 2022

Day 7 - St. Augustine to Atlantic Beach

Back on the road

Heart

Comment

We had a nice short 35-mile ride today. Kerry is feeling much better. I'll write a better post tomorrow. We're going to try to leave before 8AM in the morning to beat the rain. That's very early for us, but it's much better than trying to ride in a rainstorm.

Kerry here...

I'm finishing the blog tonight because Jeanna has spent the evening changing about a week's worth of reservations, due to me throwing us off schedule. Generally, this isn't a big deal, but we noticed that some of the rates had jumped by $50 - $60 due to a combination of changing the day and late bookings. Because of that, she basically started from scratch to find us the best rates. Changing hotels meant that she also had to modify our routes, so she has been very busy tonight. (If you really want to get her wound up, ask her how easy it was to change a reservation that was made using points!!)

Although today's ride was easy overall, we had an inauspicious start. Yesterday, I found what I thought was a shortcut that would avoid some of the heavy traffic on A1A near our hotel. It involved going through the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind campus. We had seen traffic coming out of the campus a couple of days ago, but I guess they close the campus on the weekends, because when we got there this morning the gates were closed and there was no one in the guardhouse. Not really a big deal, just a small bit of backtracking and a few turns though a nice neighborhood and we were back on on our way. If only all detours were that easy!

Starting out, we crossed the Intercoastal between St Augustine and Vilano Beach

Just north of Vilano Beach we passed Castle Otttis

Like many other things, beach houses come in Small, Medium and Large. (Actually, they seem to come in Small, Large and Humongous!)

Small beach houses seem to be a dying breed. We have not noticed any new small houses being built.

More often than not, the small houses are torn down to be replaced by something like this.

On today's ride, the really large houses were generally hidden from view - the exception to "if you've got it, flaunt it" (or, are you actually flaunting it by hiding it??)

An entranceway with really nice brickwork. We have no idea what the house looks like as it is hidden from view, but odds are it isn't a shack.

A nice shady stretch of road approaching Jacksonville Beach.

Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 238 miles (383 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	5
Comment on this entry	Comment	2

Kelly IniguezWe also make our reservations in advance. How far out do you go? Our longest tour has been two months, and I reserved the entire trip. We generally ride in popular tourist areas. Perhaps if we were in the midwest, we would leave it more to chance.

We have also noticed lodging prices changing wildly. A friend decided to join us. He just started making reservations last month. Prices went up accordingly. Some as much as $100. a night. The motel in Ridgway, CO (close to Telluride) told him the room would be $100. a night more and he would have to stay two nights.

Yes, lodging is a subject of interest for me!
Reply to this comment
2 years ago

Jeanna & Kerry SmithTo Kelly IniguezWe usually reserve the entire trip before we leave. It is so much easier for us to have it all planned in advance than to have to spend time while we're traveling trying to arrange lodging and adjust routes. I find it much easier to change existing reservations than to have no reservations at all. I make a big spreadsheet with all the information I need and then I am free from having to think about it unless we need to modify a day here and there.
Reply to this comment
2 years ago