ST: Day 9

Daily Miles: 84.8

Total Miles: 574.3

Max: 26

Average: 14.1

Time on the bike: 05:58:34

I slept like a rock from 9 PM until 6:30 AM. I don’t even think I woke up at all. It was one of those deep sleeps where you feel like the dream your having is real and don’t want to wake up because you want to see what’s going to happen next. 

I did eventually wake up and was greeted to some nice hazelnut coffee, a muffin and a bowl of cereal. I said goodbye to Marty my host after he took my picture to store away with all the other people he has hosted over the years. And the I was on my way West again. 

The morning took me on a less than ideal bike path with a lot of uneven surfaces, bumps and sand, but at least it was better than riding on the road, which had no shoulder and was packed with people driving thier morning commute. I had some pretty splendid views of calm inland bays and towering pine trees that lined much of the road. After about 12 miles the bike path ended and I was thrust back onto dreaded highway 98.

Highway 98 is not a good road. It is basically a little bit slower freeway with a pathetically sized bike lane that was painted on as somewhat of an after thought. The thing with 98 that is the most frustrating is that the bike shoulder ends and reappears randomly. At one moment your sitting in a super wide, comfy lane, and before you can say Mississippi the lane has ended and garbage trucks and pick-up trucks with trailers are passing you with little room to spare. It was frustrating. 

I was on 98 for another 11 miles and then finally took a left to cycle on a very nice beach front road for a few miles. The road was lined with tall skyscraper hotels but it didn’t have all that crazy stuff from yesterday, like the dinasours and dollar stores. This part of the Gulf was a little fancier. 

This road was short lived and in a measly 7 miles I was regurgitated back onto highway 98. This time for an awful 26 miles. I put my head down and just focused on my bike lane shoulder (when there was one) and kept a steady pace until I finally turned left on 399 and went over a bridge to a small island across the bay. 

What followed was probably the highlight of the trip so far. For the next 10 miles it was just me and the road through awsome sand dunes and shoreline of the Santa Rosa area of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. It was fun riding on a mostly deserted road with such pretty scenery. When I neared the other end I spotted some people paragliding with fan motors. They ebbed and flowed following the shoreline and the gusting wind. They looked like futuristic birds way up in the nearly cloudless sky. Free.

Eventually I took a right and went over a series of really long bridges (on highway 98 again, of course), to make it into Pensacola, a fairly large city almost near the border with Alabama. I’m staying at the First United Methodist church near downtown, which I found through warm showers. Jeb, the church’s creative director has done a few long tours and organizes everything for the cyclists staying at the church. He was a super energetic and neat guy when I finally pulled up to the church and met him.

I’m staying in thier enormous youth building, all by myself. There is a mess hall and kitchen and huge instrument room, as well as an upstairs with like 5 massive rooms. It’s a little spooky now that it’s all dark outside but I think Ill be okay. 

I went pee in the upstairs bathroom and when I flushed the toilet water proceeded to spew out of the top of the toilet, where the lid part fastens down. I panicked for a minute as the tile floor slowly started to fill with water. Luckily there was a water shut off valve and I was able to isolate the water from the toilet. The water stopped and I was able to clean up the tile. I texted Jeb explaining what had happened. I had to really think about how I worded my message because it was all too easy to make it sound like I had clogged the toilet, which I swear was not the case!

He seemed relieved that I was able to stop the water and he will check on it tommorrow. 

Phew. That could have been pretty bad. I could have been known as the cyclist who flooded the youth building for all of eternity. Glad it worked out for the best.