Southern Tier across the USA part 7 - DeFuniak Springs FL to St Augustine FL

Monday 9^th June

The whole day's route stayed on US90, which continued to have a decent surface and an adequate shoulder. Although this was originally a major east-west route across the US, it's now superseded by Interstate 10 which runs close by, and parallel to it, and which takes most of the traffic.

It's a rare sight to see people walking along US highways, so I had to stop to have a chat with this character who was carrying a heavy backpack and a large US flag in the intense heat and humidity. He was campaigning on behalf of  Operation American Spring, whose website makes entertaining reading.

After 55 miles I reached Marianna, which had some attractive buildings and a monument to the Confederate soldiers killed in the Civil War:

On the approach to Chattahoochee I crossed the Apalachicola river, which, besides having a ruined railway bridge, marks the change from the Central to the Eastern time zone:

There is only one motel in Chattahoochee so I didn't have much choice where to stay. I wouldn't recommend the Relax Inn – there was nobody at reception and I had to wait ages for someone to come and let me have a room.

Distance today 83.3 miles, total so far 2708.4 miles

Tuesday 10^th June

Continuing along US90 in extremely hot, humid weather, I arrived at Tallahassee, the capital of the state of Florida, around 2pm and spent a few hours looking around the museum, and the old and new state capitol buildings:

                                                         The museum of Florida History

                                       Old Capitol building, with new Capitol in the backgound

                                                Views from the top of the new Capitol building

                                                    State seal, in entrance hall of Capitol

There was a very pleasant park near the Capitol building where people are invited to write their “bucket list”

Afterwards I enjoyed a decent local pale ale at the Fermentation lounge:

Then I continued east for another 10 miles, staying close to the Tallahassee Automobile Museum which I want to visit tomorrow.

Distance today 52.5 miles, total so far 2760.9 miles

Wednesday 11^th June

I spent the whole morning at the Tallahassie Automobile Museum, a private collection which, besides a vast number of beautifully presented historic cars, had lots of other interesting memorabilia, including the hearse that carried Abraham Lincoln's body:

The route then followed US Route 90 for the rest of the day, past Lake Miccosukee:

Through Monticello, which had a handsome old city hall:

At Greenville there was a statue to the pianist Ray Charles, who was born there:

Late in the afternoon I crossed the Suwannee River. This is the correct spelling; despite popularly being known as the Swannee:

I ended the day's ride at Live Oak.

Distance today 76.3 miles, total so far 2837.2 miles

Thursday 12^th June

From Live Oak the route continued on US90 for about 10 miles, then branched off onto a series of small, narrow country roads towards the next major town, Gainesville, which I reached in the mid-afternoon. There were a couple of thunderstorms during the day accompanied by heavy rain; fortunately on both occasions I was very close to a service station where I and the bike could shelter, so I managed to stay dry.
Gainesville (population 125,000) is very spread out, but the centre is actually quite pleasant. It has a large university and so there are plenty of good bars and restaurants in the downtown area.

Also there are some large historic houses there:

Distance today 77.3 miles, total so far 2914.5 miles

Friday 13^th June

With less than 100 miles to go till the final destination in St Augustine, I had thought that I might try and finish the ride today. However it was raining when I woke early in the morning and the forecast, which proved correct, was for further rain throughout the day.

After a brief ride through the centre of Gainesville, the route followed a scenic rail trail for about 15 miles, to Hawthorne:

It then continued along state route 100, a fairly busy road, towards Palatka, the next town of any size.
Unlike yesterday, I wasn't able to avoid getting wet today. Fortunately the high temperature meant that it wasn't too unpleasant; still I was happy to call it a day at Palatka, rather than try and press on to St Augustine.

Distance today 57.8 miles, total so far 2972.3 miles

Saturday 14^th June

Despite heavy cloud and intense humidity, it remained dry all day. The route started with a crossing over the St John River bridge, from Palatka to East Palatka:

With a tailwind I covered the remaining 30 or so miles to St Augustine in a couple of hours, arriving by midday:

The building on the right in the above photo is actually a winery and I stopped off there for a quick tour and tasting before continuing to the end of the ACA route, at this corner:

This is the point where the ride officially ends, but having started at the Pacific Ocean it seemed pointless not to continue over the bridge across the intracoastal waterway known as the Tolomato River, to Vilano Beach and the Atlantic Ocean:

Distance today 49.2 miles. Total for the trip 3021.5 miles, over 47 days, of which 5 were rest days.

Reaching the end of the ride is a bit of an anticlimax. I've enjoyed the experience enormously and would be happy to ride on further. The bike has performed well, apart from one broken spoke which was a bit disappointing. The 2 spates of punctures I had, in Phoenix and Hillsboro can be blamed entirely on thorns scattered by recent high winds and if I had fitted thornproof tubes filled with slime seal at the start of the ride, they probably wouldn't have occurred. I've had no punctures at all during the final half of the ride, over 1500 miles. The original tyres still have a bit of life left in them but will need replacing soon.

I've found riding conditions across the US generally very good. Most of the roads are well surfaced and also well signposted. Drivers are generally considerate of cyclists and I have never felt my safety being threatened. Services are mostly readily available and so is accommodation. Although I carried a tent, sleeping bag and sleeping mat throughout the trip, I never had to use them.

The end of a long journey is always a bit of an anticlimax. St Augustine is the oldest town in the US, first settled in 1565 and there is quite a lot to see so I'm going to enjoy a few days here. I'm already looking forward to doing another long bike trip before long though, and would certainly consider following another ACA route across the USA, this is an excellent cycle touring country.

Southern Tier across the USA Part 6 - Gonzales LA to DeFuniak Springs FL

Monday 2^nd June

Highway 61 goes all the way from Baton Rouge to New Orleans; it's a reasonably direct route but is very cycle-unfriendly. There's a reasonably wide shoulder most of the way, but in parts the surface has broken down so badly that it's not possible to cycle on, as the photo below shows. Note the roadside grave marker, one of many along this evidently dangerous stretch of road, and the rumble strip which reduces the cyclable width:

To make matters worse, there was a headwind all the way, and a few downpours as well. Approaching New Orleans I saw these two cyclists, the first I'd seen for quite a long time. They were on their way to Houston to look for employment, and were carrying all their worldly goods, including a dog and a large teddy bear, on their makeshift trailers:

I made it to New Orleans around 4pm, checked into a hotel near the French Quarter, and went straight out to enjoy the scene in this beautiful, atmospheric city.

Distance today 58.2 miles, total so far 2233.9 miles

Tuesday 3^rd June

Rest day in New Orleans. It rained during the morning so I took a bus tour around the city. By lunchtime the rain had stopped so I walked over to the Civil War museum which was very interesting, also I had an excellent lunch at the Stage Door Canteen, the restaurant in the WW2 museum complex.

                                                      St Louis cathedral and Jackson Square

                                                                 Above ground tombs

                                                                        Bourbon St

                                                                       Shotgun house

Wednesday 4^rd June

The journey east from New Orleans was considerably more pleasant than the route I'd arrived there by. For a start, the weather was dry and not too windy, and the road led out through pleasant, affluent suburbs, along a road with a decent shoulder:

Here's a view from the bridge over the canal linking the Mississippi with Lake Ponchartrain. In the foreground is Interstate 10, in the background you can see the bridge over the Mississippi, and the skyscrapers of downtown New Orleans:

About 15 miles outside the city, I followed US 11 which leads over a 4.2 mile causeway across Lake Ponchartrain. At the time it was built in 1928, this was the world's longest bridge:

A few miles further on I crossed the state line into Mississippi:

I reached Poplarville, where I rejoined the main Southern Tier route, around 8pm.There were no motels nearby but I found reasonable accommodation in a B&B.

Distance today 80.4 miles, total so far 2314.3 miles

Thursday 5^th June

Back on the main route, the maps showed that there were very few facilities over the next section. Indeed, other than campsites, there was no accommodation until Mobile, over 100 miles away. So I set off early aiming to make it all the way there.
The first part of the day was spent riding through the DeSoto National Forest:

The terrain was a bit hilly; not as bad as what I'd ridden over in Texas, but still an abrupt change from table-flat Louisiana which I'd become used to over the last few days. Most of today's route was very rural, with quiet, fairly narrow roads. There wasn't much of interest along the way.
Towards dusk I crossed over the Pascagoula River:

And soon afterwards crossed another state line, into Alabama:

After a long, hard day of pedalling, I arrived in the centre of Mobile around 9pm.

Distance today 120.9 miles, total so far 2435.2 miles

Friday 6^th June

I spent the morning looking around the centre of Mobile, including a visit to the excellent museum:

It's a pretty place, with plenty of well preserved historic buildings, and relatively few skyscrapers.

The Cathedral is situated adjacent to an attractive square:

This is Dauphin St, which has all the restaurants and bars:

The railway station, still in use, is a handsome building:

The main route east across the Mobile River is via a tunnel, but cyclists aren't allowed to use it. So I had to detour about 10 miles north via US90 across the Cochrane Bridge, which seemed very reminiscent of the QE2 bridge on the M25 across the Thames Estuary, and also the Anzac Bridge in Sydney

                                                            View of Mobile from the bridge

Once across the river, the route follows US90 over a series of bridges making up a causeway over Mobile Bay. It then heads south east along US98, which closely follows the eastern shore of the bay, passing by many expensive-looking houses. I reached Gulf Shores, a popular holiday destination, around 8.30pm, having started out quite late in the afternoon, and despite some difficulty in finding accommodation, stopped there for the night, at the comfortable Travelodge Inn:

Distance today 62.2 miles, total so far 2497.4 miles

Saturday 7^th June

The day started with a ride across the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway:

Soon I was at the beach, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico:

The route then follows the coast, past numerous large hotel complexes. After about 10 miles I crossed the state border into Florida:

15 miles further on I reached Pensacola, a historic town with quite a lot of nice old buildings, and a decent brewery which I of course had to check out:

Pensacola Old Town, with antique quadricycle in the foreground:

The main drag, Palafox St, has some good restaurants and bars:

This historic cinema is undergoing restoration:

This is a monument to the Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War:

The humidity has been gradually increasing ever since I left Louisiana, and it's now at a level which is making cycling increasingly hard going. Despite the fact that the terrain continues fairly flat and the winds negligible. So, another 15 miles east of Pensacola, I stopped at Milton, since it was another 35 miles to the next accommodation.

                                                                Regency motel, Milton

Distance today 64.7 miles, total so far 2562.1 miles


Sunday 8^th June

Another very hot, humid day. The initial 6 miles was along a scenic traffic-free route, the Blackwater Trail, which is popular with cyclists and walkers:

But there wasn't much else of interest along today's route, much of which was on our old friend US Highway 90. As the afternoon wore on the skies grew darker and it was clear that a thunderstorm was approaching. Fortunately I reached DeFuniak Springs, where there was a convenient motel, just before the downpour started.



Distance today 63 miles, total so far 2625.1 miles