March 23: Crestview to Marianna, FL

Yesterday we angled northeast from the Gulf, up and around Pensacola Bay, where we poured onto US Highway 90 that parallels I-10 and that we’ll roughly follow or zigzag across much of the rest of the way to St Augustine.  You could say the last few days went like this: get up, inject caffeine and food, enter Hwy 90, ride 100 miles, exit, eat, sleep, repeat.  But there’s so much more that happens along the way.

This part of Hwy 90 is mostly a two-lane smoothly paved, absurdly flat (by Colorado standards) nice highway with a wide cycling shoulder.  In large part it’s a tunnel through mixed deciduous and long-needled pines that look a lot like our Ponderosa.  Interspersed with the forests are muddy swamps and rivers with names like “Alligator Creek” and “Choctawochee River”.  Where the forests and swamps give way to towns or open pastures, the highway is lined with cones of deep ruby red clover.

Today people saw black vultures, brown thrashers, egrets, great blue herons, a shrike, and some ibis.  It’s seventy-three degrees, so not only is nearly everyone wearing a short-sleeved jersey and shorts, but the birds are singing up a storm.

We didn’t get a lot of photos of the day today, so here are some nice pictures of people from various days on the trip so far:

Chris Matthews with his signature skull cap.

Katrina and Jane bundled up on the beach in Alabama.

Rich with a peek at one shoulder of his Grateful Dead band jerseys.

Patty relaxing post-ride and Matt on one of his digital devices.

A pile of boys waiting for the ferry: Ron, the back of Andy’s head, Nate, Chris, Gary, and Jerry.

Geni and Steve Parker – those who ride together dine together.

Alan Church with his permanent life is good grin.