Day 46- Mile 2341 - 2404 (63 miles, 306 ft ascent, 228 ft descent)

Gulf Shores, AL - Navarre, FL

Daily Route

Daily Elevation. 6 climbs, 6 bridges

I’ve been looking forward to this day since the ride started.  We are “home” and I want to show my fellow riders what this area has to offer.  They all pretty much agreed to give this day to me and for them to just enjoy.  We got on the road at 9 AM just as planned and headed towards the Florida border.  Today we have 6 bridges to cross.  The first bridge takes us over to Perdido Key and just a couple of more miles we make it to the Florida / Alabama border.  Since we didn’t get a photo in front of a “Welcome to Alabama” sign, we took one now. 

More like goody Alabama

We then walked around the famous Flora-Bama Lounge.  This bar sits on the border of Alabama and Florida.

Jim posing at the Flora-Bama

Tim posing at the Flora-Bama

We then rode the half mile to the “Welcome to Florida” sign.  This is where we met Michael who is also riding across the country.  He started about a week after we did.  Michael is riding solo as his wife is supporting him and meeting him at a hotel each night.  Anyway, Michael was kind enough to take our photo:

7 states done, 1 to go!

We continued east and arrived at the townhouse that Tim and I rent a few months each year.  It is pretty crazy to be riding through our neighborhood and on the roads that we used to train for this trip.  We then crossed our second bridge of the day off of Perdido Key and into Pensacola.  After a quick stop at the library to use the bathroom, we continued to the surprise stop of the day, our great friend and motorcycle club brother, Mouse’s house.  He was kind enough to provide us water, beer, and fruit for our 25 mile pit stop.  Rigger surprised us and was also there to greet us.  It was great seeing them since we haven’t seen them since February.

Reunited with Rigger and Mouse

We left Mouse and Rigger and headed for bridge number three that takes us over to the historic side of Pensacola and our next stop, Joe Pattie’s Seafood Market, for some fresh steamed shrimp…oh, Michael and his wife joined us.  As I was waiting for my number to be called, Eclipse showed up.  What a surprise!

​Next we crossed bridge number four, 3 mile bridge and then shortly crossed bridge number five, Pensacola Beach bridge.  Just over that bridge is The Sandshaker, famous for their bushwackers, a creamy, frozen drink with Kahlúa, Creme de Cocoa, and Rum.  It was delicious, and Michael and his wife enjoyed one as well.

Enjoying our Bushwackers

Next is the highlight of the day, riding through the National Seashore road, one of my favorite roads to be on.

Loving the ride today

We met up with Patrick who was enjoying a swim on this wonderful beach and then we were off to Windjammer’s for a beer on the Gulf.  Oh, Michael and his wife joined us.

A beer with a view

At this point, everyone has put up with me and all the stops and were ready to get to the RV park.  We were just over 3 miles from there and after crossing our last bridge number six, we were in Navarre and pulled into the RV park by 4:30 PM.

I was able to get in touch with Lookout and Towney and they agreed to stop by for a few beers, so we set up camp, jumped in the shower, and helped prepare dinner.  Just after 6:30 PM Lookout and Towney arrived and we had a great time hanging out, drinking a few beers, and catching up.  I sure miss spending time with my motorcycle club brothers.​

After they left, we got in the tent around 9:30 PM.  Wow…it’s a late night!  It is now 10:30 PM as I finish typing up this blog entry, so I’m going to end it here and get some sleep.  Tomorrow we have just over 70 miles and it will be another beautiful day riding along some beach roads.  It will be great.