A reunion of five of the Mississippi Divas from 2007- left to right Patty Gadarian, Marni, Dusty Spence who drove up from New Orleans to visit, Janet Bee and Lois Schneider. We all met originally on the ride from New Orleans up the Mississippi to Lake Itasca MN. Patty, Janet, Lois and I are currently doing the Southern Tier.
The long bridge across the inland waterway from the coast near Bayou La Batre to Dauphin Island, AL.

Fort Gaines on the eastern end of Dauphin Island, AL.

some the Southern Tier riders admiring the view from the ferry, Susan, Cheryl,Lois, Marilyn, Donna, Elizabeth, Carol and Anne.

a natural gas rig out in the gulf of Mexico

Patty and Marnni arriving in Florida

white sand beaches along the road

downtown Pensacola had these pelicans representing each branch of the armed forces.

the bridge we will be crossing tomorrow

Finally a day of headwinds! There has been a lot of comment about the unreliability of the weather forecasters to predict the wind direction throughout this trip. According to all the weather pundits, the seasonal prevailing winds at this time of year generally blow from west to east along the Southern Tier route, which to date has not proven to be the case. So naturally when Carol, the guide promised us tailwinds for our 70 mile ride today we were skeptical.

We remained skeptical as we rode the 3 miles to the ferry landing, getting there early enough to allow all the midges and gnats to have a veritable feast as we waited to load. Once out on the water, between the movement of the ferry and the wave action it was impossible to tell which way the wind was blowing except that it felt deliciously cool. The half hour ferry crossing from Fort Gaines, on Dauphin Island, home of the naval battle involving Admiral Ferragut and his “ damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” speech, to Fort Morgan on the edge of Perdido Bay over, we all rode off onto the highway, which for a change was blacktop, smooth as silk. We were expecting to be riding into the wind, but suddenly discovered that we were all cruising at 15 mph + without even working, and no it wasn’t just because the road surface was smooth. We had tailwinds, for the first time in 46 days of riding we actually had tailwinds that lasted more than a few miles.

Everybody was ecstatic by the first SAG stop at 20 miles and nearly crazy with delight at the second SAG stop/ lunch stop at 11:00. The ride to mile 40 was through the Gulf Shores, a large extended beachfront community along Perdido Bay, with the inland waterway and the Perdido Keys always visible through the trees. We were in the Perdido Bay state park for part of the way and then in a variety of what were obviously tourist type resort town, each with its own kitchy stores, including fake sharks, fishing equipment, beach equipment, walk in condo and apartment rentals, tatoo parlors, and tourist souvenir Mega Marts. One town, Orange Beach, had a whole series of billboards advertising a bar/ grill called David’s whose tourist appeal was tattos, piercings, and “Pole dances for Peace” ( with funds to go to the lighthouse restoration fund.)

We crossed over several bridges and zig zagged across finger of Perdido Bay and the longest of the Perdido Keys, fully occupied with main line hotels, exclusive condominium towers with stepped structure so that everyone could have a full roof terrace/ view of the Gulf of Mexico, interspersed with older homes and smaller structures cowering in their shadows. The best part of it all was that we actually had a bike lane for most of the ride, set aside from the main traffic by a gentle rumble strip. Because of the winds and storms three days ago, this path was frequently covered with sand, but we were able to ride out on the rumble strip around the drifts and still stay out of traffic. Since the season hasn’t quite started yet, the traffic was fairly light and tolerant which definitely helped.

After the third bridge we stopped off for lunch at a local restaurant. Since today was a fast ride, the majority of us arrived within a short period of time and swarmed the restaurant. Fortunately, the fast riders, the so called “Big Dogs” have learned to warn the wait staff of the impending swarm of hungry bikers and get several large tables off to the side where we can sit. As everyone ordered and was waiting for the food Patty Gardarian arrived to standing ovations. Patty has sagged across almost every bridge we have encountered because it terrifies her to ride where she cannot see the ground, or if she can see the ground, it is far away. Today, another rider named Nancy, who is one of the SAG drivers, decided that Patty needed to ride the bridges. She rode with Patty over the three bridges we crossed, and got Patty to ride with her by singing “99 bottles of beer on the Wall” to keep her focused on the road and not on looking around and seeing that she was on a bridge. Today’s SAG driver Janet, had been worried because she knew Patty was going to ride the last bridge before the restaurant, which was a high one, so she was especially pleased to see Patty walk in. When they passed us on the last bridge going into Pensacola, they were at 66 bottles, having counted down and started over, but Patty made over that one as well.

At mile 55 we stopped at the local bike shop, mostly just to say hi although I wanted some more electrolyte powder, and several of the riders had minor adjustments to their bikes or did the bikers version of tourist shopping by buying socks with Florida themes, a sleeveless jersey, or dog repellent. The store normally has two men working, but one had just gone to lunch so as usual, the single guy got slammed but since it was barely 1:30 nobody was particularly fussed at having to wait inside in the cool air.

The rest of the ride through downtown Pensacola and out into the north east portion were uneventful. We had a bike path, clearly marked with signs and stencils of a bike rider. I thought it interesting that the bike path sign, black with a white diamond is the same as the one that is used to mark the hardest of ski paths at ski resorts. We had a couple of long slow rollers along the scenic part of highway 90 right at the end, which after so many miles of flat riding except for the bridges, seemed to be a bit of geographic revenge after so many days of flat riding. I guess the muscles forget the hill climbing rhythm fast. Directly across from the hotel was the first DQ we have seen since early in the ride, so we stopped in for a post ride recovery ice cream before braving the final short uphill on the driveway of the Ramada Inn. It was only after everyone was safely in that the wind changed and we had some afternoon/evening thundershowers, which is fairly common for this part of Florida.

Today's Stats

distance 72.76

ride time 4:57

speed 14.7